November 27, 2021

WEEKLY MENU 11.28.21

Time to start the decking of the halls during the Weekly Menu 11.28.21~

We’re decking the halls and setting up the trees during the Weekly Menu 11.28.21. And having a giggle about what stays with the boysies during the whole process.

A rite of passage in grade school was the “Christmas Book”. Each one of the boys worked on them in third grade, and they were a PROJECT with a capital “P”. Art was never our thing, but the boys were (and are) plenty creative. They had to write a story about Christmas and what it meant to them. Then they had to illustrate it. Eventually they transcribed the entire thing into a very official looking, bound book.

Then they had to trace each line.

And color in each illustration. It was a labor, mostly of love, with a bit of anxiety mixed in. It was especially tense once they started working inside the actual book. This was a real permanent record. But they were glorious when they were done.

D, our Betwixt and Between Baby Boy (I really hate calling him the middle child) started out his book with something that made me guffaw when I saw it, and I still don’t know why I thought it was so funny.

Christmas Book for the Weekly Menu 11.28.21

We haul the trees out of storage – no Christmas Tree Farm (or fresh trees) for our family. And how about those stairs? Bert is taking his life in his hands bringing up those babies, and there are two of them. The Family Room tree is our main tree, and it is liberally covered with all the ornaments that we’ve been collecting over the years. There’s always a little jockeying for placement with the grade school picture ornaments and the college ornaments. But it’s all in good fun. Mostly.

The living room tree is easier – we set it up in front of the window at the front of the house so you can see the lights from the street. I decorate this one, and usually go with a color theme. I buy the industrial size balls of a single color. (Affiliate links precede and follow. See Disclaimer Page for deets.) Last year I did a rainbow one – we started with gold at the top and worked our way down to purple. Super cute!

A nice creamy eggnog with a little Jameson helps with decorating. A lot.

We always decorate the trees the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so our super easy dinner is leftovers. The Weekly Menu 11.28.21 includes leftovers too – I went a little crazy with desserts around here last Thursday, so the Apple Crisp is being given the nod for a second go-round Sunday night.

We’re pulling back a little during the Weekly Menu 11.28.21, though. We’re having a salad on Monday and a “Meatless Tuesday” with our take on soup and sammies: Black Bean Soup and Pepper Jack Quesadilla. Super easy and nutritious!

Pops Crispy Chicken is topping the salad. The recipe calls for a bit of panko breadcrumbs, but the chicken is baked, not fried. I’ll cut it into nugget sized chunks so they’ll cook super fast. They’ll be easy to eat too: no need to cut up this salad.

Heavy veggies will get us right back on track. Speaking of veggies, seriously think about trying the Brussels Sprouts recipe by B. Smith. After you halve them, the sprouts soak in water. This little step makes a huge difference in the final flavor. They are superb.

WEEKLY MENU 11.28.21

The Pepper Jelly Cream Cheese Dip (using up leftover crackers!) is from Deep South Dish. The slow-cooker Beef Stroganoff is via Recipe Tin Eats. B. Smith’s fabulous Brussels Sprouts were featured by The Food Network. The Pioneer Woman authored the Black Bean Soup.