Category Archives: Eating

Chomp it up.

baking, menu plan Monday, recipes

Of course I’m calling them David S Pumpkins muffins. Any questions?

It is decorative gourd season, mighty friendlies, and I got my October off to a properly spooky start by walking straight into a dangling spider in the garage this morning. Later this evening Rockford will be figuring out where we put all of the Halloween decor when we moved in some 10 months ago, and then we will commence with the spookyfication of hearth and home.

In further autumnal news, today I made some pumpkin muffins with a lot of chocolate chips and every fall-evoking spice in the cabinet. They were delicious, and they tasted like break-apart chocolate oranges because I also put an orange’s worth of zest in them.

The children, naturally, did not care for them.


David S Pumpkins Muffins
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
zest of one orange
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pop paper liners into a muffin pan.

Mix sugar, maple syrup, oil, eggs, pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, zest and salt. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20.

And here, friends, is what we’ll be having for dinner this week.

Monday: Chili

I made chili for a church thing yesterday, and I far overestimated how much I’d need. So the “spare chili,” as Pete calls it, will be appearing on our table this evening.

Tuesday: Meatball soup
I used to make Rachael Ray recipes all the time, and then I just stopped for no particular reason. Rachael fatigue, I guess. But lately I’ve been very enthusiastic about soup and meatballs — because I am about to turn 40 and that’s what happens, kids — and when I googled “meatball soup” this popped up.

Wednesday: KFC?
I don’t know. These busy Wednesday nights are wearing on me.

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner
Maybe I’ll let the kids make their own eggs this week.

Friday: Tacos
Poppy is volunteering at a fundraiser for a friend’s non-profit, but the rest of us will be at home eating tacos.

Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie.

menu plan Monday

A poem and a menu plan

Pete cleaned his room over the weekend and unearthed a small notebook that used to live in my purse but somehow ended up buried under 6 months’ worth of Legos and socks in his room. In it, I found this gem that he wrote way back in those halcyon days of 2015:

The Ballad of Road Muffin
Road muffin —
you taste so good.
Road muffin —
How could I ever
leave you behind?
Oh road muffin —
How I will miss you
when you’re in my stomach.

I found you on the road
and now you’ve been eaten.
Yes I found you on the road,
and now you’ve been eaten.

I don’t know if this is an autobiographical work or not. I hope he didn’t eat a muffin he found on the road. I also hope that he will eat all of these things I’m making for dinner this week.

Monday: Chicken Tinga tacos

I keep typing “chicken tikka tacos, which is not what I’m making but does sound good. I’m making it with a rotisserie chicken.

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner
There will be bacon.

Wednesday: Maybe McDonald’s
Or maybe something else. We’ll see.

Thursday: Honey soy pork tenderloin
The honey-soy pork tenderloin from Add A Pinch was on last week’s menu, too, but it’s a hard dish to make when you forget to buy the pork tenderloin.

Friday: Frozen pizza
I think I may have exhausted everything I have to say about frozen pizza.

Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie.

menu plan Monday

We did not eat all of our hurricane snacks

Last week found me buying copious snacks and supplies for Hurricane Florence’s visit to the mountains, but by the time she got to our house she was just a regular old rainstorm. A very rainy and insistent storm, but not one that required any special supplies. Our power was out for about four hours yesterday, and we spent the time reading, playing Carcassonne and Say Anything and eating our hurricane snacks.

I’m grateful to be back to our regular, not-waiting-for-a-hurricane schedule this week. Here’s what we’ll be having for dinner:

Monday: Bulgogi bowls
This uses Gochujang sauce, which I’ve never used before. I’d never even heard of it until recently, and when I went to buy it for a recipe it was really expensive so I made something else instead. I guess it’s become more mainstream since then, though, because the price has come down considerably. Minimalist Baker says it’s really easy to make at home, but I bought a bottle before I learned that.

Tuesday: Chicken sausages & mac ‘n’ cheese
I bought an extra pack of chicken sausages for red beans and rice last week, and then I ended up not using them. So here they make their triumphant return, in OrgJunkie.com’s recipe for Chicken Sausage with Roasted Vegetables.

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner
Pete has been playing Dungeons and Dragons on Wednesday nights, so we haven’t been together for Wednesday night dinner all that much lately. We generally pick up a cheeseburger and a Filet O’ Fish on the way there, but I think we may try something else this week. Poppy and Rockford, meanwhile, will be eating eggs at home.

Thursday: Honey soy pork tenderloin
I’m trying to make something in the CrockPot on Thursdays, because it’s our wackiest day, schedule-wise. This week we’re trying honey-soy pork tenderloin from Add A Pinch.

Friday: Frozen pizza
I don’t have much to say about frozen pizza except that I asked our local Publix if they’d start carrying Amy’s Vegan Margherita Pizza so I wouldn’t have to go to a competing grocery store for one solitary item, and they did. Thanks Publix!

Hungry for more? Check out the Menu Plan Monday linkup at OrgJunkie.