Menu Plan January 4 - 8

A new year, a new week, back on track. Now, to figure out what to eat... We were supposed to have one meal of leftover lasagna from dinner with my family tonight, but of course silly me went and left it at my brother's house! Aargh!

Monday: Cranberry pork chops
Tuesday: leftovers (we have some chicken and noodles, and some chili, left from last week)
Wednesday: Tuna casserole
Thursday: chicken and stuffing
Friday: Corned beef hash

Don't forget to go to orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

Just a random thought - one of my big challenges every day is that, because of our work schedules (hubby works 5:00 - 1:30, I work 2:00 - 6:00), dinner has to be made in the morning before I go to work, and then either cooked in the crock pot. This means that I don't have the opportunity to use a lot of convenience foods (there are some boxes of Helper that have been in my pantry over a year now!). But I was thinking the other day, that it's actually a good thing - we're probably getting a lot less salt and preservatives than we would if I was still cooking with things from boxes. Now, don't get me wrong, I still use my fair share of canned soups and beans and such, but overall we use so much less than we did when I worked full time and was getting home at 5:30 and rushing to get dinner on the table.

One of my resolutions is to stay within my grocery budget (well, my budget overall, but groceries are my biggest downfall), so this year I'll be exploring ways that I can make my own "convenience foods", like stuffing mix, cream of whatever soup, etc. I have had recipes for all that stuff for years, I've just never experimented with it. Can't think of a better time than now!

Breakfast

For the first time in a very long time, the hubby and I both took the week between Christmas and New Year's off. It was wonderful! We spent some good quality time together as a family, started a new home improvement project (putting down a new attic floor and adding an attic ladder so I can actually go up there once in a while), and ate a lot of really great breakfasts.

Normally I'm more of a dinner cook. Now, I love breakfast, don't get me wrong, but I'm so far from a morning person it's not even funny, and just the thought of cooking a full breakfast usually sends me back to bed! But this week, I was inspired.

It started off Christmas morning with buttermilk biscuits and Sawmill Gravy. Biscuits are a regular occurrence at our house, but I'd never made sausage gravy before. It was awesome!

Then, hubby gave me a new waffle iron for Christmas, so of course the next morning we had to have waffles. I was going to try out the recipe that came with the iron, till I saw it had 20 grams of fat per serving, and instead made our regular old recipe. To jazz them up a bit, I topped them with sliced strawberries (from the freezer) and whipped cream.

We also had cheese omelets with bacon and fruit salad one day.

Another day, I made buttermilk pancakes. Best pancake recipe EVER. But they also take forever to cook (low and slow, to get the centers done), so I don't make them very often.

And, then we had waffles with strawberries again. Another day we had French toast.

We only had cereal twice, all week. Usually we have it every weekday! Fantastic!

Resolutions

I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions for a while, but I decided that this would be the year to pick some back up. My life is feeling way too chaotic lately, and I'm not feeling very grounded. So, my first resolution is to read the Bible every day. I signed up with this site to have a reading sent to me each day by email. This means that I can read it on my iPod while my daughter naps. She will only nap in my lap, so I have some quiet time for about 45 minutes each morning.

Second, I need to get back on my budget. I'm starting small with this one - just doing it for the month of January, to make sure our budget is still workable. Then we'll adjust as needed and take it from there. This means REALLY reigning in my grocery shopping habits, but I know I can do it if I plan and prepare!

Third, I'm going to do a menu plan every single week. I may not always stick to it, but just having a plan really helps bring my days into focus.

Fourth, I'm going to try to cut our food waste in half and really start using our compost pile, which will help enrich our garden. We've been doing well for the past year by having "leftover night" every Thursday, the night the garbage goes out. Any leftovers that don't get eaten on Thursdays go in the garbage. But I could do even better by incorporating leftovers into my breakfasts and lunches. Usually I just eat cold cereal for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch, but I'm home so why not just heat up some leftovers? Caitlyn would probably enjoy a little more variety, too...

That's a start. Seems like a lot. But if I take it in chunks, it should all be very achievable!

Menu Plan November 9 - 13

It's funny how quickly you become reliant on something like a menu plan. I started last week without one, and I really missed it! I did manage to pull it together, though we had takeout on Friday because I was totally uninspired. We ended up eating:

Buttermilk chicken
Apricot chicken (which I really liked, which surprised me because it's such a weird mix of ingredients!)
Apple glazed pork chops (which were nasty, nasty, nasty and I won't ever make them again!)

This week, I'm back to planning!

Today, we're having cheddar chicken and pasta bake

Tomorrow: bulgogi (recipe from Hungry Monkey)

Wednesday: Spaghetti

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: buffalo chicken

Should be a good week!

Menu Plan October 25 - 30

Last week we did a decent job of sticking to the menu. Friday's jambalaya didn't happen, because I forgot I had to work early and didn't get home in time to get it in the crockpot. I think we ended up going out for teriyaki instead. I did finally get that orange chicken made, and hubby HATED it. I'd love to give it one more go (it was too sweet and needed more vinegar), but he said that he'll never eat it again, so I guess that's out. I was really looking forward to having a somewhat healthy alternative to Panda Express, but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

We've finally hit the rainy season (I look forward to the return of the rain all summer long), and it's comfort food, comfort food, comfort food for me! So here's the plan this week.

