Meal Plan Monday

Hello everyone! Happy Monday to you. How was your weekend?  We had

another good one, filled with hockey, tennis, swimming and visiting with family.  It was great!

Here's our meal plan for the week:

Monday - Homemade "Shake & Bake" Chicken, Homemade Perogies and Peas

Tuesday - Taco Tuesday! (using our homemade Taco Seasoning)

Wednesday - Butternut Squash Soup, Kale Salad & Buns

Thursday - Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Friday - Leftovers

I'm really looking forward to the Butter Chicken...oh sooooo good!

Have a great week!

Meal Plan Monday

Hello everyone, I'm back again with this week's meal plan.  I'm sorry if you

missed me last week - I took a little break from the blog - had some stuff going on, and was also busy with Halloween.  

How was your Halloween?  We had a phenomenal night.  We have a great neighborhood with some creative neighbors who like to get right into the fun spirit of Halloween.  It's nice because there is no competition in the neighborhood, just everyone wanting to make it a great evening!  We welcomed 155 kids to our door - my husband had a blast entertaining the groups when they came to our house, and I had a blast trick-or-treating with the kids.  I was so proud of my little guys, at each house they visited they both showed great manners, thanking everyone for their treats, wishing everyone a Happy Halloween, and complimenting homes where there were decorations that they liked.

Now that the "holiday" is over, I'm "back to the grind"...here is this week's meal plan!

Sunday - Slow Cooker Meatballs, Rice and Corn

Monday - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Dawn's Baked Beans, and Carrots

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - Spaghetti with Dawn's Tomato Sauce

Thursday - Butternut Squash Soup with Cheddar, Chive and Sundried Tomato Bread

Friday - Breakfast for Dinner Night - Cinnamon Raisin French Toast, Bacon, Hashbrowns

Saturday - Steak, Baked Potatoes, Grilled Vegetables

I hope you have a fantastic week!

Meal Plan Monday

It's that time, time for Meal Plan Monday!  Here is our plan for this coming week:

Sunday - Slow Cooker Meatballs, Rice and Salad

Monday - Butternut Squash Soup and Sandwiches

Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Friday - Butter Chicken

Saturday - Homemade Pizza

I hope you find some inspiration in the list above!

Butternut Squash Soup

Yes, we are still on the soup kick around here :-)  My hubby loves butternut squash soup, and well, I've never really been a squash fan...at least not growing up.  Then I discovered this Spaghetti Squash Casserole that got me more open to eating squash.  So I figured, what the heck, let's find a squash soup recipe and see how it turns out.  Well...the verdict is below.

I found this recipe in My Father's Daughter - I've been enjoying a lot of the recipes in this book.  It's been a nice addition to my collection of cookbooks.

Butternut Squash Soup (Source: My Father's Daughter)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 yellow onions, peeled and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (or garam masala)
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
4 cups vegetable stock - warmed gently in a pot

Over medium heat and in a large pot, heat the olive oil and the butter until the butter is melted.

Add in the onions and garlic.  Saute for approximately 10 minutes, or until the onions start to soften.  Add the salt, pepper and curry powder, cook for another few minutes.  Add the squash and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add in the vegetable stock.  If the stock does not cover the vegetables in the pot, it is OK to add some boiling water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the butternut squash is very soft.

Remove from heat and allow to sit and cool for at least 15 minutes.  I let mine cool for about 25 minutes (I was watching a show on TV...doesn't happen often so I took advantage of the moment!).  I also transferred my soup to a big serving bowl to cool and for processing.

Bring out your food processor and puree your soup in batches.  Do NOT overfill your food processor, and do NOT use hot foods in it...that will cause a big mess and potentially some injury! (I have not learned that lesson, but have heard the lesson and am passing it along!).

Put the processed soup back into your soup pot.  Repeat the process until all of the soup has been processed.  At this point you could re-heat and serve, or you can do like me.  I made my soup the night before and we ate it for dinner the next day - for a few reasons - first because it does take a while to prepare and if your family is like mine after school/work - they want to eat by 5:30 and I wouldn't have the soup ready in time - and two - I feel that the flavour gets a lot of extra time to set in if you refrigerate overnight and heat to serve the next day.  

VERDICT
I know, you've been waiting for this :-)  Well, let's just say that I haven't heard my husband get so excited about soup before.  Like ever.  The noises that he was making were entertaining.  I think he ate half of the pot for dinner.  And he was asking how soon I would make more.  He liked it that much.  I was a little worried when I was prepping the soup - it smelled a lot like pumpkin and I don't particularly like pumpkins unless they are the jack-o-lantern variety, and also I was a little concerned about the curry flavour - I wasn't sure if it would be too overpowering.  But it wasn't. It was good.  Thumbs up from everyone (except the toddler, but he had a fever and not much was making him happy at dinner).  This soup is one that I will make again.