Do you love cooking? Become a fan of Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.  

Discover delicious new recipes and ways of preparing favorite ingredients, share recipe ideas, notes and variations with new online friends interested in cooking and family meal times, impress offline friends and family with your cooking creations, and maybe even win some fun prizes from Noel’s Kitchen.

Weeknight Menu Ideas

Before you plan your next grocery shopping trip, check your store’s Web site to see what the week’s specials are, if there are coupons, and what items are seasonal and abundant, and thus good value. Compare prices between different supermarkets in your area.

My last trip to the grocery store, I found some great savings on many different items. I reviewed the ad prior to my visit, wrote my shopping list and was off.  It’s a good idea to review in-store ads that are usually available to customers and can be easily found next to the shopping cart area as you enter the store.  You most likely will find an extra savings on items.

Some grocery stores will have “Budget Buys” Reducing the price on many items available. I was able to find a great deal down the pasta and grains aisle. If I purchased two Ragu Pasta Sauces, I received a Free package of Spaghetti noodles.  Pasta is an easy weeknight meal and very quick to make. It is also a great dish for feeding a large family.

I was also able to find a good price on Johnsonville’s Sweet Sausage so I had a perfect meal planned.

Quick Creative Meal Ideas

On the dinner menu: Busy Mom’s Sweet Sausage Spaghetti

This is a quick and easy spaghetti dish made with a few simple ingredients and I was able to use some yellow squash from our garden.

 Ingredients:

1 package spaghetti noodles (16 oz.)

1 jar Ragu pasta sauce (homemade sauce would be an excellent choice too. Make a large quantity and freeze in portions.)

4-5 Johnsonville Sweet Italian Sausage

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2  medium size yellow squash

1 medium size green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed, chopped

 Directions:

Bring 4-6 quarts water to a boil.  Cook pasta according to package instructions. As water is boiling, saute sausage, green pepper, yellow squash, onion and garlic. Drain pasta. Add pasta to sauted ingredients, slowly add pasta sauce. Combine ingredients. Serve with fresh parmesan cheese.

Shopping Tip: Decide what your weekly meals will be in advance so that you can turn leftovers from one dinner in the following day’s lunch or dinner. Before shopping, check that you have all the necessary staples (flour, sugar, etc.), and jot down anything else you need for the week. Try making up an easy spreadsheet for a shopping list and food budget, then simply update it each time you head to the store.

Weekly Dinner Menu

With the launching of my new site design, I’m going to start something new and I hope you like it.

Everyone has been paying a little more attention to their budgets lately and one of the most quickest ways is to start eating at home more often. Families that eat together are stronger and closer.

What’s for Dinner? One of the biggest dilemas at dinner time and the number one concern is what to make. That’s the hardest part. If you’re anything like me and work full-time, unless you know what you’re going to make before you get home and the ingredients are waiting for you, you’ll either eat at 9pm or resort to take-out.

I’ve been browsing the weekly grocery store ads for awhile now and that helps me save money on groceries by telling me what’s really on sale, and most often the grocery store will have in-store coupons for extra savings.

What I want to do, is share my weekly meal plans with you. I’m going to figure out what’s on sale and show you what you can do with the ingredients. I hope you enjoy it.

Family Meal Deals

I was really excited this week to see such an amazing savings. On sale, was Boneless Chuck Beef Cross Rib Roast at $2.97lb (4lbs or more). That’s a savings of $1.02lb. By purchasing this particular meat, I was able to receive a Free 5lb bag of potatoes, a 12 oz. bag of  iceberg garden salad and a Free loaf of french bread.

On the menu tonight:

Dijon Herb Cross Rib Roast

Ingredients:

1 3-6 pound Beef Cross Rib Roast

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 Tablespoon fresh cracked pepper

1/2 Tablespoon Rosemary

1/2 Tablespoon Sage

1/2 Tablespoon Thyme

Directions:

Prep time: 10 minutes, Cook time: 2 to 3 hours Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place roast, fat side up, in a large shallow baking pan. Stir together the remaining ingredients and spread over the top and sides of roast. Insert an oven-proof meat thermometer so the tip is in the center of the roast.

