Leslee's Catch Up

First up menu #24
The meatball subs. These were a big hit with the boys at our house but the girls thought they were a little too spicy or zesty. Not sure why. It was a pretty quick meal to make though which I appreciated! I don't have a picture of the M&M cookie pie, but we have made it several times before and it is very good!

Next up is the turkey wraps! I really liked these and liked that they were a different dinner idea that we usually don't have. I wrapped mine up in lettuce which was good and reminded me of something I like to get at Which Wich. I failed a bit at my squash because I didn't cook it enough. It was still pretty good and I will try it again! My s'mores cookies were also a bit of a fail, I think I needed to add more flour. Then my marshmallows nearly caught on fire, haha. I just pulled the burnt part off and and the kids still loved them:)

We had the white bean chili last night and it was delicious! I forgot to take a picture. I put it all in the corckpot since I knew that would be easier and then added the sour cream before serving. I left out the cream and it was fun.

New pick...menu 11

Let's have the creamy slow cooker spaghetti, bread and cookies from menu 11

New menu for week of April 19, 2014

Before it gets too hot let's cook Menu 37.

Homemade Bread bowls

Creamy Chicken Chili

Slow Cooker Rocky Road Chocolate Fondue

Jacki's Review of Menu 24

Yesterday we had menu 24 and the reviews were mixed.  I really liked the Homemade Turkey Meatball Subs but a couple of tasters would have preferred a meat/sausage meatball and one thought the marinara sauce I used had too strong of a flavor. They wouldn't order it at a sandwich shop:). I did use ground turkey breast so maybe just ground turkey would have been better - a little moister.  I guess I will enjoy eating the leftover turkey meatballs myself:). Most thought the Baked Zucchini Fries were good but next time I would salt the zucchini wedges a bit before putting them in the egg and bread mixtures. I thought they were a little flavorless but maybe that is because I used regular breadcrumbs instead of panko breadcrumbs? I also could have cut the wedges smaller I suppose but overall they were good. The M&M's Cookie pie was fun and very easy to make. I served it with some vanilla ice cream. I made some fresh squeezed homemade lemonade to go with our meal and it was soooo good. Another fun menu to cook and taste!

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #24

 

We got together this past Monday night to cook Menu #24, Homemade Turkey Meatball Subs, Baked Zucchini Fries and M&M's Cookie Pie.  Johnny and I started out with mixing up a batch of homemade vanilla ice cream in my little ice cream maker  to go with our cookie pie.  Meanwhile Dana mixed up the cookie dough and divided it in half.  We decided to put M&M's in one half and Reese's pieces in the other half of the cookie pie.  We just used the regular sized candy pieces.  She said that it was pretty simple to fix.  Next Dana mixed up one batch of the meatballs, as we weren't sure how well turkey meatballs would be eaten up ;)  She followed the recipe and it went pretty fast.  While they were cooking she started in on the zucchini fries and she doubled that recipe.  She cut up some thick and some thin so that we could test how strong the flavor of the zucchini was.  Once the meatballs were done, we started cooking those.  When Ashley got there, she helped with the zucchini and started getting the buns ready to broil.  For the buns, we just used some small sub sandwich rolls.  We also fried up some wild mushrooms in tempura batter that Doug had harvested.  We liked this menu.  The meatball sandwich was good with the marinara sauce drizzled over the meatballs.  The meatballs did have a little kick of spice and that must have been from the Montreal steak seasoning. If you are feeding children, you could leave that out I think.  The zucchini fries were really good also.  The coating was nice and light with a little crunch.  The cookie pie was a hit.  I think most of us liked the Reese's pieces half the best! Plus, you can never go wrong with some homemade ice cream.

New menu pick for week of April 12th

It was a tough choice as we still have some good menus left to choose from. Let fix-
Menu #24  pg. 102
Homemade Turkey Meatball Subs
Baked Zucchini Fries
M & M's Cookie Pie
Happy cooking!

