Top Your Dog - National Hot Dog Month #Hormel

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

Did you know that July is National Hot Dog Month? Not only can you celebrate all month long, but there is even a specific day dedicated to the love of hot dogs - last Thursday (July 23rd) was also National Hot Dog Day (now why do Mom's get just a day and Hot Dogs get both a day and a month?). Here are some fun facts about hot dogs to get you started:

- Americans are expected to eat at least 7 billion hot dogs this summer, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (http://www.hot-dog.org/)
- Ten percent of annual retail hot dog sales occur during July
- Sausage consumption is on the rise with sales reaching $2.5 billion in 2014

Depending on where you grew up, the way you enjoy your dog may be very different (who knew?). When I was a kid, my preferred way to eat a hot dog was very plain. I preferred it just zapped in the microwave. If it was grilled or cooked on the campfire, my primary request was that it was still mostly pink. As for toppings, ketchup was sufficient to meet my needs. As I have gotten older, my tastes have changed. After trying stadium mustard, I decided that it was my preferred 'plain' dog topping and now I skip the ketchup. But, I also like to dress it up too!

For a long time, adding some chili and cheese to it was a great way to enjoy a hot dog. Used to be that I reserved chili dog consumption to eating out, but now I know that I can simply use a can of Hormel chili (no beans variety for me) to create this flavor at home.

Then, we tried this local hot dog shop that dresses their dogs in so many varieties that I would never have considered. It was here that I found another favorite - the Greek Hot Dog. Top your hot dog with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, kalamata olives, green onion and feta cheese. It is amazing how good that combination tastes.

Of course, corn dogs were always a favorite when we were at the fair. I found a quick and easy way to prepare them at home as Corn Dog Muffins, and they are portable...perfect for taking to the kids' baseball or softball games.

Now, switch that dog up for some sausage - the standard variety or for even more range of flavor chicken sausage - and for me, at least, it opens up many additional ways to dress the sandwich. I am a big fan of topping my regular sausage with a bit of mustard and some sauerkraut. Or, topping it with some grilled onions and peppers.

I was exploring the Hormel Recipe Site and their Hot Dog Pinterest Board and found some other really interesting sounding hot dog recipes that I will have to try. How about Mac n Cheese Dogs?

Or Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs?

Hosting a cookout? Why not keep the menu simple, and the possibilities endless by setting up a toppings bar. Fire up the grill and prepare for your guests some hot dogs and some sausage (I recommend a chicken sausage to mix it up). Maybe even wrap a few in bacon for added flavor. You can go for some plain hot dog buns or get New England Style with their top split. For your toppings bar, use a variety of bowls to hold your toppings. I would include the following - ketchup, mustard, diced onions, pickle relish, Mac and Cheese, chili, shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, cucumbers, kalamata olives, green onions, jalapenos, salsa, grilled peppers and onions.

What other toppings would you include on your toppings bar?


No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product samples for my family to try. I also receive thought starters and information that can be used in a post.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day has always been a 'fun' holiday. How can it not be? There are parades, rivers are turned green, there is food, there is beverage, there are Irish jigs.

When I was a child, I went to St. Patrick's Elementary School - I had a connection from a young age. I remember wearing green and people having buttons and shirts that said "Kiss Me I'm Irish".

There are some traditions that many consider to be part of St. Patrick's Day.

• You always wear green on St. Patrick's Day.

• You always have green beer on St. Patrick's Day.

• There's always a parade on St. Patrick's Day.

• You always have corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day.

I never was a fan of beer, let alone green beer, so that is one tradition that hasn't stayed with me (although I gave it the old college try, back in my college days).

I have limited green clothes in my closet, but I make an effort to wear green.

I don't live in a community with a parade and aside from getting stuck in some parade traffic in a nearby community last year, usually don't head out to see one.

I do usually make an effort to get some Corned Beef on St. Patrick's Day. I really enjoy Corned Beef Hash and Reubens or straight-up Corned Beef sandwiches. I prefer my Corned Beef Hashed crispy, like my bacon. I think it really pulls out the flavor.

Unfortunately, I'm the only one in my family that really enjoys Corned Beef, so I am generally on my own. I've never made homemade Corned Beef Hash, but have found that the HORMEL® MARY KITCHEN® Corned Beef Hash is a great way to enjoy it at home. You can enjoy it prepared as is, by simply frying it up in a skillet, or check out one of the recipes featured on their website - Sunshine Hash or Cheesy Corned Beef both sound good to me.

Do you have St. Patrick's Day traditions? Is there a family favorite Irish dish you enjoy on St. Patrick's Day?

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product and some of the information for this post.

