Menu Plan

I'm actually excited about this week's menu plan, which is a nice change! The kids and I went to the grocery store to pick up a prescription today and spent some time meandering the aisles, during which time I was reminded of a whole bunch of stuff I love, but haven't made in a while.

Here's this week's plan. But since there are a few TBA events this week, I've elected not to assign days to the meals; they'll just have to work themselves out according to how much time we have at home!

Taco Night
Spicy Shredded Beef
Mexican Rice
Refried Beans
Tortillas and fixins

Greeky Night
Greek chicken pita sandwiches (on Naan)
Greeky Greek Roasted Potatoes
Zataar and olive oil for dipping (not Greek, I know. but still good)

Italian Night (kinda)
Roasted Chicken w/ pesto vinaigrette
Spicy Orzo
Grilled Romaine Salad

Asian Night
Homemade Egg Rolls
Asian Chicken Wings
Sesame noodles, Lo mein-style

Tex-Mex Aberration Night
3-Bean Chili with cheese and sour cream
Elbow Mac or Rice (depends on my mood)

Menu Plan

It's Turkey Week. not officially, of course; that happens in about a month. But every year, the grocery store has such fabulous deals on turkeys, and I never can pass them up. Trouble is, you only need so many turkeys in your freezer. So this week is all about using up a turkey to make room for the next bird. I've got one in the fridge thawing and plan to brine it overnight tonight and cook it tomorrow (pray that my oven hangs on, by the way). For the rest of the week, we'll just see how far we can stretch the leftovers...I'm guessing pretty far.

Monday
Spaghetti
Homemade marinara
Homemade bread w/herb dipping oil
Salad w/grated parm, sliced olives, and yellow peppers

Tuesday
TURKEY!
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Green Beans
Applesauce cake

Wednesday
Pizza w/alfredo, sun-dried tomatoes, turkey, spinach, mozzarella, and feta
Cheese pizza for the kids
Salad

Thursday
White Turkey Chili
Yellow Rice

Friday
Turkey Pot Pie

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
More leftovers or possibly Beef with Broccoli stir-fry over Jasmine Rice

And here's last week's menu plan, which I never officially posted:

Monday
Smoked Sausage
Mashed Potatoes
Broccoli

Tuesday
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Roasted Chicken Legs and Thighs

Wednesday
Beef Stew with Carrots
Homemade noodle-dumplings
Apple Crumb Galette (like a pie, but not baked in a pan--sort of tart-esque)

Thursday
Fried Rice
Pot Stickers with dipping sauce

Friday
Takeout pizza + breadsticks

Saturday
Breakfast scramble (eggs, potatoes, onions, peppers, cheese)
Sausage links

Sunday
Leftovers

Short Week Menu Plan

Hey, all! Short menu plan week this week. My mom will be coming to stay at our house this weekend, beginning on Thursday, so I'm leaving all of the weekend meal decisions up to her (insert evil laugh here).

Monday's dish is a re-creation (in part) of a meal I had last Friday when Hubs and I went out for our Anniversary; he had a Wild Mushroom and Butternut Squash lasagna, and I had Cheese tortellini with chicken, toasted pine nuts, browned butter and sage, drizzled with pumpkin butter and topped with toasted sage-rubbed breadcrumbs. It was delicious. I don't have any pumpkin butter, so we're winging it without. We'll have Cheese Ravioli with browned butter and sage, pine nuts, and the sage breadcrumbs. We'll also have steamed broccoli with garlic chips, because we must have vegetables!

Tuesday will be Hot Chicken Salad, just because I crave it.

Wednesday will be Beef Stew because it can go in the crock pot, and we never ended up having it last week.

Thursday, we'll have leftovers and round our meal out with salad if need be. And it usually needs be!

As I said, Friday and forward will be up to my mom. But don't worry--she is an extremely capable and accomplished cook, so it will all be well.

Hope you have a great week in your house!

