A menu plan in preparation for VACATION baby!

So we're going to Hawaii in a couple weeks. Like how I said that so casually, as if I go to Hawaii annually, and I'm really not even excited about it? Don't believe anything I say, cause it's nonsense! I have never been anywhere exotic, and I am SOOOOOO excited! My big bro is getting married, and his wife to be is obviously a genius, as evidenced by the destination! I'm freaking out of course; we're leaving our kids behind, and while I know beyond any doubt that Grammie and Grandad will take ridiculously good care of them, it's still hard. Not to mention that my traveling partners include my husband (hurray!) and my breast pump (Lord help me!). But it's good. So I'm working on using up all fresh stuff on the premises.

• Monday; Quiche, cottage cheese, green salad


• Tuesday; Chicken spinach salad (I hope to share this one, I think it's going to rock)


• Wednesday; Beef stew from the freezer


• Thursday; Chicken/tomato pasta (the only long cut pasta I have is Angel Hair, how did that happen?)


• Friday; French Toast, citrus salad


• Saturday; Pizza night!


• Sunday; some Sausage/Gnocchi thing I saw on allrecipes, since I must use up a package of gnocchi, ASAP

I plan to make some Samoas inspired bars that I saw on Pinterest too, cause momma needs sweets. If they are good I'll find the link for you!

Menu Plan 1/30-2/5

I'm feeling good about menu planning lately, it probably helps that January is almost over, and my January calendar has every square filled out with something I actually cooked, hurray! I currently use a very vanilla (and nearly free, just the cost of paper, ink, Internet service, the computer, blah, blah, blah) calendar from here to plan my menus, and I just post it on the fridge for quick reference. BUT, I have big plans for a cuter (and freer, if you can believe it, and if that's a word...) menu planner. I'll let you know when that's more of a reality and less of an abstract project floating around my brain. Anyway, here's the plan for this week!

Today we had grilled cheese and chicken soup, I definitely keep it really easy on Sundays, because we go swimming at 6pm, and I'm not up to a whole lot of excitement other than that.

Monday; Spanish rice in the rice cooker, this will be a first attempt for me so we'll see how it goes!

Tuesday; Greek salad, Feta cheese muffins. Anyone make a Greek salad dressing that rocks?

Wednesday; my nephew's turning 11 (this totally blows my mind), so we'll be having pizza at his house. I am under instructions not to bring anything, which I'm sure I can handle.

Thursday; Steak Cesar salad, Parmesan crisps, maybe some homemade bread.

Friday; Soft pretzels and cheese soup. I have tried making these 2 items together before, because it just seems like a great, fun, meat free supper for a casual Friday night (by which I mean we all come to the table in our jammies). I struggled with timing in a big way, because I didn't fully anticipate what a pain in the butt it can be to boil the pretzels and then bake them. The two steps are necessary in order to get that nice chewy thing going on, but this time I am prepared, and I will master this meal, for sure!

Saturday; pizza night, probably a Calzone for a change.

Last week's menu had a few highlights I wanted to share. I already mentioned the awesomeness of the lineup change in the form of steak sandwiches, make them already! The TVP thing was okay, I think I messed up a bit in that we wouldn't normally have any meat in the rice and beans, so it was like I was substituting for something that shouldn't be there anyway. My next TVP project will be meatloaf I'm thinking. My pizza night was great, the chicken/broccoli/Alfredo sauce was a hit, and I threw on some crumbled, cooked bacon that I had leftover, which I think will be a must in the future. At some point in the week, I made some Momma crack, and my hubs ate all but the one serving that I inhaled, so I am renaming it Daddy crack.

The meal that we may have enjoyed more than I expected was the chili topped baked potatoes, and let me tell you, it had many things to recommend it for sure. I had a small portion of leftover chili in the freezer, not enough that I could serve it as the main again, but enough worth saving, so I view that as a freebie. I bake my potatoes in the most low maintenance way imaginable; I scrub them, and put them in a preheated 475 degree oven, directly on the rack, no oil, no foil. Yes that is blazin' hot baby, and you can believe we don't eat baked potatoes in the summer. The method produces some awesome baked potatoes, the skin kind of blisters away from the flesh (without actually coming off), and the inside is moist and fabulous. This coming from a woman who really had no use for baked potatoes, for many years. The other awesome thing is that it produces no waste and no dishes! How often can you say that about anything you make?! I threw shredded cheddar and sour cream on top of the chili, and they were so tasty, sometimes the easiest things are the best.

Changing the meal plan with wild and reckless abandon, cause that's how I do.

