Menu Plan Monday--The "I Really Need To Get Groceries" Edition

I made Pumpkin Curry Soup last week for the first time! Wasn't sure what to expect but it seemed interesting! And since we don't eat many baked goods anymore, I've been wanting some other ways to eat pumpkin. This recipe was very very good. Quite mild tasting actually. I cooked up a pumpkin we had used for decoration throughout the fall and used some of the homemade pumpkin puree for this soup. I didn't add carrots but made the recipe as stated otherwise. Because of no carrots and not-so-orange pumpkin puree, this soup wasn't as vibrant as I expected. Instead, it was kind of a yellow color. But it was yummy and comforting, none the less. A plus--I really liked the smooth texture after running it through the food processor.

**For weight loss and general health, we eat a diet low in grains but higher in protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruit.  For the most part, we avoid wheat, corn, refined sugar, starchy vegetables such as corn and potatoes and most processed foods. It is a work in progress--our diet isn't always perfect and we are far from eating all organic but we have both lost a good bit of weight since changing to eating this way and we feel great! And for the record, we do eat a lot of brown rice and eggs!**

I didn't get to the grocery store this past weekend and it looks like it will be later this week before we get there this week. So I'm doing as much as I can with what we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer. We have enough food, just not as much variety as usual and running low on a few staple items. I think we'll live!

We would like to make some Christmas goodies this weekend using some of our favorite recipes. They won't be completely healthy but it is the holiday season and we'll just make probably 3 different things!

Breakfasts
**hard-boiled eggs, chicken
**scrambled eggs, chicken
**scrambled eggs (3x)
**scrambled eggs, bacon (2x)

Lunches
**Regular potluck lunch with church fellowship-- applesauce and broccoli/cauliflower blend
**Rice noodles with tuna
**Leftovers (4x)
**Whatever's left!

Snacks
**yogurt with apple butter
**yogurt and kiwi
**orange, kiwi, almonds
**hard-boiled eggs
**applesauce (2x)

Suppers
**Snacks for church meeting--took some mixed nuts.
**Chicken gravy on rice, variety of bits of leftover veggies--green beans, limas and turnip greens.
**Roast chicken, roasted butternut squash, mashed cauliflower
**Chicken Rice Soup(new recipe)
**Stir fry(bag of stir fry veggies!),with a chopped chicken breast and rice. 
**Crustless Quiche, tomato soup from a can--Didn't use this meal from last week's plan.
**Meeting: TBD

**This post is part of Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday

We went grocery shopping over the weekend. It's nice to have a better stock of pantry basics after a month of very little grocery shopping.

During the Eat From The Pantry Challenge, I noticed that the food didn't seem to run out quite as fast. I believe it's because of more careful planning. I wanted to assure that nothing went to waste so I tried to use what I had wisely. I want to continue that aspect of the pantry challenge every week as I plan our meals. Not in a hoarding  or starving way, but rather in being a wise steward and stretching our grocery dollars as far as possible. I will continue to plan our meals from what I have on hand, using creativity  and therefore, minimizing some of our food costs. Of course, I will now be returning to regular shopping trips which will help to build my stockpile as I buy needed items at the lowest prices I can find.

This week's menu features lots of leftovers from weekend cooking. Freezer meals are marked with **.

Sunday Super Bowl Sunday!
To do: soak oats for tomorrow's breakfast.
Breakfast: toast/corn muffins, apple
Lunch: My contributions to our Fellowship potluck were Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef Roast, gingered carrots
Supper: Super Bowl Party at home. Sausage dip with tortilla chips(similar to this recipe), wings(which we bought), chocolate-peanut squares

Monday
To do: make yogurt; soak bread dough.
Breakfast-green smoothies, oatmeal
Lunch- quesadillas made with leftover sausage dip, leftover wings, raw broccoli and carrot sticks
Supper-Beef and noodles using leftover beef roast and broth, leftover gingered carrots, leftover corn muffins

Tuesday
To do: bake bread and sandwich buns.
Breakfast: Denny's Free Grand Slam Breakfast
Lunch: leftover pizza, spinach salad
Supper: Beef sandwiches(leftover beef roast, shredded cheese, homemade buns), carrot salad

Wednesday
Breakfast: oatmeal, grapefruit
Lunch: leftover sausage dip and chips, carrot sticks,
Supper: Baked potatoes with chili**, cheese, sour cream; salad

Thursday
To do: bake Valentine's cookies or treats
Breakfast: green smoothies, egg in a nest
Lunch: leftovers
Supper: lentil and rice casserole, homemade bread, salad

Friday
To do: make salsa rolls for tomorrow
Breakfast: cinnamon buckwheat pancakes**, grapefruit
Lunch: sandwiches, veggies, chips, cookies
Supper: Crockpot vegetable beef soup, grilled cheese sandwiches

Saturday
To do: plan and prepare food for tomorrow
Breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries, peanut butter toast
Lunch: Snacks at event. Our contribution will be salsa rolls.
Supper: Breakfast for dinner- scrambled eggs, toast, smoothies

**Thanks to Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday and Eat from The Pantry Progress #4

We've finished the third week of our pantry challenge. I only spent $4.00 this week and that was for a pound of butter and some cheese. This is only a partial week on the challenge since we were out of town for the weekend.We just returned home yesterday!

