Weekly Menu/New Recipe/Gooseberry Patch cookbook winner!

Wow, that's a lot for one post! I have a lot to say today.
First, let me announce that I have been informed that I won another Gooseberry Patch Cookbook!  Jen over at Jen's Fun Little Things recently hosted a giveaway that someone else won, but never claimed. Sooo.. I was second place and I gratefully accept! She is sending me one of their new cookbooks, Homestyle in a Hurry.  If that title doesn't fit me, nothing does. I do love homestyle cooking but to make it in a hurry works even better! I'm so excited. I can't wait to receive this new book and get started on it.

Next, I want to share a recipe with you that I tried last week from my other Gooseberry Patch book, Slow Cookers, Casseroles and Skillets. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite go-to cookbooks.

The recipe is Grandma's Beef Caserole and was submitted by Eva Jo Hoyle of Mexico, MO

Ingredients

2 lbs stew beef, cubed

1/4 C all purpose flour

10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup

1.35oz pkg onion soup mix

4 oz can whole mushrooms, drained

1/2 cup red wine or beef broth

12 oz pkg medium egg noodles, cooked

Directions

Put beef cubes in a plastic zipping bag. Add flour; seal bag and shake to coat well (I added some salt and pepper to my flour) Brown beef in a heavy skillet that has been sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray; drain. In a slow cooker, combine beef with remaining ingredients except noodles. Cover and cook on low setting for 8-10 hours, or high setting for 5-6 hours. To serve, spoon over cooked noodles. Serves 6.

*I added a little more red wine later because it looked a little thick to me.

In spite of the mushrooms, (I used sliced mushrooms in a jar because that's what I had) Alex gave it a thumb's up. He just ate around them. Nick also gave this a thumb's up so I figure I have a family winner! I'm always excited to get their seal of approval after a new recipe. I'm definitely be adding this one to my favorites because it's so stinkin' easy. I made a loaf of bread (a recipe that I'll share later) with it and that too, was a huge hit.

I'm back on track with my weekly menu and it certainly makes life so much easier.

This week's menu follows.

Sunday:  The Pioneer Woman's Rib-eye steak with whiskey cream sauce, The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes, Pioneer Woman's Buttered Rosemary Rolls, and steamed broccoli. I had to add the broccoli since it's a PDub carb/carlorie fest!

Monday: Farmgirl Chicken and Dumplings from GBP Slow Cookers, Casseroles and Skillets

Tuesday: Spaghetti and salad (I have a meeting that night)

Wednesday: White wings with the trimmings  White wings are a Texas restaurant favorite that I've been trying to duplicate since leaving there over four years ago.

Thursday: Hoagie Bake from my GBP kitchen calendar.

Friday: I'm leaving this open because of the potential for leftovers.

Saturday: We have friends in town and we'll go out to eat.

I will share the new recipes as I try them out this week.

Have a happy Sunday!

Adult Dinner

Our boy is gone for the weekend and I decided to make something that he probably wouldn't care for if he were here. Nick requested steak and I was so glad because I already had this in the back of my mind.
I made The Pioneer Woman's Rib Eye Steak and Whiskey Cream Sauce. Oh My GOODNESS this is delicious. I seriously want to lick the pan when I make this sauce. I have posted about it before but didn't include pictures or the recipe. This time I will do both.

Here is the recipe in her amazing book. I love how she shows so many photos. You can't mess this up!

Here is the sauce cooking in my skillet. You can't imagine the smells coming from my kitchen.

The steaks in my iron skillet. Yummy.

The Recipe:

Rib Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce

5 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp diced onion
1/4 C whiskey or beef broth
1/4 C beef stock or broth
dash of salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 C light cream
2 rib-eye steaks

Melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat in a skillet. Add onion and cook until brown, about 4 minutes. When brown, turn off the burner temporarily and pour in the whiskey or 1/4 C beef broth. As soon as the whiskey evaporates, turn the burner on medium and pour in the remaining 1/4 C beef broth. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Whisk in another tablespoon of butter. Allow the mixture to bubble for 30 seconds, then reduce the heat to low. Over low heat, pour in the cream. Whisk, adding more cream if the mixture looks too brothy. Allow to simmer on very low heat while you prepare the steaks. Stir occasionally.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Generously salt and pepper the steak on both sides, then add it to the hot skillet.
For medium rare, cook for 2 mintues on each side of a thin steak or 3-4 mintues on each side of a thick steak. Place the steak on a plate and keep warm. Repeat with the other steak. You can cook both steaks at the same time if you prefer and your skillet is large enough.
Spoon the sauce over the steak!

As a side dish I decided to make Your Home Based Mom's Salt and Pepper Red Potatoes.

I have taken many recipes from Leigh Anne's blog and have never been disappointed. If you haven't looked in on what she's doing you absolutely must. Not only is she a great cook, but she does beautiful things with table settings and parties.

Here is Nick's plate as I served him dinner. I also threw in some roasted asparagus and the Pioneer Woman's Buttered Rosemary Rolls. I make these all the time and the only difficult thing about these is remembering to take the dough out of the freezer in time to bake them. Seriously.

After dinner we sat outside and watched the full moon rise over the bay. I had a lovely glass of red wine and Nick enjoyed a cigar. We miss our boy, but are taking advantage of some much needed adult time. I'm looking forward to the weekend. We're planning on taking a drive and maybe hitting a pumpkin patch or two.

