Mon, Feb 28th, 2011

S=S.H.A.R.E. Sc=Schwans A=Angel Food md=Market Day

Monday
Breakfast: Scrambled Cheesy eggs (A) with ham (S), banana bread
Lunch: leftovers
Snack: pretzels
Dinner: Italian Pork chops (A), scalloped potatoes, corn (A), rice krispie treats (from Sunday!)
Eva's Snack: Sliced pears (S), pretzel rods, Gouda Baby Bell
Eva's Lunch: Cheese sandwhich, string cheese, pretzels (md), pineapples and apples, Girl Scout Peanut Butter sandwhich cookies
For breakfast, I took some of the ham lunch meat that I got from Share, diced it into little pieces, and added it to the eggs along with some chives, cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. I still had some banana bread left, so I sliced it up and served it with the egss. (I had taken it out of the freezer on Friday and I really needed to use it up)
For lunch, I really didn't have any leftovers, so I ate one of the sandwhiches I bought from Market Day. It sounded so good, a pretzel bun with ham and cheese. But the bun didn't seem much like a pretzel to me. I think I'll have to try to make some at home and see what I come up with!
When the trips came home, I gave them little bags of pretzel squares from Market Day. Yes, I know it would've been cheaper to buy a big bag and that's what I usually do, but I was feeling lazy the day I ordered from Market Day and I saw this big bag of little bags and I was like, "oh yeah, instant snacks!" lol I still had some dinosaur fruit snacks that I bought at the bakery outlet, so that's what I gave Eva and she was happy.
For dinner, the potatoes and the pork chops were to be cooked at different oven temps and I have only one oven, so I prepared the oven and stuck them in the oven right before we left the house for swimming. After we came home from Eva's swimming lesson, the potatoes were done, so I pulled them out of the oven, turned up the oven temp, and prepared the pork chops using Italian Shake and Bake. They baked at 400 for 20 mins and while they were cooking, I pulled corn (A) out of the freezer and cooked it in the microwave with my Pampered Chef microsteamer. While I was waiting for everything, I sliced up a loaf of italian bread I had left over from Thursday. (We weren't home all weekend, otherwise, it would've been gone!)
The kids ate it too and even asked for seconds! I had just enough for Dad's lunch tomorrow!

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp butter
• 2 lbs (about 4 medium sized) Russet potatoes, peeled, sliced 1/8-inch thick
• 2 1/2 cups grated Cheddar (about 8 ounces)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
• 2 1/2 cups to 3 cups of half-and-half (half milk, half cream) (I used all milk)
  
• Salt and pepper

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a large casserole dish with 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter. If you use a casserole dish that is about 9x13 (bigger than the one shown) you'll have more surface area, more of the potatoes will brown, and the cooking time will be faster.

2 Layer the bottom of the casserole dish with 1/3 of the potato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer on 1/2 cup of the Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan.

Repeat by layering on 1/3 of the potato slices, sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Layer on the remaining 1/2 cup of the Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with a little Parmesan.

Top the casserole with the remaining potato slices. Add the half and half. Dot the potatoes with the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter.

3 Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for one hour. After an hour, remove from the oven, remove the foil, sprinkle on the remaining Cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven for an additional 30-40 minutes. When done, the potatoes should be tender, but not mushy, and the liquid should be mostly absorbed.

For a faster cooking time, you can parboil the sliced potatoes for 8 minutes first, patting them dry, before layering them in the casserole pan. In this case the total oven cooking time is about 35-45 minutes.

Serves 8.