Back on the Bandwagon

I've just recently started cooking in earnest again--if you don't already know, we're expecting again, and I'm just now getting into my second trimester with some renewed energy. My poor garden bore the brunt of my energy-deprived neglect; I worked and weeded and planted and watered, then I got pregnant and tired pretended there wasn't really a garden out there at all. The unfortunate part is that I lost interest round about the time things were ready for harvest and needed the most attention. My wonderful husband helped me put up a few tomatoes, and I made a batch of pesto to last me the year, but other than that, much of my produce went to waste. Fortunately, our neighbors were able to use a bit of it, but still. I have been longing for the first frost to come so I could officially let go of my garden guilt, because I have lots of it. I pretend next year will be better, but I'll have a tiny baby in tow, so I'm not sure it will.

All of that to say that if I didn't have time or energy for a bountiful garden that could feed my family, I certainly didn't have energy for inventive and involved meal planning, much less energy to blog about it. But here I am, at week 15 or something like that, and though my house will take a while to recover from my constant napping, my meals are ready to jump right back in. I'm hoping to shake it up a little; looking at my repertoire, I'm just frankly a little bored. Hopefully, over the next few months, I'll find some fabulous new dishes and rediscover some old favorites to post here.

Monday
Meatloaf
Scalloped Potatoes
Peas

Tuesday--Our Anniversary!
Either we'll go out and the kids will eat leftovers, or we'll have
Roasted Chicken
Rice Pilaf
Salad

Wednesday
Crock Pot Beef Stew
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Bread

Thursday (Or, the day on which we might actually celebrate our anniversary on account of needing child care)
Either we'll go out and the kids will eat leftovers, or we'll have
Roasted Chicken, etc., etc.

Friday
White Chicken Chili
Sweet Corn Cake

Saturday
Pot Stickers w/ chili dipping sauce
Vegetable Fried Rice

Sunday
Takeout or leftovers

Menu Plan

This one's for you, Katie D. :)

Well, we're back into the swing of things after a marathon of family vacations. We've actually been back for over a week, but frankly, I was worn out. And THEN, coming up with a dinner menu on the fly every night has been even more taxing...so it's time to get back into the normal routine of planning and shopping accordingly. Summer always presents more work, what with the gardening and preserving of food for the winter months, and I simply can't spare the energy to try to come up with a nutritious meal for my family when my brain is already fried from all of the weeding and pruning and what-have-you.

Speaking of the garden, that is one of the joys of summer cooking for me: the abundance of fresh produce right outside my back door. This year, we've got several varieties of peppers and hot peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, yellow squash, beans, broccoli, lettuce, and a variety of tomatoes, along with cilantro, dill, rosemary, and basil. Later on, we'll also have corn, watermelon, and pumpkins. I can hardly wait. So as you read the menu plan for this week, insert fresh garden produce wherever you see veggies mentioned.

(And cross your fingers for my tomatoes--they're not doing so well...)

Sunday
Home-fried tostadas
Refried beans
Spicy Shredded chicken
Cilantro
Tomatoes

Monday
Hamburgers
Fried potatoes

Tuesday
Honey Mustard Garlic-rubbed Pork chops
Steamed Broccoli with cheese
Honeyrock Melon

Wednesday
Grilled BBQ Chicken Legs
Big Old Salad
Cornbread

Thursday
Country-Style Pork ribs
Corn on the Cob
Buttermilk Biscuits w/ Strawberry jam

Friday
Grilled Steak Salad
Garlic-Rosemary Focaccia

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Wish I knew. Probably Pasta Salad with chicken.

Menu Plan

Busy week this week! Errands yesterday, Hubs' softball game tonight, Charis' farm field trip tomorrow and my sister-in-law's High School graduation ceremony tomorrow night, dinner with friends on Friday night, church fellowship on Sunday, and hubs informs me he may have to work OT on Saturday. Whew! But we still have to eat, so....