What's For Dinner

Thanks to everyone who asked about the apple butter. I think it turned out very well! I saved a little in a plastic container for us to have this morning. (I didn't make biscuits after all, because I overslept) However, I did make oatmeal and toast. The apple butter was delicious in the oatmeal AND on the toast. I think it's a keeper. Even picky boy ate it on his waffles this morning. He doesn't do oatmeal so he got frozen waffles and bacon.
So after my day in the kitchen yesterday I was feeling ambitious. I have been digging through blogs and other sites to find some good fall recipes. The weather here is cooler and I'm craving comfort food that I wouldn't have made in Hawaii.
My friend Mindee at Our Front Door has a fabulous blog and she has a whole section of recipes. If you go to her blog and click on the tab that says "In the fridge"  You will find lots of yumminess and the recipe that I made for dinner tonight. Spaghetti and meatballs.
Before I go bragging about how I pulled this off I must admit that I didn't make my sauce. I used a jar. The jars are so good that I rarely make my own sauce. I have done it, just not tonight.
So, I get ready to make the meatballs. I get the ingredients out, mix it all together, heat up my skillet with olive oil and pull the recipe over to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. Ooops, she doesn't brown hers in a skillet, she bakes them in the oven. Once again, I got ahead of myself on a recipe and messed it up. I had the pan with the hot oil so I browned them that way. I dumped my jars of sauce into a large pot and as I drained the meatballs, into the sauce they went.

Mindee also suggests putting the sauce and meatballs into your crockpot to cook all day. I planned to do that until I realized my meat was frozen this morning. I had to let it thaw THEN make the meatballs THEN cook them and put them into the sauce. Hopefully, next time I will be better prepared.
I also made the Pioneer Woman's Buttery Rosemary Rolls. Let me just tell you that these are by far the best rolls I have ever eaten. I could've skipped the meal and had the pan of rolls. They are so easy too! The hardest part of this recipe is remembering to get the frozen dough balls out of the freezer so they can thaw and rise during the day. Other than that, you brush some melted butter on them, sprinkle with some kosher salt and rosemary and easy peasy... you have gourmet bread.
I hit a homerun with dinner tonight. Picky boy loved the spaghetti and meatballs. He especially loved those rolls. He even ate the roasted asparagus I made. I call tonight a success.
Tomorrow night, I think we're having meatball sandwiches. I have way too many leftover and just can't bring myself to start over and make a meal.
Try these rolls and let me know what you think!

Pioneer Woman and Chicken Spaghetti

Tonight I made the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti for dinner. Oh my, was it delicious! This was not my first time to make chicken spaghetti, oh no. I volunteered for years at our Texas church's youth camp working in the kitchen. Chicken spaghetti was one of the favorite meals of the week. It happens to be one of my oldest son's favorite recipes.
P-Dub's version is delicious though. However, I did have to omit the cayenne pepper and bell peppers. Alex would never put anything in his mouth remotely spicey and I just don't do bell peppers. They don't like me. Don't ask, you don't want to know.
I did make another significant change to her recipe. Instead of boiling the chicken, I roasted it. I'm a huge food network geek and I love the Barefoot Contessa. Can I just say that I would love to live her life? I mean, let's face it. She lives in the Hamptons, has famous friends, and her husband works out of town part of the week and comes home on the weekends. How fabulous is that?
 Anyway, I digress. Ina Garten says never boil your chicken, roast it. I absolutely have lived by this rule since seeing this on TV. I roast chicken for casseroles, chicken salad and anything else I need a cooked chicken for. It's easy enough and it's oh so moist and delicious.
Start out with your bone in, skin on chicken breasts. Put them on your oldest most favored baking sheet like this.

As you can see, I've added some olive oil, salt and pepper. Easy peasy, right? Put those bad boys in the oven at 350 degrees until they're done. I don't know how long it takes, I wait until I can smell them. I check them then and pull them out.

Beautiful, aren't they?  Oh, and by the way, it's so much tastier if you use an old, well used baking sheet like this one. I've had it since my wedding shower. My FIRST wedding. (27 years ago. Yes, I was a baby)

Next, put a warm blankie (aluminum foil) over them and let them rest. I personally perform better after a little nap, so why wouldn't the chicken need one?

After they have rested and cooled, shred them. Or chop them. Whatever you prefer.

This is by far the best way to make a juicy chicken for any recipe.

After shredding, I put their little carcasses and these yummy juices and bits into a stock pot and made my stock. I used that to cook my pasta.

See all that chicken fat goodness? It does a body good. Well, it does my soul good. My body..not so much probably.
I regret to tell you that this is the last photo I took. I would've taken one of the finished chicken spaghetti but my family was starving and scarfed it down. It wasn't pretty.
I served it with garlic bread and steamed broccoli. The broccoli makes up for the cream of mushroom and chicken fat..right?
Now the dishwasher is humming. My boy is doing homework. My husband is either checking homework or has crawled into his study to geek on his own. My house is quiet and it's my favorite time. I think I'll turn on some mindless TV.
Check in tomorrow when I announce a giveaway! Yes, I've been offered an opportunity to give away a great prize. You don't want to miss it!