The last week of January signals the end of the pantry challenge, but I may extend it one more week. While some items are low or gone, we still have plenty to choose from. I feel like we really haven't gotten to "scrounging around to find a meal" yet. Not that I want to get to that point, I'm just saying. :-) The savings has really been nice. I've already used a little for some grass-fed beef.

Here's what we ate this week:

Sunday:
Breakfast-peanut butter toast, apples
Lunch- beef stroganoff and peas were my contributions to our fellwoship's potluck.
Supper-leftover stroganoff, peas and homemade bread

Monday:
Breakfast- eggs and toast for him, leftover millet for me.
Lunch- leftover stroganoff, bread, peas
Supper- ate at church meeting. I took some French bread.

Tuesday:
Breakfast-  muffins for him, toast for me, apple slices for both of us
Lunch- leftover bean soup, pizza bread( slices of French bread topped with tomato sauce, sprinkled with Italian spices and Parmesan cheese and broiled for a few minutes), grape tomatoes and green pepper slices
Supper-Rotisserie-style chicken, baked sweet potatoes, mixed veggies

Wednesday:
Breakfast- cold cereal, milk, banana
Lunch- BK chicken sandwiches with coupon
Supper- chicken pot pie, salad

Notes: I ended up with enough extra pot pie mixture for a small one for us when I was cooking for a friend. So we had that tonight instead of the chicken and gravy that I had planned. It worked out well since I'd used the last of the milk on my cereal at breakfast and didn't want to buy more milk (to make the gravy) before we left for the weekend.

Thursday:
Breakfast- green smoothies, toast for me, pumpkin bread and cream cheese for him
Lunch- pasta salad with leftover cooked pasta, grape tomatoes, chicken, green peppers, mozzarella cheese, and oil, vinegar and basil, fresh homemade bread
Supper- leftovers(mixed veggies, chicken, sweet potatoes)

Friday:
Breakfast- green smoothies, toast
Lunch- pb sandwiches, carrots and green peppers, oranges and cookies while traveling

The rest of the weekend until we got home yesterday was spent either eating out(while visiting friends) or eating my mother-in-laws delicious meals while visiting Andy's parents. She makes very delicious spaghetti with spicy sausage that I love and this time she also made a wonderful vegetable pizza. I brought that recipe home with me and can't wait to make it here! I always feel so spoiled when we visit my in-laws since my MIL cooks such wonderful meals for us!

For more pantry challenge updates, visit Money Saving Mom!


We were out of town until Tuesday evening but this is what we're eating from then on.
** denotes freezer meals.

Tuesday- spaghetti pie**,green beans
Wednesday- fish packets**,  brown rice
Thursday-Chicken, veggie and rice soup, homemade bread
Friday-lasagna**, french bread**, roasted garlic, salad
Saturday- chicken gravy on toast, veggies, fruit smoothies

**Visit Organizing Junkie to read more menu plans!

Eat From The Pantry Report #3 And Menu Plan

We've been eating from the pantry for 2 weeks now. We still have plenty to eat in the house. I went out for a small amount of fresh produce, sour cream, a box of spaghetti and a few cans of diced tomatoes. (I'm making a couple of freezer meals for a friend who's going through a very stressful time right now. I needed the pasta and tomatoes for one of the meals.)

Grocery costs for the week: $14.43.
Grocery spending for month so far: $29.31.
My goal is to spend only $50 on groceries this month, so I have $20.69 left. We'll see if we can make it!

What I bought: green peppers, bananas, tangerines, spinach, grape tomatoes, spaghetti, 4 cans diced tomatoes, and sour cream. I got a free bag of frozen blueberries at Earth Fare.

I didn't keep any detailed notes from last week. I fought a headache all week and really didn't have the energy to think of one more thing! It turned out that my very simple menu plan was just perfect for the week. We stuck to it almost to the letter with very few changes.

Breakfasts have been very simple. I'm still not eating eggs due to a rash I've been wanting to clear up. Not sure if eggs were the culprit or not, but the rash is pretty much gone! I've eaten a few things that I'm pretty sure included egg ingredients(it's difficult to know exactly especially with processed foods)  while we've been with other people but have stayed away from all eggs or any recipe with eggs in it at home. Breakfasts have been the most difficult because not only can I not have a simple meal of eggs and toast but all muffins, pancakes and baked goods include eggs. In the future, I will try making some things with an egg substitute if I continue to avoid eggs, but for now I've been trying to clear out the breakfast items I already had in the freezer. Anyways, all that to say, I've been eating a lot of oatmeal, millet, or toast for breakfast along with some fruit. I've been giving Andy his choice of pancakes and muffins for a little variety for him and some days he eats the same breakfast as me.