Jacki's Review of Menu 52

We had this meal yesterday and it was a success! For the Low Fat Turkey Bacon Wrap I let everyone assemble their own. I used a Sun-dried tomato wrap, had 3 different dressings (ranch, cilantro avocado, and salsa ranch), sliced tomatoes, deli chicken (I knew I didn't have big turkey fans in my group), lettuce, bacon, sliced provolone cheese, and sliced avocado. Everyone seemed to enjoy making their own and they were delicious! For the Sweet Spaghetti Squash I followed the recipe but I overcooked it a bit I think. Everyone liked it but I must say I prefer my spaghetti squash more on the savory side with just a bit of butter and salt. I thought the S'mores Kiss Cookies were really good. The others liked them as well but thought they were on the sweet side. (Isn't that what a cookie is for?!!:) II used little pieces of a small Hershey bar instead of a kiss because I had some in the pantry. I am really enjoying trying out all these menus and recipes and this was another good one. 

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #34

 

Since we were going to have this for our lunch Saturday for our Easter get together, I started the meat really late Friday night.  I haven't ever cooked a rump roast, so this was a good time to try it out.  I doubled the recipe for our group and followed the recipe.  I did wait to put the pineapple chunks in to cook until the next morning, so they wouldn't be over cooked.  I also hard boiled the eggs for the deviled eggs the day before.  When Dana got there she started the Deviled Egg recipe.  She followed the recipe, but didn't put the pickle relish in since we didn't have any.  This recipe is very similar to the deviled egg recipe that I already use.  We used 2 dozen eggs as our guys really eat these things up!  Meanwhile, Ashley put together the White Chocolate chip Oatmeal Cookie dough recipe.  She followed the recipe and we discovered it does make a lot of cookies! We only baked a sheet of the cookies and froze the rest of the dough for another time.  When it was almost time to eat, Dana pulled the meat out of the crock pot and shredded it up.  We toasted our buns and set out, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles etc...  Dana also fixed homemade salsa and so we had salsa, tortilla chips and potato chips with our meal.  Now for our review.  We found the meat a little tough and it didn't have as much flavor as we would have liked.  Thank goodness for Head Country BBQ sauce :)  Next time I'm using chuck roast!  The deviled eggs were a big hit and also the cookies, especially with Johnny and Lil Brett.  We also had made homemade vanilla ice cream and as that was churning, we added some of the cookie dough to it and that tasted really good!  We will definitely fix some of these recipes again :)

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #5

 

We got together in the evening to fix this meal.  Dana put together the sauce for the Asian Glazed Salmon and thickened it over the stovetop like it suggested.  She then started on the Sesame Green Beans.  She followed the recipe and we did double it.  It took a bit to get the water boiling with the green beans, but once that happened the rest of the dish went together fast.  We didn't have any sesame seeds so we will need to fix this again so we can taste that.  Ashley finished with the salmon.  She put them on a baking sheet and glazed them with the sauce and cooked them like the recipe said.  We wanted to mention that it would have been a good idea if the recipe would have said to separate some of glaze so that we could have used it on top of the fish when it was done cooking.  Maybe you guys figured that out ahead of time :)  Ashley put together the Fluffy Fruit Dip and also cut up the fruit.  I misread the ingredient list for this recipe and only had regular cream cheese.  Ashley just put it in the mixing bowl and whipped it up before adding the marshmallow crème and that worked perfect!  For the fruit we used fresh pineapple that Brett cut up for us and then strawberries and apples.  We really liked this meal.  We also served rice and baked potatoes with it. The salmon had great flavor and was tender and the beans were good with a little zip and the fruit and the dip was excellent!  We liked this fruit dip better than the Nutella dip from a previous menu.  I also wanted to mention that I used the leftover green beans in a stir fry a few days later and they were excellent in it.  We will certainly fix this menu again :) 

