Menu Planning & Christmas Menu 2010

Cooking and baking are favorite activites of mine. I’ve always enjoyed Menu Planning, too and about two months ago came across this weekly planner for meals (I use the second one listed). This has worked even better than a monthly calendar, which I had done for quite some time. With the weekly menu planner, I love that the menu plan is on one side and the grocery list is on one side…so when I take my grocery list to the grocery store(s), I can remember what I’m supposed to be making for the week. I keep the weekly menu planner on my kitchen counter, where it is almost always in view.
I thought you might be interested to know what we cooked for Christmas Meals. :)  So, I thought I would share my menu and a few recipe links here with you.
I cooked a nicer meal for the four of us on Christmas Eve. The Pork Tenderloin cooked while we were away and the house had a nice smell when we came home!

• Pork Tenderloin with Herb Rub
• Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
• Orange-Glazed Carrots
• Ice Cream for the little boys & Austrian Cheesecake for the parents :)

On Christmas Day, we had planned to have a lady and her daughter from our church over. The lady’s husband died in the summer time, and we wanted to be able to serve someone that was celebrating the holidays who would be alone during the holidays. The lady’s daughter ended up not coming, but it was still really good that the lady from our church came. We had:

• Warren’s (Kickin’) Minestrone Soup (I did not add the spicy ingredients)
• Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
• Fresh Mixed Salad & Italian Dressing
• Austrian Cheesecake with Strawberries & chocolate sauce (made it look nice on the plate!)

I would say that with the exception of a Shortbread Lemon Tart, which I had attempted to make (it ended up in the garbage), everything was really good. The recipes that I have links to I would definitely make again. Some of these were new to me, and some were not.
We had more than enough soup left over, and spontaneously invited a younger man over after church on Sunday. We still have soup…I just received the suggestion from a friend to can the soup and keep it in the fridge up to a month. Good suggestion!