Menu Plan... it's a little late :-\

Monday - Roasted chicken breasts (on the bone) with stuffing and steamed broccoli
Tuesday - Taco Soup (recipe to follow)
Wednesday - Grilled ham and cheese
Thursday - Beef and black bean taquitos (see last week)
Friday - Spaghetti with meat sauce

I'm also remaking a batch of Pumpkin Cranberry Bread... I made some last week and FORGOT THE SUGAR.  Seriously?  How can that even happen?!?  Needless to say it doesn't taste very good.  BUT it does have a great pumpkin flavor and the cranberries are awesome.  I saved it to try to make croutons (for a grilled chicken salad) and stuffing for turkey... if I can remember, I'll let you know how that turns out.

Anyway, this bread is one of James' favorite things that I make.  I'm tempted to stockpile canned pumpkin and cranberries while they're on the shelves and then save them to make this for him randomly throughout the year.  I love it too :)

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread
4 eggs
2 cups pureed pumpkin (1 regular size can)
1 cup vegetable oil (if you sub apple sauce, only do it for 1/2 or the texture is different)
4 cups sugar (Splenda also works but it makes the bread very dense)
4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice (recipe below)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 350*.  Combine eggs, pumpkin, and oil in electric mixer.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in cranberries (this is best done by hand).  Divide into two 8x4 inch loaf pans (or spoon into muffin tins - fill 1/2 to 3/4 full).  Bake 50 minutes (or 25-35 min for muffins).  Serve warm with cream cheese.

Warning: do not lick any of the batter off of your fingers.  If you do you will want to eat it with a spoon out of the bowl.  Eating raw batter is dangerous, people!  And yet, that spoon beckons.... Seriously, I can eat this with a spoon.  It almost makes me want to make it without eggs and plan to eat it raw in the first place.  Is that weird?

Tonight I only had 3 eggs so I sprinkled in some egg substitute, only had bread flour (the new bag I had ready to open was bread flour too... whoops!), and I only had a giant (3 1/2 cups) can of pumpkin.  Now I'm not about to waste pumpkin and since I was out of eggs, I just dumped in the whole can and added an extra 1/2 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice (which reminds me I still need to type that recipe up for you!).   I probably should have added extra sugar and baking soda too, but I didn't... we'll see how it turns out!

Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ginger
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
dash allspice


This Taco Soup recipe is awesome.  It's from my even more awesome friend Marla (hi, Marla!).  She first introduced it to our family when her family came over to bring us dinner after Andrew was born.

Marla's Oklahoma Taco Soup
1 lb ground beef
1 can each: stewed tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes with chilies, whole kernel corn, kidney beans
2 cans pinto beans
1 package each taco seasoning and ranch dressing mix
*I also add one small (or 1/2 large) onion, diced and cook it with the meat

Brown and drain beef.  Do not drain beans, tomatoes, and corn!  Add all cans and both mixes and stir to combine.  Add a little water if too thick (but tomatoes cook down so be patient before deciding).  Cook until heated through (or for an hour or two on very low heat if you're like me and get it ready while the baby is napping 2 hours before dinner time :)  Serve with grated cheese, raw onions, sour cream, and taco chips.  James particularly likes the lime flavor chips and I prefer Fritos.  But any corn/tortilla type chip will do!

Low Sodium options:
*Use low sodium, no salt added, and/or rinse your beans and corn.  If you rinse the veggies, fill the can with water while the beans are still in there to get the right volume.
*Substitute 1 can diced tomatoes plus 1 can diced green chilies for the Rotel tomatoes/chilies
*Use homemade taco/ranch mixes (recipes below)

Taco Mix:
2 tsp each: chili powder, all purpose flour, dried oregano, cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp each: onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper

Ranch Mix:
1/4-1/2 cup buttermilk powder (Marla just eyeballs it)
1 Tbsp dried parsley, crushed
1 tsp each: dried dill weed, onion powder, minced onion
1/4 tsp gr. pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

YUM!