Lunches have been mostly leftovers. Last week we had peanut butter sandwiches and salmon salad sandwiches when there were no leftovers. I made the salmon salad based on a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens. It had an oil dressing rather than mayo (eggs) so I thought I would try it. I changed a few things that I didn't have and it was very good! I know I'll be making this again. I cooked a large pot of bean soup on Thursday. Normally, I wouldn't serve a bean recipe  for too many days in a row, so I had planned to freeze some. But since I wasn't feeling well, it just worked so well to heat it for lunches instead of trying to scrounge up something else! We'll eat the last of the soup for lunch today, getting 4 meals out of it. I also gave a container of the soup to some friends. Just sharing the love! LOL!!!!

For more pantry challenge updates, visit Life as Mom.


This week's menu plan will be short since we'll be visiting friends and family over the weekend. But here's what our suppers will be...

Sunday- leftover beef stroganoff  from lunch, peas, bread and butter

Monday- church meeting. I'm baking some bread to take.

Tuesday- Rotisserie-style chicken, baked sweet potatoes, mixed veggies

Wednesday- chicken and gravy over toast, salad

Thursday- chicken, veggie and rice soup, bread

Friday- Picnic lunch while traveling; eat out for supper or I'll bring some food along.

 For more menu planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday- The Challenge Continues!

The first full week of the Eat From The Pantry Challenge went well. We haven't gone hungry yet, so that is a good thing!

Now on to week two...

I'll probably have to do a little grocery shopping this week. I did shop a little last week but spent more on non-food items than food and got some very good deals at CVS and Walgreens. I'm thinking that  I'll actually need some fresh items this week.

Last week, I only planned supper menus and left breakfast and lunch to what I had on hand and planned that a day or two at a time. That worked really well so I'll do that again this week. Why fix something if it's not broken?

So here's the plan... I have had a really bad headache all day and haven't been able to think clearly. Because of this, my menu plan is pretty basic. I may change some things as I go along, but for now, easy and basic sounds pretty good to me!

**indicates freezer meals

Sunday- hamburgers, pickles, steamed mixed veggies

Monday- church meeting

Tuesday-chicken pot pie**, peas

Wednesday-spaghetti sauce** over noodles, mixed veggies

Thursday- French Market Day Bean Soup cooked in crockpot with ham bone, biscuits**

Friday- homemade pizza(crust is pre-made**), salad or veggies and dip

Saturday- leftovers or grilled cheese sandwiches

For more menu planning inspiration, head on over to I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday-Starting The Pantry Challenge

Happy New Year!

It's another week, another menu and the first week of the Eat From The Pantry Challenge! I'm excited and ready to begin. I've taken inventory of all the food that's in the house and made a simple plan for my grocery goals this month.

My menu plan this week only includes suppers. I'll be planning breakfasts and lunches a day or two at a time to make the best use of my resources, leftovers, etc. At the end of the week, I'll post a recap of the week with what we ate 3 meals a day  along with my notes, recipes,changes to my weekly menu and any crazy concoctions I've come up with to serve my husband and I. It should be interesting! Especially after the first 2 or 3 weeks. :-)

I'm using a couple meals from last week's menu that we just didn't get to. We picked up some wings on New Year's Eve and then on Saturday, I realized that we had plenty of leftovers to feed us for both lunch and supper.

Items marked with ** indicates freezer meal.

Sunday- Chicken Chimichangas** with salsa and sour cream, leftover rice with salsa and cheese

Monday-Church Meeting. As far as I know I'm not contributing to the meal this week.

Tuesday-Baked Fish Chowder (new recipe), homemade bread, carrot sticks

Wednesday- Breaded Pork Chops(using leftover stuffed mushroom filling for breading), baked sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli

Thursday- Kidney beans** and rice, steamed carrots

Friday- Ham bundles, tomato soup

Saturday- Homemade pizza with premade crust**

For more menu planning inspiration, head on over to Organizing Junkie, the home of Menu Plan Mondays!

Menu Plan Monday

 
Christmas is past and it's time to get back into the swing of things around here. November and December were very very hectic months for me and I feel as though life is finally settling down a bit.

We had a houseful of family here for the week of Christmas.Our tiny cottage was jam-packed. But we had a wonderful time together. My parents and brother were here from Oregon and my sister and family visited from Upstate South Carolina. It is rare that we are all together so it was fun and we had our family picture taken(or made as they say down here in the South) while everyone was here.

We had wonderful food to eat. My sister and I prepared a yummy appetizer dinner for Christmas Eve and then we had a delicious ham dinner on Christmas Day. I baked 2 small hams and we ate one and then nibbled on the other for leftovers. We'll still be eating off the 2nd ham this week. Yum!!!

