Menu Plan Monday- February 20, 2012

My pantry, freezer, and food storage areas are all looking a bit of a mess right now. This week I'm trying to work on eating some things that have been there for awhile or lost in the back of the cupboards.

Paprika Pork Chops- I don't have any pork chops but they are on sale and I do have everything else. I like to double the topping recipe and then I only spread it over two chops. As written it just isn't krauty enough.

Lentil Sloppy Joes- I am just going to use my standby sloppy joe recipe and sub in lentils for the ground beef. It seems like it should work... I'm also considering trying these Oopsie Rolls to use as buns.

White Beans with Kale and Pork Sausage- This looked quite good to me. I might go crazy and use frozen spinach instead of kale only because I have frozen spinach and I don't have kale.

Salmon Burgers- I only need to get fresh coriander for this one and then I'll be set.

What's on your menu this week?

My Newbery Project

One of the things on my 101 list is to read every book that has won a Newbery Medal. The first Newbery Medal was awarded in 1922 so if you do the math this gives me a rather lengthy list of books to get through. I have read several on the list through the years of growing up but it's been long enough that I felt like I should just start with a clean slate and re-read those that I had read in the past.

I first thought I'd start with the 1922 winner and go in chronological order but after several weeks of trying to make it through The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon, I abandoned that idea and decided to just read them in whatever order I felt like. If you're wondering, I'm still slogging through The Story of Mankind. It's approximately ninety-million-billion pages long... and it hasn't grabbed my attention enough to sit down and just get through it!

I will confess that I do count the books that I've listened to as books that I've read. Some may think I'm a cheater, I just think it's a safer way to "read" and ride my bike... hah!

I'm going to put a Newbery Project tab on my nav menu in case you start to feel curious about my progress.

How many Newbery books have you read?

Menu Plan Monday- January 9, 2012

This past week's menu had mixed reviews.

We both really liked the Tuna Patties but weren't really sold on the Grilled Portobello Mushrooms.

The Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Mash was not bad. We did make a couple of small changes though and we decided that it probably needed a couple more to make it just right. We added some cream cheese to the mash and a lot of garlic and onion powder. Also, we tossed in about a cup of lightly steamed diced celery root into the beef mixture just to stretch it out a bit more. I think it could use a rather big slosh more of Worcestershire sauce but it still needed something else to perk it up a bit.

The smoked salmon BLT salad was tasty with a bit of avocado thrown in and was basically just the breadless version of the BLT itself!

I didn't make the Mexican Baked Eggs and didn't get to the Meatloaf with White Beans and Mushrooms. I still have most of what's needed to make those so they'll carry over.

This week:

Mexican Baked Eggs

Meatloaf with White Beans and Mushrooms

Chicken Tandoori- Totally cheating on this one and using a boxed mix.

Roasted Tomato, Halloumi & Quinoa Salad

Are you eating anything new and exciting this week?

Menu Plan Monday- January 2, 2012

Part of getting back on track involves getting my menus up again.

On the agenda for this week:

Meatloaf with White Beans and Mushrooms
Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Mash
Smoked Salmon BLT Salad
Tuna Patties on Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
Mexican Baked Eggs

Poking my head out...

You know when you get really busy or slightly unmotivated and start to let things slide a little... and then they keep sliding and sliding until they turn into some huge insurmountable task that makes you want to crawl back under the covers and never come out again? Meanwhile you get further and further behind. People start contacting you to ask if Mr Jummy told you to take a wrong turn and you are lost or dead somewhere in the middle of South Dakota. Everyone you know says "Why did you stop blogging? Don't you like it anymore?!" So you just slink further and further under the covers to hide because WHERE ON EARTH DO YOU EVEN BEGIN?!

First things first I suppose. Martijn and I are not lost or dead in the middle of South Dakota. We had a wonderful but very busy time visiting family and driving and driving and driving and driving. After I sent him home to The Netherlands at the beginning of October I stayed another month and came back at the beginning of November. I'm not going to lie. It's hard coming back after being gone for two months. I treasure my time with my family and friends and it's hard to leave them behind. I said it was a good thing I sent Martijn home a month early otherwise I might not be able to drag myself back here! 

It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things here and I think I'm finally "back" and ready to poke my head out from under the covers again, so to speak.

On the road again...

We made it to Utah safely and are now on the road through Wyoming and South Dakota to Minnesota. Mr Jummy is navigating...

I wonder if we'll ever be heard from again?

J/Yummy Ready for Holiday!

Mr Jummy & Mrs Yummy are going on holiday and have graciously allowed Martijn and I to tag along! We're headed to Utah in the morning and I can't wait to get there and give my mom and dad a hug.