Back to Routine

It is so hard for me to believe that the holiday break is over. Starting tomorrow, it is back to our normal routines. As part of the normal routine, I actually sat down and did the week's menu plan. Recently, I had been only planning a few days out, which was fine, but I did find us running to the store more frequently during the week. I was able to successfully empty my deep freeze to defrost it over the holidays, unfortunately, I moved some of it to my refrigerator freezer...so, now my goal is to use all of that up...it helps ensure rotation.

This week we are trying a few new recipes and enjoying a few family favorites. Winter sports and winter workouts for spring sports are starting up, so we are starting to have a few night time activities and a few weekend events entering our schedule.

Sunday
cereal
leftovers
Cincinnati Style Chili

Monday
Chicken Patty Sandwiches and Qrunch Burgers

Tuesday
Crockpot Lemon Chicken

Wednesday
Personal Pot Pies

Thursday
Chipotle Glazed Meatloaf

Friday
Spaghetti Gratin

Saturday
TBD

Now that the kids are back to school, breakfast will be cereal, oatmeal or toast most mornings and lunch will be a mix of the hot plate lunch at school or a packed lunch from home. My husband and I will stick with our standard routines. I do hope to get back to packing more. I seem to eat better when I pack, plus I am hopeful that it leaves me some time to walk at lunch(if the weather allows).

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.

Lloyd's Barbeque - Giveaway!

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

A few weeks ago, we took a family vacation to Walt Disney World (I really do mean to share the insights, tips and tricks, but I never seem to have the time). We timed our trip this year to hit the end of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. My son, who as of late seems to be becoming quite a little foodie, wanted to try food at all the stations. We didn't get to all of them, but did hit quite a few of them. One of the first things that we tried was a Pork Slider at the Hawaii station. It was pork, a pineapple chutney, a spicy mayonnaise on a slider roll.

As I was exploring the Lloyd's page on Hormel.com, I found a recipe for a Barbeque Pineapple and Chicken sandwich.

I am certain this dish is not quite the same, I was thinking of starting with this recipe, swapping in Pork for the Chicken, omitting the cheese and adding a spiced up mayo to see how close we could get to the sandwich we all enjoyed at Epcot.

Giveaway!
As a Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger, I have been invited to share with my readers 10 coupons for Lloyd's BBQ. You could try the recipe I mention above or any number of recipes featured on the Lloyd's page or simply enjoy them as sandwiches (also good just served up 'open-face' on crackers).

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway will remain open through December 5th. Winners will be selected through Rafflecopter. The winner will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected. Coupons are only good until 12/31/14 and will be mailed to the winners. A Busy Mom of Two is not responsible for lost or misdirected mail.


No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product and some of the information and images for this post.

Planning for Thanksgiving

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

Are you the host for Thanksgiving? When I am planning for an event, I love to be able to get as much done ahead of time as possible.

For the past 8 years, I have done a traditional turkey dinner for my daughter's birthday and the realization quickly set in that with only one oven, the only way to pull it off is to work ahead. For me, this starts with roasting my turkey the night before the event. Once roasted, I can let it cool before carving. This is great because it reabsorbs much of the cooking broth in the process, resulting in moist turkey. Plus, I can get the turkey cleaned and the carcass thrown out and get the kitchen cleaned up. I place the turkey into a 9x13 (or a little larger) glass pan, add a small amount of broth, cover tightly with aluminum in set in my refrigerator. The next day, I put it in the oven with my other dishes and cook it for about 30 - 45 minutes to cook it through. I also gather the remaining broth and set in the refrigerator to use to make gravy the next day.

I also like to prep my side dishes. The first I always do is next day mashed potatoes. I boil the potatoes and mash them with some added ingredients, like cream cheese, and put in another glass pan. The potatoes take about 45 - 60 minutes to cook the next day. I also do my sweet potatoes, because I do a mashed sweet potato casserole. They take about 45 minutes to cook the next day. I also prepare my stuffing, although I suppose since it never sees the turkey it is technically dressing. I usually use a few pieces of the carved turkey and a little of the cooking broth in the preparation of my stuffing...which I can only do if I prepare the turkey the day ahead.

I also do all of my cutting and chopping for my fruit salad and vegetable tray. Then, the day of, I can quickly set out the vegetables and have plenty at the ready for refilling the tray. I assemble the fruit salad day of, in order to keep things fresh.

I typically prepare my vegetable dishes the day of the event and put them in the oven along side the other dishes that are cooking. I like to do a broccoli and cauliflower dish, but this year I think I am going to try the Bacon and Green Bean Casserole Deluxe featured on the Hormel site.

It is much like the traditional one, with a kick of bacon bits - after all, everything is better with bacon. We don't do mushroom soup, so I will swap in cream of celery or onion to give it a good creamy texture. Best thing is, you can make this one the day ahead and then simply warm and serve.

