I was very thankful that I made all of my meals ahead of time last week. Our schedule was so busy that if I hadn't, we would have been eating out - yuck! The only meal I didn't get to was Saturday's sausage and cheese turnovers. We ended up needing to finish off the leftovers from other meals. I'll have to try them again on a week when we aren't so busy. The hits of the week were the Pepper Jack Mac Cups (next time I'll just make it as a casserole - the "cups" were kind of a pain, even if they were cute) and the BBQ Beef and Bean Cornbread Casserole.

Fall is simply busy at our house with cross country and band. So, I went ahead and did all of my cooking for the week ahead of time again. I feel so much relief when I spend a couple of hours on Sunday getting everything prepared for the week. Now I know that my family will eat pretty well. We only have a couple of days where we just won't be around to eat dinner at home. I have a couple of great new recipes this week as well as some well-loved standards. The boys are pretty happy with the menu. :) For more menu ideas, see orgjunkie.com. Enjoy!

Sunday - Roast Beef and Gravy on Baked Potatoes, Salad
Monday - Sausage Potato Soup, Salad
Tuesday - Eat out (cross country meet and band performance on the same night!)
Wednesday - Turkey Club Pie, Basil Green Beans, Peaches
Thursday - Spaghetti with Meatballs, Salad
Friday - Meatball Pops, Broccoli, Salad
Saturday - Eat Out (math contest and band contest)

This weekend Eric and I had some free time together while we were waiting for Corey to finish math practice at MSU. We decided to head to downtown Springfield for lunch, and then headed out to see what was new in the downtown area. My love for everything chocolate quickly brought us to a chocolate factory! Can you believe it? A chocolate factory right in downtown Springfield! If you haven't visited Askinosie Chocolate on Commercial Street, pop in sometime. They have fabulous dark chocolate, and they host tours of the factory for the public on Tuesday afternoons. They will also do tours at other times if you call ahead to make arrangements. For all of my boy scout and girl scout leader friends, you need to do this with your kids. Check out more info at their website at http://www.askinosie.com/.

Ingredients:

8 Oreo Cookies, divided
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) sugar free vanilla flavor instant pudding
2 cups cold skim milk
3/4 cup thawed fat free Cool Whip whipped topping, divided

Directions:
Break 1 cookie into 4 pieces; reserve for garnish. Crush remaining cookies.
Beat pudding mix and milk with whisk 2 min. Stir in crushed cookies and 1/2 cup Cool Whip.
Spoon into 4 dessert dishes; top with remaining cool whip and reserved cookie pieces.

Recipe Source - Kraft

These are simple to make and taste great. I did not put the breadcrumbs and butter on top, and they still looked good and tasted wonderful. I made a double batch and froze the second part of them.


Ingredients:
1 can (10.2 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese
10 refrigerated or frozen cooked beef meatballs, thawed
1/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup finely crushed seasoned croutons
10 large appetizer picks or lollipop sticks, if desired
1 1/2 cups tomato pasta sauce, heated

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, or spray with no-stick cooking spray. Separate dough into 5 biscuits. Split each biscuit to make 10 rounds. Press out each biscuit half to form 3-inch round.

2. Sprinkle each biscuit round with cheese to within 1/2 inch of edge. Top each with meatball. Bring up sides of dough over meatball; pinch edges to seal. Brush rounded tops and sides of dough with butter; coat with croutons. Place, seam side down, on cookie sheet.

3. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

4. Place appetizer pick in each biscuit-wrapped meatball to form meatball pop. Serve with warm pasta sauce for dipping.

Recipe Source - Pillsubry

1 1/2 c. cut up cooked turkey
8 slices crispy, crumbled, cooked turkey bacon
1 c. cheddar cheese
1/2 c. reduced fat Bisquick
1 c. skim milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400. Combine turkey, bacon and cheese in a pie plate. Combine Bisquick, milk and eggs; pour on top of other ingredients already in pie plate. Bake 30-35 minutes, I like to top mine with sliced tomato and sliced red onion for the last 15 minutes of the bake time.

Recipe Source - A Couch with a View

This is one of my family's favorite soups. It is hearty and very tasty. I chop the carrot and celery very fine so that even my non-veggie eating son enjoys this one.

Ingredients
1 14 oz package Butterball Smoked Turkey Sausage
6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed with skin on
1 cup frozen corn
2 cups chicken broth
1 celery rib, sliced
1/4 cup sliced carrot
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-1/2 cups milk
5 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
Directions:
In a large saucepan, brown sausage; drain. Set sausage aside. In the same pan,
combine the potatoes, corn, broth, celery, carrot and seasonings. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Add the milk, cheese, parsley and sausage. Cook and stir over low heat until
cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Makes 10 1 cup servings.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Last week's menu of all new items went pretty well except for one night. We ended up not liking the Honey Lime Enchiladas. The sweet and spicy combination just didn't work for us. I was nervous about trying the Afghan recipes on my book club girls, but the recipes all turned out very well. The Drunken Jerk Chicken was probably the hit of the week.

This week is going to be a busy one for us as it is homecoming week at Corey's school, he has a cross country meet (and we are hosting the whole team at our house for dinner), and I have parent night at my school. So, I had to pick menu items that I could cook ahead today and have ready to heat up throughout the week. I also cooked a crustless quiche that we can heat up for breakfasts.

Here's this week's menu. For more menu ideas go to orgjunkie.com. Enjoy, and have a great week!

Sunday - BBQ Beef and Bean Cornbread Casserole, Salad, Fruit
Monday - Pepper Jack Mac Cups, Salad, Fruit cup
Tuesday - Grilling hamburgers for the cross country team
Wednesday - Turkey Medallions with Cider Sauce, Day Before Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Thursday - Cheeseburger Potato Pie, Spinach, Salad
Friday - Homecoming - Eat at ball game
Saturday - Sausage and Cheese Turnovers, Green Beans, Peaches