Make-ahead Mashed Potatoes Recipe?

Regina, your Make-ahead Mashed Potatoes at Christmas were great. Can you please share the recipe?

What's for dinner this week?

I find that when I plan my meals and base my shopping list on them, my weeks is so much easier. So, I am trying to plan my menus for the week ahead. I am also trying to add lots of veggies to our meals, so after I shop and grab what looks good I'll let you know how I did.

Mondays are Religion days, so I feed the kids early and then G and I eat later. Most nights we all eat together and I try to do a combination of meals in the week of things George and I will enjoy, and some things the kids will enjoy. Tonight, I am going to do Turkey Meatball sliders. The kids have never been meatball wedge (hero, subs, whatever you call them) people, but I am thinking with smaller rolls they might get into it. Plus, I can keep the meatballs in the crockpot so they are ready for the kids, and still good when George and I are ready to eat.

Other than that, I am looking at Chicken picata or Tandoori chicken with spinach and rice, Lamb kebabs with sweet potatoes and butternut squash, eggplant and pasta, and I think I'm going to try those pizza bites I posted in an earlier post. 

Would love to hear what you are all having.

the 11 best foods you aren't eating

We just read an article the 11 best foods you aren't eating.  And want to try to add these food to our diet. Number 1 on the list. Beets - I served my children beets as babies but have never cooked a raw beet.  The article says to eat raw and grated in a salad. Any of you do this.  Any other ways to use. 

Number 2 on the list was cabbage- besides corned beef and cabbage or cole slaw any recipes.

Number 3 Swiss Chard

4. Cinnamon

5. Pomegranate juice

6. Dried Plums (prunes)

7. Pumpkin seed

8. Sardines

9. Turmeric

10. Frozen blueberriee

11. canned pumpkin

Simple appetizer?

Any suggestions for a simple appetizer? We are traveling an hour Sunday to my niece's Christening, then go back to the house. My sister-in-law is having cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, deviled eggs, a sub and wraps. I'd like to bring an appetizer, something that can be cold, room temperature or microwaved? What's your favorites? Thanks in advance for sharing.

Pizza Party Bites

This looks like such a simple, easy appetizer/snack-y dinner idea. I think it would be perfect for get-togethers and kids' parties. Also, while the original recipe calls for pepperoni, I'd love to experiment with it.

http://chaosinthekitchen.com/2008/10/party-food-pizza-in-a-bite

A week of good meal ideas

Sometimes I'm totally out of food thoughts and ideas. This meal ideas just seemed to have "hit" me. I had made Balsamic Beef in the crock pot http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/345/BalsamicBeefSandwiches64948.shtml it was good, but made a lot, so I was looking for a way to use it up. As we had eaten it as sandwiches once and added some red, green and yellow bell peppers to it and served it over egg noodles another time. At my daughter's request, I decided to carmalize some onions and add the last of the beef and some beef broth to it. We all enjoyed this Onion soup variation.

Next I tried some recipes from the January 2009 addition of Everyday Food Magazine. This week we tried the Light Italian Wedding Soup, it was good and we had escarole for the first time. The turkey meatballs do give off a "smell" while simmering, but it was enjoyed by all with bread and a green salad topped with sundried tomatoes, smoked gouda and bacon bits. Last night we made the Steak and Red Onion sandwiches also from Everyday Food Magazine( January 2009 ). I decided to sautee the onions while the beef was resting as I thought we'd all prefer them cooked rather than raw. We opted for our favorite light dressing instead of using the vinegar and oil suggested by the recipe. We also rounded out the meal with the leftover Beef and Onion soup. Our breath was smelly but everyone enjoyed the meals, three nights in a row. Now that may be a first! Today we are home enjoying a snow day. We'll light the fire place soon and I may throw together a pot of chili or defrost Saurbrauten from the freezer (that would be 4 meals liked by all:). Or possible get my husband to cook something in is dutch oven at the fireplace. Now that would be an awesome ending to a good food week. I will post the recipes later.

Crockpot Banana Bread

OK, I was thinking today as I was cleaning up from the holidays, getting rid of the tree, and the decorations, and finally giving the place the cleaning it didn't get when I took all the decorations out in a rush, that generally if you give more, you get more. Not necessarily material things, but that if you put more effort in, you reap greater reward or satisfaction. That said, isn't everyone always looking for the quick fix? Myself included. So, when this arrived in my email inbox this week I was intrigued. I love anything you can put in a crockpot and forget about and come back later to just enjoy. I do stews, sauces, chilis, soups, chowders, ribs, pulled pork or chicken or beef. I've even done meatloaf and baked potatoes with moderate success. However, I'm not sure if I believe that you can get sweet treats from a crockpot. Here it is: Crockpot banana bread. Let's give it a try and weigh in on the results.