February 26th, 2007
Dine Without Whine's Weekly Newsletter
An Extension of our Menu Planning Service
www.dinewithoutwhine.com
Publisher ~ Christine Steendahl
Read Past Issues In Our Newsletter Archives
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This Issue:
A Personal Note
Pork Chop Casserole
Creative Uses For Cream Cheese
A Personal Note
I felt like this past week went by so fast with no school on
Monday and then half a day on Friday. We had a big ice storm Sat. night and then
it warmed up overnight and everything melted thankfully. I was worried we
weren’t going to have any power as the lights kept flashing on and off. Now we
are left with snow piles trying to melt away and a couple nice big ponds in our
backyard. I’m getting ready for spring! I’m ready to send the boys outside to
play – they are getting stir crazy.
Dane (28 months) learned to crawl out of his crib this week. Out
of all three boys he has mastered that at the youngest age. I should have
figured since he has always been our climber. Saturday morning I heard him
around 6:30, but I rolled over and didn’t hear him again so I figured he went
back to sleep. Well, I got up at 8:00 and low and behold all three boys were up.
I asked the older two if they helped Dane out of his crib and Ryan says “Nope,
he’s been up for hours, he was up before I was!” With the other two boys the day
they learned to crawl out of their cribs I immediately set up the toddler bed.
I’m having a bit harder of a time with it this time, knowing he is our last
little one and it will be the last time we have a crib set-up in our house. The
toddler bed has made it from the basement to the living room, but I haven’t let
my husband disassemble the crib yet…. I’m sure that will happen this week It is
a race car bed, so I have been shopping (online) for décor’ to make it a fun
room. I hadn’t really decorated much since we moved in as I figured as soon as I
got everything matched with his crib bedding he’d be ready for his big boy bed.
I was looking at my March calendar today, it seems to be filling
up fast! I’m sure the month will zoom on by and before I know it it will be
Easter.
Oh hey, I found a really fun site this week –
www.dinewithoutwhine.com/poshpoints Essentially it is
an online trading community. When you sign-up (free) you get 15 free points
(each point is worth approx. $1.) Then you can list items (no charge) for sale
for a set amount of points. I have sold a few things as well as picked up a
couple e-books, a pair of Nike shorts for Ryan, and a ladybug bracelet. It is a
brand new site that has been growing by the day – go check it out, it’s kinda
fun!
I hope you have a great week!
Christine
“The Menu Mom”
www.themenumom.com
Recipe of the Week
Exerted from this week's family friendly menu plan
and convenient grocery shopping list.
Have you tried our
sample menu?
Pork
Chop Casserole
Makes 4 servings
4 to 6 pork chops
2 tablespoons oils
5 to 6 potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of celery soup
1 (15 1/4-ounce) can peas (or use frozen - thawed)
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika to taste
1. Brown pork chops in oil on both sides; arrange in a 13" x 9" baking pan.
Layer potatoes over pork chops; set aside.
2. Mix soups, peas and milk together; spread over potatoes. Sprinkle with
paprika; bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
Serve with Canned Pears
This Weeks Top Five Referring Sites
(These sites have a link
to DWW somewhere on their site and have sent the most visitors to
www.dinewithoutwhine.com this week)
http://girltalk.blogs.com
http://www.catholicmom.com/main
http://www.mealmadness.com
http://www.nossgalenbaby.com/twins_resources.html
http://www.practicalhomemaking.com
Kitchen and Cooking Tips, Articles, And Product
Reviews
Creative Uses For Cream Cheese
Cream cheese is a type of fresh, un-aged cheese that is made from cow’s milk. It
was created in the United States in the late 1800’s and is widely popular today
adding texture, delicious taste and richness to many types of recipes. There are
many uses for this delicious cheese; here are some of the most popular.
Bread Topper
Obviously, cream cheese is known as being one of the best spreads to put on a
bagel, toast, roll, crackers, etc. Cream cheese is the perfect texture and is
usually nice and thick making any bread extremely delicious.
Cheesecake
If you love cheesecake, it is probably due to the main ingredient; cream cheese.
Cream cheese is extremely thick and rich and adds a wonderful flavor to this
favorite cake.
Cream Cheese Dips
If you are looking to create the perfect holiday or party dip, don’t forget the
cream cheese. Cream cheese is extremely tasty and goes very well with crackers,
snack chips, vegetables and practically anything else you can think of.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream Cheese is a great idea for frosting, instead of going with sweet, go with
the rich taste and texture of cream cheese.
Pastries
Cream cheese is a major filling in several different pastries such as strudels
and is used in a variety of pastry crusts.
Hot Cheese Melts
Cream cheese is also a great ingredient to add to crab melts and other hot
cheese dips. You can mix it with many great ingredients such as peppers,
tomatoes, fish, etc.
If you love the taste of cream cheese, but would like to lower your fat content,
you should know that there are many lowered fat cream cheeses available and even
a few non- fat cream cheese at your grocery store. In addition, if you like the
taste of cream cheese, you might want to try the French version of cream cheese-
Neufchatel. This cheese is very similar to cream cheese, except that it has
ripened and is usually less thick due to no emulsifiers added.
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