Those are the first of the strawberries from the patch in the backyard.  If I don’t get some bird netting, they may be the last too.  Anyone else having trouble with the birds eating the berries?

My family loves strawberries straight from the garden, dipped in a small dish of powdered sugar or as part of a recipe.  Here are a few of our favorite strawberry recipes:

• Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake with Strawberry Icing
• Nutella and Fruit Topped Waffles
• Strawberry Shortcake

Now it’s your turn!  Link up any recipe on your blog that uses strawberries.  It doesn’t have to be a recent post, just be sure to link directly to your recipe, not just the main page of your blog.  I only ask that you include a link back to Eat at Home in your post.  You can link directly to this post or use the button below.

Part of my family is heading to Disney World in a couple weeks.  Because I’m in the group going, I can’t seem to stay away from the Disney stuff.  That means I’ve been avidly reading the Disney Food Blog.  Disney and food are two of my favorite things.

The other day, I ran across this review of a new sandwich found in Animal Kingdom.  I new I had to try to create this!  Of course, I have no idea what it tastes like, other than the way it is described in the post.  Maybe I’ll get to sample the real deal while I’m there, so I can compare my version and Disney’s.

However, I have to say that the review was a great inspiration.  My version turned out full of flavor and tender.  My family loved it too.  And the fact that it uses the slow cooker is a bonus.  There’s just enough spice to make it interesting and give the meat a lot of flavor, yet it’s not burn-your-tongue hot.

Here’s what you’ll need to make these sandwiches: 

Oh yeah, and the dessert is a winner too!

Serving suggestions are included in bold on the menu and in curly brackets {} on the grocery list.

Here’s what’s on the menu this week:

Vietnam Fried Rice, egg rolls from the freezer section

Bowties with Italian Sausage and Bell Peppers, salad

50s Prime Time Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes with Onions, salad

Chicken Fiesta with Black Beans in the Slow Cooker, chips and salsa, salad

Easy Pepper Steak in the Slow Cooker, angel hair pasta, favorite green veggie

Chicken Florentine Pizza, carrot sticks

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake with Strawberry Icing

To print, click here:  menu year 3 week 27

This menu is part of Menu Plan Monday at The Organizing Junkie.

This has been an eventful week.  First, we sent our daughter off to China.  Thank you so much for all of your comments.  I loved hearing about others who have kids overseas and those who have gone overseas themselves.  It’s hard to let our kids grow up, but that’s the goal, right?

We got a surprise phone call from Meredith yesterday morning when she arrived in Shanghai.  She was able to make a Skype call from her phone.  I love technology!

Our family had another hard goodbye this week.  Our wonderful next-door neighbors had to move to Kansas.  We are going to miss them so much.  Our kids played together all the time.  They homeschooled too, so they didn’t think we were weird for homeschooling.  We borrowed ingredients from each other when we needed to.  Someone in Kansas is going to get fantastic neighbors.

Luckily, I still have quite a few neighbors that I borrow from (and they borrow from me too).  I think it’s rare these days to be blessed with so many friendly and helpful neighbors.   What do you think?  Do you have “borrowing” neighbors?

Ingredient Spotlight Highlights

There were so many good recipes shared in I.S. this week – 79 so far and there’s still time to link up yours.  Here are a few that caught my eye:

Italian Sliders from Pocket Change Gourmet look great.  That’s the photo of them at the top of this post.

Amish Cheeseburger Soup from The Better Baker sounds like a winner.

One of my sister’s favorite casseroles when she was young was Chowmein Casserole.  This version from Lisa’s Dinnertime Dish looks great.

This homemade taco meat from Many Makings looks easy and good.

Compassion in Tanzania

I’ve been following along with The Nester on her trip with Compassion in Tanzania.  I loved this post about how she met the young man she sponsors.  

And this one, where she talks about visiting another home of a Compassion child.  This really makes me want to write to my sponsored children more often.

I love how Nester makes a whole lot of friends using a bottle of blue nail polish.

There are more posts and links to the other bloggers who are also on the Compassion trip, but those are enough to get you started.  Go read them.  You’ll be glad you did.

I love using my slow cooker in the summer.  We’ve even been known to use it on vacation.  In fact, I had a dream a few years ago that we were in Magic Kingdom in Disney World and I was pushing a stroller with a crockpot in in, looking for a place to plug it in.   I was a bit worried about all the food my Mom had planned to take on vacation with us.

The slow cooker is also a great way to cook without heating up the kitchen.  I do tend to make different foods in the summer, than in winter.  Here are some of my favorites: 

• Baked Chicken with Summer Vegetables
• BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
• Easy Pepper Steak in the Slow Cooker
• Chicken and Broccoli “Stir Fry” in the Slow Cooker
• Chicken Fiesta with Black Beans
• Southwestern Steak with Cornbread Dressing
• Honey Mustard Chicken
• Cantonese Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Chicken Shwarma in the Slow Cooker
• African Pulled Beef Sandwiches with Yogurt-Mint Sauce
• Salsa Verde Steak
• Slow Cooker Beans – make these and fill your freezer for fast meals
• Homemade Baked Beans in the Slow Cooker

And don’t forget dessert!  Chocolate Cobbler and Peach Crisp are delicious anytime of year.

