Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast:

• cereal & milk
• pumpkin choc chip muffins
• bagels & cream cheese

Lunch/snacks:

• leftovers
• apples, oranges, bananas
• yogurt
• cheese & crackers
  

Dinner:

• chili pie
• sweet 'n' tangy chicken with brown rice & broccoli
• bacon cheeseburger pasta with green beans & fruit
• pork chops with buttered noodles, mixed vegetables & fruit
• breakfast! -- pancakes or waffles with turkey sausage & eggs
• taco soup -- because we didn't have it last week!!!
  

Menu Plan... Tuesday?

I started my new job yesterday! I gotta say that I already love it. I also gotta own up that I'm not used to working! LOL I'm too pooped to party let alone remember to post my menu plan. Anyway, here it is -- and I'm including other meals, too!

Breakfast:

• Blueberry Cinnamon Waffles
• Cereal
• Bagels with cream cheese

Lunch:

• Leftovers (Were you expecting something different?!)
  
• Bologna & cheese/ PBJ /cheese & crackers with yogurt, fruit, and/or fruit snacks

Dinner:

• Pork Roast with potatoes & carrots
• Pork bbq sandwiches (made from roast leftovers) with potatoes & carrots (also leftovers) and apple slices
• Potato soup with bacon & cheese
• Hamburgers with seasoned potato wedges and green beans
  
• Taco soup

We are having potatoes a lot this week. I bought a 10lb. bag a couple of weeks ago and they are stored well but still wanting to sprout. Since we already had the pork roast, I need to go through them and separate the firmer ones for wedges from the softer ones for soup. By having both pork bbq sandwiches and hamburgers this week, it ensures we'll use the whole bag of buns.

Menu Plan Monday

New Year means new start. I took some time off during the holidays -- it was needed, believe me. I have a few pictures of some of the food I made during the holiday and I'll be sharing those later. For now, it's Monday and here's my menu plan!

• Monday -- Turkey & Dumplings; never made it before but I've got plenty of turkey broth and chopped turkey leftover from Christmas that I've been saving. I've got a recipe request out there for Chicken & Dumplings, so hopefully I'll be making this tonight.
• Tuesday -- waffles & oranges; I got a waffle maker for Christmas (!!!) so I'm excited to try it out. I plan on making a double batch and will be trying out a few flavor combinations during the year. I have a job that I start NEXT WEEK and since I have to get up at 5:30 a.m. there is no way I will be rolling out of bed and heading to the kitchen. Waffles are going to become a staple car breakfast, so flavors will be necessary since maple syrup will be out.
• Wednesday -- Taco Soup with fresh corn muffins
• Thursday -- Spaghetti with homemade sauce from the freezer and a bowl of apple slices
• Friday -- leftovers night
• Saturday -- Pork Roast with potatoes, veg (undecided on which one yet), and fresh bread
• Sunday -- Pork Roast leftovers

The next Monday (Jan 11) I start my job. Things are going to be kinda hectic around my house for a while, but give them time and they will slow down. I will be making it my goal this year to post at least 4 times a week. <3

Menu Plan Monday

I'm truly starting to feel like my old energetic self. I know there is more recovery time, but I feel soooo much better. Thanks for the well wishes!

I'm doing a pantry challenge this week. I did go shopping, but I bought a LOT of household items -- cat food (wet & dry), papertowels, face cleanser & moisturizer, toilet paper, etc. Not to mention $35 in antibiotics & prednisone. It really cut into my budget, but we have so much in the freezer right now that it's impossible to get anything else in there, meaning that it's time to eat the food and not let it sit there any longer!

