This is a meal plan based on the real recipes that I cook at home during the week. We are getting indulgent with these home style recipes because it’s fall and its getting cold and why the hell not?
Monday – Bangers & Mash with Green Beans
Tuesday – Crock Pot Apple BBQ Chicken Sandwiches & Mixed Greens with Apple Walnut Dressing
Wednesday – Butternut Squash & Spinach Risotto with Venison Steak & Salad
Thursday – Teriyaki Meatball Skillet
Friday – Chicken Pot Pie & Salad
Watkins Glen State Park located at the base of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York is easily one of the most beautiful place I have ever visited. It was definitely a highlight of our trip to the Finger Lakes for our honeymoon.
The park itself is pretty small, though it does still boast camp grounds, a pool and other amenities along with its famous Gorge trail. There are a total of 19 waterfalls and numerous pools of water created over the centuries by the Glen Creek. The Gorge Trail is impeccably maintained trail that includes cement pathways and stairs, stone and timber bridges and informational plaques. The pathway is carved into the side of the massive cavern and in some places right through the stone wall itself. It’s a pretty easy little hike, though be aware there are a number of stairs.
For more info check out the park’s website.
On this little hike we took our time making our way from the main entrance up the Gorge Trail. Enjoying every site and analyzing the different types of rock, how it must have felt to build the stairs, and bridges, as well as the millions of years it took to develop such a beautiful place. On the way back we started on the Indian trail, crossing at the rainbow falls bridge to make our way up the North Country Trail to the Lilly pond and back across the suspension bridge, before heading down to the Gorge Trail again to exit the park. It was a breath taking, easy going hike that I’m glad we were able to do.
If you need a recipe for something that oozes home-style deliciousness and will quickly put you to sleep if you eat too much this would be the one for you.
I made this a couple of weekends ago when Chuck and I had gotten up early to go apple picking and work on house projects. It was pretty nippy out, and after a busy morning we were both in the mood for something that would both fill us and warm us up as well.
We may or may not have taken a 2 hour post lunch break to laze on the couch under blankets and watch netflix.
I think it was well deserved.
Our new normal seems to be setting in. I say this because we finally have time to watch Netflix, but I can’t say that it’s the same old routine anymore because we are watching said Netflix as a married couple in our new home. A lot of things have changed (and are still to change) in our lives recently and so our new normal is vastly different from our old.
I’ve caught myself referring to Chuck as my fiancé, only to remember that he’s now my husband, and then I have to stop and think about that for a minute. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. I found someone that while he can drive me nuts sometimes, truly makes me happy and loves me with all of his heart. I’m really lucky.
Ok, I know you’re not here to listen to (read?) all my sappy nonsense. It’s all about that comforting cheesy deliciousness on top of onion and broth slathered gnocchi right?
So back to the recipe, I remember coming up with this while we were on our honeymoon after I had just indulged in the biggest plate of gnocchi baked with tomato sauce and a ridiculous amount of mozzarella cheese. Gnocchi and cheese go really well together if your into that whole coma after eating thing like I am this time of year, so the wheels got turning and I decided to turn one of my favorite soups into a baked gnocchi dish.
It was a great idea if I do say so myself. The key, in my opinion to a really good French Onion Soup is the thyme as well as time. Taking the time to slowly sweat the onions and reduce the broth really sets the base and adding a hint of thyme (the herb) to the mixture really pulls it together. Now all that goodness poured over hot, chewy gnocchi, and topped with some really good gruyere cheese and you’ve got yourself a right masterpiece in my book.
Here are a few of my favorite similar recipes:
Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Smoked Gouda
Risotto Style Pasta
6 Ingredient Creamy Sausage Gnocchi
This is project number 8 in my 12-12-12 Series. This project involves stones and rocks used to form a unique art piece for the home.
I like rocks.
Weird I know, but it’s kind of how I ended up an engineer. I mean I got to take a whole class (2 actually) that studied different types of dirt. We also had classes in other materials, but obviously I like dirt and rocks. I’m always in awe of the history that comes with a simple stone. Just a hunk of matter all connected haphazardly, like with sand stone or in specific structures such as with quartz. Yeah I’m that girl.
As you can probably guess this little interest of mine has from a very young age taken form in collecting rocks. I have quite the collection. Over time I have given a lot away (my siblings tend to share this weirdness) or just tossed them in the yard to be discovered another day, and only kept my favorites. Those deemed good enough to stay are kept in a glass jar or two around the house, which honestly is a pretty terrible way to display some of nature’s most beautiful work if you ask me.
I decided that I wanted to do some kind of display or craft with my rocks pretty soon after we moved in. Nothing like finding things in a move to get the creative juices flowing right?
The thing with displays that I’ve never been a fan of is the dusting, so I decided to go with a shadow box for this project. My adhesive of choice was good old hot glue. This little gun and I have been pretty good friends lately, what with this project and all the wedding projects.
At first I grouped some of my favorites together by color and used these basic groups to create a gradient style design and then glued them in place. For now this piece resides in the guest room, mainly because it’s the only room that’s got any hooks on the walls, but also because I think the red/pink gradient goes really well with the other colors in the room.
I’m happy to have a place to display some of my stones and might just do this with some of my grey, blue and green stones next.
Stroganoff is a pretty traditional recipe with a wide breath for interpretation. I have already posted a few of my favorite versions, one is vegetarian, one a hiking version and one includes pasta and is all prepared in one pot because sometimes you just have to cheat. The number of other versions of this well loved recipe is staggering, I’ve seen them use tomato puree, lemon, dill, and numerous types of meat….