This year our celebration will just be the immediate family, so we are trying out the Jennie-O Oven Ready Turkey Breast. I must say, I am intrigued by this one, it "goes straight from your freezer to your oven". I am so used to thawing. It comes in an oven ready back and you simply pull out of your freezer, remove from the outer bag and put it in your oven in a roasting pan. I will have to let you know how it goes. I also will not be prepping the sides, because I will not need a full casserole of mashed potatoes and can just make up a small pan day of.

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product and some of the information and images for this post.

Menu Plan Monday

As much as I love the fall and the associated smells and flavors, it still is a little disappointing to have to turn on the heat the first full week of October. The temperature in the house hit 64 this weekend, so I decided it was time to at least take the chill out of the air.

Friday night we enjoyed dinner at our friend's restaurant. It was a nice time out with the kids and we all enjoyed some new foods. Saturday was supposed to be in part filled with sports, but some rain on Saturday morning washed out both soccer and baseball. A cool, wet fall morning unexpectedly at home led to much baking on my part. I started with a recipe I found on Pinterest for Pumpkin Dinner Rolls with Cinnamon Butter. The rolls are okay, but did not turn out as I would have expected based on the picture on the post. The cinnamon butter is yummy and we are enjoying it on regular toast now. Next I made a batch of Pumpkin Chip Cookies and Biscotti. I started making cookies and decided that the dough was too sticky and would be better as a batch of biscotti, so a pan in I switched gears. Then, I made some soft pretzels with some bread mix that I had on hand. My husband, who had been taking care of service for the car, enjoys the food I made but has decided that leaving me home alone with the kids on a cold, wet fall Saturday is not a good thing for his waist. We had a quiet night in and watched the movie Chef.

Sunday, it was cold, but we resumed sports and did our best to keep warm at baseball and soccer - both were wins. Sunday evening, we tried something new - Chicken and Waffles - and to mix it up a bit more, we made the waffles with the chicken inside. It was a hit with the family.

We have a reasonably quiet week ahead and have some familiar favorites filling our menu this week.

Sunday
cereal
sandwiches
Chicken and Waffles

Monday
Tacos

Tuesday
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Wednesday
Skyline Chili

Thursday
Pork Chops with Provolone, Prosciutto and Peppers

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
TBD

Now that the kids are back to school, breakfast will be cereal, oatmeal or toast most mornings and lunch will be a mix of the hot plate lunch at school or a packed lunch from home. My husband and I will stick with our standard routines. I do hope to get back to packing more. I seem to eat better when I pack, plus I am hopeful that it leaves me some time to walk at lunch.

This post shared on Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

This past weekend was a nice one. Again, there wasn't anything of note that was planned or completed, it just was a nice weekend. We had two soccer games and that was about it. My husband joined some friends at a concert on Saturday night (sitter wasn't available to allow me to go), so I had the chance to hang out with the kids and watch Mighty Ducks and Mighty Ducks 2 (we completed the trilogy on Sunday) and then after they went to bed, I watched Ever After.

This week is a minimally busy week which gave me a nice flexibility to the schedule. This weekend we are joining some friends for dinner, as all four of us have September birthdays and decided we should celebrate them.

Sunday
cereal and toast
sandwiches
Cincinnati (Skyline) Chili

Monday
cereal
leftover chili

Tuesday
Homemade Pizza

Wednesday
Pierogie and Eggs

Thursday
Chicken Fried Steak

Friday
Chicken Cheese Steak

Saturday
cereal
sandwiches
Mexican with friends

Now that the kids are back to school, breakfast will be cereal, oatmeal or toast most mornings and lunch will be a mix of the hot plate lunch at school or a packed lunch from home. My husband and I will stick with our standard routines. I do hope to get back to packing more. I seem to eat better when I pack, plus I am hopeful that it leaves me some time to walk at lunch.

This post shared on Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. For us, it was quieter than normal. We didn't do any cookouts and we didn't have our typical soccer tournament. But, in many ways, this made for a really nice and relaxing weekend. We joined friends for a homemade pizza dinner on Friday night, so that the boys could do their online fantasy football draft together. It was a nice relaxed evening with pizza, wine and cheesecake - what a great combo! Saturday was filled with some walking, baseball practice, swimming and a family movie night of Muppets Most Wanted. Sunday was filled with some errands and a family game night/movie night rolled into one - we played Ticket to Ride and watched Ratatouille. Monday was a relaxed day with a quick lunch out, fort building and game play - both inside and out. It was refreshing to get the kids to bed before 9 for a change.