Sometimes I like to rap, which never fails to give my husband lots of ammo against me. So I'll never speak (or rap) the above title out loud, but thanks for letting me share it with you. I just wanted to throw out to the universe that I made an impulsive and fabulous change to my menu this week, and I would love to encourage you to taste the item that made me throw caution to the wind. Actually what it did is cause my pregnant body to say "FEEEED MEEE", which was pretty scary, I can't lie.

I have been making a steak sandwich for a long time, and it was fine, but nowhere near as good as this baby. Pioneer Woman has a way with food, particularly butter and beef, and I think she's a good resource if you're looking for new recipes that will have broad appeal, do not require exotic ingredients, and have reasonable prep times. Check her out! And make this sandwich! I noticed that Safeway has Cube Steak at $3.49/lb, and they also have a coupon in the Joy of Football (holy oxymoron alert) coupon book, which they seem to continue to have at customer service, for $2 off any Rancher's Reserve beef. That was a really long sentence...

Does anyone work here?

It's been a long time. I could apologize (and make excuses), but it wouldn't change the fact that I haven't posted for over a month, so instead I'll just suck it up and write something already!

The "Yes, I do still feed the people I live with Menu Plan"

Today; I made meatball sandwiches and some sort of fried potato pancakes, only round instead of pancake shaped. Don't turn your computer off yet please. The potatoes have potential, if they develop further I'll let you know.
Monday; God willing, my hubs doesn't read this. I got some TVP for super cheap, so I'm going to make beans and rice with it. This could be interesting, I'll be making corn muffins too, just to take the edge off.
Tuesday; Turkey Tettrazini! No one can say it like this woman...
Wednesday; Tilapia with rice pilaf.
Thursday; Roast Chicken, probably roast potatoes if I remember to get some lard (yeah, you read that right, lard is the bomb!)
Friday; Chili cheese topped baked potatoes.
Saturday; Pizza night, I'm thinking chicken/broccoli/alfredo for toppings so I can use up some of my roast from Thurs.

I don't usually plan my sides in great detail, unless they are a bit more complicated. Suffice it to say that we always have a veg on the side, and when we're done eating, we always have some fruit, or "Fute, Fute!!" as my son says. I hope he doesn't learn to say his r's any time soon...

For sweet fixes this week, there is mint chip ice cream in the freezer, and I just made some oatmeal/chocolate/peanut butter/butterscotch bars. I'm not sure why they had so many ingredients, but they better be good. The ice cream, however, has only 5 ingredients, and rocks my world. Combine 1 cup whole milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 cups heavy cream and a pretty generous teaspoon of peppermint extract, and stir until the sugar dissolved. Pour it into your ice cream maker, and follow the dang manufacturer's instructions for how long to leave it in there. About 2 minutes before it's done, add whatever random quantity of whatever random semisweet or bittersweet chocolate you have knocking around in the pantry, really well chopped (even pulverized I would say). Soo flippin' good. I just ate some in fact. And I'd like a bit more. If you don't own an ice cream maker and you're interested, I like this one. However, I would not, not, not pay that much for it, I think I maybe paid twenty some bucks? Shop around.

Menu Plan, 9/26-10/2

I am really ready for fall and cooler weather, but it's supposed to be in the 80's most of the week, so I'm trying to minimize my use of the oven still. Also, my menu plan fell apart completely last week, I didn't feel well and really didn't want to cook (or eat), so I made this week's menu really super easy so that I will have better luck following it (this is a promoting success kind of menu in other words!)

• Sunday we had white chili.
• Monday; grilled cheese with apple and mustard, and green salad (these sandwiches are the bomb, just slice the apples really thin)
• Tuesday; taco salads (homemade taco salad bowls are really easy, just shape flour tortillas on an upside down muffin tin and bake for a few minutes, and then fill as desired)
• Wednesday; asparagus quiche that I was supposed to make last week.
• Thursday; crock pot pot roast.
• Friday; BBQ chicken drumsticks, potato salad.
• Saturday; meatball calzones

I haven't decided what sweets I'm going to make, maybe just some no-bake cookies.

Menu Plan, 9/19-9/25

Sunday; we broke rank and picked up Chinese take out. I am still swollen from salt overload, but it was so good!

Monday; I'm in a fall mood, but it's hot outside, how did that happen?? So, I guess we're grilling tonight, chicken cordon bleu and potatoes, I'll try to post recipes soon.

Tuesday; Chicken strips, deep fried and everything, and oven fried cauliflower and broccoli. Bar food comes to my house!