Money Saving Mom and Life As Mom are hosting an Eating From The Pantry Challenge in January and I plan to join in. I may only do it for 2 weeks or maybe the whole month. I'll have to see how it goes. I have plenty of food stocked up in my refrigerator, pantry and freezer so it only makes sense to take a little break from shopping and use up a lot of that yummy food! I'll probably still buy some things like dairy, eggs and fresh produce as needed. The challenge begins January 1st.

Another fun twist is that I'm cutting eggs out of my diet for at least a month to see if I can clear up a pesky rash that keeps hanging around. I have no idea what is causing it. I've already changed to an all-natural soap and a different laundry detergent with really no improvement to speak of so far. Certain jeans have been a likely suspect(maybe the dye?)  so I've stopped wearing those. It could be caused by just about anything. In the past 3-4 years, I've had multiple "mystery outbreaks" of hives or rashes and have not been able to pinpoint the cause. Some come and go quickly and others, like this one, stick around for awhile. I had various allergic reactions to different foods, soaps, detergents, etc. as a child and teenager and it appears that it's returning again. I've noticed that this rash is noticeably worse on some days than others so it's likely that it is food-related.  After eggs, milk and wheat will be the next major food groups that I will eliminate, if needed. And after that, if needed, perhaps some allergy testing!

Anyways, that's probably more than you wanted to know about my rash!!! I wrote all that to say that I will not be eating eggs for a little while.

Here's our menu for the week. The menu items in italics are what I'll be eating if the other contains eggs and anything with ** indicates a prepared item from my freezer.

Sunday
B- Leftover biscuits, oatmeal, clementines
L- Fellowship potluck- veggie plate and leftover pumpkin pie
S- Ham and vegetables

Ham and Vegetables: In crockpot: ham bone with a little meat still on, 3 potatoes, 3 carrots and 2 stalks of celery, half of an onion, all diced. Cover with water and cook on low most of the day. During last hour of cooking, I added 2 cups frozen mixed veggies. Remove ham bone; chop meat and return ham to the pot. Salt and pepper to taste and serve! This is a nice variation to ham and beans and can be made really any way you want it with what you have on hand. Can also be made in a pan on the stove.

Monday:
B-Peanut butter toast, fruit smoothie(banana, pineapple, frozen blueberries and cranberries)
L- Ham and vegetables, homemade bread
S- Church meeting- plate of cookies

Tuesday:
B-Orange Juice Millet, sliced apples
L-Ham sandwiches, veggies and dip
S-Homemade pizza(crust is premade**),steamed broccoli

Wednesday:
B- Muffins**, toast, smoothies
L- Leftovers
S-Stir-fry with chicken**, mixed veggies** and rice**

Thursday:
B-Oatmeal, fruit
L-Hummus**, tortilla chips, veggies, sliced apples
S- Baked Fish Chowder(new recipe), homemade bread, fresh veggies

Friday:
B- Pancakes**, leftover oatmeal, fruit
L-Traditional New Year's lasagna, (made without eggs for yours truly) salad, garlic bread
S- Football Snacks while watching the Rose Bowl: Oregon Ducks vs. Ohio State Buckeyes.

Go Ducks!!!

Saturday:

B-Cold cereal, fruit

L-Leftovers

S-Tomato soup, ham bundles( Sooo good!!! I'll be using this egg-free dough instead and making them as crescents.)

What are you eating this week? 

**For more menu plan inspiration, head on over to Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday- Freezer Meals To The Rescue!

 
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends. We just finished eating all of our leftovers today!

The turkey carcass is simmering on the stove as we speak, turning into yummy homemade broth. I got to bring it home since I was the only guest who expressed an interest in it.

Imagine that.

We have a very hectic week ahead. On Saturday, I'm running my first 5k and hosting a Gingham Cottage open house at my home. The open house will give some of my local friends a chance to see my products.  I've been sewing and creating up a storm and setting up at  area shows almost every weekend this fall. My little business venture has been successful so far, with many private orders and sales. Be looking next week for lots of new items in my Etsy shop! I have lots of fun and different things to post for sale there.

We also need to get our tree and decorate the house for Christmas. We're doing a small tree again this year and we really don't go all out with the decorations; we both prefer the simple touches over the elaborate. 

Thankfully, I still have a freezer stocked with ready to heat meals which will come in so handy this week! I really really love having all those foods prepared and at the ready. So worth the effort! I've been using several of the freezer meals every week; they have been great!

Compliments of my freezer, here's what we're eating this week:

Monday-leftovers
Tuesday- Fish and veggie packets, brown rice
Wednesday- Chicken Pot Pie, veggie
Thursday- Cheesy Beef and Rice, veggie
Friday- Chicken Fajitas, beans, possibly rice
Saturday- Something easy or eat out

If you're in need of menu planning inspiration, be sure to check out Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday for lots of meal ideas!

Menu Plan Monday

I survived my big cooking day last week! Having so many yummy meals in the freezer should make meal planning a snap!
A freezer full of food is like having money in the bank. But just like our savings account, I don't want to use all the food right away if we can help it!