Cook for 2 to 3 hours or until meat thermometer reaches 135°F for medium-rare or 150°F for medium. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before carving.

Garlic Roasted Potatoes

5-6 Russet potatoes,  cubed

2 Tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, pressed

Salt and pepper

Fresh Rosemary

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 minutes, Cook Time: 45 minutes Cube the potatoes and toss with olive oil, garlic, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Roast at 375 on a cookie sheet for approximately 45 minutes, or until somewhat crisp.

During the last 10 minutes of cooking time, add chopped fresh rosemary to the potatoes.

Serve with garden salad mix and a fresh loaf of french bread.

Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas

This is a perfect, beautiful creamy and delicious pumpkin soup recipe that’s perfect for entertaining your friends and family for Thanksgiving. The spices traditionally used with pumpkin are considered warming and I’ve tried incorporating those spices into the soup.

Harvest Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup onion, chopped

3 Celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon thyme leaves

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

4 cups fresh roasted pumpkin, cubed

1 large russet potato, chopped

4 cups fat free chicken broth

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and cut the pumpkin lengthwise. Remove and discard the seeds and excess fiber. May peel skin if desired. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast in oven  for 30-45 minutes.

In a large stock pot, heat oil–add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, ginger and sugar. Cook 5 minutes or until tender. Add spices; stir to coat. Cube pumpkin, add pumpkin, potato and chicken broth. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, partially cover and simmer 30 minutes or until potato, carrot and pumpkin are tender.

Puree the soup, small portions at a time to avoid overflow and burning. Soup will be hot. Return to stock pot to heat.

This soup can easily be made ahead and frozen. Thaw in refrigerator a couple of days ahead and reheat 20 minutes before serving.

Kid Friendly Recipes

I’ve said it many times before. You know the pleasure you get from preparing and serving something your family loves? Children can experience the same satisfaction when they help prepare food for themselves, their friends, or the whole family.

A friend of mine has a daughter who loves to make dinner for her family and makes great effort in helping her mom out. Tonight she called her mom and told her she was making baked potatoes for dinner but didn’t know how to cook them.  I gave her the basic instructions on how to cook a baked potato.

 Preteens are more than ready to take on some serious responsibility. They can help pick the recipes for meals and even execute them. Let them try new recipes that they find online and permit them to make some dishes on their own, with minimal supervision. You’ll find that at this age, kids like to experiment.

 Dakota, this recipe is dedicated to you for those spur of the moment recipe ideas when you help your mom out in the kitchen.

Twice Baked Potatoes

4 large Idaho potatoes

1/2 cup non fat sour cream

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup ranch dressing

4 Tablespoons butter

1 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese mixture, divided

6 green onions, thinly sliced, divided

1 cup cooked bacon, chopped (can substitute with bacon bits)

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Wash and pierce potatoes with a fork. Cook in preheated oven for one hour.

Chop bacon into bite size pieces. In a skillet over medium-low heat, cook bacon. Drain excess fat. Set aside.

When potatoes are done, remove from oven. Cool 10 minutes. Slice potatoes lengthwise. Scoop potato flesh out into a mixing bowl. Place potato skins on a baking sheet.

To the potato, add sour cream, milk, butter, ranch dressing, 1/2 cheese, 1/2 of green onion,  1/2 bacon, salt and pepper. Mix together. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top each with remaining cheese, green onions and bacon.

Place cookie sheet with potatoes back in oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve with broccoli or simply alone. 

Supervision is the key to cooking with kids…they develop cooking skills at different rates so it’s important to have an adult introduce children to skills that match their ability levels and educate them in the process. Preparing meals can be more fun and a lot of help when the whole family is involved. So experience the kitchen with your kids.