This week we are back into the busy life. It is a short week, but we still will have three soccer practices, one soccer game, a meet the teacher night, another fantasy football draft (the husband this time), a concert and likely a baseball game or practice to round out the week.

We are trying out a few new recipes this week and revisiting a few that we have had before.


Sunday
cereal and toast
sandwiches
Chinese

Monday
cereal
CiCi's pizza buffet
leftovers

Tuesday
Corn Dog Muffins

Wednesday
Grilled Mahi Mahi with pineapple salsa

Thursday
Chicken Mango Curry

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
TBD

Now that the kids are back to school, breakfast will be cereal, oatmeal or toast most mornings and lunch will be a mix of the hot plate lunch at school or a packed lunch from home. My husband and I will stick with our standard routines. I do hope to get back to packing more. I seem to eat better when I pack, plus I am hopeful that it leaves me some time to walk at lunch.

This post shared on Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

It is super hard to believe that this week marks the return to school for my kids. It feels like summer just started. They have been acting so dramatic this week about the start of school. My son has decided that they need longer for summer break and when I asked him how long he thought my summer break was, he replied 1 month? I wish. I suppose I could string together my vacation and a holiday and maybe get about a month off, but that would be awful, having no other vacation all year.

This week we are doing a mix of familiar favorites and a few new recipes. I am determined to clean up that stack of clipped recipes on my counter...and then move on to all those 'clipped' recipes on Pinterest. I hope to post the recipes and will link up after I do.

Our garden is booming right now, so there will be a lot of tomatoes served on salads or sliced on the side this week. I love being able to use garden fresh peppers, tomatoes and onions when I make dinner.

Sunday
cereal and toast
Cracker Barrel with the family
Leftovers

Monday
Baked Nuggets with Creamy Dill Dip and Mashed Potato Balls

Tuesday
Siracha Oatmeal-Crusted Tilapia

Wednesday
Turkey Roast

Thursday
Chicken Mango Curry

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
TBD

Now that the kids are back to school, breakfast will be cereal, oatmeal or toast most mornings and lunch will be a mix of the hot plate lunch at school or a packed lunch from home. My husband and I will stick with our standard routines. I do hope to get back to packing more. I seem to eat better when I pack, plus I am hopeful that it leaves me some time to walk at lunch.

This post shared on Menu Plan Monday.

Trying New (to me) Products

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

I have been lucky enough to be a part of the Hormel Extended Family Blogger program for some time now. Through the program, they frequently share recipes and ways to use their family of products, but they also share with me samples of their products so that I can experience them. Over the time that I have been a participant, I have been surprised to learn that the products were part of the Hormel Foods product offering.

One brand that I did not know was part of their portfolio was House of Tsang. When I receive the samples, some of the items are things that are components in my regular menu plan. Others, I do have to plan a special dish to give the new (to me) products a try.

As I was reading through my back log of recipes last month, I came upon a recipe for tilapia that immediately caught my eye...the flavor combination sounded good and I had never prepared fish in that style. As an added benefit, it was easy to make a few swaps to allow me to try some of the House of Tsang products that I had received and was not familiar with. The original recipe called for soy and grated ginger, but I thought it would be a great way to try the House of Tsang Ginger Flavored Soy. Of course, the recipe includes sesame oil too, another product available in the House of Tsang portfolio.

You can find the recipe for Ginger Soy Tilapia here.

The family enjoyed the dinner and it has been added to our family cookbook as a dinner option in our regular menu plan.

Have you tried any of the House of Tsang products? What have you tried and how did you use it?

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product and some of the information for this post.

Menu Plan Monday

We have had a few busy weekends in a row, so it was nice this past weekend when we discovered that we had an entire weekend with absolutely nothing planned. We tried to plan a spontaneous road trip to Columbus on Friday, but learned that the Ohio State Fair was going on and that there was a Thirty-One convention that was wrapping up in Columbus. The issue, most of the hotels that we would normally select actually had no rooms available. So, we ditched that and instead, took the kids to the Melting Pot for dinner and did some shopping at the outdoor mall. It made for a nice evening out as a family.

Saturday was a great day to get a lot done. I did some cleaning, lots of laundry, some baking, some sorting through and listing of the clothes my kids had outgrown and my husband had shrunk out of. We made a quick bike ride as a family to a nearby convenience store and got the kids each a milkshake. My husband did the grocery shopping, allowing me to wrap up a few things and sneak in some time for reading.

Sunday was a nice relaxing family day. We went to the pool, before the rain came and then came home and played Monopoly, while I made dinner. After dinner, the rain was gone, so we went out and played catch and found some time to weed the garden.

