Sausage, Sauerkraut & Potatoes

Hello everyone! I can't believe it has been almost a week since I last posted. Whoops!

Today I took my daughter sledding after lunch and we had a blast! The sun is shining and it is just over 32 degrees, so the weather was perfect. The hill is in the park down the block (not too far to walk) and is steep enough and high enough to be fun, but not to steep or high to make climbing back up difficult. We were the only ones there and stayed for an hour. I thought I would be bored or freezing, but she was so cute about it all that she made me laugh and I even went down a couple of times with her, which she thought was hysterical. And seeing us both on the sled probably was pretty funny for anyone driving by who saw us. :)

Tonight for dinner I am going to make smoked sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes in my pressure cooker. This is only one of two meals (beef stew is the other) that I use the pressure cooker to make - I really should find more uses for the thing. It is a newer model that has a crappy knob on top for adjusting the steam. My mom had a really old one with a weight on top that would jiggle, but my dad won't give it to me because he uses it to make this meal himself. You can find my recipe here.

Last night I made cheeseburger meatloaf and tater tots; the night before that I made pepperoni pan pizzas. Tomorrow I will be making pork chops and spanish rice. I have been working on my grocery list already because I am going to be volunteering in my daughter's classroom tomorrow, so the meal plan for the next week is this: Porcupine Meatballs with Egg Noodles, Beef & Rice Fiesta Casserole, Chicken Kievs and Mashed Potatoes, Dirty Rice, Spaghetti with Garlic Toast, and a frozen pizza (always). Nothing fancy, but good warm meals for these cold January days.

If any of you are looking for something to do while you are trapped indoors by the cold weather, please go check out the book club I am in by clicking the link at the top right of this page. For the month of January we are reading Bittersweet Country by Elaine Long. I am on chapter 7 and it is a really good book! Next month we will be reading Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult; sure to be a great read too.

My daughter's class is having a Luau party next week and I (stupidly) volunteered to bring anything that was needed and the teacher asked me to bring a fresh, cut coconut. Where the heck am I gonna find a fresh coconut in Chicago in January?! And how the heck am I gonna cut one open?! Yikes. I was mumbling about my stupidity and my daughter overheard me and said "One of the boys brought a coconut to class for Secret Sack last week" (don't ask), but she can't remember his name. I am all set to call this kids mother and ask where she got it - as soon as I find out who he is. Again, wish me luck!

Happy eating!