Menu Plan Monday ~ Week of August 8th

I've decided to bring My Vintage Kitchen out of retirement! . 

Since today is Monday, I thought I'd start off with a Menu Plan Monday post.  You'll find this post linked up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie and also on my other blog, Under the Big Oak Tree. 

While Under the Big Oak Tree focuses on many topics (family, food, dieting, frugal tips, etc), My Vintage Kitchen will focus on menu planning, kitchen tips, recipes and also my vintage kitchen related items.  In other words, this will be about all things kitchen related. 

I hope you will enjoy visiting me here, in my vintage kitchen.  Pull up a chair and enjoy a nice glass of Sweet Tea or Watermelon Punch. 

This is what we'll be eating this week:

• Spaghetti with Simply Tomato Sauce, Fried Eggplant, garlic bread, salad.   

• Barbecue Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Fried Zucchini, corn on the cob.  I'm a little sad that we didn't get around to planting our little vegetable garden this year.  Especially, now that I see all of the wonderful zucchini recipes posted all over the internet!  This isn't the healthiest way to eat zucchini, but it is one of our favorites!  (The recipes for the meatloaf and mashed potatoes will be posted soon!)

• Tuna Noodle Casserole.  MMmmm.  Comfort food!  After breaking down and ordering take-out over the weekend, I am in serious need of some comfort food.  I'll check out the weather to see if there is going to be a cooler day to prepare this. 

• Baked Veggie Fritters.  I plan on making up a batch of these tasty veggie patties and eating them with meals through out the week.  They are great as a snack or quick lunch too! 

• Waffles, Turkey Bacon, fruit salad.  Last week, we had breakfast for dinner twice (three times if you count the leftovers!)  We had blueberry pancakes and Scrapple in the beginning of the week.  Then it was french toast and turkey bacon later in the week.  After finding my never-used waffle iron while sorting through all of the many boxes in my basement, I decided that this week will be my first attempt at ever making waffles!   

What are you serving for dinner this week?  Share in the comments or follow me over to I'm an Organizing Junkie and join in the Menu Plan Monday fun! 

Also, check out this post to find out how to get a coupon for FREE Activia Selects Yogurt! 

My Vintage Kitchen is moving.

Yes, you read that correctly!  My Vintage Kitchen is going to move! 

I've been having a heck of a time trying to keep up with two blogs and a toddler.  It was a lot easier to find time to post when Grace was an infant and slept most of the day, but now that she's running all over the house, I get less opportunities to post and My Vintage Kitchen  is suffering.  Since I also post recipes on my other blog, Under the Big Oak Tree, it makes more sense to combine the two blogs. 

I know that some of you follow both of my blogs.  But I hope the My Vintage Kitchen readers that don't already follow my other blog will decide to follow us Under the Big Oak Tree where you can find menu plans, deals, product, reviews and other recipes that haven't been shared here! 

This week, I'll be announcing some great product reviews and giveaways so I really hope to see you all Under the Big Oak Tree! 
 

Check Out My Other Blog: CSN Stores Giveaway

I know that I've been neglecting this blog.  I'll be posting some new recipes soon.  But for now, I want to share some giveaway news with the readers of My Vintage Kitchen. 

Some of you may know that I have another blog:  Under the Big Oak Tree. I use that blog to post about daily stuff:  deals, household tips, my family, some recipes, product reviews, etc. 

Just in case there are some of you that don't know about that other blog, I wanted to be sure that I told you about a great GIVEAWAY that I'm hosting over there: 

Caitlin from CSN Stores contacted me and offered me the chance to give one of my lucky readers a $40 gift certificate to be used at any of their 200 + online stores! 

Since this is a cooking/food/kitchen blog, I thought it would be fun to show you some of the kitchen items that they carry: 

Can you tell I love Le Creuset?  Maybe just a little? :) 

Like I said, you can use the gift certificate at any of the 200 + plus CSN Stores websites, but in the spirit of this being a food blog, kitchen stuff seemed appropriate! 

What are you waiting for?  Get over there and enter!!! 

Good luck! 

Happy Father's Day!

While my little family is all still asleep on this beautiful Sunday morning, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy Father's Day!

This is my favorite picture of my little family. 

It was taken on the night we brought Grace home from the hospital. 

We were so worried that our spoiled puppy wouldn't like the baby.  We worried for nothing.  Remmy is wonderful with Grace.  They are buddies! 

Crunchy Tuna Salad with Egg

When I was a kid, I hated Tuna Salad.  I really, really hated it.  It wasn't the tuna itself that I didn't like, it was the chunks of onions that my mom added to it!  I remember asking my mom to just take the tuna out of the can and put it on some bread for me.  She did that occasionally.  But most of the time I was stuck with the chunks! 