I'm spreading it out and planning to use frozen meals about 3-4 times a week. Some weeks, I may use more or less depending on our schedule. This is a rather hectic time for us(as for many folks) which is why I chose to do the big freezer day and the meals are really going to help me out!

I'm planning to do a baking day tomorrow which will stock our freezer with bread, pizza crusts and a few other baked goods. I hadn't done much bread baking in the past few months because I was waiting for my grain order to arrive, but now that I have plenty of grain on hand, I'm ready to do some baking again! This won't be a huge baking production; just some baked goods to keep us going for a few weeks.

Here's what we're eating for supper this week. All frozen meals are marked with **.

Monday- Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole**, green beans

Tuesday- Pinto Beans**, cornbread

Wednesday-Fish and Veggie Packets**, homemade bread

Thursday- Baked Potatoes (with cooked ground beef, cheese, sour cream), steamed carrots

Friday- Chicken Fajitas**, Spanish Rice

Do you have trouble coming up with menus each week?  Would you like to start  with meal planning? Head on over to Menu Plan Monday to read menus from hundreds of kitchens and get inspired!

Menu Plan Monday and Freezer Cooking Plan

Welcome to another week!

I have big plans for doing a freezer cooking day on Wednesday. While I've done some extra batch cooking and helped my sister with her cooking days, I've never attempted a "once a month" cooking day before. It takes a lot of planning and seems like a good amount of concentrated work but should be a nice trade-off for about a months worth of meals. I wasn't able to join in with Crystal's big cooking days last week, so I'm doing my own this week!

Before I delve into my freezer plans, here's a simple supper menu plan for this week. Because of other plans, I only needed to plan for 3 suppers.It's a busy week with being gone most of the day Tuesday, cooking all day Wednesday and then babysitting Thursday and Friday.

This Week's Supper Menu
Tuesday-Breakfast-in-a-hurry, bagels, tangerines or grapefruit

Wednesday-Pasta with spaghetti sauce(from cooking day), salad

Thursday-Salmon patties, rice, green beans

The freezer was overdue for a defrosting and cleaning, so that is in progress as we speak. What a pleasant dripping sound! I began pulling odds and ends out of the freezer last week to use things up. For breakfasts, we've been eating pancakes that I'd forgotten about and I took a bag of bagels out this morning to use.

Freezer Cooking Day- The Menu

I'm not sure exactly how many meals I'll have of each item, so I'm just listing the amount of batches/recipes that I'm planning. many of my recipes will make more than one meal for the two of us.

1. Chicken Chimichangas- (1)
2. Chicken fajita kits-(2)
3. Chili (x2)
4. Fish & veggie packets (x2 or 3)
5. Spaghetti sauce (x3)
6. Cheesy Beef and Rice Casserole (x2)
7. Meatballs (1)
8.  Quiche (x2)
9. Spaghetti pie (x2)
10. Chicken pot pie (1)
11. Hummus
12. Israeli spice seasoning blend(1)
13.Brown rice for recipes and extra to freeze
14. Kidney, pinto and garbanzo beans for recipes and extra to freeze
15. Mashed potatoes(1 -10 lb. bag potatoes)


Time will tell whether my plans are overly ambitious or not! And whether I ever want to even think about cooking again!

Freezer Cooking Day- Prep Work

Between today and tomorrow, I'm working on this list of things to do before the cooking day. Hopefully having at least some of these items crossed off by Wednesday will help my cooking day to run more smoothly and help with the lack of space in my kitchen.

1. Make menu. 
2. Take inventory of items on hand.
3. Grocery shop for needed items.
4.Take stock of foil, pans, bags and containers.
5. Defrost and clean out freezer. In progress!
6. Make plan for Wednesday(order of prep and assembly).
7.Make chicken broth. In progress!
8. Defrost meat. In progress!
9. Cook and chop chicken. In progress!
10. Brown ground beef.
11. Shred cheese.
12. Soak and cook rice. Soaking in progress!
13. Soak and cook beans. Kidney beans and pintos are soaking!(I'll soak the garbanzo beans tomorrow and cook them Wednesday morning.)
14. Cook bacon.
15. Chop veggies and onions.
16. Make pie crusts for quiche and pot pie.

Update: It's 4 pm on Monday. I'm about ready to call it quits in the kitchen for the day. I feel like I've made a lot of headway on the prep work and now I'm tired!!! I plan to put the rice and beans on to cook first thing in the morning before we leave for the day. Hopefully, I'll get to the cheese, veggies and pie crust in the evening if I'm not too worn out. Otherwise, I'll do that first thing Wednesday morning. Right now, I'm off to make a dessert for tonight!!! Be back tomorrow!

So that's my plan for the week. What's yours?

For more menu planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie, the home of Menu Plan Mondays!

Menu Plan Monday and New Meal Rotation

I've finally taken the time to make my new fall and winter meal rotation. And guess what? I'll share it with you today!