This week's menu plan is brought to us by my son. While at the library, he picked up Guy Fieri's Guy On Fire cookbook and spent some time reviewing the cookbook and marking several recipes. I took four of the recipes that he marked and included them on our menu for this week. I actually feel like I could make and eat most of the dishes that my son marked. I can tell you already though that I will have to make some slight tweaks, like reduce the amount of cheese in the Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls - but as my son said, "this is definitely a keeper".

Saturday
cereal
sandwiches
Philly Cheesesteak Egg Rolls (from Guy on Fire)

Sunday
cereal
leftovers (the egg rolls reheated nicely)
homemade pizza - Pepperoni-Cheese, Prosciutto and Mozzarella, Cheese/Kalamata Olives-Cheese/Jalapenos/Onions-Cheese

Monday
Mac n Cheese with Roasted Chicken and Bacon (from Guy on Fire)

Tuesday
Danger Dogs (from Guy on Fire)

Wednesday
Creamy Chicken Florentine

Thursday
Grilled Chicken Wings Two Ways (from Guy on Fire)

Friday
TBD

Saturday
Pizza

Now that it is summer, the kids are in camp and are packing lunches. Breakfast is generally a bowl of cereal or oatmeal before they head out. For my husband and I, lunch is a quick sandwich, microwave meal, leftovers or something on the go. Breakfast is a banana and a protein shake or bar.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday

Wow! What a wonderful long weekend. We were able to do so much over the long weekend that it really felt like it was several weekends in one. That is something that i really like.

I am fortunate enough to have two holidays for the 4th of July, so my weekend started on Wednesday night. Wednesday night, we had a chance to enjoy dinner at our friend's new restaurant. It started out a little frustrating because my son was tired or otherwise out of sorts and didn't want anything and was nearly brought to tears. It probably didn't help that their children's menu is not written out, but rather is a handful of options or a modification of an item from the main menu. I pulled him aside and told him that he didn't have to eat, but he did need to relax so that we could enjoy our dinner. He wound up sharing some of our food and eventually decided that he would have enjoyed the Lobster Mac N Cheese that I was eating. By then though, it really didn't make sense to order him more food, as he had eaten part of our wedge salad, a few slices of the homemade bread and butter, some of the fries from my daughter's dinner and a 1/3 of my dish. But, at least now, I know that we can go back with less stress or, perhaps we will just try to go there on date nights in the future.

Thursday was a busy day. I started out with my normal workout class, my husband went to the gym to work out, my daughter and I made butterfly cupcakes, my son had a friend over, we ran some errands, went to see Earth to Echo, grilled out and attempted to watch the fireworks from home...which we learned was not a good idea - we could see bits of it but really needed to head some place different to see the full show.

Friday we enjoyed a full day with all of my immediate family. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were up to visit from North Carolina. We did lunch out, spent the afternoon jumping and playing laser tag, mom made dinner for all of us, we played a family game of soccer and some Corn Hole and then watched the fireworks as a family. We all stayed at Mom and Dad's house and spent Saturday morning together as well. The kids love spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, especially when all of their cousins are there.

Saturday the family headed out to lunch at the Mellow Mushroom and then we came home and went swimming and enjoyed a relaxed evening at home.

Sunday I fit in all of my errands, including picking up the penny deals at Office Max and getting my groceries. In addition, I fit in several loads of laundry, made dinner and enjoyed a 3 mile walk around the neighborhood with the family.

How was your weekend?

I have a bad habit of never finding time to read all of my magazines, so this weekend I spent a good amount of time reading through the stacks that had accumulated. I think I still have about 10 to go, but I easily read through about 40 magazines. In the process, I pulled out a number of recipes. Knowing that I have a bad habit of accumulating clipped recipes too, I decided that I would start to make those recipes this week and determine which to keep and which to toss. So, despite a pretty busy week of make-up sports, I am trying a number of new recipes. Sunday night dinner was a hit and I am hoping the rest of the week continues to be strong. I will come back and link up recipes for those that are keepers.

Sunday
cereal
leftovers
Grilled Chicken and Peaches with a Curried Tomato and Shallot Vinaigrette with brown rice

for dessert, I made Chilled Plum Oatmeal Pudding

Monday
Chicken Pot Pie Pockets

Tuesday
Chicken Patty Sandwiches

Wednesday
Hot Dogs on the grill

Thursday
Ginger Soy Tilapia

Friday
Prosciutto Mozzarella Pizza

Saturday
cereal
sandwiches
Cheesy Grits with Shrimp

Now that it is summer, the kids are in camp and are packing lunches. Breakfast is generally a bowl of cereal or oatmeal before they head out. For my husband and I, lunch is a quick sandwich, microwave meal, leftovers or something on the go. Breakfast is a banana and a protein shake or bar.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Summertime Favorites

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

Now that it is full on summer, I am ready to stay out of the kitchen. Who needs to add heat to an already warm day by firing up the oven or stove? I don't know about your household, but at our house the menu takes a shift come summer driven both by the desire to not heat up the kitchen and the desire to enjoy the summer fresh flavor of the vegetables we grow in the garden.

