Fall Into Cooking--October Challenge

For the last few months, my friends over at Happy To Be At Home have been hosting monthly challenges to end 2008 Great! Each month, they have been tackling a theme for the month and challenging others to tackle it as well. This month's challenge is Fall into Cooking! According to their site here is what they will be focusing on for the month...

ways we can organize our kitchens and meal planning,
find courage to try new recipes,
streamline meal prep and kitchen work,
and encouraging each other with tips on cooking for a crowd.

I am going to be joining the challenge this month! This week they are challenging everyone to put together a master menu plan or grocery list. Then we are to post about it on our blog. I have a master menu plan and a grocery list already done, however, it needs some updating! I am planning on updating it and posting at least the master menu plan to hopefully help give you some new ideas to serve your family.

In the meantime, here is what I did yesterday in my kitchen!



My kitchen was bustling yesterday!! I made TWO Jewish Coffee Cake and a batch of Chocolate Nut Bread(without the nuts!) which made two loaves(7 3/8"x3 5/8"x 2 1/4") and 4 muffins. Just in case you are wondering, it isn't frosting on the top of the bread but I reserved a 1/2 cup of the bag chocolate chips that I used in the bread to melt and spread on top of each cooled loaf and the 4 muffins. Hubby had requested at least the Jewish Coffee Cake for taking into work this morning to share with co-workers but I was able to squeak out some bread as well! So that platter above is what he took into work to share, while the other loaf of bread got sliced into to sample!

Stay tuned to get a look at my master menu plan!