Menu Planning Monday

Back by popular - ok almost no - demand, Menu Planning Monday!
First, I'll tell you that three of my New Years goals were
1) Continue to cook more from scratch so I will feed my family less processed foods
2) Make a batch of yogurt and a loaf of bread AT LEAST once a week, and
3) Plan a yummy dessert and serve it ONLY on Thursdays.

So, this week we're eating:

MONDAY chicken crescent rollups, apples and kiwi (NOT a healthy meal. We have a very busy day so I broke down and bought a roll of pillsbury crescent rolls, which completely goes against goal #1, I know)
TUESDAY 15 bean and Italian Sausage soup, salad, cornbread
WEDNESDAY Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Beets, Brocoli, Bread
THURSDAY Fajitas and for dessert--Cake balls from Bakerella
FRIDAY Homemade Pizza
SATURDAY Taco Soup
SUNDAY Quiche, Fruit

I have been happily baking bread more than buying it now and the family loves it. I even made hamburger buns last week which were delicious! I like knowing exactly what goes in our food.
Here are a few other meals we've enjoyed lately:
Kung Pau Chicken with Brocoli and Rice, (totally made this up with some soy sauce and oj--I thought it was a good start, but needed a sauce. If anyone has a good recipe, send it.)
Brisket, Grits and Green Beans (DID NOT turn out well, I need a lesson in Brisket)
Hamburgers with the above mentioned buns, coleslaw and roasted sweet potatoes
Beef Stew and homemade honey wheat bread (this was WONDERFUL, but I don't really know if you'd call it a stew or a veg. beef soup. Neither is usually my favorite meal, but I LOVED this, and so did the kids. I used Paula Deen's Old Time Beef Stew recipe, and added a quart of whole tomatoes, cut up, a couple of potatos, and a lot more liquid--beef stock and water.

Hope you have a yummy week!

Menu Plan Mondays

This week, my goal is to make healthy meals with lots of vegetables and a VERY minimal grocery list. Luckily, we have too much food in our freezer and pantry and I was able to come up with this:

Monday: sausage squash cornbread casserole
black eyed pea stew

Tuesday: Black bean, chicken and rice chimichangas (beans are in the freezer)
Corn

Wednesday: Smoked (cheddar) pasta salad
Cauliflower Soup (already in the freezer)

Thursday: Grilled Chicken with White barbecue sauce
Broccoli Salad
Mashed Turnips and Potatoes

Friday: Pizza (marinara in the freezer)

Saturday: Shrimp fettuccine and Salad


And this is all I needed: 1 red onion, raisins, spinach, 1lb sausage, 1lb turkey kielbasa, chopped green chilies, mayonnaise, tortillas, fettuccine, mozzarella, pepperoni, 3 potatoes, and a small sour cream. And the big news was-that's all i bought! Nothing snuck into my cart today. Probably because I only had the youngest 2 kids with me.

Menu Planning

Tuesday: Brown Sugar Chicken, rice and green beans (forgot to thaw the chicken last night)

Wednesday: pizza

Thursday: Party supper! Spinach Sausage Artichoke Dip with chips, Sisters Rolls with some Zaxby's chicken on it, maybe a veggie pizza.. . .

Friday: Chicken Enchiladas

Saturday: Burgers, veggies and dip, baked beans

Sunday: Cheese Tortellini with Spaghetti Sauce.

Menu Planning

Just a quick menu plan before I head out to the store. Busy week, since it's the beginning of Coastal Kids Market and our church's Missions Conference.

Tonight: Jess has the kids. . . better think of something. . . pigs in a blanket?

Thursday and Friday--dinner at church courtesy of the Barretts. Yum.

Saturday: Tacos--easy peasy.

Sunday: ham and cheese sandwiches with tomato soup.

Monday: this brown sugar chicken in the crockpot with rice and salad. The only meal of the week that requires any work or thought.


This is what my bedroom looked like during the last Coastal Kids Market, so I guess I'm doing pretty well this time around. Off to tag some tees!

