April 22, 2023

WEEKLY MENU 04.23.23

We’re pre-planting during the Weekly Menu 04.23.23 in anticipation of the weather warming up and staying there…

We’re experiencing pretty normal volatile weather during the Weekly Menu 04.23.23 – springtime in Erieland is no kid game. Last Saturday I set up the outside seating and {gasp} even put out the cushions because it was a gorgeous 75 degrees. I brought the cushions in on Sunday in anticipation of rain and a precipitous drop in the temps. Which happened, as forecast.

The cushions and pillows hang out behind the couch in our family room – and you can’t even see them if I take the time to smoosh them down. (Sure, I can see points of them right now, but the intention was good.) We’ll bring them in and out for all our freeze thaw cycles until I finally tire of it and let the rain clean them up later in the spring season.

I mentioned it in the Weekly Menu 04.16.23 (during our homage to Earth Day) that outdoor planting isn’t something we should do yet. Memorial Day Weekend is usually the best indicator that we can start digging here in Erieland. As I write this, though, I am enjoying the trees in our back yard popping with green – which encourages me to get going!

Seed Planting time!

I’m a novice seed planter. I have some fabulous (sounding) Pink Sunflowers that will go directly into their bed outside, but I recently found a little set of seed starting pots that I got for Christmas a few years ago. They were buried in the pile of patio cushions behind the couch – when we set up outside I came across them! (Affiliate links precede and follow. See Disclaimer Page for details.)

According to the Minnesota State Horticultural Society/northerngardener.com, here are five tips for first time seed planters:

Use seed starting mix
Don’t overspend on equipment
Put them where you’ll see them
Pick easy to start seeds
Water judiciously

It sounds easy.

Here’s my kit – and a couple other ones that are darling:

I don’t think you have to spend the big bucks to get something going – some tea cups or mugs, soil and seeds will probably get you in. I’m going to get new seeds – my kit has been hanging out behind the couch for a couple of years and they are out of date. Fingers crossed!

What’s for eats on the Weekly Menu 04.23.23?

We’re starting out the week with an easy dinner of store bought French Onion Dip and veggies followed by roasted, stuffed chicken. I’m expending most of my energy on dessert. Have you heard of “small-batch” desserts? I love them – that way I don’t have to worry about wrapping up half of a cake and freezing it. They’re also fabulous for creating multiple desserts for a little tasting!

I received (and adore) 6 mini-cast iron skillets for my birthday, and they are ideal for this use, but any small, oven proof bowl or ramekin would work. Large muffin pans would be great too. Nobody but me really likes berry pie, so I can make a couple (with store bought pie crust) and have them all to myself! I’ll half this pie recipe. Then I’ll use the rest of the pie crust to make a couple of mini pecan pies (which luckily needs a whole lot less of those pricey pecans than a regular pie) and a super easy brownie. Getting out all the ingredients is what takes the longest – so the combo baking shouldn’t take much additional time at all.

I’ll make them during the afternoon and pop them back into the warm oven when we start eating dinner so I can serve them ooey and gooey. I’ll make sure our ice cream stash is up to par.

On Tuesday, I’m making Taco Pizza with a little twist – chicken is subbing in for the ground meat. Everything else will be by the book/recipe. We’re having sandwiches and sheet pan nachos made from a full day crockpot recipe: Mississippi Crock Pot Roast. If you haven’t tried this simple recipe, I encourage giving it a try. It uses the cheapest beef you can find and is a purely delicious crockpot dump meal.