After a few weeks of not being organized enough to get a menu posted, I finally am getting it done this week!
We have lots of apples and tangerines to use up this week so we're going to be making fresh juice every morning–yum! I have found this is an excellent and nutritious way to use up a lot of excess fruit which is going to be going bad quickly.
We also have–you guessed it!–Thanksgiving leftovers. I've frozen some of them and am remaking most of the rest of them into other dishes this week and for our Freezer Cooking Day this week. If you have extra Thanksgiving leftovers, stay tuned for some ideas and links I'll be sharing over the next few days.
Breakfasts:
Granola over yogurt, fresh apple/tangerine juice
Whole-wheat waffles, fresh apple/tangerine juice
Whole-wheat English muffins, scrambled eggs, fresh apple/tangerine juice
Cereal, cranberry juice
Pumpkin pancakes, fresh apple/tangerine juice
Cream of wheat, fresh apple/tangerine juice
Oatmeal, fresh apple/tangerine juice
Lunches (my hubby usually has sandwiches or leftovers in his packed lunch):
PB&J, applesauce
Tuna Noodle Casserole, applesauce
Steamed veggies over brown rice, oranges
Turkey sandwiches, steamed veggies, grapefruit
Homemade mac and cheese, broccoli, applesauce
Leftovers x 2
Dinners:
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole, grapefruit, homemade bread
Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, steamed veggies
Chicken Tetrazinni, grapefruit, muffins, steamed veggies, chocolate pudding
Turkey meatballs, biscuits, steamed veggies, mashed potatoes
Breaded fish, sweet potatoes, homemade bread, steamed veggies, Slab Apple Pie
Pasta salad with turkey and veggies, oranges
Dinner out
Stephanie says
Lisa,
I also live in MN and we have very cool temps most of the year I turn my oven on and let it get to about 100 just warm in there for my hands and let it rise in their with the door shut, both rises. You might be rolling or shaping your dough too much this can also cause your rolls to turn out hard. Just punch down and pull of bun size pieces and tuck under and place in the greased or sprayed pan cover with a towel and let rise. Also I agree WW flour can go rancid or you might have old yeast store in the fridge and check the exp date. Good luck I loved the pumpkin rolls My family requests them a lot.
Emily says
Since I have stopped “proofing” my yeast every time I make bread, I’ve had better results. I don’t know what the pumpkin roll recipe recommends, but many recipes have you put the yeast in water and wait for it to get foamy (about 10 min.). I used to do this, and follow all the directions to the letter, but as soon as I’d put my loaf of bread into the oven, it would sink.
Here’s my theory: use the proofing technique only to find out if your yeast is still good, not every time you make bread. Don’t use the full amount of yeast and water specified in a recipe when you do this–you just want to see if your yeast still has it’s “umph”. My theory is that when you put the yeast in water and let it foam, it’s using up some of it’s energy, and doesn’t have enough umph left for the dough. Since I’ve started just adding the yeast to the dry ingredients and then adding the warm water to that, my breads have turned out great.
Laura says
How do you make your own juice? I should know this, but I don’t and I have a ton of apples going too ripe too quickly.
I have four children who would love homemade apple juice though. Thanks for any help!
Liz says
Crystal, could you repost your recipe for the brown sugar biscuit twists? I have been wanting to try them for some time now but can’t find a valid link anymore 🙁
The Prudent Homemaker says
Lisa,
Whole wheat flour can go rancid quickly, which would cause a bad taste. I would agree with those above who talk about having a cool kitchen as far as rising problems. I find that my bread rises better in a ceramic bowl; in a metal bowl is stays cold. I also keep my in the oven to warm–even in the summer when it’s 80º in my house! I get much better results.
Karen,
I don’t know what wheat grinder Crystal has, but I have some info about wheat grinders (including links to reviews) here: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/grains.aspx
You can also see what I have there; I have been really happy with my grinder. I bought it based on the reviews I had read, and it’s been really good to me!
Karen says
Crystal, do you have an actual juicer to do your juicing for you? If you do, what kind do you have? Also what kind of wheat grinder do you have? I bought one and ended up returning it because it didn’t work for me. I have 200# of wheat berries and I’m so wanting to use them!
Jenny says
Lisa- I made the pumpkin rolls at Thanksgiving as well and had the same thing happen- they would not rise the second time (but the dough rose fine before I punched it down and formed it into balls). Mine were really tasty though and everyone liked them, they just didn’t look so good since they didn’t rise properly. I also would like any tips as to why this happened so I can do something different next time cause I will definitely be making them again. 🙂
Kansas Mom says
Lisa, how warm is your kitchen? I often have trouble with yeast breads in the winter because we keep our heat down so low. I have much better luck if I warm the oven to about 200 degrees, turn it off and then put rolls or bread in there to rise. I have a new oven that stays warm a long time, so I can do this for a first and second rise without any problem. Then I pull the rolls out again before preheating to bake. If you had old flour, it could definitely cause an “off” taste. I store bread flour and wheat flour for a couple of months, but I keep it in the chest freezer. Be sure to warm it to room temperature before mixing it with yeast.
Kristine says
I think I’m going to try your Chicken Tetrazinni recipe with turkey! ( c :
Rebecca says
Crystal, on your Chicken Tetrazinni do your noodles ever come out mushy after they have been frozen and then used or are they still fairly good? Are there any tips to keep them from coming out mushy?
Lisa says
Crystal,
I tried making the pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving! I mixed 1/3 wheat to 2/3 white and followed the directions to a “T”. Not successful! Sadly, the bread rose the first time but did not rise again once formed into rolls (this has happened to me with other doughs… not sure what I am doing wrong). But, the flavor was off. Maybe my wheat flour (which was old) was at fault but the rolls had a strange aftertaste and were not at all sweet. So, we scraped them and I used the crescent rolls I had on hand as a back up.
Any thoughts you have about my troubles with the recipe would be appreciated. I love homemade rolls but the only recipe I have had success with so far has been a bubble bread recipe (put rolls, rolled in butter into a bundt pan for the second rise… pick off pieces / rolls like monkey bread when cooled).
Colleen says
I absolutely LOVE that ‘Dinner Out’ is on the menu!
christine waltz says
You still have leftovers? My family picked the carcass clean already. I swear I have locusts, not children.