• Sausage & Peppers Pasta (2 meals)
  
• Pork chops with sweet potatoes & a vegetable (green beans or broccoli)
• Mexican-style chicken hodge-podge -- I'll have to post more on this one, but it's got bell peppers, onions, black beans, brown rice, chicken, salsa, chili & cumin spices, etc. I just mix it all up and serve it in a bowl with extra salsa and sour cream on the side. (2 meals)
  
• Hamburgers with seasoned potato wedges and mixed veggies -- My husband will prep these because I think he makes the best tasting hamburgers EVER!
• Pizza for family movie night on Saturday
  

Menu Plan Monday

We have all been sick around here. My daughter woke up with pink-eye last Sunday. I thought, "No problem. I've already got the meds on hand since she just had a couple months ago." Treated and done! Monday night she spiked a fever and Tuesday we found out her minor cold had gone the way of an ear infection. Meanwhile my husband and I are dealing with a cold. For a whole week we both had a terrible headache. One day we wake up and it's just gone. Yay! Life resumed a normal course. Then everything fell apart. Sometime after the pink-eye and before the ear infection, my husband and I took a turn for the worse. I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday and a good part of Friday on the couch. I'm still sleeping about 10 hours a day, but I managed to cook a simple dinner Saturday night and again on Sunday. My goal this week is push the veggies and fruit. We need this sickness BANISHED from our house so we can prepare to enjoy the holiday season.

I certainly hope you and yours are fairing better than we have at my house. So, here's to a new week and new menus!

• Spaghetti with sauce and bread
• Crunchy Salmon with broccoli and brown rice
• Tangy Slow Cooker Pork Roast served over buttered egg noodles with green beans on the side
• Pork BBQ sandwiches -- This was in the comments section of the pork roast recipe; a reader pulled some of the pork apart and then added it to a mixture of the roast broth and some bbq sauce. My husband loves pork bbq sandwiches so he's super excited about having this one night. I'll make some seasoned potato wedges and mixed veggies to go with it.
• Doctored Veggie Soup -- Pulling soup from the freezer and adding kidney beans, italian seasoning, and pasta for a minestrone-type soup. Will serve it up with crusty homemade bread.
• Ham & Potato Casserole with green beans and/or broccoli

Menu Plan Monday

A delicious week:

• Pork Chops Diane with baked potatoes & green beans
• Chicken breasts marinated with herbs & EVOO with brown rice & broccoli
• Italian-style salmon with brown rice & mixed veggies
• Potato Potato Soup (nope, not a typo) with scratch bread
• Breakfast for dinner
• Halloween Menu included Mummy Dogs (hotdogs rolled in strips of crescent roll dough and baked), Deviled Eggs, Fried Frogs Fingers (fried okra), and Dipping Blood (ketchup)

Menu Plan Monday

Scheduled this week I've got:

• Turkey nachos with all the fixin's plus carrots & dressing* on the side
• Asian-style pork chops with sauteed green bell peppers & onions, brown rice, and carrots
• Chicken with a cream-based sauce with spinach and potato wedges
• Salmon with lemon-butter sauce, brown rice, and a frozen veg (undecided still)
• Goulash -- my husband will be cooking this and it tastes just like my mom's! This is also a favorite of mine because it's very inexpensive and it makes a lot -- enough usually for 2 dinners and a lunch or 2.
  

* It seems with doing so much scratch cooking that I'm growing a distinct distaste for certain packaged foods, like Ranch dressing. UGH! It just tastes nasty to me. So we have less than 1/2 a bottle left and I'm going to start mixing up my own. I'll post the recipe I use, which will probably be next week.

Menu Plan Monday

• Homemade pizza with fruit
• Seasoned Chicken with lime sauce, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies
• Shepherd's Pie with baked sweet potatoes and broccoli
• Chili (from the freezer!) with corn muffins OR Salmon wrapped in aluminum foil with potatoes, tomatoes, spices, etc. and paired with corn on the cob
  

I only need 4 recipes this week as we went to a barn party Sunday and my birthday is Thursday, which is also the night my daughter's soccer league has a dinner fundraiser at a local restaurant. We want to support the league and I want to eat out for my birthday so it's a win-win all around! That last meal is up in the air because a lot of it will depend on how I feel the night I go to cook it. The chili is from a large batch made about a month ago; I make it in the slow cooker and then freeze the extra. We normally eat 3-4 times off of one batch so I consider that a stretchy meal.

Menu Plan Monday

Great menus planned this week!

