For our Marriage Class treat this morning, I decided to make a variation of my Oatmeal Butterscotch Chip Cookie recipe. Instead of butterscotch chips, I used chocolate. And, instead of making the batter into cookies, I pressed it all into a 9×13 pan and baked for 20 minutes. The results were terrific. We have exactly two small cookie bars left. ;)
This week will be a little bit different in that:
- High School Huddle will be combined with Middle School Huddle, so several of us are combining our efforts to feed the larger group. I feel like I have “the night off” since I’m only taking a few things that I purchased from the store.
- Our local college has the week off, but some of the sports teams are still in town for a few days. We’re hoping to feed the ladies’ basketball team sometime this week. I’ve “penciled” them into Monday’s lunch, but may need to rearrange this plan once I nail down the extact time with the coach.
- We’ll be sticking around here for Thanksgiving and have several college students to join us for our big meal.
I’ll try to take a few pictures throughout the week to document our Thanksgiving meal prep – IF I have my act together enough to cook and take pics. I did actually get our turkey baked and deboned yesterday. It’s always great to get that job out of the way! :)
Here are plans for this week:
Sunday, November 20
Marriage class treat – Oatmeal chocolate chip bars
Lunch – Cheeseburger macaroni, steamed broccoli and carrots
Huddle – combined with middle school – taking cheese, crackers, carrots and ranch
Monday, November 21
Multi-grain pumpkin waffles
Bball team? – Sloppy Joes, relish tray (carrots, broccoli, olives, pickles), potato salad, chocolate chip cookies
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas
Tuesday, November 22
Coconut flour banana muffins, apples
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup
Tacos
Wednesday, November 23
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Clean out the fridge while Mom preps food for tomorrow!
Chicken noodle soup, carrots
Thursday, November 24
Cereal, so Mom can focus on cooking the good stuff :)
Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, cream cheese corn, stuffing, sweet potatoes, homemade whole wheat rolls, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, cheesecake
Leftovers
Friday, November 25
Scrambled eggs with cheese, creamy orange cooler
Leftovers
Hamburgers, ranch potato wedges, carrots
Saturday, November 26
Whole wheat sourdough biscuits with butter and honey, fruit
Leftovers (unless we’re sick of them – or have eaten them all – by now!)
Lamb burger patties, green beans, fried okra
What are your Thanksgiving plans this year?
I’m cooking our Thanksgiving this year and am totally thinking my early week dinners will consist of tomato soup too (and omelets- I love eggs for dinner).
We are having family come in from the north and south, lol. I LOVE cooking for Thanksgiving! I have already started the cooking as a matter of fact…I love having some things made ahead and in the freezer so I can just pull them out and bake the day of. I am also cooking my turkey on Wed. so we can free the oven up Thurs. for homemade rolls, pies, etc. Can’t wait to have family here and enjoy this wonderful time of year!
We’re also doing easy meals this week….Pasta Fagioli with homemade Focaccia, Crockpot Cowboy beans w/corn muffins, and we usually order out pizza on Wed. night.
Thanksgiving is also my favorite meal to cook! Our turkeys are going to the butcher in the morning. I will roast mine Wed. Night. I will start cooking most of my meal on Tuesday so I just have to heat it up Thursday afternoon. I’m making sloppy joes for dinner tomorrow night and while cooking the burger, making the lasagna for Wednesday. I have discovered I enjoy home made pasta and will make my noodles at home. While it takes a little time, it’s super cheap to make AND I know what’s in it! I also made my apple pies yesterday and put them in the freezer, that saves a big mess! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
Mmm, sounds so good!
Thanksgiving plans are either….be 41 weeks pregnant, or be cuddling a newborn. Not very motivated to do much meal planning either way :).
Taking the week off sounds like just what you need to do!
Well I was pregnant in the morning and cuddling a newborn by supper time. Now I can finally use all the yummy meals in the freezer!
Wonderful!! Enjoy that baby!
Laura,
I would love to hear your thoughts on preparing meals/baking for company. Do you prep as much as possible before hand (before their arrival) so it’s ready and you can just visit? Or do you just spend a lot of time in the kitchen when company is there? (I’ve hosted our extended families a bit lately and didn’t prep as much as I should have before they got here. It worked out fine but lots of kitchen work with company). Would love to hear your advice!
YES!!! I prepare as much food ahead of time as possible. I don’t do very well if I’m trying to visit and cook at the same time. I can multi-task with just about everything, but NOT with visiting and cooking. :)
Laura, I noticed you are serving green bean casserole. Do you have a healthy version of this recipe that you use? It is always so popular, but I hesitate to make it with all the processed stuff…
Yes, I have a healthier version of this recipe in my Holiday Hospitality eBook: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/heavenly-homemakers-guide-to-holiday-hospitality-ebook It’s super easy and tastes very similar to the “regular” recipe!
I’d love your cream cheese corn recipe!
I haven’t posted that recipe on my site because it’s in both my Holiday Hospitality ebook: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/heavenly-homemakers-guide-to-holiday-hospitality-ebook and our new Learn to Cook eBook: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/teaching-your-kids-to-cook-and-learn-to-cook-now-available-in-our-shop