Menu Planning

If you've wondered where menu planning has gone, so have I. In the past four weeks our family, or just Jess has spent the majority of the week out of town. That means lots of pb&j and the occasional Mc'Donalds. However, Jess gets home this afternoon and I keep forgetting what meals I've planned, and I keep losing my slips of paper, and I am remembering why I like to have it here online.

Tonight: Spinach and ham quiche, biscuits (maybe something like these yummy ones from suzy) and fruit.

Friday: Broccoli Pork Lo Mein.

Saturday: Pizza or Calzones with sneaky spinach. Probably calzones. Depends on my mood.

Sunday: French dip sandwiches (already cooked and in the freezer, I'll just reheat it in the crockpot while we're at church--but don't let me forget to bake the bread Saturday night!), veggies and dip

Monday: Meatloaf (I made this one and it was HUGE so half of it is in the freezer), corn casserole, and something green--depends on what I get from my box)

That's it for now. Now to go see why it's so quiet in the back. . . .

Menu Planning

I shouldn't call this Menu Planning Mondays anymore. I thought while I have this quiet house I could get my menu and grocery list together. See, Jess had PRK (eye surgery--like Lasix) today and he's been asleep since 7. The children were cranky and tired--they were up at 6:20 to take Jess to the hospital for the surgery. So they were asleep by 8. So, at only 10pm, I have had 2 hours to myself. Bliss.

(By the way, Jess's eyes are doing great and he's excited about not wearing glasses or contacts anymore.)

Here's what we're having this week:

Wednesday: Chicken and noodles. I just called Jess's mom who talked me through how to make them. I LOVE them at her house, so we'll see how it goes.

Thursday: Mexican Lasagna (I've been thinking about this yummy dish since I saw the pictures when looking for a rice recipe last week. Go to the site. I promise you'll be making them too.)

Friday: Oven-fried fish, black-eyed peas (for some reason I have 2 bags in my pantry?) and something green.

Saturday: BBQ Chicken pizza--from last week's BBQ chicken sandwiches chicken.

Sunday: Tomato Soup and Grilled Pizza Sandwiches (from Southern Living's Easy Weeknight Suppers)

Monday: Meatloaf, mashed potatos, green beans.

Lunches: Soup, leftovers, baked potatoes.
Breakfast: Yogurt, granola, Blueberry muffins, Zucchini/banana bread

Gotta go, my husband just appeared out of the bedroom like a bear coming out of hibernation. Better go direct him to the Valium.

Menu Planning

Tonight: Beef Brocoli lo-mein. Very very yummy. WAY better than Super Buffet.

Friday: Pizza. I made a big pot of my favorite marinara last week and froze batches of it. So it will come together pretty quickly.

Saturday: This will be the day for greens, but smothered in cheese of course! Pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, and kale gratin.

Sunday: BBQ Chicken sandwiches (put chicken breasts and bbq sauce in a crockpot and cook during church, then shred and eat on buns), crunchy cole slaw and corn.

Monday: Italian Sausage and Tortillini Soup, bread, and salad.

Happy Eating!

Food. Lots of talk about food.

So, in order to get back into blogging, and after reading Suzanne's yummy story about beets, today I'm going to talk about food. One of my themes lately has been "real food." I have been trying my hardest to stay away from prepackaged, convenient items with long lists of ingredients. I'll tell you it's all about my kids' health. But if you know me, you probably know I am also a bit of a control freak. I LOVE the idea of being able to control exactly what goes in my menu. As I mentioned before, I have given up this in favor of some cream and splenda. But I haven't mentioned that I have almost completely given up this. I know. Wow.

While not too picky about organic verses non-organic food (except for those pesky hormones in some dairy and poultry) my main goal for produce is to buy as local and seasonally as I can find. Now, I don't know that we can give up bananas. But I can hold off for a while on tomatoes--you can't tell me that a tomato in January tastes real. One place I am going for real food is a local organic farm. I got my first box of fruits and vegetables Friday and ooooh it was exciting!!! The children ate every carrot straight from the box before supper. I just have to figure out some good recipes for Kale and Swiss Chard, good winter greens.