I think the one characteristic that I could call out about many of the favorite summer time meals is the balance of hot and cold.

Think about a BLT, one of my favorite summertime meals (and super fast to prepare with Hormel Fully Cooked Bacon) - you have the warm crunchy toast, the cool mayonnaise, the crisp and cool lettuce, the cool juicy sweet tomato and warm salty bacon. There is something so appealing to me about the blend of hot and cold, not to mention all of the garden fresh flavor of vegetables.

Another favorite is soft tacos made with grilled chicken (no kitchen heat required) - we simply grill our chicken, slice it into thin strips and place it on our tortilla and top it with cool sour cream, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced hot peppers and diced onions and then add a bit of sauce or salsa. Again, a bite that provides the contrast of temperature and the summer fresh flavors of produce from the garden (or farmer's market - I haven't mastered lettuce, it always goes to seed).

We also use our grill to make hamburgers and cheeseburgers, grilled chicken served with baked potatoes and grilled fish served with fresh, cool homemade coleslaw.

Here is some information on summertime recipes that Hormel shared with me:

Crafting Your Summer Recipes
The kids are out of school and summer is on the horizon—ease into your new routine with fresh and simple meals to keep your family full and happy this season!
• Make a cold pasta to help you beat the summer heat—give your
pasta salad a distinct twist with a colorful addition of pesto and
tasty Hormel® bacon: Bacon and Pesto Pasta Salad with
HORMEL® Fully Cooked Bacon and Peloponnese® olives.
• Forget the fast food! For a quick and wholesome snack, pack this
tasty Cobb Salad Lettuce Wrap featuring HORMEL® Chunk
Chicken and HORMEL® Real Bacon Bits.
• Keep it light this summer with a Warm Chicken and Orange Salad. Take this dish—featuring HOUSE OF TSANG® Stir-fry Oil and HOUSE OF TSANG® SAIGON SIZZLE™—from your pantry to your table in just 15 minutes.

The recipes have all been submitted and in just a few weeks, you can check out the HORMEL® Chili Facebook page for the "Savor Your Summer Recipe Contest" winner announcement. Visit https://www.facebook.com/hormel.chili to see the winner.

What is your favorite summer-time snack or what recipes do you enjoy cooking with your family during the summer?


No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product and some of the information for this post.

Menu Plan Monday

What a great weekend!

First, let me say how much I am enjoying the return of Summer Hours at work. This Friday afternoon, I was able to sneak in a date with my husband while the kids were still at the sports day camp that they attended last week. It wasn't a fancy date, but we were able to catch a movie without having the added costs of a babysitter. We went and saw Jersey Boys. We really like the music and have seen the show twice on stage. The movie stayed fairly consistent with the stage show, obviously with the added luxury of having actual scene changes. Then, Friday evening - after fitting a quick cleaning of the first floor, we went out to a local Japanese Steak House for dinner with friends. After dinner, we returned to our house and visited for a while, while the kids played together.

Saturday was a complete change of pace from weekends of late, we had no sports until mid-afternoon and we only had 1 game. It was great to fit in a trip to the library to check in for the summer reading program and our grocery shopping before we had to head to the field for my daughter's softball game. After the game, we made a quick trip to Kohl's to take advantage of our 30% discount and redeem our $10 Kohl's Cash that was set to expire. Then, it was an early evening of bumper boats, mini golf and go karts. Aside from my daughter swinging her golf club too far, one time hitting my son in the forehead, it was a good evening. We had dinner at the activity center and then headed to our friend's new restaurant to enjoy dessert - Salted Caramel Cheesecake and Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Sunday was another relaxed day. I found time to get caught up on some laundry, get my hair cut, fill a prescription and do some baking. I made Carrot Cake Cookies, French Bread, Rye Bread, and two batches of Caramel Macchiato Biscotti. I had hoped to make some homemade cinnamon rolls too, but ran out of flour. In fact, I used a gluten free flour mix to make the second batch of biscotti and learned that you really need to use a little more fat with gluten free flours to get the right texture and since I hadn't, they were very crumbly - still very tasty, just more breakage than normal. I also discovered as I finished up my jar of yeast, that I should have been refrigerating the jar once I opened it. I clearly haven't done as much baking lately, because I hadn't had the issue before, but my French bread did not rise quite like it should have. Again, still tasty, just not as fluffy as we were used to. The rye bread seemed fine, but it is naturally a denser bread. Regardless, I was glad to have found the time to bake, I have been considering it every morning for the past week and usually find that I can't quite make the recipe and still get to work on time, so I had been reluctantly deciding not to bake each morning.