• Baked rigatoni with garlic & cheese drop biscuits
• Hot dogs with potato salad and fruit
• Turkey Potato Pie with broccoli
• Pasta Salad -- going Greek by adding some feta cheese and keeping it cool-weather oriented by making it a warm pasta salad; probably some baby carrots on the side
  
• Salmon (??? don't know how yet) with baked potatoes and baby carrots
  

Menu Plan Monday,

Meals for the week include:

• salmon with a honey-mustard sauce with brown rice and mixed vegetables
• bone chicken with sweet potatoes and corn -- Bone Chicken is my daughter's name for chicken drumsticks or fried chicken, both of which we rarely eat and both of which she adores. This chicken will be rolled in breadcrumbs, parm cheese, and spices and then baked.
• baked rigatoni with garlic bread

And leftover from last week b/c we never got around to eating it...

• chicken in a balsamic-based marinade with roasted red potatoes and broccoli

It doesn't seem like a lot of food, but 2 of the meals make enough for 2 night's worth and usually there's a night where I either don't cook because we need to eat the leftovers or, if there are no leftovers, then I make something fun like breakfast for dinner.

This week I'm switching from salads (it's officially too cold to enjoy them anymore) to roasted vegetables. I'll alternate with vegetable soup, baked potatoes, and baked sweet potatoes.

Menu Plan Monday

Five delicious and yummy meals for the week!

• Jambalaya with pork chops, served over brown rice
  
• Salmon with orange sauce with brown rice, a vegetable, and salad
• Slow Cooker cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes and salad (I'm scared! Will these meet my husband's expectations?! His mother apparently made really good ones and this is my first attempt.)
• Steak Lime Fajitas with salad and fruit
• Chicken (marinated in a balsamic-based mixture) with roasted red potatoes and broccoli

There is some serious competition vying for Favorite Meal of the Week! I'm remembering to leave the camera in the kitchen most of the time so hopefully I'll be able to catalog all the meals for you!

Menu Plan Monday 9/21

Here are my 5 menus for this week. We eat leftovers twice a week and if we run short on leftovers, then I make something fun like breakfast for dinner or spaghetti. I generally plan to have leftovers on Tuesday, which is my daughter's night for soccer practice, and Thursday because that's the night before I grocery shop, so it's a chance to clean out the fridge.

• Greek-Italian turkey burgers with fries and fruit
  
• Honey & BBQ salmon with rice, green beans, and salad
• Garlic Pork Roast with drop biscuits
  
• Lemon-y Chicken with a vegetable (haven't decided which one yet) and baked potatoes
• Nachos with all the fixin's and fruit!

Fruit in the fridge: 1 cantalope, 2 apples, 3 nectarines, 4 pears (No, I did not plan this! LOL)

Snacks: In addition to fruit we have pretzels, almonds, the last of the carrot bread, banana muffins (in the freezer, don't know if they'll make it out or not with everything else we have), popcorn, and yogurt.

Menu Plan Monday

I generally plan my menus to run Friday to Thursday. This will probably change once I find a job. But for now it works. Sale ads come out on Thursday in my neck of the woods so that gives me time on Thursday to finalize my plan (loosely drafted at the first of the month), check the sales, and match coupons. I don't consider myself a major couponer, but more on that later. I usually plan 5 meals and 2 nights of leftovers.

Friday, 11th -- sausage and peppers tossed with pasta & Romano cheese; watermelon
Saturday, 12th -- triple bean soup with cornbread; maybe salad*
Sunday, 13th -- ginger-ed salmon with salad, zucchini, and rice
Monday, 14th -- pork chops with mini corn cobs, salad, and side (potatoes?)
Tuesday, 15th -- leftovers and daughter's soccer practice
Wednesday, 16th -- herb chicken breasts with salad and baked potatoes
Thursday, 17th -- leftovers

*Saturday we are also providing the post-game snacks for daughter's soccer team. Snacks will include cheddar and pretzel goldfish crackers, fruit snacks (80% fruit juice and actually very tasty), and capri-sun a.m. drinks.

Lunches can be sandwiches, salads, or wraps.

Snacks include banana nut muffins, carrot bread, and corn bread (all made from scratch); pears and grapes; stove-top popcorn (which I'm learning how to make this week).