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #35

We were finally able to cook this menu and it was so nice and easy!  I started the Slow Cooker Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches in the morning.  I got the meat and the veggies all sliced up and put in the slow cooker and then I added the dry Italian dressing and beef broth and turned the crock pot on low.  I did double the recipe.  When Dana and Ashley got there that night they prepared the other two recipes.  Dana fixed the Baked Seasoned Steak Fries and she followed the recipe, but cut back on the spices as she has made this recipe before and found it too strongly spiced.  Ashley fixed the Nutella Fruit Dip and cut up the fruit and of course that was very simple.  We assembled the sandwiches and used French bread that we had toasted in the oven and then we added the meat and we had to use shredded mozzarella cheese as I couldn't find the sliced provolone cheese.  The sandwiches were some of the best that we have had.  The guys really liked these sandwiches!  The meat was seasoned really good and it was very tender.  The steak fries were seasoned very nice and were a good side dish for the sandwich.  The dip turned out really good.  It was the first time that I have had nutella and it was really tasty with the strawberries and apples that we used.  We will definitely fix these recipes again! 

Rutter Kitchen- Menu #44

This was a fun menu to fix.  It was Ashley's first time picking for our cooking club :)  I started off in the afternoon fixing the Fresh Lime Salsa with my grandson Johnny's help.  He helped me juice the limes and get the salsa mixed up :) When it was closer to the time of eating, Dana added the chopped avocados.  Dana also fixed the first part of the Tres Leches Cake the night before and then she just brought it over to finish it up.  She has already posted about it on the blog. When Ashley got there, she and Dana fixed the Avocado Chicken Enchiladas.  They followed the recipe.  For the cooked chicken, we used some pkgs. of frozen sliced rotisserie chicken that I found in the freezer section at Walmart.  Very handy!  We thought this was a very tasty menu and will probably cook it again.  None of the men folk were there to try the meal, but samples were taken home for them to try and they liked the meal also. The cake was very good, but very rich.  It was fun to try though.

New Recipes

Good morning ladies! This week I am choosing menu 52. It has a low fat turkey bacon wrap, sweet spaghetti squash, and s'mores kiss cookies.

Jacki and Nika's Menu 34 Review

We all enjoyed the Slow Cooker Pineapple BBQ Beef Sandwiches, Deviled Eggs, and White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. For the BBQ Beef Sandwiches I used a little more meat than asked for in the recipe because we were feeding a larger crowd. There was plenty of sauce. I would recommend shredding the meat about an hour before serving time and then letting the meat soak in the juices to give it more flavor. I shredded and served right away like the recipe said and I didn't think it had very much flavor.  Everyone else seemed to like it. But it made a very tasty sandwich with provolone cheese, tomatoes, red onion slices, etc. Everyone seemed to like the Deviled Eggs. If you are not a mustard lover I would recommend adding a little less. I omitted the relish because I didn't have any. The White Chocolate Chip Cookies were good but dry. Three cups of flour was too much so I made a note to decrease next time. Maybe I measured wrong. I used half butter and half Crisco. We served some fresh pineapple, potato chips, cold slaw and fresh squeezed lemonade as side dishes. It was a really good meal. I forgot to take a picture of the meal all plated up but here are some pics of the leftovers:) Our eggs are really yellow because they are homegrown!

Jacki and Nika's Menu 13

Well, we have been cooking around here but I am behind on my posting so time to catch up. Last week we made the Korean Beef and Rice meal. It was surprisingly good! I doubled the recipe and followed it as directed. Good flavor. We served it over some Jasmine rice. The Ambrosia Fruit Salad was good and the kids really liked the marshmallow addition but I forgot to add the yogurt. Not sure how that happened. I did buy it but I guess I was just in a big hurry and didn't read the recipe correctly.  It was good without the yogurt and I am sure it would be good with it too. I served the coconut on the side because not everyone likes it. The Baked Apple Pie Egg Rolls were good and the kids seemed to enjoy them. Another fun group of recipies to make.