Menu Plan - Week of November 2

I said to DH tonight over dinner ... "Sometime this week we need to talk about Christmas." YIKES!!! It's the first of November - this year has flown by for us (well, for me at least). We are finally having a consistent week of cooler weather here in the south also, so I will be pulling out some slow cooker and casserole meals. There is just something about a daytime high in the 50s that make the slow cooker very appealing! We are looking forward this week to an early Christmas present for ourselves - we're going to the Casting Crowns and Matt Redman concert - fun!!

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Dinners:

• Taco Casserole (use chicken instead of ground beef), green salad
• *Toscano soup in slow cooker (see recipe below), French bread
  
• Aussie Chicken, yellow rice, and roasted butternut squash
• Homemade pizza with green salad

Baking, Breakfast, Snacks:

• Banana chocolate chip muffins
• Baked Cinnamon Chips
• Bacon cheddar biscuits for DH

Slow Cooker Toscano Soup
adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It 5-Ingredient Favorites

• 1 lb Italian sausage links (I use Johnsonville brand) - sweet or hot depending on your taste
• 4-15 oz cans Great Northern Beans, do not drain or rinse
• 1 large bunch of kale - remove tough stalks and tear into bite size pieces
• approx 6 cups chicken broth, or water with boullion or base
• pepper to taste - black or red flake are great
  

1. Slice sausage into disks approx 1/2 inch thick
2. Brown sausage in non stick skillet just to get a bit of color - they will finish cooking thoroughly in slow cooker
3. Place browned sausage, beans, broth, and prepared kale in a LARGE (5-6 quart) slow cooker
4. Cook 6-8 hours on low
5. Taste and add pepper if needed. It should not need salt with the chicken broth, but adjust the seasonings as needed.