Manor Minis and More

Menu Plan Monday!

A week of eating (and cooking) simply.

Potato and Leek Casserole
Rice with Twin Oaks Chorizo Sausage
Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

No pictures today, but I do have two recipes for you.

I have been a bit excited to finally get a wee harvest of radishes. No lettuce, just radishes. So what do can you do with radishes? Sesame Cucumber and Radish salad (which my husband has been thoroughly enjoying.

The recipe – more or less:

Two Cucumbers – peel the cucumbers, slice in half long wise, scoop out the seeds and then slice the halves short wise into thin pieces

Radishes – cut into thin slices

Dressing – 1/3 cup rice vinegar, 2/3 cup sesame oil, 1 or 2 tablespoons sugar, sprinkle of salt. Whisk together and pour over cucumbers and radishes. Let sit overnight.

Another recipe from “the vault” that is my recipe box. This is a good dessert for warmer weather (or a Memorial Day BBQ).

Four Layer Delight

This all goes into a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Layer 1 – Mix 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, and 1/2 cup oleo (margarine). Pat into pan and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Let cool.

Layer 2 – Mix 1 8 ounce package of cream cheese with 1 cup powdered sugar. Fold in 1 cup whipped topping (9 ounce, er, 8 ounce container).

Layer 3 – Make 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding (the recipe calls for French Vanilla – do they make that any more?) with 3 cups of milk. Pour over cream cheese layer.

Layer 4 – Top with the remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Enjoy!

What’s on your menu?

Sandra

Menu Plan Monday!

This week I decided to make a big old batch of rice and a variety of goodies to go on top.

Kung Pao “Chicken”
“Beef” Chow Mein
General Tso’s Tofu

And for lunches some Lentil Soup.

I also went on a bit of a pie crazy. I thought it was time to use of some of the pumpkin in the freezer (that I grew) so it didn’t languish there until I got the new batch of pumpkins for this year. I also made (since I got some whipped topping for the pumpkin pie) some Easy Lemon Pie.

Easy Lemon Pie really is.

The official recipe is:

1 – 6 ounce can frozen lemonade
1 – 13 ounce can evaporated milk
1 – 9 ounce container of whipped topping
juice of 1/2 lemon
6 drops of yellow food coloring

Mix everything together and place into a graham cracker crust. Chill overnight.

Now the funny thing about this recipe I have (yes, it’s that old) is that I can no longer find 6 ounce cans of lemonade and the evaporated milk is now 12 ounces and the whipped topping is 8 ounces. So the adapted recipe would be:

a little less than half a 12 ounce can frozen lemonade
1 – 12 ounce can evaporated milk
1 – 8 ounce container whipped topping

And then I tend to forget to get a lemon so I skip that and I also skip the food coloring. The thing that can not be skipped is the graham cracker crust. The secret to this pie is that it becomes pie like because the extra juice gets soaked into the crust. I highly recommend it, gentle lemon flavor and tastes like Summertime.

(By the way, you can use this basic recipe and fill in other frozen concentrate juices for variety – lime and orange are good, too.)

My main occupation this May, aside from painting painting painting has been getting in a raised bed garden. I am pretty pleased with the start of things and it is still a work in progress. Some warmer weather veggies are stumbling with the ups and downs in the temperature, but I have high hopes that Summer will indeed come.

My peas have done very well.

The raised beds keep things containerized <grin>. Here’s my strawberry bed.

The big piles in the background are from cleaning out the bottom of the garage for some additional, temporary storage space.

Can you see the toy tractor in background? I found that under the garage and decided it would fun to have it as a garden ornament.

That’s it for this week. What’s on your menu?

Sandra

P.S. If you just come to read the blog, get ready for the end of school with some Graduation Clip Art at Bry-Back Manor!

Painting. Painting. And more painting.

That’s what I have been doing and doing and doing.

How’s this for neutral – Oat Straw. (I keep calling it Oatmeal to my husband by accident.)

Still, I didn’t want to completely miss Menu Plan Monday even thought this is a very short post.

This week was an ode to Cinco De Mayo with:

Taco Casserole
Enchiladas

And to change it up a little, Zoup. (Remember to add water to the Zoup!)

I’m looking forward to finally getting some vegetables into the ground in the actual out of doors this week. Hooray for warmer weather!

What’s on your menu?

Sandra

P.S. Mother’s Day is May 11. An emergency Mother’s Day Card and another emergency Mother’s Day Card at Bry-Back Manor!