Having a meal rotation really helps to simplify meal planning for me. Even though we eat very similar dishes from week to week and we most certainly have our favorites, I am a bit too creative of a cook to just make the same things over and over such as spaghetti on Monday, hamburgers on Tuesday, etc.

What I do instead is to give each day of the week a theme. This is for suppers. I have a meal rotation for breakfast too, but just make the same thing over and over. It's just easier that way! For lunches, we eat either leftovers or something quick and easy such as grilled cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, quesadillas, etc.

Just because every day has a specific theme, doesn't mean that I don't change it up every so often. Sometimes, things just need to be used up or I need a faster meal on a certain day. Having the rotation makes for a better balance of meals, since I like to plan at least one meatless meal a week and then one meal where meat is the star instead a casserole. This really helps me to cook frugally as well.

Fall/Winter Meal Rotation

Breakfast:

Monday-hot cereal

Tuesday-eggs

Wednesday-hot cereal

Thursday-eggs

Friday-hot cereal

Saturday and Sunday- A variety of pancakes, muffins, baked goods, cold cereal, yogurt or cottage cheese, etc.


Supper:

Sunday- Leftovers or salad or quick and easy

Monday-We are usually at a church meeting. If at home, Cook's Choice!

Tuesday-Skillet dish/casserole/stir fry

Wednesday-Soup

Thursday-Ethnic Night. This will include such themes as Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean, maybe even Southern comfort foods or good home cooking from my Mennonite and Amish heritage.

Friday-Snack or fun foods. Think appetizers. I'd love to turn this into movie or game night as well. We'll see!

Saturday-Breakfast for supper.

So now that we have all of that down. let's move on to this week!

We were very busy this weekend as well as part of last week. I think we ate out 8 times in one week. That has to be a record for us! Some were just small things such as a McDonald's biscuit on the way to the game on Sunday, but we ate out nonetheless.

After a junk food filled weekend, we're ready for home cooked and healthy meals!

Sunday- restaurant

Monday-church meeting

Tuesday- Monterey Beans, brown rice, salad

Wednesday-Beefy-vegetable soup, toast

Thursday- Italian Night- Homemade pizza, salad

Friday-Loaded Tostados

Saturday- Pancakes, scrambled eggs


For more menu plan fun, visit the home of  Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday

Another week. Another menu!

Last week's meal plan went well. I'm carrying over Breakfast-In-A-Hurry from Saturday night since we got FREE leftover pizza from Donato's at the show we were at that day. Can't beat FREE and their pizza is yummy!

A quick review of the new recipes I tried last week. There were several!

• Orange Juice Millet: This was (I think) my first try with millet as  a hot cereal. The orange juice added a nice flavor. Without sweetener added, it was edible but not great. A little raw honey on top made a huge difference! Delicious! My husband really liked this, so I'll be making it again.  
• Creamy Mac and Cheese: Very easy and wonderfully good! 
• Sloppy Joes: This is NOT the first time I've made sloppy joes, but the first time I tried this recipe. Andy loves a classic sloppy joe sandwich. Instead of using 2 pounds of meat,  I used one (1.26 pound) package of ground beef and added a bag of cooked kidney beans to stretch the meat.  Yummy! We each had 2+ sandwiches and there's still enough for lunch for both of us today.
• Wheat Rolls for Hamburger Buns: I decided to try my favorite recipe with a soaking step added in. Didn't turn out so great but still tasted good, just not what I had in mind! You can read more about "my buns" in this post. :-)
• Bean Tostados: I had some corn tortillas to use up, so I used this idea for making tostados. Frying the tortillas gave them the consistency of a tortilla chip. After adding all the toppings, it was like eating a giant nacho! My nacho-loving husband was thrilled!!!! What a  great idea and corn tortillas are so cheap. I think this was our favorite recipe of the week. Definitely a winner!
  

Now to this week's menu!
** Our anniversary is this Friday and I wanted to cook a special dinner. I'm lacking in the creativity department at the moment. Any ideas? Please share in the comments!

Sunday:
B-banana-squash muffins, yogurt with blueberries
L-Potluck: I took a chicken-rice salad(a variation of beef-pilaf salad) and some cookies.
S-leftover rice salad

Monday:
B-oatmeal with peanut butter and bananas
L-leftover sloppy joes
S-eat at church meeting

Tuesday:
B-scrambled egg burritos
L-leftover rice salad
S-Monterrey beans and chicken over rice

Wednesday:
B-leftover oatmeal from Monday
L-leftovers
S-Garlic-butter spaghetti(my husband's specialty), steamed veggie

Thursday:
B-orange juice millet
L-leftovers
S-Pork chops, homemade stove-top stuffing, steamed veggie

Friday: Our anniversary!
B- eggs in a nest, bacon
L-leftovers
S-Special dinner: Not sure what yet, possibly something with shrimp? Feel free to share your suggestions!

