Weekly Menu Plan

I will now be doing a post each weekend of our Menu Plan for the coming week.  I figure this will make me keep up with this blog more regularly and I will be forced to sit down each week and do my least favorite activity, coming up with our menu for the next week.  I love to cook but sometimes figuring out what to cook when I'm especially tired or uninspired it is a daunting task.

J's schedule plays a big part in our dinners for the week.  Right now he is working 4 ten hour days per week and then he is off Sunday-Monday-Tuesday.  We LOVE when he is on the schedule!  He is not home for dinner the 4 days he is working so Bugg and I usually have leftovers or something simple and kid friendly on those days.

I have been experimenting with a lot of new recipes recently, this week I am trying Stuffed Peppers.  I will post about them later this week and let you know how they turned out.

Menu for 4/10-4/16

Sunday-Stuffed Peppers, Corn

Monday-BBQ Grilled Chicken, Broccoli, Fruit

Tuesday-Sloppy Joes, Fries, Green Beans

Wednesday-Leftovers

Thursday-Rice Balls(Bugg's current favorite food, I will post this recipe soon), Veggies, Fruit

Friday-Out-Fish Fry @ Church with Grandma

Saturday-Green Spaghetti, Carrots, Fruit

This is our Bugg.  He LOVES to eat!

Oreo Truffles

These are oh so easy and fun to make! I made these for Valentine's Day for my Oreo obsessed Husband. I found the recipe on Bakerella and followed it exactly except I didn't add the crushed Oreos to top the truffles and I used some red food coloring to dye the leftover almond bark, from coating the truffles, and piped on pink squiggles. 

-KG

Brownies With a Secret

The secret is that there is a whole cup of vegetable puree packed into this delicious brownie mix.  I know what your thinking... That sounds revolting!  I assure you, when completely cooled the veggies are totally undetectable to discerning tasters.

I found this recipe in Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious (which I highly recommend).  After making the Brownies a few times I made some very minor changes like adding a little more chocolate (more chocolate is always better) and I adjusted the baking time. 

Brownies

(with carrot and spinach)

Be sure to let the brownies cool completely before enjoying- it's not until they're completely cool that the veggie taste disappears.

Nonstick cooking spray

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

1/2 cup carrot puree

1/2 cup spinach puree

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and margarine in microwave in 30 second increments.

In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate and margarine, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine and vanilla. Whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in egg whites. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt with a wooden spoon.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

-KG