We have a somewhat busy sports week, but with only one sport in the mix, it is a lot slower than we have been having. Still, the plans mid-week are definitely quick prep options.

Sunday
Sonora Chicken Pasta

Monday
Tacos

Tuesday
Buffalo Chicken Cheesesteak

Wednesday
Leftovers

Thursday
Hamburgers

Friday
Homemade Pizza

Saturday
TBD

Now that it is summer, the kids are in camp and are packing lunches. Breakfast is generally a bowl of cereal or oatmeal before they head out. For my husband and I, lunch is a quick sandwich, microwave meal, leftovers or something on the go. Breakfast is a banana and a protein shake or bar.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday on I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Summer Time = Grill Time

*information for this post was in part supplied by Hormel Foods through their Hormel Extended Family Blogger program. No compensation was received for this post.

One of my favorite smells of summer is the smell of dinner cooking on the grill. When we are outside playing and I smell a neighbor cooking their dinner on the grill, it makes me want to change up my menu plan (if I didn't plan grilling) or get dinner started if I am grilling.

I used to not be very adventurous about grilling. I pretty much kept to simple things like hamburgers and hot dogs and chicken breasts.

After a while, I started grilling vegetables when I discovered how delicious they can be. I love to cut up peppers, onions and squash and grill them with a touch of soy sauce.

I expanded the proteins we grill to include fish - usually Marlin or Tuna. I also started using 'recipes' for grilling instead of just making "plain" seasoned chicken or hamburgers.

One of the first recipes we tried was Citrus Balsamic Grill. The citrus inspired me to explore some fruit on the grill. I discovered how delicious grilled pineapple rings are. I always have loved warm pineapple in recipes, but this took it to another level and makes a delicious side to a chicken breast seasoned with a bit of Teriyaki sauce and grilled.

We also really enjoy our shrimp and pineapple kabobs.

They have a great flavor and are relatively low in calories too.

If we decide to really mix it up this summer, maybe we will explore some of the ideas shared with me by Hormel.

Bacon - this was the first on their list. According to Hormel, grilling bacon gives you the perfect mix of crispy and chewy, making it a tasty accompaniment to any meal. You can find a lot of recipes for Hormel Black Label bacon on their website. If you are planning to grill it, you will want to buy the thicker cuts, because they will be easier to handle and less likely to fall through the grates. You will want to heat your full grill and then turn off the one side (or set the coals to the one side if using charcoal), so that you can cook on the side opposite the heat - otherwise the dripping grease from the bacon could cause the fire to flare up.

Pizza - I have tried one pizza on the grill before. I think the most important thing is choosing a dough that will not fall through the grates. Top your pizza with sauce, cheese, Hormel Pepperoni and your other favorite pizza toppings. I am thinking that grilling my onions before putting them on the pizza would be a great flavor addition (or maybe some of that grilled bacon?).

SPAMBURGER - Check out their website for a grilled SPAM and pineapple burger.

What are some of the different things that you make on your grill?

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some product and some of the information for this post.

Menu Plan Monday

It is May. The thermometer may not be a good indicator of the month, but the schedule sure is. We are full swing into baseball, softball and soccer - some are lagging a little, but the schedule is full. So, we are back on the cook once eat twice (or more) approach and the quick prep meal approach for menu planning. Fortunately, we are usually still able to make eating as a family (or at least 3 of us) work for us most nights. I like that, it is a chance to reconnect and catch up on our days.

Sunday
Grilled Moroccan Chicken (I will share this recipe - it is flavorful and moise, come back for the link) and Cheesy Quinoa (will also share this one)

Monday
Chicken Tacos (using extra grilled chicken from Sunday)

Tuesday
Sonoran Chicken Pasta (the rest of the chicken)

Wednesday
Chicken Cheesesteaks

Thursday
Pork chops

Friday
Chicken Rollatini (will have to share this recipe too, it is a favorite)

Saturday
dinner out with friends

Breakfasts and lunches are pretty straight forward at our house. During the week, cereal is the poplular favorite, but sometimes we have bagels or English Muffins or a sandwich from the freezer. Weekends, we will sometimes make cinnamon rolls or traditional hot breakfast foods. Lunch on the weekends is usually leftovers or sandwiches. During busy sports days, we pack a lunch to take to the fields with us to keep us nourished throughout the day. During the week kids have hot lunches from the school or the occasional packed lunch. My husband and I continue to rely on leftovers, frozen meals and sandwiches for lunch.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

In a strange and rare case, I was able to do my grocery shopping on Saturday this weekend. I went in the evening and the store was quiet. I had actually only planned to grab milk, but decided that I could assemble my meal plan on the fly and did my shopping for the week - no coupons, no list. I did pretty good completely unplanned, but then my son decided that he wanted to make dinner one night, so I headed back on Sunday to buy his ingredients for him. He made Sunday night's dinner - I helped with chopping the cabbage for the slaw and draining the meat after it cooked, but he did most of it himself - sometimes after I showed him technique. It was a good meal - not the best for a diet, but still a tasty treat.

