What I'm Making/Made this Week - June 25 through July 1, 2012

I have been cooking.  It's just that I'm doing it a little at a time.  One thing for sure is that our mourning process for one of our pug clean-up crew requires a lot of comfort food and sweets.

Here's what I've made so far:

Monday is Vegan Day and I found another recipe out of Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson that I wanted to make.  Then I added it to one of my favorites from the book that I already made.  I present to you Home-Style Loaf with Garlic Mashers...

© You Want Me to Cook?
Home-Style Loaf with Garlic Mashers

What I'm Making This Week - 6/4 through 6/10

I've been cooking so much, I've gotten REALLY behind on posting.  It's ridiculous.  I still want  you all to see what I'm doing, so I thought I'd do two new things:

• I'm going to post my meal plan for the week every Sunday.
• Each night, I'm going to post the things I've cooked for the day.

I'm really hoping I'll be able to stay on top of these two things so you can see what I'm doing.

If this were me, I'd be missing a finger... probably two.

This week's meal plan is:

• Monday - Vegan day!!!
• Old Fashioned Hamburger Buns (for sloppy joes)
• Very Sloppy Joes
• Crispy Chickpea Onion Rings
• Ooey-Gooey Brownies
• Tuesday
• {lunch} Bacon Fried Rice
• {dinner} Beef and Black Bean Enchiladas
• {dinner - side dish} Spicy Black Beans
• {dinner - side dish} Mexican Red Rice
• {dessert} Marshmallow Fondant
• Wednesday
• {breakfast} Pistachio-Chai Muffins
• {lunch} Shrimp Cobb Salad
• {dinner} Penne with Pancetta, Sage and Mushrooms (served with salad & crusty bread)
• {drink} Pink Lemonade
• {dessert} When I Grow Up Cupcakes
• Thursday
• {breakfast} Jump-Start Smoothies
• {lunch} Cheddar & Pickles Grilled Cheese
• {dinner} Sage & Prosciutto Chicken Saltimbocca with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes & Asparagus
• {dessert} Chewy Peanut Butter-Caramel Bars
• Friday
• {lunch} Quinoa Stuffed Avocados
• {appetizers} Baked Clam Dip with Crusty French Bread Dippers
• {dinner} Chili-Braised Fish with Tomatoes & Potatoes
• {drink} Butterscotch Martinis
• {dessert} Coconut Rice Custard
• Saturday
• {breakfast} Bacon-Egg Breakfast Bites
• {lunch} Mushroom-Onion Stuffed Potatoes
• {dinner} Spaghetti with Bacon Meatballs
• {dessert} Roses to the Occasion cake
• Sunday
• Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Empanadas

Check back in daily to see what I've made!

And the Thanksgiving Planning Begins

If you haven't already heard from my Facebook page, I found out that I will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner for about 10 people.  Although I've had large dinner parties before, none of them have been the scale of a traditional holiday meal.  Oh, I've never made a turkey before either.

YIKES!!!!!

So I’ve nailed down my Thanksgiving menu and ordered my turkey (a 16-18 pounder since I want plenty left over for casseroles, sandwiches and soups).  The preparations start tomorrow with a trip to the store for all the non-produce items needed for dinner.  Of course, we’ve determined that our eat-in kitchen won’t seat all 10 people (or really give enough room for us to put the leaves in our dining room table) so there’s going to be a lot of furniture re-arranging to turn our living room into a dining room while keeping it functional for people to relax before and after dinner.

And I don’t want to talk about the cleaning.  I’ve already assigned bathroom detail to my husband.

I have to admit that I’m a little frightened about making the turkey.  I’ve gotten a lot of advice on how to do it, but a lot of it conflicts with each other.  For example, some people say to cook it upside down, some say to brine it, some say to not baste it… my head is spinning!!!  What I decided to do is pick a recipe that closely follows the advice of the Butterball experts so if I get caught in a pickle, I can call them for help.  Just in case, I’m thinking about making sure I have a ton of chicken just in case I need to whip up a meal quickly. 

Here is the menu: