Catz in the Kitchen

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Weekly Menu for the Week of Dec 5

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How is your December going? I am not done with my Christmas shopping and I feel behind, but I do feel very good about my empty my calendar looks. I am trying to be super protective about what is going to be taking up space in my calendar, and choosing to be okay with saying no to extra activities that feel like they will make the season more hectic...I just want to soak up the cozy and quiet with the kids as much as I can this year.

Last night, I made dinner - working on a recipe I've been testing - and while we ate dinner we watched the original Miracle on 34th Street. You know the black and white version...a few of the kids were not thrilled about watching such an old movie, but after discussing the benefits of watching b&w movies with them (and then them watching it) they loved it! They were laughing and enjoying the simple activity of watching an old Christmas movie together, eating dinner, and then later hot chocolate (not this hot chocolate, but soon...).

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Here's what's on the menu this week:

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Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 28

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Happy Cyber Monday and thanks for stopping by for this week's menu! I didn't host Thanksgiving this year so I don't have really any leftovers. I have cranberry sauce that I made and forgot to bring to my in-laws house (OOPS!) and mashed potatoes that they sent me home with. I do have a couple of boxes of stuffing in my pantry and some rotisserie chicken, so I'm going to make a Thanksgiving casserole with some of those items and I'll serve it with a salad. Easy, done!

We got to have Grace home for Thanksgiving and that was so nice. Cadáin even remembered her! We also had family in town, so probably for like many of you, it was a busy and full weekend. It's always sad to see a holiday end, but I love a good work-week reset.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

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Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 14

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Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 14

Next week is Thanksgiving! 🤯

I cannot even fathom that idea. Obviously, I don't have new Thanksgiving content for you. But I do have a ton of older recipes that are fool-proof and so good for the holiday. I'll talk to my editor about getting up a Thanksgiving round up for the end of the week...

I did however, get desserts made this past weekend, and recipe-tested a truly comforting winter dish. The desserts will be up shortly (hopefully!) and the winter dish will be for winter...2024. I want to fine tune a few things first before I share it. Josh felt it was perfect as is...but like I said, I want to try it a few more times.

Here's what's on the menu for this week:

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Apple Pie Ricotta Waffles

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These apple pie ricotta waffles are comfort food through & through - warm, indulgent, and suitable for breakfast, brunch, dinner, or dessert!

Apple Pie Ricotta Waffles

I guess we should deal with something right out of the gate - if these are apple pie ricotta waffles...why are they covered in blueberries? After all, we don't typically don our traditional apple pies in blueberries. Of course, traditional apple pies don't normally involve ricotta cheese either. And they aren't usually waffles. So there isn't really anything traditional about this situation. So why the blueberries? Because I love blueberries. That's why.

Apple Pie Ricotta Waffles on a plate
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Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 7

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Weekly Menu for the Week of Nov 7

You guys, the amount of wind and rain that we've had this week has been unreal, and then on Sunday morning, while we were on our way to church, there were snow flurries in the air!

With that, let me just sing the (completely unsponsored) praises of Boost / InstaCart! For six years I've sung the praises of Grocery Pickup (or ClickList, or whatever they call it at your store). That was life-changing. I started using it as soon as it launched with our local Fred Meyer when I was pregnant with Ruby, and it became such a time-saver as well as a budget-helper. Just recently, as in for the last two months, our little rural town just got Instacart available to us through Kroger's Boost program...and it's even better! I mean, I don't think I can go back now!

We used Instacart (or Boost or whatever) to bring us groceries when we vacationed in Sunriver back in September and then these last two weeks that have brought colds and sleepy heads and packed schedules it has saved me again and again. If you have Instacart near you, I highly recommend that you try it out. I'm a busy mom and I know we're all busy people, and I just want to help make your life a little bit easier.

Beyond that, Josh actually did the math, and with gas prices as high as they are and as far away as we live from the grocery store, we're straight-up saving money every time we use the service. Wild. Your math and mileage may vary depending on what you drive and where you live...

Here's what's on this week's menu:

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Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna

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This meatless butternut squash and sage lasagna recipe is decadent & rich, with a creamy white cheese filling. Add bacon to be over the top!

Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna

This post originally appeared on Catz in September 2013. In the intervening nine years, this recipe and combination of flavors continues to be a family favorite. We decided to make it again and update the post and the photos for this autumn season. Enjoy!

We have some wonderful older ladies in our church who garden and one or some of them (I'm never quite sure) often share some of their garden harvest with all the people in our church. I'll sometimes see a big bag or a box filled with zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes. But I never know who brings in the goods so I can never properly thank them!

Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna slice
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Weekly Menu for the Week of Oct 31

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Happy Halloween! As I sit here at my desk in my little home office, it is Sunday afternoon and I'm eating leftover fajitas mix-ins that we've piled into little street tacos. Simply delicious! As of late, our Sunday afternoons have become a leftovers meal. Whatever is in the fridge, we make lunch from that. It's our little effort in not wasting perfectly good food and saving money on the food I purchased and spent time in the kitchen cooking over...! Do you guys usually have leftovers lying around? What do you do with them? Is there a certain meal or day of the week that you aim to use them up?

Friday evening, Josh and I felt as if we had a cold coming on and sure enough on Saturday morning we were sick. This is not fantastic timing because Josh heads back to work today (Monday) from his paternity leave! What a blessing this time has been for our family, but it will be an adjustment for us all as we move into a more scheduled routine for life. I know that I'll be relying heavily on my slow-cooker to help me out in the dinner area. Some of my favorite slow cooker meals are Nancy's Black Bean Salsa Chicken, 3 Ingredient Roast, Sloppy Joe Sliders, and Creamy Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Soup. All of those meals are so simple and filling and I know will help quite a bit as we find a new rhythm - although that rhythm will probably change often because, well, life with a baby. At any rate, having a meal plan each week is going to save my life because I know what I'll be cooking.

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Pantry Simple Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

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This "pantry simple" slow cooker chicken chili recipe can be prepared ahead of time and modified to use the ingredients you have on hand!

Pantry Simple Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

So what does "pantry simple" even mean? Well, in this case it basically means (almost) anything goes as far as the ingredients are concerned, so use what's in your pantry! You have a lot of liberty with this chili recipe and I'm here for it. But let me back up and just talk chili for a minute. I love chili, especially one that I can just dump in the slow cooker in the morning and then be on my merry way. I usually share a few chili recipes in the fall months, focusing on bringing one or two new chili recipes to you before Halloween. It's our tradition that every year on Halloween, I make a big batch of chili and cornbread and we all slurp it down before the kids hit the streets...er, neighborhood sidewalks!

You might remember that I mentioned that this recipe was coming in the cast iron cornbread recipe post, and, well, this is the one I was referring to. I've actually made this a handful of times, each time tweaking it just a little bit to see if it was really as flexible as I hoped it would be.

It is!

Pantry Simple Slow Cooker Chicken Chili recipe
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Rustic Cast Iron Cornbread

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This simple cast iron cornbread recipe can be made with chiles, corn kernels, and coarse ground cornmeal for a more rustic side dish!

Rustic Cast Iron Cornbread

Have you noticed a trend here? We've been using our cast iron pans more and more lately. We used one for the dutch baby, we used it for the grape clafoutis, and now I'm using it for this cornbread! Which, of course, using a cast iron skillet for a cornbread isn't like some revolutionary idea. It's a favorite for many people. But for me, it's a newer idea because I've just always made mine in an 8x8 baking dish. We've acquired a few cast iron pans at this point, and so we're playing with them more and more. In a few ways - durability in particular, obviously - they are quite superior to most other pans! Also, I mean, they just never go out of style. We have a friend who is still using a cast iron skillet her great-grandmother originally cooked on, just passing it on down through the generations...

Cast iron is something like the proverbial fine wine. It only gets better with age, and, well, use. Age and use. Who says getting older is a bad thing?

Rustic Cast Iron Cornbread slice
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Weekly Menu For the Week of Oct 24

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Hey, friends! Long time no see! I'm officially off of my "self-instated" maternity leave - technically it would be next Monday, but I really want to try and get into the swing of things a week early. Josh goes back to work full-time next week and I'll be on my own a bit with four kids. Yes, of course, I have five kids, but if you don't follow me on social networks like Facebook and Instagram, you may not have known that we dropped our oldest off at college about three weeks ago. We miss Grace so much, but she is doing so well living out on the coast, studying God's Word. If you don't remember Grace, she shared some recipes on the blog awhile back like these mashed potatoes and Grace's Friday morning pancakes!

Believe it or not, until last week, we had temperatures in the 80's, which is almost unheard of for October in Oregon. The rain finally came in on Friday and we celebrated by turning our fireplace on, wearing leggings (okay, Josh and Christian skipped the leggings part), and eating tomato soup and grilled cheese.

I'm just going to jump into this week's menu. Here's what's cooking this week!

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