Saturday: Yard Sale Day
B-cold cereal
L-leftovers
S-Breakfast-in-a-hurry, fruit smoothies

**Visit Organizing Junkie to view lots more menu plans!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday!

I've been following this meal rotation all summer but now with fall and winter just around the corner, I'm ready for a different plan.

I haven't quite come up with a specific plan yet but am going to try a simple breakfast rotation starting this week. Inspired by The Nourishing Gourmet's oatmeal challenge, I'm going to add more hot cereals to our breakfasts. I'm thinking 3 mornings a week interspersed with 2 mornings of eggs and toast. I don't think I'm up to oatmeal every day! When I say 'hot cereal', I'm talking oatmeal, baked oatmeal, grits, cornmeal mush, and experimenting with some other grains, too, such as millet. All of these grains are healthy and easy on the budget, too! The other two mornings will probably be a variety of cold cereal, yogurt or cottage cheese, something baked like muffins,pancakes or waffles, etc.

I am a morning person and a breakfast eater, but our mornings are pretty busy so I don't like to take too much time fixing breakfast on weekdays!

Here's the plan for this week:

Sunday:
B-cottage cheese, bananas
L-I took Savory Apple Roast with sausage and a dish of rice to our church fellowship.
S-homemade pizza pockets**, chocolate peanut butter banana smoothies

Monday:
B-oatmeal with berries
L-leftovers
S-eat at church meeting. Not sure what I'm taking yet.

Tuesday:
B-eggs and toast
L-leftovers
S-bean tostados with tomatoes, cheese, sour cream and salsa, based loosely on this idea, rice

Wednesday:
B-oatmeal, fruit
L-leftovers
S-creamy mac and cheese(new recipe), steamed veggies

Thursday:
B-eggs, toast
L-leftovers
S-fish and veggie packets, honey roasted butternut squash. One of my favorite ways to eat squash!

Friday:
B-oatmeal or other hot cereal, fruit
L-leftovers
S-sloppy joes on homemade rolls, pickles, some kind of veggie

Saturday:
B-pancakes**, fruit
L-Gone all day. Pack a lunch!
S-breakfast-in-a-hurry(minus bacon and using only about half the cheese), fruit smoothies

**indicates freezer meals

Thanks to Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Mondays!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Labor Day to all my American friends! I hope you are enjoying the last official summer holiday and that you were able to get your free Chick-fil-a sandwich today by wearing some kind of sports team apparel. We went at lunch and got our free sandwich. Yum! Thank you, Chick-fil-a! Many, many other folks were also taking advantage of this offer and you can too until closing time today. (Wearing a team shirt or other item is so easy, anybody can do it. Much easier than dressing up as cows for free food!) Oh and in case you were wondering, he wore a Redskins jersey and I wore a Chicago Cubs shirt. Our two favorite teams! Go Skins, Go Cubbies!

Here's the rest of the week's menu:

I was excited to find a butternut squash for $1.50 and an eggplant for $1 at a roadside stand yesterday. I love squash; it's one of my favorite fall foods!

Sunday-Salad, pretzels and hummus

Monday-Eat at church meeting. I'm taking some ice cream.

Tuesday- Fried and breaded eggplant with spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese, corn on the cob, salad

Wednesday- Rice with sausage and apples, honey butternut squash, salad

Thursday- Beef stroganoff in crock pot, noodles, orange-ginger carrots

Friday- Pan-fried round steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy, some kind of veggie or salad

Saturday-omelets, toast, fruit smoothies

**For more menu planning inspiration, head on over to Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday

After a few very hectic weeks and really, a very full summer, I'm ready to get back into some sort of a normal routine this week. Whatever that is!

Anyways, here's what we'll be eating for supper this week:

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: eat at church meeting

Tuesday: Israeli Spice Chicken, baked brown rice, green beans

Wednesday: tuna melts, carrot and celery sticks, fruit smoothie

Thursday: Taco Soup in crockpot, corn muffins

Friday: Homemade Pizza

Saturday: Pancakes, sausage

For more menu plans, visit Organizing Junkie!

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's for supper this week:

Sunday: Leftover egg salad sandwiches, pretzels, super easy pretzel dip(recipe below)

Monday:Eat at meeting. My contribution: French bread.

Tuesday: White bean salad, crostini, grapes

Wednesday: Salmon patties, green beans, rice

Thursday: Chicken and stuffing bake in crockpot; my own concoction!

Friday: Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday: With family celebrating my nephew's 4th birthday!

Super Easy Pretzel Dip

Ingredients:

--Ranch dressing
--Yellow Mustard

Mix ranch and mustard together until desired taste is achieved. For a snack for just the two of us, I usually use about 1/2 or 1 cup of dressing then add mustard until the taste is right. My husband doesn't care for ranch but loves this dip! For us, the key is to add a little more mustard.

Serve with pretzels.

**This post is part of Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday

Well obviously, it's Tuesday night already and not Monday. But I still like to plan a simple menu plan whether I get it up here by Monday or not!