Now, as an adult, I love to add not only onions, but also celery and carrots.  Mmmm!  I love all the crunchy veggies mixed with my tuna!  I also add hard boiled eggs to my tuna.  All those added items really makes a hearty sandwich and helps to stretch a can of tuna! 

 I make it pretty much the same way each time except I don't measure.  Here's a rough idea of how I made it tonight (you can adjust the add-ins according to your tastes): 

Crunchy Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

• 3 cans Albacor Tuna packed in water (drained)
• 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1/4 cup celery, diced
• 1/4 cup carrot, diced
• 1/4 Hellmann's Mayonnaise
• pepper, to taste (optional)

Directions:  

• Place eggs and tuna in a mixing bowl and mash with a fork to separate the tuna chunks a bit. 
• Add vegetables, stir until well mixed. 
• Stir in the mayo. 
• Add pepper (optional)

Notes: 

• Crisp-cooked bacon or the bacon sold in the salad dressing aisle is also a good addition to this salad. 
• I like to serve this on toast, crackers, or in a wrap with some lettuce.  

I used to get tuna salad similar to this from a deli in Philly on my lunch break.  The deli changed owners and the new owners had a different type of tuna salad.  While this is a similar salad, I was never able to duplicate the deli's salad.  That's okay, I like this one too! 

It's so much cheaper to make this tuna salad than it was to buy a single serving at the deli every day.  And it's a great way to use up some fresh vegetables.  I try to plan tuna salad whenever I buy celery for a recipe since we never seem to be able to use up the celery before it turns to mush in the veggie bin. 

I'll be linking this recipe to the following blog carnivals: 

• Make it From Scratch
• Frugal Friday

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Last week, I made some barbecue chicken breasts in the oven. Grace loves chicken so I like to keep it made and in the fridge for her. It makes it easy for me on nights when she can't eat what we're eating.


We usually use store bought barbecue sauce but we ran out a couple weeks ago. The store was sold out of our favorite brand (Famous Dave's Sweet & Zesty) and I didn't care for the brand that Joe bought instead. It had way too much smoke flavor for my taste. 

I checked out my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (it's seen better days) and found a basic recipe. I was happy that I had all of the ingredients needed. As always, I adapted this recipe to suit our tastes and added or switched some of the ingredients.

Easy Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

1 C. ketchup
1/4 C. apple cider vinegar
1/2 C. water
1 1/2 T. brown sugar
1 T. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1 T. brown mustard
3 T. finely diced onion
1 T. finely diced celery
1/4 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 oz. liquid smoke
several dashes of Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce
ground black pepper to taste

Method:

In a small sauce pot, stir together all ingredients. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring often. After sauce comes to a boil, reduce heat and simmer (uncovered) until sauce is thick, stirring often.


A couple of years ago, I never would have made my own barbecue sauce.  I wouldn't have even thought to do it.  I'm so happy that I made this sauce, it was so easy and so much cheaper than the store bought sauces.   I think we'll be sticking with this sauce for more daily use and save our favorites store bought brand as a treat. 
I'll be linking to the following blogs this week: 

• Homemaker Monday
• Motivate Me Monday
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Kitchen Tip Tuesday
• Works For Me Wednesday
• Make It From Scratch
• Food On Friday
• Frugal Friday

Easier Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I've been wanting to post more kitchen tips and other kitchen related topics to this blog but I've been focusing on recipes.  Since I haven't tried any new recipes lately, I thought I'd post this tip for easy grilled cheese sandwiches.

I  hate spreading butter onto bread.  Mainly because I always forget to take the butter out to soften and trying to spread the cold and hard butter on the bread tears the bread.  Sure I could soften it in the microwave, but I usually end up with an entire stick of MELTED butter.

For grilled cheese, I make it the way my Mom always made it for us.   With mayonnaise instead of butter.  It wasn't until I was in my late teens that I realized that most people used butter for their grilled cheese sandwiches. 

You've got to try it!  Instead of spreading butter onto the slices of bread, try some mayo!  I guess the oils in the mayo keeps the bread from sticking to the pan.  It still gets nice and golden brown too, just like a "regular" grilled cheese sandwich.  Joe even thinks that the mayo makes it taste creamier than the traditional way. 

Here's another tip:  For best results, use regular mayonnaise.  Don't use lite mayo or miracle whip.  The grilled cheese tends to stick when using those types. 

********Be sure to check out my other blog for a giveaway to celebrate it's 100th post!********



I'll be linking to:

• Kitchen Tip Tuesday  
• Works For Me Wednesday
• Food on Fridays