Monday
Grilled Burgers
Baked Mac n Cheese
Peach Cobbler

Tuesday
Grilled Flank Steak, sliced
Home Fries with Garlic and fresh dill
Creamy corn

Wednesday
Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti with broccoli or spinach (haven't decided which yet!)

Thursday
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Salad

Friday
dinner out--bringing dessert (TBA)

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Fellowship Sunday--cookout at church

Menu Plan + bonus recipe: Greek Sauce

Yep, I know it's Wednesday. but I've been finding that it is helpful to look back at past menu plans to draw ideas for new ones, so I'll add this one to the pot.

I fired up the grill last night and grilled 2 steaks, 5 pork chops, 1 chicken breast, and four huge smoked sausages. From that, we'll have meals for most of the week.

Monday
Pasta salad with grilled chicken and LOTS of veggies

Tuesday
Grilled Pork chops finished with Greek-style sauce
Roasted Potatoes with golden garlic chips (also finished with Greek sauce)
Butter-braised fresh green beans

Greek sauce: 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. melted butter, 3 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp dried oregano, 1 tsp. garlic powder OR 1 clove garlic, grated, kosher salt and pepper to taste.
Whisk together the lemon juice, butter, oregano, and garlic powder. Drizzle in olive oil while whisking briskly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle over finished pork chops or roasted potatoes. MMMMM!

Wednesday
Pan-fried homemade egg rolls
Maple-sesame bacon fried rice

Thursday
Naan sandwiches (filling to be determined--maybe thinly sliced steak that I grilled last night, with onions, mozzarella cheese and peppers for me; sliced chicken, spinach, cheese, and tomatoes for the kids; sliced steak, cheese, spinach and spicy mayo for hubs)
Corn on the Cob

Friday
Grilled Smoked Sausage
Sauteed Vidalia Onions
Potato Salad

Saturday
Leftovers

Sunday
Takeout or leftovers (if we still have some)

MONDAY! Memorial Day!
Brats?
Baked Beans?
Corn on the cob?
Oven Fries or Potato Packets?

Menu Plan

Greetings, all four of you! Back again. It's supposed to warm up this week, and my garden will be the better for it, I'm sure. You'll see a number of Turkey entries this week--we're using up the Turkey I roasted last week. Also, we just bottled maple syrup with my husband's folks, so you'll see maple a couple of times this week, too. Mmmmm good.

Let's get cooking!

Monday
Sweet Italian Sausage w/sauteed onions and peppers
Potato-Cheddar Pierogies
Roasted Green Beans

Tuesday
Turkey Pot Pie
Broccoli Slaw

Wednesday
Maple-Sesame Bacon Fried Rice (with veggies)

Thursday
Chinese Turkey Salad with Fried Wonton Crisps and Sesame Seeds

Friday
Cuban Sandwiches
Saffron Rice with Peas

Saturday
Out-and-about
School Carnival, Going Away Party

Sunday
Leftovers

Menu Plan

Ah, Monday. You present all sorts of challenges, don't you? My current dilemma is of the What Are We Gonna Eat nature. I figure I'll start by letting you know what we had last week. Maybe that will get my creative juices flowing for this week's menu.

Also coming up--a post about homemade salad dressing. I started making my own about a year ago, and we hardly use any bottled dressing any more. It's easy to make, and it's CHEAP! It also tastes a lot fresher, and there's the added benefit of being able to tailor the dressing to personal tastes. I may post that yet today, but I will post it by tomorrow at the latest.