Want to save even more time this summer?  Check out the free weekly menus + grocery lists.  Print, shop, cook – easy!

What are your favorite summertime slow cooker recipes?  Jump into the conversation in the Ebates Savvy Living Community!

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99.9% of all the posts on my site are about food.  I hope you’ll forgive me for taking this post to write about family instead.

My oldest daughter boarded a plane for China this morning.

This is the same child who used to decorate the house for Chinese New Year and couldn’t understand why the rest of us weren’t as excited about the holiday as she was.

This same girl requested Chinese food for every birthday.

She started trying to learn Chinese when she was 10 years old.  She checked out the Chinese/English dictionary and wrote down all the “important” words after we sent her to bed each night.  Then she started studying with a friend from church who speaks Chinese.  Shu Mei taught her for several years and she’s taken other Chinese language classes. 

At times she’s thought about quitting her studies of Chinese.  It’s time consuming and she has no idea what she’ll do with it.  Even so, all of this is finally leading her to her dream of going to China.

This morning, she boarded a plane heading for Shanghai, where she will study at Shanghai University.  She’ll also get to do a bit of travel in China after the study abroad program is over.  I’m so excited for her!

To be sure, I’m also a nervous mama.  It’s not comfortable to send your child half way around the world.  But it’s not often that you get to see your child live their dreams either.

We’ve been joking that she won’t have anything to eat for all the time she’s there.  She can be picky.  She doesn’t really like meat, especially beef and Chinese people eat anything and everything!  Actually, I’m sure she’ll come back with some new favorite foods and maybe a more adventurous appetite too.

For dinner last night, Meredith requested Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Coconut Syrup.  I’m pretty sure when she comes home she’s going to want a big plate of Lentil Tacos and maybe a meal of Pasta Salad too.  There’s something about making a person’s favorite food that shows them you love them.

So, part of my heart is going to be in China through mid-June.  I can’t wait for this girl of mine to come home and tell us all about her adventures!

Apologies for the photo of the raw ground beef.  It’s possible that the only thing worse is a photo of raw chicken legs.

What it lacks in beauty, it makes up for in versatility and convenience.  Growing up, we ate a lot of ground beef.  It was inexpensive and Mom could make all kinds of things with it.

Now, I think it’s a bit pricier.  (Isn’t everything?)  I still use it, but not every week.  Here are some of my favorite recipes using ground beef: 

• Beef and Black Bean Taco Bake
• Wimpys aka Sloppy Joes
• Meatballs for the freezer – extra large batch
• 50s Prime Time Meatloaf

Now it’s your turn!  Link up any recipe on your blog that uses ground beef.  It doesn’t have to be a recent post, just be sure to link directly to your recipe, not just the main page of your blog.  I only ask that you include a link back to Eat at Home in your post.  You can link directly to this post or use the button below.

Have you ever made a recipe that you just weren’t sure about?  Even while I was baking this, I didn’t know if it would be good or not.  I had the idea to change up the recipe for Tuxedo Bars and I had a strawberry cake mix in the pantry.  Chocolate and strawberries go together, right?

I asked about the cake on Facebook, just to see if others thought it sounded good.  I also wanted to know what kind of icing to put on it.  I couldn’t decide between chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.  After reading all the opinions of readers on the EaH Facebook page, I decided to go with strawberry icing.

The result was marvelous!  The fresh strawberry frosting really set off the cake and the mini chocolate chips gave it just enough chocolate flavor.  This makes a 15×10 inch sheet cake, so it’s great for a crowd.  But I think it would also freeze well, if you have more than you can eat.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

Because it starts with a cake mix, it’s a cinch to make.

And the icing is just as easy.  For that you’ll need a few fresh strawberries.

A few more notes:

I have included fish.  I know some vegetarians eat it and some don’t.

You’ll have a chance to stock your freezer with the slow cooker beans, which is great for quick meals later.  You can also make good use of the slow cooker for the baked potatoes, if you like.

This is also a low-cost menu.  It’s always good to save money at the grocery store.

Veggie Pie, Quick Cole Slaw

Loaded Baked Potatoes with Homemade Cheese Sauce (skip bacon to make it meatless), salad

All Veggie Vegetable Soup, Cheddar Muffins

Tony’s Tilapia, baked sweet potatoes, favorite green veggie

Slow Cooker Beans, taco fixings, chips & salsa

Roasted Garlic, Browned Butter and Parmesan Pasta, favorite green veggie, salad

Zucchini Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

To print, click here:  menu year 3 week 26

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, which is a great reason to eat Mexican (or Mexican inspired) food.   In case you’re looking for ideas, here’s a post I wrote last year that has links to 43 Enchilada, Taco and Burrito Recipes from around the web.  Lots of good stuff there!

There’s a lot more to love about the month of May than just Cinco de Mayo!  Graduations, weddings, vacations, last day of school…

Share the reason you love the month of May in the Ebates Savvy Living Community and you’ll be entered to win $200!

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