Wednesday; Our meatless choice for the week, asparagus and havarti quiche, so yummy you won't miss the meat! I'll post this recipe too.

Thursday; Honey dijon chicken, green salad. I haven't made this for probably 4 years or so, but when I was writing the menu I asked my husband if he had any requests, and he pulled this one out! How funny, we'll see if I remember how to make it.

Friday; Meatball sandwiches, green salad.

Saturday; I'm thinking calzones this week, my pizza dough recipe works great for this, fill with whatever you want and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. I'm thinking a seafood alfredo calzone would be a nice treat. Also, I wanted to mention if you'd like a wheat pizza dough, you can sub 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose flour, and it won't change the taste in the slightest. I haven't experimented with more whole wheat flour than that.

Menu Plan, 9/12-9/18

Okay, at least I'm posting it, even it if is late. Again.

Sunday; Hawaiian meatballs, which we were supposed to have last week, but I had to rearrange my entire universe to use up some chicken first. These meatballs are responsible for the scallions/green onions debate, see previous entry. They have a lot to answer for. But they were pretty good!
Monday; I had some chicken to use up. Again. Not sure why. Anyway, I made chicken lo mein, which is my code name for chicken with Ramen noodles, and I swear on those 130 dollar Dansko's that it is good. Basically you boil some water, cut some chicken into bite sized pieces, stir fry it for a couple minutes, throw in some minced garlic, cook a pack or 2 of Ramen noodles in the boiling water for 2 minutes or so, throw in some frozen veggies (or fresh really, I used fresh broccoli and frozen pepper strips tonight), add the noodles, a little bit of sesame oil if you have it, and about half the seasoning pack from the Ramen. Stir the whole mess up, and dinner is done. I got this idea from Real Simple, I think, a few years ago, maybe.
Tuesday; cabbage rolls, cauliflower with cheese sauce. Holy comfort food!
Wednesday; chickpea spaghetti, I'll let you know if it's a keeper. Meatless Monday is being relocated a lot lately.
Thursday; Date Night! We're actually going to see Rodney Carrington, will I see any of you there? Here's the kicker, we're going to see Jeff Dunham in November, so I told hubs that October date night will consist of a Wine Tasting followed by a Ballroom Dancing lesson.
Friday; Lentil soup maybe?
Saturday; pizza night, hurray for pizza night.

Menu Plan, 9/6-9/11

I thought I'd see if I can make this more of a habit, we'll see how I do. This post will be retroactive since it's already Tuesday!

Sunday; broccoli/cauliflower cheese soup and homemade bread (I save all my broc/caul trimmings in the freezer for this, broccoli stems in particular are great to use and you can keep them out of the garbage.
Monday; we had tentatively planned a family get together at my Mom's, so I didn't plan anything; we ended up having to reschedule the get together, so I pulled out my secret stash of cheater products from the freezer and pantry, breaded fish, french fries, and a can of corn. I am definitely not above doing this!
Tuesday; tacos and homemade refried beans
Wednesday; chicken and mushrooms in a creamy pink sauce, roasted potatoes, green salad
Thursday; Hawaiian meatballs over rice, green salad
Friday; chicken tacos, guac, green salad (I'll think of you when I make these tacos Bubbles! Do you want the recipe for the marinade?)
Saturday; my adorable hubs turns 32 (!), so dinner is at mom-in-laws; what should I bring?

I would really like for my son to eat salad, so I'm going to try the immersion tactic and throw it on the table 3 nights in a row, with the hopes that he'll give it a try. Anyone interested in betting how well this works?

I made magic cookies yesterday, and I'm going to make raspberry-lime sherbet (or sorbet maybe) sometime this week too. Have you ever made magic cookies before? They are super easy, and produce no dishes, you mix graham cracker crumbs with butter, press it into a pan, throw whatever chips (chocolate or otherwise) and nuts you want on top, then pour sweetened condensed milk all over the top. I use homemade sweetened condensed milk, so I can't be sure, but I think the recipe is on the can of the name brand stuff (of course I have to do it a bit differently!)

Menu Plan 6/21-6/27

I had planned to post this yesterday, but got so excited about the FTC sales, I had to get that up first! I am trying to use up some boxed meal helper type items, which I should just stop buying b/c I don't use them. Actually, I should donate them, shouldn't I. I'll work on that. I will not be sticking to my usual plan very closely this week, but that's okay.

