ideas please

I am supposed to take dinner tonight to a girl in our church who just adopted a baby, and I cannot think of anything to bring. I think I'm just so overwhelmed w/ school stuff that I can't think of making any decisions--I don't know what to fix for Ken and me much less what to fix for someone else.

So what do you all fix to take to other people? And what things did you like/not like when you had meals delivered to you? Thanks for your help. Sorry this is such late notice, but I kept thinking that something brilliant would hit me. : )

a question, a recipe, an experiment and an idea

First, does anyone know what you can substitute for shortening? I don't like using it (the whole hydrogenated oil thing) but I don't know what to use for a substitute (Shanna I like the idea of using applesauce whenever it says to use liquid oils). So that leads me to the next thing...our favorite breakfast food around here...which is why I was asking about the above question -


Grandma's Banana Bread Muffins (with some added nutrition):


1 cup sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup flour (unbleached)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
3 medium bananas
2 eggs
4 T sour milk*
pinch of salt

Put bananas in mixer and mash, then add the rest of the ingredients. Bake 12-15 minutes in muffin tins at 325 degrees.
*In 1/4 cup put 1T vinegar and then add milk to fill.


My experiment (which I will have to wait to make until I get back from my trip to St. Louis) is to make my own yogurt. A friend gave me a recipe and it is so easy. All you need is a candy themometer. So I will fill you in on how it turns out. It would be so much cheaper and so healthy. I have been buying plain yogurt lately for the kiddo's and myself and adding my own fruit and little honey to sweeten it. And yogurt here is so expensive. So I will let you know in a few weeks when I try it out.


And lastly my idea is similiar to the idea that Lisa has started with posting your weekly menu. I found this magnetic paper pad at Wal-Mart for a dollar and have used it to jot down my menu for the week...leaving a couple of days for leftovers. And it's flexible (like Shanna said you can just switch meals around or move it to the next day if you happen to go out for dinner, etc.) The nice thing is I look at the menu and know what I need to take out to defrost that morning or have the day to get extra ingredients that I don't have...rather than waiting an hour before dinner and not having enough time to defrost anything or run to the grocery store last minute because I don't have a certain ingredient. Although I am not consistent in using it (because I forget) but the weeks I have remembered, I actually enjoying cooking that week.