Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween everyone! I'm about to go make the kiddos some orange scrambled eggs (a couple drops of red food coloring mixed in) with "pumpkin toast" (pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the bread). We are excited for some trick or treating tonight (I've had a bunch of orange burlap that I bought on sale a while ago, and decided to make the kiddos their own bags to hold their treats...) and then home to make our caramel apples (we didn't get to this on Saturday). I hope you have a festive day, and here is our meal plan for the week!

*Monday: Growing up my Mom always made soup/chili/stew on Halloween night. We always had to fill our tummies up with dinner before heading out to collect treats. I like that idea. So tonight we'll have our leftover Chili & Cornbread.

*Tuesday: Black Bean Pie (with avocados)

*Wednesday: Baked Potato Night

*Thursday: Orzo with Roasted Vegetables (see recipe below)

*Friday: Leftovers

*Saturday: Date night. FINALLY! We have several restaurants we've been itching to try...

*Sunday: Nachos (like these) have become one of our favorite "fast meals". Trader Joe's has some yummy refried Black Beans that we love. Topped with some good salsa, peppers & avocados, I hardly even need the chips!

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

• 1 small eggplant, peeled and diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 lb orzo
• 4 scallions, minced
  
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• feta cheese
• fresh basil for garnish (optional)

for the dressing:

• 1/2 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp kosher salt (or less)

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 425*. toss eggplant, peppers, onion, garlic, olive oil, S&P. place on baking dish and roast for 30-40 minutes, until browned.

2. meanwhile, cook the orzo according to directions. drain and transfer to large serving bowl.

3. add roasted vegetables to the orzo, scraping all the liquid and seasonings from the roasting pan.

4. combine all the ingredients for the dressing and pour over orzo. let cool (room temp) and add scallions, pine nuts , feta and basil.

Another menu--

This week, Burke is out of town almost the entire week. So again, I'm going for simple, simple, simple dinners. With three little rugrats following me around in the kitchen, I need quick/easy ideas to keep everyone happy. Here they are:

*Monday: Baked Potatoes (we didn't have these last week...and they're a favorite, so repeat it is!)

*Tuesday: Black Bean Pie

*Wednesday: "Pig-in-a-Blankets" and green salad. These were one of our favorites growing up. I'll admit, I'm not too excited about this dinner, but it will make the kids happy. :) Simply wrap any kind of "dog" (smokey links, sausages, hot dogs...) in a biscuit with a little ketchup and shredded cheese. Roll in bread crumbs. With the seam side down, place on a baking sheet and bake for 350* for about 10 minutes, or until browned on top and cooked through the biscuit. Kids LOVE making these. I'm pretty sure my almost 5 year old could do them all by himself.

*Thursday: Split Pea Soup with homemade whole wheat croutons (I know it is probably against split pea soup rules to not use a ham bone...but I'm going to experiment...)

*Friday: Out with Burke! He'll finally be home...so we'll probably celebrate and try a new restaurant.

*Saturday: Church Christmas Party (dinner is included--YES!)

*Sunday: Crock Pot Lasagna-The first time I tried this recipe (from THIS book), I was quite skeptical. But both the lasagna addict (Burke) and myself LOVE it! It is SO simple to make, and really tastes delicious. Who doesn't love a good crock pot meal? See recipe below.


Slow Cooker Lasagna

-12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
-1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey), browned and drained
-1 tsp. Italian seasoning
-1 jar (28 oz) spaghetti sauce
-1/4 c. water
-1 carton (16 oz.) cottage cheese
-2 c. mozzarella cheese, grated

Break noodles in half. Place half of the noodles in bottom of greased 4-quart slow cooker. Stir Italian seasoning into meat and spread half over the noodles already in slow cooker. Then layer half of the sauce and water, half of cottage cheese, and half of mozzarella cheese over beef. Repeat layers. cover and cook on low heat 4-5 hours. Do not cook more than 5 hours.