We're having a pretty laid back week this week. I have a test in my skills class and I am going to have to study pretty hard for it.

1. Spaghetti Soup - I've had this recipe posted for a while. It's really good. Ask Stace. I made it for her once.

2. BBQ Pork - This one is super easy, cheap and de-lish. We had it tonight with some roasted potato fries.

3. Breakfast burritos - Does anyone else feel like Dad used to make us these all the time? Eggs, ground sausage, cheese and whatever else you like in it. I have a feeling Russ will be adding a little salsa to his.

4. Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - We love soup (as if you haven't already noticed). This is a new recipe. If it's any good, I'll post the recipe along with any changes I made.

5. BBQ Bourbon Orange Chicken - This one's new, too. Per Mom's suggestion I'm going to go ahead and sub in orange juice for the bourbon. I was looking forward to flaming that up...

I have had some seriously bad luck with recipes lately. We tried four new ones the week before last, all from Everyday Food, and we only ended up liking one. I only tried one new one this week but I was disappointed with that one, too. Since we tried so many I wouldn't recommend, this list is a combo from the last two weeks...

1. Penne with creamy pumpkin sauce

2. Venison roast - pretty simple here. I made a garlic paste with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, covered the meat and roasted with a few yellow potatoes, an onion and a couple carrots.

3. Sloppy Joes

4. Eggplant Parmesan - I didn't use a recipe. I just coated the eggplant with flour, dipped it in egg and then breadcrumbs and then pan fried. We ate it with some whole wheat pasta and a simple tomato sauce.

5. Venison Carbonnade

Obviously we're subbing venison in for beef in just about every recipe that I have.

It has taken me a while to post these recipes. Sorry about that. My schedule got all thrown off. I usually grocery shop Monday or Tuesday night and by Sunday I've tried all my new recipes. Last week or the week before (whatever) I grocery shopped late in the week. Anyway, here's what we had.

1. Zucchini Pasta - I love this recipe. We planted zucchini in our garden and so we would have everything on hand to make this any time. I didn't even try zucchini until like last year and I think it's my favorite vegetable.

2. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes - So, I never made meatloaf before last week and I have to tell you something. I love it! It was so good and I am definitely hanging on to this recipe.

3. Broccoli Cheese Soup - I have a new "top secret recipe" for this one. It's supposed to be just like the one at Panera Bread. It is really yummy and more flavorful than the other recipe I have.

4. Lighter Chicken Pot Pie - this one came from Everyday Food and it was really good and really easy. My Mom posted this recipe on her blog, too.

5. BLTs

This was sort of a lazy week. Easy recipes that don't take a lot of time. Three new ones.

1. funeral potatoes (yes, this was all we ate all day on conference Sunday)
2. Butternut Squash & Parsnip baked pasta - this was one of the new ones and I thought it was really tasty. It's spicy. Oh, and my grocery store didn't have parsnips so I substituted carrots
3. Omlets and breakfast potatoes
4. Chili with buttermilk cornbread muffins - next time I will add at least another tablespoon of sugar to the cornbread recipe or maybe a couple tablespoons of honey
5. Thai Chicken Wraps - I thought this one was tasty but Russell didn't like it, I don't think we'll make it again
6. Chili Cheese Black Bean Enchiladas

1. Sesame Ginger Noodles I add a few cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of crushed red pepper, and some veggies - broccoli, carrots, and snow peas.
2. Pizza We saw a commercial for a double decker pizza so we decided to try it. I doubled the dough recipe and we made a tomato sauce (29oz. can crushed tomatoes, 1 onion, 4 garlic cloves, tomato paste, oregano, basil, crushed red pepper), added pepperoni and then layered it all. We also had some leftover bacon - added that, too.
3. Southwest Corn Chowder
4. Westwood Chicken Salad
5. Creamy Chicken & Dumplings
6. Green Minestrone

I have a new idea for this blog. Since about June I've been keeping track of the planned meals for the week on a monthly calendar at my desk. For me, it's a good way to avoid eating the same standbys all the time and it also helps me remember the new recipes that we try and like. What I think I'll do here is post my dinner recipes for the week before. If they turned out well, I will link or post the recipe. Sweet? Sweet.

Last week:

1. Spicy Country Ribs with garlic mashed potatoes
2. Turkey hand pies
3. French toast
4. Looks bad, tastes good
5. Pasta salad with roasted veggies
6. Macaroni & beef