Menu Plan for the Week of August 21st

I know I'm jumping the gun with my menu plan for next week, but I found some great new recipes (gotta love Pinterest!) that I am eager to try using the meats and beans in my freezer and pantry items I have on hand. So, I'm goin' for it even though I usually wait to post my menu plan until after the Kroger weekly ad is out on Saturday evenings to see what produce and meats are on sale.

My oldest will be starting back at Mother's Day Out twice a week beginning the 30th, so I thought it would be helpful to get a little more in-depth in my menu planning in preparation for once again fixing lunches.

Here's what we will be eating:

Breakfasts
Oatmeal with berries
Pancakes with maple syrup and fresh fruit
Cheese toast with scrambled eggs

Lunches
Black bean quesadillas with grapes
Peanut butter & fluff sandwiches (special treat) with carrot sticks
Cheese & turkey cracker stacks with plums
Leftovers

Dinners
Sunday: Roast dippers on hoagie rolls with potato salad (recipe to come!)

Monday: Erin's Sweet, Spicy, Sticky Chicken on brown rice, with broccoli slaw {Healthier Chinese Take-out}

Tuesday: Roast beef burritos with homemade salsa

Wednesday: Chili Blanco (from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook) with sweet potato quesadillas

Thursday: Fried chicken bites (from the August Southern Living) with homemade honey mustard dressing, roasted potatoes, and green beans

Friday: Pizza Night!!

Saturday: Leftovers

What's on your menu?

Homemade Berry Cobbler

After a recent trip to Gram-Gram and Papa's house, my daughter brought home a bag of blackberries and blueberries that immediately went into the freezer for pancakes and oatmeal. Coupled with our weekly trips to the farmer's market where I have been buying a quart or two of blueberries at a time, I have accumulated quite a "berry stash." I am what you might call "a berry hoarder." I LOVE fresh blueberries and blackberries! So, last weekend when my husband brought home a gallon of blueberries from his parents, I figured it was high time to do something with all those berries.

Enter: Homemade blueberry jam, which we gorged on atop homemade biscuits. Delicious.

And, today, I needed something to satiate this sweet tooth. Enter: Mixed Berry Cobbler. Can I just say that this is the best cobbler I have ever made. Yes, it requires a little bit more work than the usual recipe, but, trust me!, it is well worth it!

{The recipe is modified from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.}

Ingredients

Berry Filling 4 cups of berries (I used blueberries, blackberries, & a few strawberries) 1/3 cup sugar 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

Biscuit Topping 1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, chilled
6 tablespoons milk

Glaze 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
1 or 2 tablespoons sugar Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.









For Berry Filling:

1. Place berries in an 8-inch baking dish and sprinkle them with sugar.
2. Dot berries with the butter.
3. Set aside while you make the biscuit topping.

For Biscuit Topping:

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl, and stir together with a fork.
2. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your fingers; work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles fine crumbs (there will be irregular pieces).
3. Slowly add the milk, stirring with the fork.
4. Gather dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead 8-10 times until dough is fairly smooth.
5. Roll or pat dough into a shape that will fit your baking pan; make sure your dough is no more than a 1/2 inch thick.
6. Place biscuit dough over fruit in the pan, pressing it down into the fruit all around the edges.

For Glaze:

1. Drizzle melted butter over top and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake cobbler for 35-40 minutes or until the juices bubble and the biscuit topping is golden brown. Serve with heavy cream or ice cream. Enjoy!









This post is linked to Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.