Weekly Menu

This week I am trying two new recipes, Italian wedding soup and feta and spinach stuffed chicken. I'll absolutely post some photos and the recipes later in the week when I attempt these two new dishes.


 *Mini Thanksgiving dinner

 This was made last night. I love Thanksgiving so much and we always go to my husbands family's for the big day so I don't get to cook or have leftovers, so most years I will make a mini Thanksgiving meal that weekend. I was hoping the grocery stores would have some turkeys on sale Friday, but nope! Those birds were still nearly $30 so I bought a large whole chicken instead. I followed my no fail succulent chicken recipe that is found in this blog along with a large pot of al dente mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans and of course those famous Thanksgiving rolls! All that was missing was the pies!

*Chili

I love some chili in the fall! Of course topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream. There's always a day or two of leftovers for lunch too!

 *Feta and spinach stuffed chicken breasts

 I simply cannot wait to try this! I love feta and any dish that includes it, I will try!!

 *Italian wedding soup

I first had this soup when I was working at an Italian bistro. I loved it!! Come to think of it, there are quite a few of my favorite dishes that come from my experience there. If you're ever in Romulus Michigan, you MUST go to Leonardo's!

 *Spaghetti

 Made with my homemade sauce, worth the time!

 *Baked BBQ chicken legs A family favorite, most likely served with some vegetables and potatoes.

Turkey cupcakes Gobble Gobble!!

In the spirit of the awesomeness of Thanksgiving the kids and I made Turkey cupcakes. Easy, cute and oh so much fun to make!

Fried Deliciousness!

What's better on a Saturday morning than fried pastries? Fried pastries wrapped in bacon! I came across the recipe on this amazing food blog ohbiteit.com that has become my go to blog! We tried it this morning & the blog was correct, super easy to make and perfect! 1 tube Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (and the included frosting) 1/2 pound bacon 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar (3 1/2 tbsps sugar + 1/2 tbsp cinnamon) oil for frying toothpicks Un-roll each cinnamon roll and cut them in half. Roll them each back up, making 2 small rolls.

Cut the bacon strips in half and wrap each small Cinnamon Roll with one 1/2 strip, securing it with a toothpick In a small bowl mix the enclosed frosting with the maple syrup until it’s well combined.

In a medium pot heat up approx. 3″ of oil.

Fry the rolls up in batches of 3 until they’re golden, puffed and firm. Sprinkle them with some cinnamon sugar while they’re warm and add a nice drizzle of the maple frosting.

Perfection!! They were all gobbled up quicker than I could fry them!

Autumn Bliss

As the weather has finally decided to cool down, even here in the Sunshine state, it puts me in the mood to create. Autumn is by far my most favorite time of year. I don't know if it's the sweater weather, the cool breeze through an open window, or the promise of turkey dinner that gets me, but I love it! Autumn tends to make me do two things, cook more and photograph. Call me crazy, but I enjoy taking photos of my subjects in the cooler weather with sweaters and scarfs versus on the beach. I got some practice in a few weeks ago with those beautiful subjects of mine.

Weekly Menu- Week of March 3rd

I try to make a menu every week before heading out to the market, it reduces those opps moments as dinnertime arrives. I've found that you spend less money when you prepare weekly menus because as we all know, every time to go to the market you ALWAYS buy more than you came in for. Less trips, less money. I typically create seven meals & a few lunch dishes to take to the office and weekend family lunches. This week's menu is full of my quick and tasty recipes.

Mexican night
Tostadas with beef, beans, veggies, guacamole, salsa and sour cream served with nachos and Spanish rice.

Wings and fries
My special baked, crisp, fall of the bone hot wings served with french fries & veggies. The recipe for these amazing wings is in this blog. Once I discovered this method I can't enjoy take out wings!

Baked sausage ziti
Baked ziti with ground sausage, my pasta sauce and freshly grated cheese served with garlic cheese bread and salad.

Sweet and spicy chili
My favorite chili recipe, what makes it really amazing is the sweet white corn and green chilies, perfect mix of sweet & spicy. Since I have younger ones that don't care for spice I always make macaroni and cheese with the chili plus the hubs like chili mac so everyone's happy.

Chicken Tacos
Topped with a spicy ranchero sauce and served with veggies & rice.

Polish kielbasa and pierogios
A family fave, both sauteed in butter. It goes quick!

Chicken and broccoli fettuccine Alfredo
Topped with freshly grated cheese and served with garlic bread, it's my eldest child's favorite meal.


I am hard pressed this week for lunch ideas. I have recently discovered the most amazing Greek vinaigrette dressing with feta cheese and garlic so I've decided to get some more and make some Greek chicken pitas for lunch. If you have any ideas for quick office lunch that do not involve frozen lunches I would love to hear!

Mini Bruschetta

One of my favorite weekend mid-day snacks is mini bruschetta. It's so quick to make and only requires a few basic ingredients. I first discovered bruschetta when I was a server in an Italian bistro in my late teens. I had never heard of such a thing, eating a "pizza" with oil & tomatoes?? Whaaat? Oil is for frying, isn't it?? Oh how deprived I was. One taste and I was hooked, and so began my love affair with olive oil. All you need for my mini bruschetta bites is a bag of Italian bread rounds, olive oil, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, cilantro, salt and mozzarella cheese.

In a medium bowl combine olive oil, diced tomatoes and seasonings.

Place a heaping spoonful of the mixture on each bread round.

Top each round with a small amount of cheese and bake at 350 for 10 minutes, just long enough to get each mini bruschetta nice and crisp and cheese melted.

Enjoy!! Tasty and satisfying, they are the perfect appetizer or mid-day snack!

Some of my faves

I got caught up in looking over the thousands of photos I have in my computer and wanted to share some of my faves! I really need to get focused and start shooting again.

