Bacon In My Pocket: Cute as pie

You have to take a look at these awesome little pies.

Bacon In My Pocket: Cute as pie: "Last week my brother stopped by on his way across the country. It had been a long time since I saw him last (almost a year!) So I decided t..."

For Dinner tonight

I have a meeting tonight so I needed something easy so I decided to try the Potatoes Au Gratin. As I mentioned before I got the recipe from EatatHomeCooks.com It smells so good in my house right now. I also have some steaks marinating waiting to hit the grill.
I didn't want to leave my husband watching the oven so I put all the ingredients into the crock pot on low. The changes I made are in pink below.

• 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, unpeeled
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 2 Tbs. flour
• 1 1/2 cups hot milk (warmed in microwave)
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 tsp. parmesan
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt and pepper
• extra cheese for the top
• 
  
• Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender. (I just washed and cut into 1/4" slices) Cool and cut into 1/4″ slices.  You can peel them if you like, but I like the rustic look and flavor of leaving the peels on.  Layer the slices in a buttered casserole dish. (I layered them in my crock pot)

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the garlic and cook it for a minute over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and cook for another minute.  Whisk in the hot milk, stirring constantly.  Stir in the cheeses and keep stirring until it’s all melted and smooth.

Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes and top with extra shredded cheese.  (At this point I  out the crock pot on low and left to cook)Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  You can also brown it up under the broiler for a minute, if you like.

Dinner Menu

My kids have all started school and I go back next week. It's going to be crazy busy around here again especially with 3 night classes. So I'm trying to get a menu ready so I can have dinner ready before I leave to school. Wish me luck.

so here's my short list of ideas for the next few weeks. Of course now I need to go shopping

Spaghetti with meatballs 

Beef tacos with rice

Chicken Broccoli Divan http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/07/chicken-broccoli-divan-in-the-crockpot-or-oven.html

Vietnam Fried Rice  http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/01/vietnam-fried-rice.html

Chicken Fingers

Stuffed Shells 

Club Sandwhich

Sloppy Joe’s with homemade rolls

Steak and Black Angus Potatoes Au Gratin http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/09/black-angus-potatoes-au-gratin.html

pork chops with salad 

Making zucchini bread

Here's my mess I'll post the finished product soon. In the mean time I have some shredded zucchini to bag and freeze.

I found this recipe on Amandascookin.com I lost my original recipe that I've used forever :( . I know this will be great because every recipe I've tried from her site has been.

freezer meatballs

In the theme of trying to get ready for school to start, I was able to make 3  freezer bags full of meatballs. It's a favorite around here and a quick dinner too. 

my no rise bread :(

Final product made into croutons 

diced

sliced

long time coming

Wow where have I been? Life has been crazy to say the least. In less than a week my kids will start school and I go back in 3. It doesn't seem like we even had a summer  :(


So today I'm making homemade bread I'm on my second batch because I forgot the salt for the first one and it tastes just a little blah. I decided to make croutons out of those loaves. First time trying to make my own. I googled and found Hungry Cravings's blog for croutons so wish me luck.

http://www.hungrycravings.com/2010/04/homemade-croutons.html

I used my bread and they came out great.