In The Kitchen With Linda

What’s For Dinner?

January 17, 2011 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

While planning this weeks menu, I asked the family for suggestions. What should I do with the beef? “Cook it!” was the answer I got. lol

Saturday – pizza night – Homemade Cheeseburger Pizza, bread sticks, carrot sticks

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Bean Soup

Monday – chicken – Roasted Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans

Tuesday – beef – Homemade chili, corn bread

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers

Thursday – chicken – sliced turkey, oven fries, yellow squash

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Steak, broccoli, challah bread

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

The Wearing of the Apron

January 12, 2011 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

*This Wearing of the Apron post contains affiliate links

We love to wear aprons at our house. We wear them when working in the kitchen and cooking. We often wear them around the house even when we’re not cooking. We even wear them in the yard and garden. Or *gasp* out in public!

The Wearing of the Apron

Which was very common in the not to distant past. It’s a shame that more women (and girls) don’t wear aprons. Some will never don aprons, they act like it’s an embarrassment to wear one. But there’s a commadarie amoungst apron wearers. We’re united by common goals. The goals of making homes for our families and cooking great meals for them. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Whether you work out of the home or are a stay at home mom.

I think wearing an apron makes me more productive. Maybe it’s because I feel like I have the apron on, I might as well do some work. Or maybe it’s because I don’t have to worry about staining my clothes when I’m wearing an apron.

Whatever the reason, I seem to get more work done, and the food seems to taste better, when I’m wearing an apron.

My girls love to wear aprons, too. In fact, when we go in the kitchen to work, they grab an apron first, and remind me to put one on. You notice, they choose an apron first, then remind me. lol We all have our favorite aprons, and like to claim them first. lol And, yes, there has been a few tug of war battles over certain aprons. *ahem* I even let them win sometimes.

The Aprons

Here I am back in January of 2007 right after I finished making this apron.

You can tell I was actually working in this picture by all the stuff on the counter, and the mixer ready to go. lol

We still use this apron a lot. In fact, this past Christmas, my daughter even wore it in the Christmas play at church !

As you can tell by all these pictures, we really do wear aprons a LOT.

I think she’s been sneaking sugar!

A couple days after Christmas, we had a cookie party for the girls in the family. My mother, myself (in the back), two of my daughters, and two of my nieces. If my older daughter had been there, we would have had all the girls in the family for 3 generations! We all had fun wearing our aprons, and making cookies together.

All our full aprons hanging in the kitchen.

You can even wear an apron while playing in the leaves!

She’s a good cook, but she scares me! lol

Apparently, the only thing we like better than wearing aprons (and cooking!!) is taking pictures of us wearing aprons. lol

Do you like to wear an apron while working in the kitchen? Or when playing in the leaves?!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you click the link, and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

What’s For Dinner?

January 10, 2011 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Saturday – pizza night – Homemade Cheeseburger Pizza, bread sticks, carrot sticks

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Bean Soup, biscuits

Monday – chicken – Turkey sloppy joes, carrot sticks

Tuesday – beef – Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers

Thursday – chicken – Turkey Pot Pie

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Steak, broccoli, challah bread

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Homemade Garlic Crust Pizza

January 3, 2011 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I’ve been using this recipe for several years now. It’s our favorite pizza crust. I got this online, but the site isn’t up anymore, so I can’t link to it.

Garlic Pizza Crust

2 packages yeast
2 cups warm water
2 T sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 – 6 cups flour
3 cloves crushed garlic OR 1 tsp garlic powder

Dissolve yeast in water and add sugar. Wait a few minutes, then add oil, salt and garlic. Mix in 3 cups flour and whip about 10 minutes until it leaves the side of the mixer bowl. Add remaining flour with dough hook or by hand. Knead on floured surface until smooth. Allow to rise in bowl for an hour.

Divide dough and place into pizza pans, or baking sheets. Let rise for another hour, or less if you want a thinner crust.

Top to your liking, and bake at 425* for 20 minutes.

*NOTES: Since my stand mixer died, I have been using a wooden spoon to beat the dough for a couple of minutes, and the crust comes out fine.

Here’s our Cheeseburger Pizza from the other night. I topped the crust with sauce, mozzarella cheese, raw diced onions, cooked hamburger and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese.

Bread Sticks

We also use the pizza dough to make bread sticks. I sprinkle the dough with mozzarella cheese and dry oregano. Bake at 425 approximately 15 minutes, until crust is done, and browned to your liking.

Here’s my favorite pizza sauce to make while the dough is rising.

Pizza Sauce

1/2 of a large onion
1 – 2 T oil
1 29 oz can tomato sauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t dry oregano
1 t dry basil
1 t sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Saute onion in oil until cooked, but not browned. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for at least 5 minutes. 10 – 15 minutes is better, if you have the time. You can adjust the seasonings to your taste, and you can use crushed garlic instead of the powder.

You can freeze the extra sauce for the next time you make pizza. We like to use it as a dipping sauce for the bread sticks. They had the sauce almost gone before I could take a picture. lol

What’s For Dinner?

January 3, 2011 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

Saturday – pizza night – Homemade Cheeseburger Pizza, bread sticks, carrot sticks

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Turkey soup

Monday – chicken – Turkey Alfredo Spaghetti

Tuesday – beef – Beef Stir Fry

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers

Thursday – chicken – Turkey Tetrazzini similar to this using homemade sauce

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Roast, potatoes, carrots in crockpot, challah bread

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Banana Bread

December 29, 2010 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

We love banana bread. We like to eat it for breakfast and for snacks. A loaf of banana bread doesn’t last long in my house. That’s why I like this recipe that I have used for a long time that makes 2 loaves. One for now, and one to put in the freezer for a quick breakfast or snack later.

Banana Bread

3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
2 cups mashed bananas (5-6 medium)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup oil

Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of 2 8×4 loaf pans.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

In another bowl, mash the bananas, and add the eggs and oil, stirring well. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.

Divide into the 2 prepared pans.

Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

Bread can be frozen, whole or sliced, in a freezer bag, or wrapped in foil.

I also baked the batter in a mini muffin pan. I added chocolate chips to the top before baking. These are nice little snacks for the kids. These, also, can be frozen.

Kitchen Tip – I always have a problem with the bottoms of the banana bread sticking to the pan. So much so, that when I remove the bread, part of the bottom stays in the pan. Event though I’m using no stick pans, and greasing the pan well. So now I grease, then flour only the bottom of the pan. Even though every quick bread recipe I have seen calls only for greasing the pan, I have found the flour solves my problem, and my banana breads are intact. Which makes me smile when I serve it. 🙂