dinner for the week of 6/25

Monday: french toast bake (stolen from Pinterest, recipe here) and sausage links

Tuesday: swiss steak and baked potato in the crock pot (I will use home grown tomatoes from last year's garden that I froze--yummy!)  Easy meal--baseball tourney at 6:30pm!

Wednesday: chicken club ring (recipe from Pampered Chef, All The Best cookbook) and corn on the cob (again, from last year's garden!)

Thursday: enchiladas from the freezer (possible baseball game, if not, then practice)

Friday: meatballs and cheesy potatoes (the meatballs are made and in the freezer)

This week I am trying to use up some things we have in the freezer.  I am not grocery shopping this week except for milk and bread.  :)  

sausage & cheddar quiche

This recipe for sausage & cheddar quiche is adapted from a recipe I found at allrecipes.com.  The original called for bacon and swiss. . . I had neither, so just threw in the sausage and cheddar.  Sometimes, I also throw in some chopped jalapenos, if I'm feeling like some extra heat.  

1 Pillsbury pie crust (in the refrigerated section)

1/2 pound browned sausage

4 eggs

1 cup half & half

shredded cheddar cheese to taste (about 1 cup)

salt & pepper to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place pie crust in pie pan and crimp edges.  Mix the browned sausage and cheddar together and place in the bottom of the pie crust.  Beat the eggs and add the half & half.  Also, add the salt & pepper, and jalapenos if you want.  Pour this mixture over the sausage and cheddar.  Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Then, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 35 minutes or until top is brown and the quiche is firm.  I use a crust shield to keep the crust from getting too dark.  Enjoy!  

time savers

I have come to rely on a few things to save myself time--or at least make things easier for me--especially on busy nights.
1.  Plan meals weekly.  I like the template available at The Project Girl.  It works for me.  I plan 2 or more weeks in advance, and I use the grocery list for the items I will need for the following week.  Of course, things change, but at least I have an idea of what I can fix based on the groceries I already have on hand.  I will flip flop nights, or fix something similar.
2.  Buy ground beef in 3# chubs and brown it all at once and freeze in smaller portions.  Most everything I fix for our family that includes ground beef, I need 1#.  After work, or before a ballgame, the last thing I want to do is brown the hamburger for a recipe.  So, I do it ahead of time and freeze it, then just pull it out and defrost it in the microwave for a couple minutes.  Presto!  Dinner is ready MUCH faster this way, AND, I am more inclined to fix a meal at home rather than grab carry-out pizza.
3.  Mix up meatballs, meatloaf, and/or hamburger patties and freeze.  Just today I used 3# of ground beef and made a meatloaf and 6 hamburger patties that I stuck in the freezer for another time.  Another huge timesaver.  I can plan ahead and pull the meatloaf or meatballs out the night before, and the hamburger patties can easily be thrown on the grill frozen.  Much tastier than the prepared ones you can buy in the store!

Feel free to share your time saving ideas!