Sunday
cereal
leftovers
Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-ups, Fruited Slaw and fries and Caramel Apple Slushies for dessert

Monday
Fish in Coconut Curry (it was okay, but I want to tweak the spice blend next time - if that works, then I will share the recipe)

Tuesday
English Muffin Pizzas

Wednesday
Pasta Primavera

Thursday
Prosciutto Asparagus Parmesan Spaghetti (new recipe)

Friday
Fish Tacos or Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia

Saturday
TBD

The kids have hot lunches from the school or the occasional packed lunch. My husband and I continue to rely on leftovers, frozen meals and sandwiches for lunch.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

Spring is less than a week away. The sun is shining trying to make you believe that it really could be spring, but the temperature is still all over the board. I am certain that when I went into the store on Sunday, the temperature dropped by 20 while I was shopping. I know it didn't really, but the wind picked up and when I walked back to my car, I was freezing. We are supposed to have a brief stint near 50 and then back to the lower 40s we go. Next week, snow in the forecast. I like the cuddle factor of winter (sort of like a rainy day) but I think I might be close to cuddled out.

The menu this week is a reasonably simple one and not really anything new that we are trying. I did though, on Sunday make up a batch of Crispy Parmesan Wonton Chips and they are tasty. We ate through them in no time flat.


Sunday
cereal
Chipotle
leftovers

Monday
English Muffin Pizzas

Tuesday
Buffalo Chicken Cheesesteak

Wednesday
Chicken Tacos

Thursday
Chicken Rollatini and Roasted Red Pepper Cauliflower Soup

Friday
Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia and homemade slaw

Saturday
cereal
sandwiches
pizza or Thai

The kids have hot lunches from the school or the occasional packed lunch. My husband and I continue to rely on leftovers, frozen meals and sandwiches for lunch.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

What a fun weekend. We planned for a snow storm that thankfully was nothing more than a snow shower. My daughter and I got in some time visiting with family - we hung out on Friday night with my cousin, her husband, children, mom and other relatives including my parents. Then, Saturday we went to my nieces birthday party. Sunday, which was mostly unplanned because of the expected weather, we spent rollerskating with friends and then went out to dinner with them. What was strange is that we went to the open skate and ran into some other friends who were there for a family birthday party.

It's another week where we are trying several new recipes. Sometimes, it feels like things are a little blah, so we like to mix it up with new recipes. Sometimes, when I think, I should insert one new recipe, I find five that I can't choose between, so I insert them all! I expect that some of the dishes will be more popular with the family than others, and that will drive how frequently we see it on future menus. Wednesday I am making two soups, because I know my husband won't do the cauliflower soup.


Sunday
cereal
sandwiches
Panera

Monday
Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes

Tuesday
Creamy Bacon Carbonara

Wednesday
Chicken Corn Chowder and Red Pepper Cauliflower Soup

Thursday
Best Chicken

Friday
Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia

Saturday
cereal
leftovers
Hoagies

The kids have hot lunches from the school or the occasional packed lunch. My husband and I continue to rely on leftovers, frozen meals and sandwiches for lunch.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

It was a good weekend. We did a lot of baking - lemon white chocolate biscotti, butterfinger cupcakes, rice krispie treats and cherry rice krispie treats. The cats destroyed the biscotti, which was a bummer because the piece that I did eat was delicious.

On Sunday, my husband told me as I was leaving for a friend's baby shower, that he would make dinner. He made chicken piccata and it turned out wonderful (even more so, because I didn't cook!). It was supposed to be part of the plan last week, as was the tilapia we are having Thursday, but we had some schedule changes and didn't get to those meals last week. I will have to post his recipe and link it up.

Sunday
cereal
sandwiches
Chicken Piccata

Monday
English Muffin Pizzas

Tuesday
Turkey Roast with mashed potatoes

Wednesday
Tacos

Thursday
Parmesean Crusted Tilapia

Friday
TBD

Saturday
TBD


As we are now back in school, the kids either pack or buy the hot lunch at school. My husband and I rely on leftovers, frozen meals and lunch meetings for lunch.

This post shared at Menu Plan Monday.