Cinco de Mayo!

I love me some Mexican food so naturally I love me some Cinco de Mayo.  I've tried out Hacienda on this momentous occasion but it has proven to be way too crowded for me...and I'm sure they had a heck of a day today with the weather as gorgeous as it was. 

Instead, we stayed in tonight and made quesadillas with Homemade Gourmet's Black Bean Salsa.  Oh yum yum yum...I bet if you found another really good black bean salsa (or other chunky salsa) you could make these like that.  All you have to do is slap some Mexican cheese blend, a few heaping spoonfuls of salsa and some grilled chicken (or not) between two tortillas and there ya go.  You can make it work in a frying pan but if you have a quesadilla maker like I do it's even better. Give it a try next time you've got a hankering for some quesadillas...I promsie you won't be disappointed!

Keeps gettin' better...

This week is ridiculous...last night's dinner was great, tonight's totally hit the spot, and I can't wait to try tomorrow's! Thursday is the icing on the cake cause it's something I don't make very often but I absolutely love it...Friday I will be in a food coma for sure. :)

So I promised I would share tonight's recipe for Italian Tortellini Soup from the Dierberg's cook book (via my sister, Carrie) and I'm not one to disappoint so here it is! The best part about this soup is that it automatically makes three dinners! Read on to find out more...

Here's how it works...

Italian Tortellini Soup

Buy It...
2 pounds bulk Italian sausage (I bought salsiccia cause I couldn't find bulk mild Italian)
1 pkg. (10 oz.) shredded carrot
2 medium onions, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
4 cans (14 oz. each) beef broth
2 cans (16 oz. each) kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 pkg. (20 oz.) frozen cheese tortellini

You will also need...
2 Tbls. Italian seasoning
3 (6-cup or larger) reusable freezer containers (tupperware)
3 (1 qt.) freezer-weight reclosable plastic bags

Cook it...
In large soup pot or Dutch oven, brown sausage and drain off excess fat. Combine cooked sausage with veggies and cook until veggies are tender. Add broth, beans, and seasoning.

Divide and freeze...
Divide mixture among three 6-cup (or larger) freezer containers. Divide tortellini into three 1 qt. freezer bags. Label each container with recipe name, date, and "heat it" instructions. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Heat it...
Defrost container of soup in microwave on 50% power for 20 minutes. Place soup base in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add 2 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Add frozen tortellini and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

I froze two containers and went ahead with the "heat it" directions tonight for our dinner and it was delicious! Served it up with a little cheddar beer bread made from Homemade Gourmet's World Vision Basic Bread Mix and it was the perfect fall meal! And now I can have it two more times with very little effort...BONUS!! :)

Hey good lookin', whatcha got cookin'?

So this is just a brief post to let you know what we'll be eatin' this week now that I have had to go back to the grocery store. I was totally uninspired by what was on sale in this week's grocery ads (ugh) so I turned to some of my other favorite sources for food inspiration...Homemade Gourmet, Cooking Light, my sister Carrie....just to name a few. :)

Monday: Eggplant Parmesan (I picked up an enormous eggplant for a buck while on a field trip to a farm last week with my kiddos from school)
Tuesday: Italian Tortellini Soup (I'll definitely blog about this later this week...it's FABULOUS!)
Wednesday: Black bean burgers and sweet potato fries
Thursday: White Chicken Chili (Tom's request)
Friday: Either a frozen pizza (easy) or out on the town...we'll see what we're up to.

Now that I've been to the store and am looking back at this menu, I'm thinking it might be a bit ambitious...but delicious at the same time. :) So check back later this week to hear a little more about some of these yummies AND to hear about cake decorating course 2....Tuesday night couldn't get here fast enough!

We've got to clean out the freezer...

