Menu Monday

• Monday: Italian pie. Again, we have our parenting class tonight so we will be going over to the home of the couple that leads it to eat dinner. The entire group contributes to dinner to feed the 10-12 adults and millions of children. This week we were asked to bring casseroles, sides, and desserts for the meal. Tim and I will be bringing Publix's Italian Pie, which is a recipe from their Apron's collection. It is super easy to make and tastes delicious and I figured it would be different from everything else that people would bring. There aren't a lot of Italian casseroles in my experience, but plenty of chicken ones or taco ones. Also, I know that Owen likes this and will eat it happily. Though the meals are generally child-friendly so we haven't had a problem with him eating there so far.

• Tuesday: Autumn penne pasta with sauteed brussels sprouts in a light ragu. This is such a delicious fall recipe from Skinny Taste. Here's a description of the recipe: "Pasta is tossed with sauteed brussels sprouts and a quick meat ragu made light by using lean ground turkey and just enough hot Italian pork sausage to enhance the flavor of the sauce."  Before making this recipe, I had never really eaten brussels sprouts. Now I'm a big fan. They are really not as bad as you'd imagine from all the horror stories you hear as a child. And the Italian sausage gives it a nice spicy kick. 

• Wednesday: Chicken tortilla soup. This is a recipe from my new Pioneer Woman cookbook, but you can find it on her blog as well. I just love soup and I think this recipe might be really good. It seems easy enough and I'm actually going to try to make it in my slow cooker so that I don't have to make dinner in the evening. I will be topping it with one of my absolute favorite foods: acovado! 

• Thursday: Leftovers.
• Friday: Italian drip beef sandwiches with sweet potato fries. This is another Pioneer Woman recipe from the new cookbook that can also be found on the website. The link is to two different recipes for drip beef sandwiches and I will be making the Italian one. Here's a description: "The Italian recipe is fabulous, and the peppers add a wonderful edge." The reason I chose this one is because it includes my second favorite food: peppers! (Particularly banana peppers) And Tim really digs this recipe.

• Saturday: We will be going to Lexington to watch the University of Georgia Bulldogs play Kentucky. One of the perks of living back in the SEC. The game is at night so we will probably eat on the road, but we should have leftovers of dinner from Friday night to feed the super awesome couple that is babysitting Owen for us so that we can go.