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

MONDAY:

• Grammy’s Orange Chicken

TUESDAY:

• Chili

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!

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!

MONDAY:

• Disneyland

TUESDAY:

• Rachel Sandwiches

WEDNESDAY:

• Tacos

THURSDAY:

• Grammy’s Orange Chicken with rice and salad

FRIDAY:

• Leftovers!

SATURDAY:

• Mark & Barb’s Beer Brats

SUNDAY:

• Meatball Subs

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

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

MONDAY:

• Smoked brisket, roasted potatoes, salad

TUESDAY:

• Rachel Sandwiches

WEDNESDAY:

• Tacos

THURSDAY:

• Disneyland!

FRIDAY:

• Disneyland!

SATURDAY:

• Mark & Barb’s Beer Brats

SUNDAY:

• Grammy’s Orange Chicken with rice and salad

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

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…

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. 

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

 

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Homemade recipe for hot fudge from Barbara "Gram" Maynard, one of the best humans to walk this planet. We miss you, Gram.

Author: Jane Maynard

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.

3.4.3177

MONDAY:

• Naan Pizza

TUESDAY:

• Indian Butter Chicken
• Roasted cauliflower
• Lentils

WEDNESDAY:

• Rigatoni with Italian Sausage in a Creamy Tomato Sauce

THURSDAY:

• Leftovers

FRIDAY:

• Rachel Sandwiches

SATURDAY:

• Takeout night

SUNDAY:

• Super Bowl Sunday! Menu TBD with our friends and family, but for sure we will have Mexican 7-Layer Dip, Buffalo Chicken and Sweet Chex Mix

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