That's right folks, we're on week 3 of meal planning from the freezer! Thank goodness this is the last week cause it's starting to look a little empty! This has taught me a really great lesson, though. I've had to be more aware of what's actually in there and teach myself not to just buy meat for the heck of it (meat can get expensive!) but rather, to always have a specific plan for it. I think this is where combining the use of grocery ads with meal planning could really come in handy in the long run. Check the ads, what's on sale, what can I make from what is on sale....and go! I think my pocketbook is going to like this. Anyway, here's what's left in the freezer for the final week...the "stragglers" as I like to call them. :)

2 lb. beef roast (Well...it was in the freezer...now it's in the slow cooker for tonight's dinner)
2 chicken breasts
2 links salsiccia
4 oz. pkg. of mini scallops
a medium-sized container of chili I froze from the amazing pot I made last weekend

Here's how the meal plan for this week is working out...

Monday: Chili mac
Tuesday: Homemade Gourmet Chicken and Biscuit Casserole (made with Grandmother's Sunday Roast Seasoning)
Wednesday: Fettuccine Alfredo e Salsiccia (found this on epicurean.com and couldn't pass it up!)
Thursday: leftover HG Chicken and Biscuit Casserole
Friday: Parmesan Crusted Broiled Sea Scallops (another tasty find on recipezaar.com)

So when are you coming over for dinner? :)

Meal Plan and Grocery Store Combo Post!

Well, I figure if I had to disappear for a week that I better make up for it this week eh? Here goes nothing!

So when trying to plan dinners for this week, I decided to go through the grocery ads and figure out what all sounds good. I have some chicken and fish stocked up in the freezer so I figured if it was a "bad" week I could make due just fine with what we had...especially with tonight being Chili's night (more on that later) and tomorrow being my last cake decorating class (read: leftovers tomorrow). However, I was lucky to see that the grocery stores are not disappointing us this week!

Shop 'N Save: Shop 'n Save is running a $5 sale with some decent savings on things like pork tenderloin (1.5lb. pkg for $5), chicken leg quarters (10lb. bag for $5), tilapia (2 lb. bag for $5), and cooked shrimp (1 lb. okg. for $5). They also have boneless beef chuck roast on sale for $1.87/lb. Now that's a pretty nice deal! Other notables: buy 3-12 packs of Pepsi products and get another 12 pack for free OR get a 24 pack of Pepsi for just $6.88.

Dierbergs: Dierbergs is comin' up big with their 50% off sale again. Ground round is just $1.99/lb. and pork chops are just $2.79/lb. Complete salad kits (Fresh Express) are just $1.99. My personal favorite...tostitos are just $1.99/bag! I'll definitely have to swing by for a few bags of these...I go through them quickly. :) And have you ever seen a 5 lb. bag of russet potatoes for just $0.99?? I haven't...looks like I'm gonna be making potato chips again...or potato soup...mmm. And that's just the front page...there's lots more great stuff on the inside!

Schnucks: And just when I thought it couldn't get much better...Schnucks is having their $0.89/lb. meat sale! But don't get too excited...here's what their advertisement says is included: whole chicken, pork butt sliced into steaks, bone-in ham, and Hunter hot dogs. I'm not sure I'm really in the market for any of those things. Tropicana orange juice is $2.99, though, and that's a pretty good deal...that stuff is expensive! ANd I know TOm will be excited cause Edy's ice cream is on sale 3 for $10...I've seen it on sale cheaper but it's still way better than $5.99 each!

So...what's for dinner this week....well...that's the question of the day but here's what I'm thinking we'll go with...

Monday: Chili's for St. Jude's night
Tuesday: Leftover BBQ deliciousness from last night's family BBQ
Wednesday: Beef roast, potatoes and carrots, and maybe some applesauce (if I can remember to pick some up...I always forget!)
Thursday: Tilapia, broccoli, mixed veggies
Friday: leftover roast...yumm

I'm thinking we'll be ready for a nice big pot of chili next week now that the temperature outside is finally cooling down. That is sounding delicious right about now.

What else can I tell you about this week...well, tomorrow is my last cake decorating class until November (course 2 isn't offered until then so I have to take a break...sigh) so be on the look out for a post about that. Oh and if you'd like to come support me and my Homemade Gourmet endeavors this Saturday you can come visit me at the United Methodist Church in Fenton from 11-6. I'll be the one in the cute red apron with all the yummy food! :)

Happy cooking, eating, shopping......happy everything! :)