I love my menu plan each week! It's a simple way to make meal times/cooking run more smoothly and eliminates a lot of the last minute, "let's go out to eat" trips.

If you don't make a menu plan currently, you should try it! My weekly menu plan is just that, a plan. It isn't set in stone and sometimes meals get switched around and occasionally we'll go out to eat instead of eating the meal I've planned. Most weeks I do follow my plan pretty closely because it just makes life so much simpler. I make better use of the food I have in my pantry and this saves me a good deal of money and time in the long run.

So without further adieu, here's our supper menu for the week!

Sunday: We drove 2 hours to meet Andy's sister and family for dinner at Chili's. It turned out to be pretty frugal as unfortunately, the service left a little to be desired and we got our food for free! So I guess it was a good thing although my first choice would've been to have had better service! We did have a great time seeing family and were glad we could arrange a visit, albeit a very short one, while they were traveling through our general area.

Monday: Eat at church meeting. I took chocolate-peanut squares. One of our favorite not-so-healthy treats!

Tuesday: Beef and veggie stir fry with rice.

Wednesday: Bacon-Tomato Quiche, sliced cucumbers, cherries. (I'm planning to share my quiche recipe soon!)

Thursday: Crock pot chicken made into bbq sandwiches, tomato-cucumber salad. Can you tell what we have an abundance of in our garden right now?

Friday: Picnic. Menu TBD. Something with chicken?

Saturday:Egg Casserole,bacon or sausage, fruit smoothies.

What's cooking at your house this week?

For more menu planning inspiration, visit The Happy Housewife who is hosting Menu Plan Monday for the Organizing Junkie this week!

Menu Plan Monday

We've got a lot going on this week so I'm trying to keep things as easy as I can. I'm also due for a stock-up of pantry staples at the beginning of the month so this menu is based on what I have on hand to use up!

My crock pot will come to the rescue this weekend as we will be busy. Letting the crock pot cook my meals is one of the best ways to avoid going out to eat when I'm tired and extra busy!

Here's what's cooking this week:

Sunday- My husband took me out for a pre-birthday steak dinner. Yum!

Monday-Eat at church meeting.

Tuesday-My birthday! I have several FREE birthday coupons to use so I think we'll plan a fun meal out with those!

Wednesday-Chicken gravy on toast, veggie

Thursday-Crock pot Shepherd's Pie(new recipe), bread

Friday- Eating on the go since we'll be set up at a show most of the day. I'm planning to pack the cooler with sandwiches, a main dish salad of some kind and some snacks to make sure we don't go hungry!This will be for both lunch and supper.

Saturday- Crock pot Sweet and Tangy Twisted Beef served over brown rice.

What's cooking at your house?

For more menu planning inspiration, please visit Organizing Junkie!

**While you're here, check out my giveaway. You could win a handmade purse!

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's on the supper menu this week:

I use a simple meal rotation each week for easy planing!

Sunday-leftovers

Monday-church meeting; I'm taking a blueberry cobbler.

Tuesday-BBQ ribs in crockpot, corn on the cob, cucumber salad, sliced peaches

Wednesday-salmon patties, green beans, homemade bread

Thursday-chicken pot pie**, steamed veggies

Friday-homemade pizza

Saturday-picnic lunch; leftovers and smoothies for supper

**indicates freezer meals

Kitchen To-Do List:
1)bake bread
2)freeze peaches
3)freeze blueberries
4)cook chicken in crock pot
5)bake muffins

For more menu planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm actually getting a menu plan post up this week! Yeah for me!

June was a very hectic month for us and so far July has been the same. We've had family in and out a couple of times, we've been here and there and then several other events and busy, busy weekends.

My brother is flying back home tomorrow morning, the last of the visiting family for now. Hopefully with this whirlwind behind us, I can get back to more regular blogging. Maybe. I have a list of posts to write; blogging just has not been a top priority during this busy season.

Our gardens are in full swing. I've canned some pickles and froze some green beans. We picked blueberries last Friday and I have a cookie sheet of them freezing now. We've been eating fresh zucchini, a few yellow squash and green peppers, lots of green beans and piles of cucumbers! Tomatoes are just starting to ripen and I have a small basket of them on my kitchen counter. There are very few things so delicious as a homegrown tomato!

Here's what's on the supper menu for the week:

Most meals accompanied by some fresh veggies from the garden.

Monday-Church meeting. I'm taking a cucumber and tomato salad and some homemade cookies. (My young cookie helper this morning pronounced the cookies "not yucky or gross." I am so glad!)

Tuesday-Crockpot roast beef

Wednesday-Beef and rice salad

Thursday- Beef and gravy over toast

Friday-Homemade pizza night

Saturday-scrambled eggs, toast, smoothies

My meal rotation is here. You will notice that I am not following it very closely this week. I'm using the crock pot on Tuesday so I'll have the meat cooked for the other meals!

For more meal planning inspiration, click on over to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!