LAST WEEK'S MENU:

Monday
Baked Ziti
Salad

Tuesday
Grilled Pork Steak
Cacio e Pepe Roasted Potatoes (Roasted potatoes tossed with freshly grated Parmesano-Reggiano cheese and liberal amounts of freshly cracked black pepper immediately before serving)
Roasted Corn on the Cob

Wednesday-Cinco de Mayo!
Barbacoa Burritos with black beans, cilantro-lime rice, fresh roasted corn and roasted jalapeno salsa, shredded cheese, and sour cream
Homemade tortilla chips
Fresh Guacamole

Thursday
Scrambled Eggs
Hash Browns
Sausage Links

Friday
Out to eat. I had Asian Lettuce Wraps, Abe had a Bacon and Bleu Cheese Burger, and the kids had Mac and cheese and Pizza

Saturday
Linguine with Roasted Garlic Pesto Alfredo
Grilled Romaine Salad

Sunday-Mother's Day!
Out for pizza. The kids had a cheese pizza, and Abe and I had pizza with alfredo, roasted chicken, bacon, mushrooms, feta, and mozzarella, sprinkled with oregano and parmesan cheese. Wowsers. It was GOOD!

THIS WEEK'S MENU

Monday
Tacos w/home-fried shells, onions, peppers, leftover barbacoa, salsa, and cheese
Yellow Rice

Tuesday
Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad--loaded with peas, carrots, romaine, peppers, cucumbers...

Wednesday
Roasted Turkey
Mashed Potatoes
Stir-fried garlic veggie blend (sugar snap peas, red peppers, mushrooms, water chestnuts)

Thursday
Grilled Pork Loin
Sauteed Vidalias
Jasmine Rice Pilaf

Friday
Chinese Turkey Salad (or leftovers)

Saturday
Junk food at the baseball game

Sunday
DEFINITELY leftovers...we'll have plenty, I'm sure!

Cinco de Mayo!

You know, I love Thanksgiving. I love the Turkey and stuffing and the green bean casserole and the pies and the hours of thankful indulgence. And I love the 4th of July, a day which begs for a menu of juicy smoked-this and grilled-that and heaps of pasta salads, potato salads, baked beans, corn, and ice cream. Independence and a cookout. What's not to love? And there's Easter, with its savory ham. And Christmas, with its crumbly, sugary cookies and decadent baked sweets. I know holidays weren't created with food in mind, but when holidays roll around, food is always on my mind.

That's why I will welcome any holiday that demands I prepare a menu of more food than we could possibly eat. Cinco de Mayo (The 5th Of May) commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. Not super relevant to my every day life. But oh, how I love south-of-the-border food. And yes, I'm fully aware that many of the items we call "Mexican food" are not, in fact, Mexican. I'm okay with that. Because at the end of the day, Cinco de Mayo encourages me to use lots of cilantro and limes and spicy peppers and guacamole, and that's always a reason to celebrate.

I started LOVING Mexican food about 10 years ago. I've always liked it, but growing up, I just usually ate Taco Bell-type interpretations. Good, but MEH. Then I went to a restaurant called Maggie's Kitchen, which served authentic Mexican food cooked by actual Mexicans. Then I went to Nina's Taqueria, which, again, served real Mexican food prepared by people who know it. And I went to those places again and again, all the while discovering a deep fondness for Barbacoa. And for cilantro. And that beautiful, slightly-tomatoey, slightly-spicy rice. And refried beans that aren't pink and don't come out of a can. And real, honest-to-goodness pico de gallo and salsa verde and and and and....

So when it came time to have my own kitchen in my own house where I get to do all of the shopping and the cooking and the meal planning, I decided to make room in our calendar for a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Our menu is fairly standard; last year, it was fajitas, this year, burritos, but mostly, it is the same stuff. This year, it will be my own version of Barbacoa (because I don't have access to a whole sheep, a pit lined with volcanic rock and mesquite, and leaves of a maguey cactus, I'm using chuck roast and a crock pot) to serve in gigantic burritos stuffed with black beans and cilantro-lime rice, sour cream, shredded cheese, and homemade salsa with roasted corn, tomatoes, and jalapenos. On the side, we'll have Mexican rice (like they serve at Nina's Taqueria), fresh guacamole, and fresh, home-fried tortilla chips. To top it off, we'll drink Lime Jarritos soda.

So it's not my holiday. So what? I will still eat myself silly celebrating it. Viva Cinco de Mayo!! Next up: Bastille Day!