BBQ Beef Cups

3/4 lb ground beef (i use ground turkey)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (i use Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce)
1 tbs brown sugar
1 can biscuits (regular, not the Grands brand)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

In skillet, brown meat over medium heat, drain off fat.

Remove from heat and stir in BBQ sauce and brown sugar.

Grease a muffin pan and place a piece of biscuit dough in each cup, stretching dough up the sides into a "cup."



Divide meat mixture among the cups and top each with cheese.



Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.



Enjoy!!!



***This is an easy and great recipe that I found in Rachel Ray's magazine. My husband, and even Hunter, love this recipe, as do a bunch of my friends! My mom also makes it with taco seasoning, cornbread dough, and cheese for Taco Beef Cups.***

This Week's Menu

Monday: BBQ Beef Cups

Tuesday: Burgers on the Grill with Corn on the Cob

Wednesday: Spanish Chicken and Rice

Thursday: Pasta with Pesto

Friday: Picnic for the 4th

Saturday: Stracoto (Italian Pot Roast) with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Sunday: Sweet and Sour Chicken over Rice

Onion Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3-4 medium potatoes, skinned and cut into small chunks
1/4 cup olive oil
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450

In a large plastic bag, combine all ingredients and shake well until everything is covered.

Pour into a 13x9 dish (or aluminum pan for easy clean up!) and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.



Cook in oven for 45 minutes or until chicken is done and potatoes are golden brown. Baste halfway through with pan juices.

Enjoy!



***This is such an easy recipe that I got off of the Lipton Onion Soup Mix box! My husband loves this and Hunter is quickly becoming a fan as well!***

Escarole, White Bean, and Sausage Pasta

2 bunches of escarole
1 pkg pasta (i use gemelli)
1 lb sweet Italian sausage meat
1 tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or more if you like spicy)
2 cloves garlic, minced (i obviously use more!)
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente.

Blanch escarole 1-2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Cook sausage on med-high until browned. Remove and set aside, drain drippings.

Add oil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and garlic to pan and reduce to medium low. Saute for about a minute.

Add sausage and saute another minute.



Add escarole, stir, and cook another minute.



Reduce to low and add beans, stir.



Add chicken stock and simmer another minute.

Add pasta and stir to combine.



Simmer an additional 2-3 minutes, as pasta will absorb most of the chicken stock.

Serve with parmesan cheese.



***This dish can get very spicy depending upon how much red pepper flakes and garlic you add.***

This Week's Menu and Shopping!

This Week's Menu

Monday: Antipasto Salad

Tuesday: Escarole, white beans and sausage pasta

Wednesday: Oven Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

Thursday: Teriyaki Steak over Brown Rice

Friday: Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

Saturday: Graduation Party

Sunday: Baptism

I spent a total of $76 on groceries this week as well. ($60 at Shoprite and $16 at the Farm Market)

Baked Ziti with Ground Sausage

1 lb sweet italian sausage meat
15 oz part skim ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
box of ziti
4 cups tomato sauce


Preheat oven to 350

Brown sausage and drain oil from pan when done. Add sausage to your tomato sauce and simmer.

Cook pasta according to package directions to "al dente."

When done, drain pasta and return to pot.

Add ricotta, 1 cup of mozz, and 2-3 cups of tomato sauce (depending upon how "saucy" you like your ziti), and mix well.

Pour into 13x9 dish (or disposable aluminum pan) and top with remaining tomato sauce and cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly.

Let sit for 5 minutes and serve.

***I don't have any pics of this right now, as my camera's battery was dead yesterday! Also, I make my own sauce, but unfortunately, you'll never see that recipe posted! I use penne pasta instead of ziti a lot of the time because I like it better.***

Filet Mignon with Compound Butter and Garlic Parsley Potatoes

The Filet Recipe is from a cookbook I got for free from Omaha Steaks and the Potato Recipe is one of my all-time favorite recipes of my mom's!


For the Compound Butter:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 shallot, minced
1 tbs minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (I omitted this)
Salt and pepper (I omitted the salt and used ground pepper)

Combine the butter, shallot, parsley and lemon juice in the bowl of the food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process to blend.



Roll into a log about 1 1/2 inch thick and twist the ends to close. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Remove from the refrigerator and slice into 1/2 inch coins when the steaks go on the grill.


Preheat and oil the grill. (I use Wegman's brand Olive Oil spray)

Rub the steaks on all side with oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.



