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  1. Sunday, February 27, 2022

    Week 740 Weekly Menu

    I’m traveling a bit this week for work, so planning for that in our meals!

    Week 740 Weekly Dinner Menu from This Week for Dinner

    MONDAY:

    TUESDAY:

    WEDNESDAY:

    • English Muffin Pizzas

    THURSDAY:

    • Hot dogs and Brats

    FRIDAY:

    • Leftovers

    SATURDAY:

    • Takeout night

    SUNDAY:

    • Smoked meats with salad and baked beans (Going to request some pork butt from Nate!)

    Your turn to share your menu in the comments below! Have a great weeke!


  2. Sunday, February 20, 2022

    Week 739 Weekly Menu

    We have one more day of Disneyland this week – our 3-day pass was for weekdays only and we are so glad we to have a couple of days between the 2nd and 3rd day. Not sure we could have done three days straight! Anyway, because of the busy-ness last week I did not use my menu at all. Going with the ol’ copy and paste trick this week. But your menus from last week sparked so many ideas for my next round of planning, thank you!

    Week 739 Weekly Dinner Menu from This Week for Dinner

    MONDAY:

    • Disneyland

    TUESDAY:

    WEDNESDAY:

    THURSDAY:

    FRIDAY:

    • Leftovers!

    SATURDAY:

    SUNDAY:

    • Meatball Subs

    You know the drill, please share your meal plan in the comments below! Have a great week everyone!


  3. Monday, February 14, 2022

    Week 738 Weekly Menu

    We were so busy making so much healthy food for the Super Bowl yesterday my weekly menu took a backseat. Here we go!

    Week 738 Weekly Dinner Plan from This Week for Dinner

    MONDAY:

    • Smoked brisket, roasted potatoes, salad

    TUESDAY:

    WEDNESDAY:

    THURSDAY:

    • Disneyland!

    FRIDAY:

    • Disneyland!

    SATURDAY:

    SUNDAY:

    Your turn! Post your menus in the comments below…and have a great week!


  4. Sunday, February 6, 2022

    Happy 15th Anniversairy, TWFD! Plus Gram’s Homemade Hot Fudge Recipe & Week 737 Weekly Menu

    This Week for Dinner is officially FIFTEEN YEARS OLD. Happy 15th birthday, Blog! To celebrate I have a gift for you all: Gram Maynard’s Homemade Hot Fudge Recipe. This recipe was a big part of the beginning of this journey…

    15 year anniversary - This Week for Dinner

    When I started the blog 15 years ago, I only had one child, blogs weren’t a thing, and I had an old iMac Nate found at work to use in the kitchen (I truly had no idea why I would use a computer in the kitchen). My good camera was a film camera, so I used a point-and-shoot digital camera for the blog (please do not judge the early photography on the blog, it’s mortifying). The blog began with a list of dinners I made on a regular basis and a few weekly menus to share with my brother, who was still in college. 

    Then I noticed a curious thing – people were actually visiting the blog. I decided to design a logo, spruced up my free Blogger blog, and asked friends to share the link with other friends. I promised those who shared a copy of Gram Maynard’s homemade hot fudge recipe. They were asked to not publish the recipe anywhere. It was our little secret. 

    Fast forward to today. I have three children (the youngest of which is TEN), I’m a professional food writer and photographer, I am now an excellent recipe writer, I received all kinds of work over the years through the blog, I met all kinds of people and had crazy amazing experiences, I started a podcast, and I am still posting my weekly dinner menu. Most importantly, you are still here sharing your menus and cooking right alongside with me. I’ve experienced ups and downs personally and, through it all, my family still had to eat. I may not have always been cooking because, well, life. But every week the community on this blog kept the food game going. I have been oh so grateful.

    So…thank you. And to show my thanks, I am finally publicly sharing Gram’s homemade hot fudge recipe! She was such a giver, it’s what she would have wanted anyway. To be honest, it’s good for you I waited 15 years because it’s written much better than it was back when I was secretly emailing it to friends. 

    Homemade Hot Fudge Recipe

    Funny enough, I cannot find my DSLR camera charger, so today’s photographs are done with the modern version of a point-and-shoot, my iPhone. I will probably come back and reshoot this recipe once that damn battery is charged because, man, there’s nothing like a real camera.

    While today is a celebration of 15 years as well as decadent chocolate, I am of course posting my weekly menu! You know the drill…share your menu in the comments below! 

    A note on this recipe: Gram had a few “ors” throughout the recipe, where you could kind of choose which ingredients you wanted to use. I have settled on my choice of ingredients and am sharing my version of the recipe. Also, the heating instructions in the recipe are important for texture, so take your time and follow the directions. This truly is my favorite hot fudge sauce ever. Nothing else ever compares. (Thank you, Gram. I miss you every day.)

    Gram Maynard's Homemade Hot Fudge
     
    Homemade recipe for hot fudge from Barbara "Gram" Maynard, one of the best humans to walk this planet. We miss you, Gram.
    Author:
    Ingredients
    • 8 tablespoons butter
    • 3 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
    • ½ cup cocoa powder
    • 1½ cups granulated sugar
    • 5 ounces evaporated milk
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla
    • ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
    Instructions
    1. In a heavy-bottomed small or medium pot, melt butter and baking chocolate over medium-low heat.
    2. Keeping the heat at medium-low, whisk in the sugar and evaporated milk. Sift the cocoa powder into the pot and whisk thoroughly.
    3. Raise heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking almost constantly.
    4. Raise heat to medium-high and whisk constantly until mixture is boiling and sugar is completely dissolved, which will take ~ 2-5 minutes.
    5. Remove from heat. Let cool 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    6. Mix in salt and vanilla.
    7. Serve over ice cream, bread pudding, fresh strawberries, or whatever you like rich amazing chocolate served on.
    Notes
    Store in the refrigerator.
    Makes around 3 cups.

     

    Week 737 Weekly Dinner Menu from This Week for Dinner

    MONDAY:

    TUESDAY:

    WEDNESDAY:

    • Rigatoni with Italian Sausage in a Creamy Tomato Sauce

    THURSDAY:

    • Leftovers

    FRIDAY:

    SATURDAY:

    • Takeout night

    SUNDAY:

    Looking forward to seeing your dinner plans for the week! As always, thank you for sharing and for being here!