Tonight I had my sweet friend and her children over for dinner. (side note: Her name is Sarah. Her husband is Jesse. They are in the army and live in our town. They have a daughter in preschool at Ella's school and a younger one named Adeline. Crazy, huh! We have a the same taste in fabrics and have jumped into sewing, cloth diapering and better eating together. What a blessing!) Anyway, today at the commissary I tried not to buy anything that i could make at home. That included flavored rice packets, soups, yogurt, refried beans, even cereal. And you know what? It paid off! I was happy with my grocery bill and really enjoyed my time cooking at home. I'm thankful that my job as a stay at home mom allows me the time and flexibility I need to fix these menus. I know it's not for everybody. But I'm a big fan of "Do what you can, and don't worry about the rest." And I'm also a big fan of "If I don't want to cook supper and I want Jess to take us out I just say 'We can have salad or eggs tonight.'"

Wanna know what was on the menu tonight?

Chicken and bean tacos--I roasted a chicken yesterday, and mixed half of the meat with some spices. The rest of the chicken will be good for the next few lunches.

The bean recipe was from here. The rice, I adapted from this yummy post from Pioneer Woman (soon I'm going to make the whole Mexican lasagna described--it looks soooo yummy). The kids didn't like it--i think it looked too tomato-y. But I loved it. Add some lettuce, salsa, cheese, and, oh yes! My favorite part! I strained some homemade yogurt in a coffee filter and had some delicious "sour cream"! (I really would have bought sour cream, but I just forgot it--I'm not that picky)

Wait. That wasn't my favorite part. This was my favorite part. But I can't take credit. Sarah brought this (she found the recipe here). And do you know what she did? She brought the cake early and left me alone with it while she ran errands. What was she thinking?!

I promise I just took the wrapping off so I could get a better picture. But it smelled soooo good. So I just had to have a tiny taste.

Stay tuned--hopefully tomorrow I'll post Menu Planning M-Thursdays. Although I might forget, as my mind will be excitedly thinking about the return of the worst show ever (reverse psychology-works every time.) In the meantime, I'd love to hear about what you're cooking!

And since you've made it through this totally kid-less post without complaining, I'll give you a little Addie Lou pic. Guess who's turning 9 months tomorrow?!?!

Menu Plan Wednesdays

Thanks for the well wishes this morning. I am ending the day with a fairly clean house, folded laundry, a clean kitchen, and coffee ready to go. God is good to me even when I'm lazy. I even figured out what we were going to eat for the rest of the week. Did you think I forgot Menu Planning Mondays (or in dad's case, did you hope I forgot)? Nope, but my sweet husband took me (and 4 kids) out for a steak dinner last night to celebrate alleviate his frustrating day (hmmm. . . how can I make that happen more often. . . it probably wouldnt take much. . . ) Soooo, I was able to use the fajitas for tonight. They weren't quite a hit. In fact, I'm striking out a lot lately in my attempt to provide healthier meals and this week, we're going yummy, fattening, and easy (that's also because I have 14 bags to make before we leave for Illinois on Monday and I won't be spending time in the kitchen). Anyway, here's what we're eating this week:

Thurs: Beef Enchiladas, shredded lettus, corn, avacado salad (and don't tell Jess, but the sour cream will be yougurt cheese from our homemade yougurt). Oh, and The Office. We get to watch it together for the first time this season. Ahhh....

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Some sort of casserole with chicken, brocoli, cream of soup, and cracker crumbs. I think we used to eat it in college. carrots.

Sunday: Sandwiches (turkey and cheese or blt) and spinach salad

I'm going to make a cheese ball for snacks (suggested by Tricia-thanks!) and hopefully some more of those yummy pumpkin oatmeal muffins.