Sunday: I made Swedish meatballs and spaetzle. So good. I think I could eat this every day! I made a double batch, using half ground beef and half ground pork, and it made enough meatballs for three meals for our little family. My 10 month old couldn't stop eating the spaetzle. She loves her carbs!

Monday: Scalloped potatoes and ham. I didn't have the Swiss cheese, so I just doubled the cheddar. And I made it with two cups fat free half and half and one cup of milk, and it was so rich and wonderful!

Tuesday: Beef Stew

Wednesday: Hamburger Casserole

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Stuffed Peppers

Please remember to visit orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

Pad Thai

I made this for dinner tonight. The original recipe came from Hungry Monkey, but I tweaked it a bit so here's my version.

Sauce (makes enough for two batches):

12 T tamarind concentrate (sour soup base)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup canola oil
6 T fish sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

If your tamarind concentrate is free of seeds, just mix all the ingredients together, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

If your tamarind still has some seeds (mine did), put it in a wire mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the water through it. Press it through the sieve with the back of a spoon, scraping the underside frequently, until all of the tamarind has been strained and just the seeds remain. Mix in remaining ingredients, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

The remaining sauce can be frozen.

Pad Thai (serves 4)

2 large chicken breasts, diced
1/4 cup canola oil
8 ounces pad Thai rice noodles
2 large eggs
1/2 recipe pad Thai sauce
1 T. minced garlic
3 scallions, sliced
1 cup bean sprouts, blanched for 1 minute in boiling water
lime wedges
chopped peanuts

Soak the noodles in hot tap water for 30 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute chicken in 2 T. oil until cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside, and add remaining 2T. oil to the pan. Add eggs and scramble. Add noodles, chicken, sauce, garlic, scallions, and bean sprouts and stir well until all the sauce has absorbed.

Serve with lime juice squeezed over and peanuts sprinkled on top.

Menu Plan October 19 - 23

Fall is in full swing and I couldn't be happier about it! Yesterday we cleaned out most of the garden (the pumpkins are still there - does anyone know if pumpkins keep ripening once the vines are dead?) and picked the apples from our tree. Today I'll be trying my hand at crockpot apple butter , and I'll probably try to make some applesauce too. We didn't get a lot of apples, but since they're all 6 - 8 inches in diameter, they go a long way!

Here's the menu for this week:

Monday: Pad Thai (I'll be using a recipe from Hungry Monkey, which is an absolutely fabulous memoir/cookbook!).

Tuesday: Taco salad

Wednesday: Orange Chicken (yes, this has been on the menu for about a month now, and I'm bound and determined to finally make it!).

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: slow-cooker jambalaya

As always, go to orgjunkie.com for more menu possibilities than you ever imagined!

Menu Plan October 12 - 16

Well, last week's menu plan went kaplooey on me. I'm not even sure what we ate - I do know that I picked up Panda Express on Friday because my morning got completely away from me and hubby just wasn't in the mood for chili dogs, my "no time to cook" standby. So, here's hoping this week goes better. It's a busy one, so there's lots of easy stuff on the list!

Monday: Bulgogi with sesame rice and fried cabbage (I just use the bulgogi part of the linked recipe, though the rest sounds good too!

Tuesday: chili (picked up some buffalo meat today just for this. Should be good.)

Wednesday: slow cooker chicken soft tacos

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: spaghetti with meat sauce

You know the drill. Go to orgjunkie.com for tons of fabulous menu ideas!

Menu Plan October 4 - 9

All day long I've been trying to plan my menu, and now that I'm sitting here at the computer, my mind has gone totally blank...

What I really need to do is get out my cookbooks and reenergize myself. I look up recipes online all the time, but there's something about dragging out the cookbooks (I have about 200) and having a good read that makes me all warm and fuzzy and ready to be inventive in the kitchen again.

Oh, and I am totally celebrating the return of casserole season. I love casseroles. Hate putting them together, they usually seem so time consuming, what with all the boiling of noodles/potatoes/rice/whatever, and chopping of the onions and other vegetables and such, but I love, love, love eating them!

So here's what I think this week will look like:

Sunday: taco salad
Monday: Swedish meatballs and spaetzle (I think the little one's going to love spaetzle. She's a carb girl, just like her mommy, and is way into eating noodles and such these days).
Tuesday: slow cooker orange chicken
Wednesday: tuna casserole
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: possibly more leftovers, based on the menu, though if there aren't enough, I'll make chili.

As always, visit orgjunkie.com for more fabulous menus!

Last week's menu

Once again, I missed the menu planning boat, but we had some good meals so I'm going to record them anyway! Now, I just have to remember...

Monday: I was home, and we had errands to run, so we ended up eating out.
Tuesday: Turkey Tetrazzini (using this recipe, but with turkey instead of chicken)
Wednesday: beef stew and corn muffins
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Ham and Potato casserole

Good stuff! Now, to plan this week's menu!