Check out what's been cooking....

All I have to say is OH MY GOSH!!! I love LOVE LOVE Pioneer Woman! Like I am trying to justify planning a trip to her home so I can meet her. She is AWESOME! And i am in love with her blog, Im actually not sure if it is technically a "blog" but anyways her website is ridiculous amazing! Check it out for yourself, but beware you might just spend hours and hours reading everything, and stay up WAY past your bedtime (like me), so be ready to exert LOTS of self control (I cant)

So I am always on the hunt for new menu items. For a couple reasons, I want to expose the girls to as many different kinds of foods as I possibly can, and I get super sick of the "same ole same ole". So a couple weeks ago I compiled a menu for 3 weeks and tried to stick with ingredients that went together so that when I bought something I could use it ALL. Do you follow me? Like if I was using 1/2 an onion in 1 recipe I would find another recipe that I could use the other half. Oh and I try and only plan 3-4 meals per week, cause we like left overs here, and honestly with our schedule I cant cook every night!
So here is what I came up with.....

last week was
Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks with grilled chicken
Holy Moly this dish is ridiculously tasty. Best part is it is SUPER easy to make, and only has a couple ingredients (other than ones that you would typically have on hand anyways). This dish is going to be a staple in our diets from now on! Thanks to an awesome friend for giving me the idea to try this recipe.
Vietnamese salad rolls and fried rice
I have to admit, I can make some mean fried rice, but I cheated on this one and made the frozen store bought kind. I couldnt resist getting the Contessa meal that is usually like 10 or 12 bucks for $3 after coupons, sales, and in store deals! Oh and the Vietnamese rolls were a bit too much work for me. I wouldnt really recommend this recipe (unless you have, say.....1.5 hours to spare cutting stuff up!). I am in search for a different recipe, so if any of you have one up your sleeve send it my way. But they were MIGHTY tasty!
Steaks served with turnip gratin and brown sugar carrots
My husband did a fabulous job grilling those puppies, they were cooked to perfection......hes good for some things. The turnip gratin, now here's a story (or 2).......my mom and dad went up to the St Louis area to visit family, and apparently my aunts/uncles/cousins grow turnips and had a bunch extra so they sent home a couple bags with my parents. My mom called me on the way home, when I happened to be in the middle of menu planning, and asked if I wanted any turnips. So I began the search for a recipe, since I had never eaten them before. After finding the recipe i mentioned it to my SIL and did not get the greatest response. Basically she said that turnips were second to last on her "worst foods" list, as in she HATES them! So I got a bit worried, but pressed on with my recipe, trusting in PW (the woman Ive never even met), and I have to say she did NOT disappoint! Oh and the brown sugar carrots, are my "fail safe" side dish, basically just steamed baby carrots then saute them in butter and brown sugar (it is a favorite when we have company).
Halibut with avocado sauce served with risotto
Ok now this was not only my first time cooking halibut, it was my first time to ever eat it too! I wast too much of a fan of the recipe, but I definitely want to try halibut again in a different recipe. The risotto was really good too. I make A LOT of risotto around here, but this one had a different twist than my typical, so it was nice!

This week's plan is.....
Burgers served with stuffed jalapenos, onion strings, and corn/avocado salsa
I made this for Marcus' birthday dinner tonight, we both are now in love with all these recipes! Since I am being honest here, my burgers SUCK! I have never made a decent burger in my life, so I totally need burger lessons! But the other items where fabulous, as usual with PW's recipes. I prepped everything during nap today (except the jalapenos, since I ran out of time, when BOTH girls decided not to take good naps). The onion strings barely made it to our plates before we devoured them, and surprisingly I really liked the "bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingys", I swear I love how PW writes, who else wouldve named them that? And the salsa it was delish too. All those items just really seemed to work well together! And again the best part is minimal ingredients, and reasonable work involved. The best part about the jalapenos were you could make a bunch and freeze the extras (before cooking) for another meal.
Salmon served with risotto and salads
I cheated with this one......it was really just a way to get a fish meal into this weeks menu. I cheated with the salmon and used some my dad picked up for me that were already marinated. Threw some salad stuff in a bowl, and had the left over risotto from the halibut meal.
Chicken Picatta served with peas (or any veggie that feels right to me)
I am going to make this probably Friday night, wait it might have to wait til Saturday night, not exactly sure. But I havent tried it yet, so i cant really vouch for it, but I will let you know when I do and how it is.

Since Thanksgiving is next week I guess my menu plans will have to be postponed until the following week, cause I will be eating me some FRIED turkey Thursday through (at least) Sunday. My dad makes the best fried turkey ever! I wont reveal next weeks (actually 2 weeks away) menu until after we have eaten all the meals. But let me just tell you there are some good sounding meals to be made and eaten!

so who wants to join us for dinner?