Monday; Chicken and asparagus on the grill, some pasta mix stuff.
Tuesday; Cauliflower pasta (this is an experiment...), salad.
Wednesday; Leftovers from Father's day (pulled pork, baked beans).
Thursday; Chicken Helper.
Friday; Mom and baby play date at my lovely friend Jody's. I'll bring veggie appetizer pizza, or maybe a cheese ball?
Saturday; 4 Seasons pizza (deli ham, black olives, artichokes, and mushrooms).

Happy eating!

What's that smell...

So my oven died this week. I guess it didn't really die, but it started smelling like gas, and since it has not been heating well or consistently for a long time, months really, we decided that fixing both of those issues were more than we wanted to tackle, especially given its age. So, I sucked it up and bought a new oven, but it won't be here until the 17th. In the meantime, I will be attempting to creatively use my crockpot, electric grill/griddle, rice cooker, and gas grill to feed us. Thank goodness my sweet hubby likes to buy me kitchen gadgets for Christmas, I think we'll be fine! My only disappointment is that my pizza craving will not be satisfied.

Saturday; bonus date night (thanks sis!)
Sunday; beer can chicken and asparagus on the grill (whole chickens are on sale again this week at Safeway, .79/lb!)
Monday; Crock pot mac and cheese (I am perfecting this recipe, so when I get there I'll share)
Tuesday; Chicken Cesar salads (romaine lettuce is $1/head at Safeway, and I'll use leftovers from the beer can chicken)
Wednesday; Pancakes, bacon and eggs on the griddle
Thursday; Between picking up the oven and installing it, this could be a long evening. I'm thinking grilled cheese and canned soup
Friday; Pizza in my brand new oven! Yeah!
Saturday; Regularly scheduled date night (thanks mom and dad in law!)
Sunday; Father's day extravaganza, chez moi. We'll be making Cheater Barbecue Pulled Pork, which is seriously delicious and so perfect for a group. Plus all the fixings, to include cucumbers and onions marinated with vinegar and jalapenos, baked beans, potato salad, and maybe angel food cake for dessert. You know, something light after all that food we've crammed in...

Menu Plan

I want to get into the habit of posting my weekly menu plan, even though I have yet to figure out how to create a printer friendly copy of recipes, so I thought tonight I would just discuss a bit of the menu plan method I use. When I first started menu planning, I definitely sat down with the Safeway ad, checked out what was on sale, and generated my plan from that. And I think that is a really good way to start writing a menu if you have never done it before. But now, I shop completely based on the sales, stocking up my pantry and freezer so that I am prepared to make a variety of meals when they strike my fancy.

For me, I may not stick to the plan 100% of the time, but it is so helpful to have it written up when I have a couple of minutes to think, rather than trying to figure it out at 5pm. I have a master plan of the theme of each day's meal, so for example,

Monday; Meatless (I'm not sure where I first heard of meatless Monday, but I can't lay claim to the idea)
Tuesday; Ethnic (stir fry, pasta, tacos, something along those lines).
Wednesday; Crockpot or freezer meal (I don't really freezer cook like many others do, but I stash leftovers that are in adequate supply for a complete meal).
Thursday; Leftovers (this is where I use up leftovers that are hanging around the fridge because they don't freeze well or there wasn't very much of the item, I usually rework these into something new, but it depends).
Friday; Grill or soup (depending on the SD weather of course!)
Saturday; Homemade pizza, or once a month it's date night.
Sunday; Big meal (like roast chicken, pot roast).

So, when I need to write a menu, here's what I do;
1. Check out the fridge, and note meats and produce that I need to use soon.
2. Pull a couple of frozen meat items to defrost in the fridge.
3. Pull copies of any recipes that I want to try that I already have the ingredients for.
4. Think about any events that I have coming up for the week, for example my hubs is going fishing this weekend, maybe, so I probably would do better to use leftovers or something really easy if he's gone.
5. Write up my menu on the really cute Sandra Boynton calendar that I got for Christmas, which is hanging on the fridge. That way, I never have to tell anyone what's for dinner!

So this week, we skipped meatless Monday due to the holiday, when we ate at my folks house and I just had to bring a pasta salad. We moved meatless to today, and had rice and beans for supper. Tomorrow we'll have lentil soup from the freezer, and Cuban Bread from The Complete Tightwad Gazette, a rocking good book. Thursday, we'll have beef stir fry, since I won't have any leftovers to use up, and Friday, we'll grill steaks and my fab grilled potatoes. Saturday's pizza night is probably my favorite actually, because I love coming up with new toppings, and we have dough balls too, which are my answer to breadsticks (my favorite part of takeout pizza).

I promise to spend some time figuring out how to start posting recipes!