Menu for December 15, 2013 through December 21, 2013

This week brought the first real snow of the season.  We got a couple of inches which was perfect because it was still easy to drive and get around, but it made everything so pretty! Given that we are moving so soon, I took some time to enjoy our current yard and views of the snow.  Of course I didn't think to take a picture, but oh well!  I did take a picture from my window at work the day it was snowing.  In the background you can see the river.  Great view!

This past week I was really needing a dessert (even more so than usual I suppose) and I had some caramel that I wanted to use.  I made these (not healthy) chocolate caramel oat bars and they were amazing!! Mark loves oatmeal cookies and he thought these were better than oatmeal cookies.  I made 2/3 of the recipe in an 8x8 pan and used less chocolate than was called for.  Instead of the caramels/heavy cream I just used the caramel I had in a jar (probably about 1/2 cup but I did not measure).  If you make these, you should really wait until they are completely cool to eat them.  That way they are actually possible to cut and you are able to taste all the flavors a lot better.  Most chocolate-y desserts I think are best warm and gooey, but not these!  And in case you are curious, they are also good straight out of the freezer. :)

Dinner!  How about some recipes that you haven't tried in awhile?  I'm planning on Thai black pepper and garlic tofu, spaghetti squash with meatballs, chile sweet potato hash with avocado and eggs, and curried vegetable and chickpea stew.  Whatever you have, hope it's delicious!

Dinners for the Week

Sunday: Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew with bread on the side if desired.

• Make the half the recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Wednesday.  OR, make the full recipe and freeze half for later or eat for lunches.

Monday: Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu with rice if desired

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Thursday.  

Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs (Serve outside of the shell if desired- I've done that recently and it's great that way too and makes leftovers easier!  Also, you can get away with one extra large spaghetti squash to serve 4 if you serve outside of the shell.)

• Make the full recipe and eat half tonight, have leftovers on Friday.  

Wednesday:  Leftover Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew

Thursday:  Leftover Thai Black Pepper and Garlic Tofu

Friday:  Leftover Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs

Saturday: Chile Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs and Avocado

• Make the full recipe.  Have any leftovers on Sunday.