Sausage, Potato, Pepper Bake

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium onion

2. 6 large baking potatoes

3. 1/2 tsp of salt

4. dash of black pepper

5. 1/2 Tbs. of dried basil

6. 2-3 Tbs of olive oil

7. 2 pounds of mild Italian sausage (hot will work too of that's what you have on hand or prefer)

8. 2 large or 3 small green peppers

9. 3/4 cup of water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Slice the onion in thin strips

3. Cut the potatoes roughly into 1/4 inch pieces

4.  Layer onion and potatoes on the bottom of a greased baking dish

5. Cut peppers into rings (this time I cut them into slices because the kids prefer that) and place on top of potatoes

6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and basil (above measurements are approximates.  I season to taste and sometimes add garlic powder and onion powder depending on my mood.  Season the way you like it)

7. Pour oil over veggies and mix, then add the 3/4 cup of water

8. Arrange sausages on top and piece each link with a fork

9. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour

10. Uncover and bake for another 20-30 minutes until sausages are browned and the potatoes are tender

Makes 6-8 servings 

I sometimes serve this with a side salad and rolls or fresh Italian bread.

Enjoy!!
 

Menu Plan 9/16 to 9/22

 This Thursday Autumn begins.  And I saw on social media that we have 14 weeks until Christmas. I swear the older I get, time flies faster than a rocket ship.  

And we have another week of meal planning.  Saturday night I planned for pizza since we finally celebrated M's birthday with his friends.  Unfortunately for him, his actual birthday was August 14.  That meant we were only back from vacation for 2 weeks, and I was trying to get two boys off to college.  I just could not add in another thing.  So, I promised him a 10th birthday party, but it would have to wait.  Saturday was the day and I think the boys had a fun.  I had Game Truck come for the party and the boys had a blast.  I've used them in the past for the older boys, and they have always done a good job.  But just like everything else, the price increased SIGNIFICANTLY.  I was really surprised.  

We still have football going on and now this week starts basketball tryouts.  I feel like sports just never end and I know I've said it before, but I don't like it.  I would put my foot down and say no basketball, but the therapist says that keeping him in sports, helps with his anxiety.  How do I argue against sports with that logic?  I guess I can't, and I just have to put my head down and plow through. But right now, I'm sports-fatigued.

The puppy and I spent the morning watching the Queen's funeral.  Such a historic event.  I'm sad it's the end of an era, but she lived such an amazing life of service.  Rest In Peace.  Job well done.

This week's menu plan.  I shopped at Aldi this week and supplemented at Giant Eagle for drinks and cake for the party (the $20 ice-cream cake is up to $27...oy)

Friday:  Slow Cooker Tomato Soup and grilled cheese

Saturday:  Sheet pizza for the party

Sunday:  Baked Chicken Thighs, pan fried potatoes, and tomato and mozzarella salad (tomatoes from the garden)

Monday:  Generals chicken with rice and broccoli

Tuesday:  Turkey tacos

Wednesday:  Turkey burgers and hot dogs on the grill, baked potato, and corn

Thursday:  Clean-up Day

I'm still working on getting my grocery budget down.  I'm trying different stores to see where the best place is to save money.  

And I'm toying with the idea of making Saturday night "pizza night" and trying out different pizza types (that I make myself).  But we'll see how it goes.

Have a blessed week ahead!!

Menu Plan for the week of 9/8-9/15

 Do you feel like you are losing inspiration on what to cook?  I do.  I feel like I make the same things over and over again, or I feel just uninspired.  But we have to eat.

The older boys are at college, so that means that I'm just cooking for the three of us.  Adjusting my cooking and my serving sizes has been interesting and a bit daunting.    We have had A LOT of leftovers.  The good thing with all this is that my grocery budget has gone down, and when I get the hang of cooking for three, it should go down even more (but I miss those guys and would take a heavier budget if it meant having them home).

I've also been cooking things that my middle son is allergic to.  With him away at college, I feel safe cooking wheat pasta and using flour.  Of course, I am still keeping my pans safe for when he comes home.  I have a limited set of pans that I used for non-allergy safe foods.

Thursday 9/8:  Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup
I based my soup off of this recipe but I made it my own.  I started by sautéing celery, carrots, and onion in butter.  Once those were softened and fragrant, I added in the other ingredients except for the cream of chicken soup.  I just didn't feel like making my own that morning, so I left it out. And I added in 32 ounces of chicken stock and a ham bone that I found in the freezer (that's why my soup will look beige in the photo, it was from a smoked ham. The ham bone added a really nice depth of flavor to the soup).  I also added a cup of heavy cream about an hour before the soup was done.  I dissolved a tablespoon of corn starch in the cream before added to help thicken the soup.  It turned out really well.

Friday 9/9:  Mrs. T's Pierogis
The Little One had a football night on Friday and I was pressed for time.  And honestly, I think I need to add in some convenience foods into my menu every so often.  Mama needs a break.  Fridays are meatless at our house, and this was a quick and easy dinner, and it ended up being a big hit.  I haven't made these in a long time.  I used to sauté or boil them.  But the directions said you could also put them in the oven, and I think that is now my favorite way to make them.  After they were cooked, I poured some melted butter over them and we really enjoyed that simple, cost-effective dinner. 

