Meal Plan: August 24 - August 30

Well it's here... the first day of school and dance classes all on the same day.  Back to serious meal planning and making sure every meal fits the schedule.

Does anyone else go to the grocery store the day before school?  I learned way before I had children to stay away from the grocery store the day before school starts but couldn't avoid it today.  It's right up there with Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We usually shop on Saturday or Sunday so it wasn't foreign for me to be there.  Unlike the major holiday's it makes me wonder why it is so busy.  What have you been feeding your kids all summer?  After being there for two minutes I was yelled at while saying hello to a friend.  It was shortly after that I decided to hunker down, put a smile on my face and recited the mantra of "be the example".  The cereal aisle was too scary to stop but I got a minute of peace in the chip aisle.  It's a jungle out there.

Here's what we are having for dinner this week:

Sunday: State Dinner - Pepperoni Rolls and Salad

Monday: Cheeseburger Pie

One the of the girls favorite for the first day of school. 
Our good friend made this for us a few years ago and it instantly became my oldest daughters favorite.  She asks for it for every birthday.  When our friend made it she forgot the sour cream.  The first time I made it I followed the recipe but we all agreed we liked it better without it so that's how I have made it from now on.

Ingredients:

1-1.5 lbs ground beef
2 Pillsbury dough crescent roll tubes
1 pint sour cream 
1 small can of mushrooms (optional)
1/2 of an onion chopped
8-10 slices of Am. cheese 
Cooking Spray
1 Tbsp of oil

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350/
In a frying pan, add oil and cook onions over medium heat until almost clear. Then add in ground beef (and mushrooms) and cook until beef is almost done. Drain as much as the liquid as possible. Spray the bottom of a 13x9 pan with cooking spray. Spread out both tubes of crescent rolls making the crust even, without holes along the bottom of the pan/baking dish. When beef mixture is done and drained, stir in the entire pint of sour cream and mix well. Place that mixture evenly on top of the uncooked crescent rolls. Place the American cheese slices over the top of the beef and sour cream mixture covering the top, and bake on 350 for about 20 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is light brown.
Serves 6-8 

Tuesday: Salsa Chicken Casserole

 











Recipe from Sweet Daily Blog

Wednesday:   Leftover Pepperoni Rolls

Thursday: Slow cooker Chicken and Noodles
Recipe from Going Jane

Friday: Mom and Daughter Dinner  

Saturday: Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches

Recipe from The Little Kitchen

50 States; 50 Meals: New York

There are so many choices for New York.  New York style pizza, bagels, Manhattan clam chowder.  We traveled outside the big apple for our New York chicken dessert but came back for dinner.

What we had for dinner:

Buffalo Chicken Wings
The first wing was made in the Anchor Bar owned by Teresa and Frank Bellissimo

Baked Chicken Wings - The skin gets just a crispy as fried with this recipe.  I didn't make the sauce and bought a bottle of Anchor Bar sauce instead.

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Spiedies Pronounced "speedies"
Spiedies were originally from Italy.  They are marinated cubes of meat, traditionally lamb, cooked on a skewer like a kebab.  Pork, chicken, veal, venison, and beef are also used. The meat is marinated and then grilled. The marinade recipe varies, usually involving olive oil, vinegar, and a variety of Italian spices and fresh mint. The meat is then served on Italian bread.  The bread is used to take the meat off of the skewer.I was able to find bottle Spiedie marinade at my grocery store.

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New York  Cheesecake
No-Bake Cheesecake - I made this version so the kids could help me.
Traditional New York Cheesecake

Black and White CookiesDevil's food cake cookie with white buttercream frosting on one side and black frosting on the other side.

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What is your favorite food from New York?