Grill over direct medium-high heat for about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, 6-7 minutes per side for medium, or to desired doneness. Remove steaks from the grill and let rest for a few minutes. Place a slice of Compound Butter on top of each steak, allowing it to melt slightly before serving.


For the Garlic Parsley Potatoes:

2-3 lbs small red potatoes
Fresh flat-leaf parsley
Garlic powder
Ground pepper
1/3 stick butter

After rinsing well, place potatoes in a medium saucepan and fill with water until potatoes are covered. Bring water to a boil over med-high heat. Continue to boil for about 18 minutes.



Drain potatoes and return to pot. Cut up potatoes into thirds and add butter, garlic powder (to taste, I use alot!), pepper, and a handful of chopped parsley. Cover and let sit for about 3-5 minutes.



Stir potatoes to evenly cover in butter and serve.



Enjoy!!!

Blueberry-Nectarine Buckle

I got this recipe from Parents Magazine. My changes are in bold.

2 cups biscuit mix (Bisquick)
1 cup sugar, divided
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup reduced fat milk (2%)

1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel (1/2 tsp)
1 medium nectarine, pitted and chopped (2 small)
1 1/4 cups fresh blueberries (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter (softened)

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom of and sides of a 2qt baking dish.

In a medium bowl, combine biscuit mix, 1/2 cup sugar, the egg, milk, and lemon peel. Stir until moistened. Mixture will be lumpy.




Spoon batter into pan.




Rinse fruit and chop nectarines.




Top batter with fruit.

Mix flour and remaining sugar in a bowl. Using a fork, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly; sprinkle over fruit.

Bake for 50-60 minutes (55 mins) or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.



Let cool for half an hour. Serve warm (with vanilla ice cream!)





This recipe was delish!!! You could definitely substitute peaches, strawberries, raspberries, etc for the nectarines!

This Week's Grocery Shopping

First off, I like to buy all of my fruits and veggies at a farm market. They have more variety, are much cheaper, locally grown, and everything tastes much better!
As I said before, I grocery shop online (www.peapod.com) or I go to the local Shoprite, Wegman's or Whole Foods, depending upon what I need, what time of day I'm going, etc.

Here's this week's shopping:

Farm Market:

lettuce
parsley
small red potatoes
shallots (1)
blueberries
strawberries
peaches (2)
nectarines (3)
lemons (2)

Total $13.68

Shoprite:

bread
1/2 lb american cheese
1L diet coke
Bisquick
Sugar
Crushed Tomatoes with Basil
Tomato Paste (2)
Morningstar Sausage Patties
Frozen Green Beans
Butter
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
Ice Cream
Frozen Fruit Bars
YoKids Yogurt
Cool Whip Lite
2% Milk
Ground Sausage

Total $50.36

Total For This Week: $64.04

Don't Mind This Week's Menu!

We have a lot going on this week, so the menu is not what it usually looks like!

Why I Do Menu Planning...

After trying to cut back on how much money I was spending each week at the grocery store, I decided to plan out my menus each week. I went from spending about $250/week to about $60-75/week on groceries! Every Saturday, okay not every Saturday, I sit down with my Menu Planning Notebook, my recipe box, some cookbooks, and a couple of magazines, and I plan out what we will eat for dinner each night. I make a list of what I will need for these meals, and then I go through my cabinets, fridge and freezer and make sure I don't "double buy" anything. That is something I used to be very guilty of!!! Ordering groceries online also helps, since I'm not tempted to buy anything that's not on "The List."

What I have seen result from doing this is:

1. I cook so much more!
2. We order out a lot less = spending less money!
3. We eat much healthier!

A Little Bit About Me (As A Cook!)

1. I LOVE GARLIC!!!

2. I like to cook a lot of Italian dishes.

3. I CANNOT make breakfast foods. (I'm limited to scrambled eggs and waffles in the toaster, which I sometimes burn!)

4. I LOVE GARLIC!!!

5. Hunter (my little guy) has started eating all table foods within the last month, so I'm always on the lookout for recipes for him!

6. My husband will eat anything I cook so long as there are no mushrooms in it!

7. I try to cook healthy, but will occasionally hit up Wendy's instead.

8. Oh Yeah, I LOVE GARLIC!!!

My First Post!

So I am starting a food blog, and this is it!
My goal for this blog is to share my weekly menus, some recipes of mine, some recipes that i try out (and sometimes tweak), and some recipes for the little ones too!