Quick Cheesy Bread Rolls

I was chatting with fellow food lover at the office this week and she was telling me about a cute little Italian restaurant in town that serves the most amazing little bread balls served with olive oil. They sounded so good that I decided to try to make my own. Now this was my first attempt and they didn't really turn out how I anticipated but I know what I would change, I used crescent roll dough and that was the wrong thing to do, it was much too sweet. Next time I will use a pizza dough, I honestly don't know what I was thinking with the crescent dough, sweet does not go well with olive oil! That being said here is my take on the bread rolls.

*I took dough and rolled it between my hands then placed on foil to spread out

*I then brushed the dough with a garlic butter mix. I only use real butter, none of that almost plastic crap that my kids call "manmade butter". For my butter brush I melt one stick of butter with minced garlic. Don't use the powder junk!

*I added mozzarella cheese in the center and then tucked dough into a ball.

*Lastly, I brushed each roll with an egg wash & then of course more of my garlic butter and baked at 375 for 15 minutes.

I served these with spaghetti with my own homemade pasta sauce, they were very tasty but as I said I will definitely use a different dough next time. It's always fun trying new things and trail and error are all part of the game.

Valentine bliss or bloodbath?

Did you know that February 15th is the day that most people decide to begin an affair? Also, it is the day that divorce attorneys receive the most calls for consultations. I'm also wondering if therapists are as busy?
The reason? Simple, a great deal of people have high expectations on Valentines Day and those people could be in a relationship with a person that just doesn't put much stock in the day.

Think about the couples you know, do you have a female friend that says "we don't celebrate, we don't need a day to show our love." Do you know what I think every time a woman says that to me?  BULLSHIT! That's what women tell themselves when they happen to be involved with someone who can't take the time to do something sweet on the day or this is what women say to prepare themselves for the disappointment of not being treated like the princess they should be! You show me one woman who would not LOVE to be treated special not just on Valentines Day, but every day, any random day!

My point is, we don't need a day to show our love but it's nice. What's so wrong with showing each other a little extra kindness and showering her with sweet trinkets on February
14th? It would be cheaper than divorce attorney.

That being said, how was your Valentines Day, was it bliss or a bloodbath?

Freedom from processed snacks!

As a mother of four I'm constantly hearing "can I have a snack?". Seriously. During my stay at home mom days I actually heard it so much that I resorted to setting a "snack timer". It would go off every three hours and the children knew that was the only time they could get a snack. Lord, you should have seen the stampede to the pantry when that ding went off!

In order to keep up with my children's snack demands I succumbed to societies marketing tricks and kept an endless supply of granola bars, cookies, snack cakes, yogurt packs ect. Once the kids got a little older and I began working again, we somehow switched to the big boxes of individual wrapped snacks. I wanted to give them choices and even let all four of them pick one at the supermarket. For three years the pantry was filled with packs of crackers & cookies. So much so that my youngest crumb snatcher would stand in front of the pantry, her foot just a tapping and she would declare that I REALLY need to get to the store for more snacks.

One day I began to ponder if children really needed an endless supply of empty caloried snacks and this was my conclusion. These snacks should NEVER be a staple in the household, they should be a treat! What have I been thinking! So I informed the children that I would no longer be supplying these salty and sugar filled snacks on a regular basis, that from now on our household snacks would consist of fruits, veggies and cheese. This was of course met with groans and disbelief but mama wasn't wavering. What really took me by surprise was how quickly they adjusted! They fully embraced the plethora of fresh goodness within days, goodbye manufactured snacks! If you're looking for some quick, healthy snacks keep on reading!

Breakfast fruit wrap
*tortilla shell
*yogurt
*sliced bananas & grapes

Coat shell with yogurt, add fruit and fold. Quick breakfast and kids love to make it themselves!

Fruit skewers
*skewers
*pineapple, orange & banana slices
*cherries

Pile on the fruit! Cream cheese dip is a good addition to this snack.

Philly cracker bites
*round butter crackers
*cream cheese
*strawberries

Top em! Perfect mix of creamy & sweet!

Fruit pizza
*tortilla shell
*peanut butter
*strawberries and blueberries

Spread, top and cut in fours. Yummy!

Hummus squares
*wheat pita bread
*hummus
*cucumbers

Spread pita with hummus, top with sliced cucumbers and cut in fours.

And don't forget about the cheese cubes, string cheese & if age appropriate, nuts! Happy snacking!

Quick & easy but oh so tasty!

It's been a while folks, not like many are following anyway lol I keep swearing that I will be a better blogger & not neglect my thoughts....oh well.

On to it, today I would like to share another amazing chicken recipe. I found it on something called a "hub" under the author name c.s.alexis. it was absolutely amazing and easy! I promise, just as the author of this recipe did, if you follow it your wings will be fall off the bone amazing!

*preheat oven to 375
*wash wings
*place wings in a large bowl, add salt, pepper, minced garlic and whatever other seasonings you like! I added Mrs.Dash chicken seasoning & my favorite, cilantro. Add what feels right to you! Make sure you stir around the wings enough so all of the wings are fully coated with the seasoning
*with one hand cup olive oil over wings while stiring the wings with the other hand to ensure proper coating. The oil will promote crispness & seal in the flavoring
*place wings in a single layer on a foil covered baking pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray. We wouldn't want that yummy skin to fall off!

Here is where I veered off the recipe a bit. I have a large family with different tastes. I decided to make some buffalo style & a few BBQ style. So after following the above instructions I prepared a bowl with wing sauce & mixed in the raw seasoned wings then placed on baking pan. I did the same with BBQ sauce.

*bake wings at 375 for 40-50 minutes

Amazing! This will definitely become a regular dinner around here!  Try it & let me know how it comes out!