Apparently, I am craving unhealthy food this week! I guess that’s what happens when you meal plan before you’ve eaten dinner. Most of this weeks recipes are new to me, with the exception of the Pot Pie. When I first discovered that recipe, I’m pretty sure I made it at least once a week for over a month. It’s that simple and delicious. Tonight, I am finally going to try the Pinterest famous Spicy Sausage Pasta, so hopefully it lives up to all the hype!
The weather is finally cooling down which means it’s time to warm up the kitchen with some baking! Pumpkin has turned into one of my favorite scents, and my preferred way to fill the house with that smell is to pop some delicious treats in the oven. Here are 10 mouthwatering recipes that I am itching to make this fall:
Every so often I get into a little funk where no home-cooked food sounds good, and this week is one of those times. I’ve been putting off making our meal plan for this week because I have been simply lacking inspiration. But after a night of spaghetti (my husbands favorite, but definitely not mine) followed by a night of pizza, I’m ready to get back in the kitchen!
Apple crisp is, by far, one of my most favorite desserts. The tart apples soften to perfection and become coated in a sweet glaze and the cinnamon-sugar crumble on top turns into a crispy companion for the apples. Topping off this warm dessert with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream simply takes this dish to another level.
This is what the crumble topping should look like when it is all combined and ready to go.
If there is any of the sugar mixture left in the bowl, sprinkle that over the apples after they are placed in the baking dish. The brown sugar will caramelize and create a thick syrup.
The finished product is soft and bubbly on the inside, and browned and crispy on the top.
Apple Crisp á la mode
For Apples 4-5 of your favorite baking apples 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 Tablespoons flour 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
For Topping 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup flour 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/4 cup melted butter
Directions In a large bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 Tablespoons of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Thinly slice the apples and add to the sugar mixture, stirring until all the slices are well-coated. Set aside.
In small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pour the melted butter on top of the mixture and mix with a spoon until moist. Be sure to leave small clumps as this is what makes the topping nice and crunchy!
Pour apples into an 8x8 baking dish or a 9-inch pie plate. Coat with the crumble topping and bake at 375 F for 35-40 minutes, or until apples are soft. Serve with a side of your favorite vanilla ice cream and enjoy!
Looking back at the last meal plan I posted, none of the new meals that we tried really “wowed” our family. Don’t get me wrong, they were all decent meals, but none of them landed a spot on my Favorite Recipes board on Pinterest. *We ended up eating leftovers one night and didn’t get a chance to try the Cider Braised Chicken…The Thai Basil Turkey is something that I have made for years, so I will have to post the recipe for that sometime soon.
*I recently got a rice maker, but I still can’t make the perfect rice! I thought rice makers were supposed to make perfect rice every time…wrong! Needless to say, I am still experimenting with ratios and such, so that is why there is so much rice on the menu this week.
All of last weeks meals were pretty tasty! I probably won’t make the chili again, but everything else was a hit. This week, all of the chicken dishes are new recipes, so I will update next week on how we liked them.
Tuesday Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce Simple Seasoned Chicken Breast Halves (Seasoned with S&P, onion powder, garlic powder and a dash of Tony Chachere’s)
The only way I personally enjoy cornbread is if it is sweet. There is a certain restaurant we go to when we are in the mood for southern cooking, and with our meal they will bring us either biscuits or cornbread. I always excitedly order the cornbread, forgetting that I will be greatly disappointed when it arrives at our table and I bite into a dry, bland muffin.
These sweet cornbread muffins, however, have the perfect amount of sweetness for me. Not to mention, they only take a few minutes to whip up and pop in the oven. These are great with a dab of butter, a bit of honey, or enjoyed as is!
Ingredients 2 Tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup whole milk 1 large egg 2 Tablespoons honey 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 Tablespoon baking powder 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions Preheat oven to 400 F. Melt the butter in a medium bowl. Whisk in the milk, egg and honey and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together all of the remaining dry ingredients. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until combined.
Spray 6 muffin tins with nonstick spray, or line with paper liners. Fill each tin until they are about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Over the years, I have tried a few different methods of storing and organizing my coupons. At first, I only printed out coupons I needed immediately from the internet, so I never had too many on hand at once and it was easy just to stick them in my wallet.
Eventually, I started buying newspapers to get the weekly inserts, but if I were to stick every coupon from the paper in my wallet, I’m sure it would have made me go crazy. This brings me to my first attempt at organizing my coupons, which was one of the small, 10-pocket accordion files from Target. This worked well for awhile, but as I started accumulating more coupons, it started to become a tedious task to find one deodorant coupon in a section that held ALL personal care items.
Still, I stuck to this method because I knew that toting around a huge coupon binder was something that was not necessary for me to do, and I had no alternative way in mind to store them. One fortunate day, many of the home organization blogs I followed started posting about the new Martha Stewart line at Staples, and with her small 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” binder in hand, my mini coupon binder was born!
A few snapshots…
The first pocket holds envelopes with specific grocery store coupons and catalinas, plus my Target coupons.
The pink card sits on top of everything in the file, and as I add items to my cart that I have coupons for, I will put those coupons on top of the pink card to keep them separated from the rest.
There are three main categories – Food, Household and Personal Care. Each of these categories is arranged in alphabetical order with sub-categories:
My body is currently suffering from sugar overload. Why? Because my lovely husband suggested we make this delicious dessert.
My mom always made her dump cake with a mixture of cherries and pineapple, but pineapple kind of grosses me out, so I always just looked at it with my nose scrunched in disgust. But recently, I had a version where the pineapple was omitted and I fell in love. First, simply dump the can of cherries into the bottom of a 9x13 dish and spread it around. (Now would be the time to add a can of crushed pineapple and stir the two together if your heart desires.)
Next, sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the top of the cherry filling. Slice the stick of butter into thin slices and place along the top of the cake mix.
Place in the oven at 350 F for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the cake is nice and brown. It’s normal to have a few dry patches on top that the butter didn’t reach.
Serve with a scoop (or two!) of vanilla ice cream.
Cherry Dump Cake
Ingredients 1 box yellow cake mix 1 can cherry pie filling 1 stick margarine
Directions Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread cherry filling along the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Evenly sprinkle the cake mix over the filling. Place thin slices of the margarine all across the top of the cake mix. Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the cake is golden brown. Enjoy with a side of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