Now to finish my grocery list and hit the bed sewing machine. But before I go, here's some pics so dad will keep reading.

Menu Plan Mondays *revised

First an update on last weeks menu: The goat cheese stuffed chicken meal--mixed reviews. I loved it. I thought it was delicious and simple. The kids didn't like it at all, and Jess said he didn't think it had enough flavor, but i think I'm right :-) I mean, my kids didn't even want the cheese grits that night--who doesn't want cheese grits?!? The Fiesta Chowder is always good, as well as the chimichangas, but my kids were just picky this week. Cheese tortellini in broth and calzones were gobbled up--should have made more. We didn't have the black bean soup or the pork this week so they'll carry over:

Tuesday: No cooking! We're going to visit Jess's brother and family who are visiting Amelia Island.

Wednesday: Pork au Poivre, roasted potatoes, creamed spinach, applesauce

Thursday: Jess is at Ft. Bragg, we'll eat frozen pizza

Friday: Chili Corn stack ups (another favorite of Emily's and I have chili in the freezer)

Saturday: Chicken fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli and bread

Sunday: Black bean soup, bread, salad

Monday: Chili Dogs, veggies, chips and dip

Tuesday: I think it will be this because I have the ingredients--it's from my catering friend Tricia so it's gotta be good:

Mu Shu-Style Fajitas:

1 T. butter
2 eggs beaten
3 cloves minced garlic
1 lb boneless pork-cut in thin strips
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 c sliced mushrooms
1 8 oz.can bamboo shoots- if desired
6 green onions chopped
1 t. lemon juice
tortillas warmed

In skillet melt butter and scramble eggs with garlic, salt, and pepper. Remove and set aside. Saute carrots in oil –set aside.
If you want to add any other vegetables( ie; zucchini, yellow squash etc) do so now then remove and set aside. Brown meat in oil. Add seasoning of choice (fajita seasoning or just salt and pepper). Add ½ cup water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and add eggs, carrots and remaining ingredients except tortillas. Cook 2-3 minutes. Warm tortillas. Put meat and veg. mix in tortillas with plum sauce if desired and roll up like a burrito.

Salad and fruit are usually our sides.

Plum Sauce:
In saucepan combine ½ c grape or plum jelly, ¼ cup sliced green onions, and 1 T cornstarch. Add 2 T dry sherry or ( I use dry white wine if I don’t have sherry),2 T soy sauce and 1 T vinegar. Cook until bubbly then stir and cook 1-2 min longer.

Might be a little too exotic for my crew, but it sounds good, and we need to break away from the Tex/Mex - Italian rotation.

Menu Plan Mondays

I usually do my coupon clipping and plan my weekly menus on Mondays (commissary's closed) and shop on Tuesdays. Why not blog it? AND ask, no beg and plead you bloggers to show me yours. Emily did it for a while (no pressure, em, still fighting the femcha) but wouldn't it be SO FUN and EASY if we were able to plan a week of menus, and then get 4 or 5 weeks in return? I did this once with girls here in Savannah on paper and I ended up with some family favorites. So. . . I'll get the ball rolling.

Tuesday: Chicken Breasts stuffed with Garlic and Herbed Goat Cheese, Cheese Grits, Broccoli, sliced apples

Wednesday: Use slow cooker black beans for Black Bean Chimichangas, save the rest for Saturday (from Emily's menu Mondays!), corn

Thursday: Southern Living's Fiesta Chowder, bread sticks, use leftover toppings from wed.

Friday: Pork au Poivre, roasted potatoes, creamed spinach, applesauce

Saturday: Black bean soup, french bread, veggies and sour cream dip

Sunday: cheese tortellini in light broth with Parmesan crisps, Italian mixed salad

Monday: Calzones (sauce and dough already in the freezer)

Also baking: Apple Buttermilk Muffins and Banana Bread

Oh, and tonight, since Jess has a deacon's meeting, we are having Honey infused oat cereal in a light milk bath.