Homegrown Beanes: August 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Menu Plan Monday August 29

Last week was our first week of having a child in school. I am shocked at how worn out I am! All the little Beanes have adjusted great to the new schedule of earlier bedtimes and earlier wake up calls.

I, on the other hand, am out of energy. By 9:00 I am ready to pass out! Hopefully this week will be a little easier on me.

Kindergarten has been great so far for String Beane. He loves it. The lunch box meals have worked out and he has not gone hungry. I hope last week was not some sort of 'honey moon period' and he resists going this week.

Last week's meals went really good for us. The General Tso's chicken is a family favorite. The ground beef pasties were really liked by Jelly Beane. She ate them up! I like them and so did Mr. Homegrown but String and Butter Beane did not love them. The big surprise of the week was the Chicken Macaroni Bake. I was not really expecting much but I LOVED it! We all did. All the little Beanes ate it up without complaint and without me begging them to eat. This will move to Family Favorites. We also had the Chick fil a nuggets. They were good but, let me just say, Chick-Fil-A is not scared of me with this recipe. They are not in danger of losing business.

Here is my menu plan for this week. I will link up again at Menu Plan Monday. Check out her site for tons of great menus and recipes.

Monday

Chicken and Dumplings

(String Beane's request)

Tuesday

Waffles of Insane Greatness

Sausage and Eggs

Wednesday

Crispy Shrimp and Pasta

Salad and Garlic Bread

Thursday

Taco Salad

Friday

Coconut Chicken and Rice

I hope you have fun planning your family's meals for this week. Check out Menu Plan Monday for more great ideas.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Applesauce Cake in a Jar

I made these Applesauce Jar cakes for String Beane's teacher. It was a thank you gift for a great first week of Kindergarten. I have been a kindergarten teacher. They all deserve a treat at the end of the first week! It is a job.

This recipe makes about 14 1/2 pint jars.

Ingredients

2/3 cups shortening

2 2/3 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 cups applesauce

2/3 cups water

3 1/3 all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

2/3 cups chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sterilize 14 1/2 pint jars. Spray them with cooking spray and set them aside. In a large bowl, cream the shortening and add the sugar. Beat in eggs, applesauce, and water. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt and spices. Add to the applesauce mixture. Stir in the nuts.

Fill jars 1/2 full with the batter. Wipe the edges of the jars clean. Bake 45 minutes. Remove jars and quickly screw on the lids and rings. The jars will seal as they cool.

Once the jars were cool, I used some fabric and ribbon to try to pretty them up a bit. That is not really my strong suit so I did the best I could.

I hope String Beane's teacher likes her treat. He loves kindergarten so much.

Linked to Between Naps on the porch
and these other awesome parties!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Friday Favorites

It's time for Friday Favorites again. Check out Finding Joy in My Kitchen to see what everyone has bookmarked for the week.

I was able to try out some of my favorites from last week. The S'mores pops were a hit at Butter Beanes birthday party and the granola bars went over big here with Mr. Homegrown and String Beane! It takes a lot to impress String Beane so if you are looking for a granola bar recipe, that is the one for you!

Here are my top 5 favorite finds for this week:

Watermelon Rice Krispie Treats
These look so good to me! String Beane's kindergarten class is full of food allergies. I think these would work for a treat for the whole class.

Strawberry "elves"
I think I can make these and substitute icing for the cream cheese to make it safe for us! How cute!!

Coconut Chicken and Rice

This looks like a great weeknight meal.

Breakfast Bread Nugat

This looks like a yummy breakfast to me.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bugles

Enough Said!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Menu Plan Monday August 22

I am glad to be at the beginning of a new week! Last week was super busy. Good, but busy. This week holds it's own bag of emotions. My String Beane is going to kindergarten tomorrow. I am so nervous. I know he will do fine, but I am not so sure about me! I miss him already.

Last week's meals were hit and miss. The pizza on the grill was really good but there is a definite learning curve to pizza on the grill. Let's just say that the last one was better than the first one and leave it at that. The potato kielbasa skillet was a huge hit last time and got mediocre reviews this time. The little beanes ate it, but did not love it. The same thing with the turkey meatballs. Don't get me wrong, they ate them. It is just last time I made them they LOVED them. What's up with that? Just when you think you have a sure fire recipe they change their minds. I'm just going to say this. I hate sloppy joe's. Mr Homegrown loves them and the little beanes like them okay. I don't see the attraction at all. The sloppy joe race cars were very cute. I mostly made them for Butter Beane who is in love with Cars right now. He was very excited when I put his plate in front of him but then said that Lighning McQueen was red. I don't know how to make red buns. The big winner of the week was the Seafood Jambalaya Casserole and the Pudgy cake. They were both excellent! Everyone ate and loved.

Here is this week. I am linking up again with Menu Plan Monday.

Monday