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Nine days into our eating plan and we’ve not yet repeated a meal.

On the historic 9/9/09 we had Beef & Noodles.  The BoyChild likes to eat this, and there isn’t a lot he likes to eat, and it’s easy to make so we like to make it.  I got this one from a friend about 11 years ago.

Beef & Noodles

Combine the following:

2 pounds of round steak, cubed
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 med onion, chopped
2 cups water
3 tablespoons soft bread crumbs
1/4 to 1/2 cup of red wine
3 tablespoons Minute Tapiaca

Cover the pot.  Bake at 300 degrees for 4 hours.  Serve over hot wide noodles.

I can’t really tell what teh beef bouillon cubes do, and since we don’t normally have them, I don’t use them; I do add a little salt though.

On the 10th I got a gift certificate from my favoriate Mexican Joint.  I got a big enough certificate that it’ll buy my small family 4 or 5 meals.  But in keeping with my eat something different every night, I got Chicken Nachos and David got regular Tamalas.  The last time I got one Chicken Tamala with a cream sauce and David got Fajitia Chicken Nachos.  So we’re on a roll

Since it’s been rainy and fall-like around here, we decided to do Chicken & Rice Soup and Sandwiches for the 11th night.   The soup was a little onion, a little fresh chopped garlic, a little flour and butter, some great broth from the freezer, a little cream, chopped chicken and a little cooked rice.   Not really a recipe but just what I threw together.  I could probably do a recipe if any one wants it.  It was truly yummy.

The sandwiches were french bread toasted in the oven.  Then I covered it with ham, cheese and onions and toasted under the grill until the cheese melted.   Yummy and  appropriate for these cooler September nights.

On the 12th we had Ribs, Potatoe Salad & Fried Okra.  It was all take-out and nothing was good for us but it was tasty!  Even the BoyChild ate it and he doesn’t eat anything.

On the 13th we let the BoyChild pick dinner.  He picked Bean Dip which he loves and everyone else was kind of “eh.” about but since there is so little he likes, we went with it.

Bean Dip

1 pound ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
One small onion finely chopped
8 oz cream cheese
1 can refried beans
Salsa
Shredded Cheese of your choice

Cook the ground beef. Drain off the grease. Saute the onion in the pan with the remaining ground beef grease. Return the ground beef to the pan. Add the taco seasoning and water required on the packet. Cook until all liquid has been absorbed.

Spread the cream cheese in an 8×8 inch pan. Spread the refried beans on top of the cream cheese. Spread the meat mixture on the refried beans. Pour salsa on top of the meat. Cover with shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes until warmed through.

This is a very flexible recipe. Double it and it’s still good. Use more or less salsa depending on what your family likes. The BoyChild really likes the beans, so some days we’ll do it with two cans of beans.

Last night I also got ambitious and made Wacky Cake.  I didn’t actually use the powdered instant espresso on the glaze because we didn’t have any, but it was still very tasty.

I am actually pretty proud of our progress. We are half way through the month and haven’t repeated a meal yet. This really is progress for us because we would get into some serious ruts and eat the same thing over and over and over week after week.

I’m not sure what’s in store for next week.   David made the menu and went shopping but I wasn’t really paying attention when he was telling me about it.  Ooopppssss.  My bad.