7 Days of Supper Menus

With my older boys home (and the leaf back in our dining room table), meal prep has recently become even more of a focus for me than it was before. Also, Katie, who had been helping me with supper prep, is now away most evenings putting her cooking skills to work elsewhere, so I’m back to being the main cook again.

Here’s what we’ve been eating for our main meal each day, for the past week. All of these are tried and true crowd pleasers at our house. Feeding a family is such a big job, and it never ends. I hope this post (lacking in photos, but not in links and recipes) will give you some new ideas.

Friday: Summer Salad, Homemade breadsticks, Snickerdoodles
A summer salad is basically a chef salad made on a platter.

How I make a Summer Salad: I use a circular platter like a pizza pan. First I make a bed of lettuce, and then on top of that I start making rings of various toppings. I always boil eggs earlier in the day so they are ready to go as a topping. Some kind of meat topping is a must when feeding growing boys. Chopped chicken or ham are a good choice, or baby shrimp as a special treat. Other topping possibilities include: chopped tomatoes, celery, sweet peppers, carrots, nuts such as sliced almonds, cranberries, cheese, croutons or crushed buttery crackers. It looks so pretty when it’s finished!

Katie made the Snickerdoodles and they were exelente!

Continue reading “7 Days of Supper Menus”

5 Flavorful Recipe Ideas! (to get you out of that cooking rut)

This weekend we are celebrating another 16th birthday. Somehow it has been sixteen years since Katelyn Noelle made her appearance, and we brought her home on a snowy December morning.

I seem to have a tradition of doing food posts on teenage birthdays, so here’s another one, this time a guest post from my sister Rachel, who is an excellent cook! She has shared five of her favorite, tried and true recipes with us, along with her comments. I have made most of these and they are delicious; quickly devoured by the clan. (I should say *we* have made… since Katie is my right arm in the kitchen these days!) When I made Rachel’s focaccia bread recipe [below] recently, Joshua took one bite and said, “What’s different about this focaccia bread?” I answered, “It’s a new recipe.” He said, “Oh. Well, make this one from now on.”

Author: Rachel Contreras

About Rachel: She is the youngest of my three sisters. She is married to Joey, an engineer, and they make their home up near Lake Michigan. They have three girls, Emma (6), Grace (3), and Anne (almost 3 months). We all adored tiny little Anne over Thanksgiving and I just couldn’t get enough of her sweetness!

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Precious little Anne Harmony

I asked Rachel to tell us a little bit about herself. She replied, “I enjoy cooking, reading, thrifting, and homeschooling. My dislikes include exercising, a messy house, suspenseful movies, and when my kids destroy my bed three minutes after I finish making it.”

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Rachel & Grace

From Rachel: Cooking is one of my favorite things. As a homemaker, I count this as a blessing, since so much of the work of homemaking involves food. I love trying new recipes, and my girls have fun voting on if the new dish should become a regular. Continue reading “5 Flavorful Recipe Ideas! (to get you out of that cooking rut)”