Saturday 9/10:  Homemade pizza
This will be my first time of making homemade pizza dough in almost 20 years.  J is deathly allergic to wheat, so I don't use wheat flour when he is around.  But I thought it would be nice for us to do that for pizza night.  It's also cost effective, and I like being able to control the ingredients that I use.  

Sunday 9/11:  Homemade Sauce, Meatballs, and Rigatoni
Sunday pasta dinner is always so good.  But I have an ulterior motive for doing this today.  Tuesday I'm doing a Meal Train meal for a family from our church, and I'm doing an Italian night for them. I've been doing this about once a month, and I try to do a different theme every time.  I'm making the sauce and meatballs on Sunday when I have more time.  I will be serving them on Tuesday and I'm using cheese ravioli since the mom needs to have soft foods.  

Monday 9/12: Beef Ramen Noodles

Tuesday 9/13:  This is the Meal Train Night. Homemade sauce, meatballs, cheese ravioli, salad, garlic bread, and cookies
We are having the same, but without the cookies.

Wednesday 9/14:  Grilled Mexican Chicken Thighs, rice, and vegetables

Thursday 9/15:  Clean up night

I'm really trying to get my grocery budget down.  I've been using Walmart more frequently since they have fairly good prices.  And I fill in at our local grocery with things that Walmart doesn't have.  We also Joined a CSA this summer and we pick up our produce box on 
Thursdays (this coming Thursday will be our last of the season, but we are surrounded by local farms, so I feel really blessed to be able to get fresh, local produce).  The price of everything has skyrocketed and I need to cut costs on what I can.  Food is the biggest way that I can have control over the budget.  I really am trying so you may see some different things on my menu plans.  I am still trying to eat cheaply but keep it as healthy as I can.  If you have any cost saving advice, please let it in comments.  

Have a blessed week ahead!!

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Menu Plan Monday: February 1 2021

 What  I love about menu planning is that I have all the food on hand, a plan, but that everything can be flexible.  We had a lot of left overs at the end of last week so I took Thursdays meal (Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken) and moved it to Saturday and Thursday ended up being "left over day".  Wednesday's meal of mini meatloaves and mashed potatoes got turned into shepherds pie due to the fact that the slow cooker mashed potatoes were over cooked.  Although things don't always go as planned, everybody ate.

I was disappointed in the slow cooker mashed potatoes.  I've never had a slow cooker meal fail so miserably.  The potatoes burned to the side of the slow cooker.  I tried to mash them anyway, and I had to pull out the burned parts.  The potatoes themselves were thick and gummy.  But I turned the whole thing into shepherds pie and the family loved it.  I had never made shepherds pie before and they asked that I add it into rotation.

Friday:  Naan Bread Pizza

I made a white pizza with banana peppers and Kalamata olives, a white pizza with banana peppers, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese (the husband I don't eat meat on Fridays), and a traditional pepperoni for the 8 year old.  The middle son had his gluten free pizza.

Saturday:  Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Everything started off fine (first photo), but again the entire dish was just over cooked.  The chicken was so dry (it was so dry that I choked on it and it got stuck.  Things were a little scary but I'm ok).  So we figured out that the slow cooker is broken and just cooking everything on high instead of the low setting that I programed it for.  So now I'm on the hunt for a new slow cooker.

Sunday:  Garlic butter chicken, baked potatoes in the air fryer, and honey glazed carrots
No slow cooker involved so dinner turned out great.

I rubbed the potatoes with avocado oil and sprinkled with kosher salt.  I cooked them in the air fryer at 400 degrees F for 50 minutes. 
The chicken breasts were HUGE but I also had smaller thighs and legs.  I started the breasts 20 minutes ahead of the smaller pieces.   I melted butter and mixed it with chopped garlic then I brushed the chicken pieces front and back with the butter mixture and sprinkled with our favorite Greek seasoning.  I cooked the chicken at 400 degrees until it reached the internal temperature of 165 degrees. I steamed the carrots and melted 2 tbs of butter and mixed with 2-3 tbs of honey and poured it over the carrots.

Monday:  Red beans and rice with andouille sausage
I will use the ingredients I have on hand but this is the recipe from a Pinch of Healthy that I'm basing it on.

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
I have a small slow cooker (my larger one is now in the trash) that I think I can use for this.  I have made this dish for so many years that I just do it from memory.  The recipe that is close to what I do is this recipe from All Recipes.

Wednesday:  Tater Tot Casserole (Cowboy Casserole) from the Cutting Edge of Ordinary.  This one is a family favorite.  I got this recipe over 10 years ago from Menu Plan Monday.  

Thursday:  Tacos

So that's our menu for this week.  It's a good thing I only had one slow cooker meal planned for the week.  If anyone has a slow cooker that they love and that works great for them, please let me know in comments.

For more menu plans and dinner ideas see Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie