Menu: September 26 - October 2

Ugh.  The Last Quarter Insanity seems to have started a month early this year.  It kinda makes me a little afraid of what the next three months will bring.  I mean, usually it's crazy with Girl's birthday and Halloween and my birthday and Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the end of the year stuff I do, but if it's going to be SO CRAZY that the Universe started hitting me a month early??  Ohdear.... maybe it's time to hide in my closet. 

Lots to do and my printer is broken.  Because, you know, NOW is when I need it most.  *sigh*  I do believe my head is going to explode any day now...

So, food!  Because, apparently, we need to eat.  Or so I'm told.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal (dry or with milk)
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     oatmeal and fruit


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches (tuna, peanut butter, whatever) and fruit
     bocca burger
     turkey burger
 


Monday
dinner: leftovers (cleaning out the fridge)


Tuesday
dinner: pasta, salad, garlic toast


Wednesday
dinner: Honey Mustard Lime Chicken (adapted from this recipe), green beans, corn nibbles, salad


Thursday
dinner: tuna burgers (adapted from this recipe), rosemary sweet potato steak fries, salad


Friday
dinner: beans and rice
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- chicken spaghetti casserole


weekend lunches and dinners
- chicken spaghetti casserole (adapted from this recipe)
- various leftovers
- probably tuna sandwiches if we need more food


Aaaaand, I think that's it.  I need to get a move on and tackle my day.  Maybe if I'm extra charming, I can coax the printer to work just long enough to get some vital stuff printed.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Please...?


Blue skies, world.

Menu: September 12-18

Huh.  September.  When did THAT happen?  Guess summer kinda ate my life. 

So, school's back in session (is this really the fourth week already? wow...) and I've been adjusting to (1) being by myself again and (2) getting things done.  The first is a easy, the second is... well, I'm getting better.

Speaking of getting better, I have a huge list of stuff I want/need to get done this week so I need to get off the computer and get moving.

So, food! Because it makes a really awesome bribe incentive for my family to do what I want when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal (dry or with milk)
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     Amish Breakfast Casserole     pancakes


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches (tuna, peanut butter, whatever) and fruit
     bocca burger
     turkey burger
 


Monday
dinner: spaghetti (making sauce from scratch, as in... squishing tomatoes scratch), garlic toast, salad


Tuesday
dinner: spicy orange and sesame chicken sandwiches (adapted from this recipe), salad


Wednesday
dinner: leftovers


Thursday
dinner: beans and rice, salad


Friday
dinner: meat loaf, green peas, roasted golden potatoes
extra: honey lemon cookies
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- disappearing chicken casserole


weekend lunches and dinners
- disappearing chicken casserole, broccoli
- various leftovers
- probably tuna sandwiches if we need more food

I think that's it.

Lots to do now.


Blue skies, world.

Menu: August 8 - 14

Wow. Another week gone? Already? Where is the time going?

I thought to have something more... engaging to say this morning, but I don't. I'd really like to go back to bed, though. That would be fantastic. Too bad I can't. There's just too much to do.

So... food. Because my family likes it when I feed them and I really need to get busy.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     bagel and yogurt
     Amish Breakfast Casserole
     pancakes


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches (tuna, peanut butter, whatever) & fruit
     hot dogs


Monday
dinner: leftovers (beans and rice, chicken)
extra: chewy lime sugar cookies


Tuesday
dinner: ginger-marmalade chicken, herb-roasted potatoes, green beans, broccoli


Wednesday
dinner: honey spiced pork chops, mac & cheese, green peas


Thursday
dinner: tuna casserole, salad


Friday
dinner: sweet and sour chicken stir-fry, rice, broccoli
extra: honey lemon cookies
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- chicken salad dijon with grapes and apple
- ham and cheese potato casserole


weekend lunches and dinners
- chicken salad dijon with grapes and apples
- ham and cheese potato casserole, broccoli

I... really... should have links up there, but I don't. It's a sluggish sort of morning.


Blue skies, world.

Hmmm...

I... really... need to update my website.

That is all.

Blue skies,

Menu: August 1 - 7

Holidays and vacations, while fun, really screw up my menu planning. I suppose we'll just have to take more vacations so I can practice meal planning around/for them. It seems logical to me.

Things are kinda... weird... lately, so I'm trying to stick to simple meals that Girl can prepare if I'm swamped. Sometimes, I ask her to cook for no other reason than to give her that power in the kitchen. But don't tell her that. She might stop being so helpful.

Um... food. Because I don't really have anything else to say this morning (kinda time crunched, actually) and my family REALLY likes it when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     bagel and yogurt
     Amish Breakfast Casserole
     pancakes


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches & fruit
     hot dogs


Monday (Lunch at Red Robin)
dinner: leftovers


Tuesday
dinner: cheeseburger pasta, garlic bread, salad


Wednesday
dinner: tuna casserole, crescent rolls, salad


Thursday (GROCERY DAY)
dinner: frozen pizza


Friday
dinner: sweet and sour chicken stir-fry, rice
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- all the chopping and grating for the Amish Breakfast Casserole
- beans
- rice


weekend lunches and dinners
- leftovers
- beans & rice
- more leftovers
- maybe a rotisserie chicken from the deli

Things have been kinda crazy in my world lately so I've not had the chance to work on sorting out my recipes and updating my recipe blog. I'm hoping to get project kicked off in the next week, but with the start of school looming just 22 days away, I might have to wait.

And I believe that's it for the food this week. Now it's off to the orthodontist and used bookstore.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: June 27 - July 3

Last week was... fun. Summer is, without a doubt, in full swing.

We didn't get to the roasted turkey legs over the weekend so that's shifted to Monday. The lentils and brown rice tacos that we didn't get to have been shifted forward to Wednesday.

There will be a few new recipes popping up in the near future. We've all decided we need to lose some weight so Girl and Husband picked out The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook this weekend while we were out. Some of the ideas they suggest are simply... not... going to be implemented in our weight loss endeavors while others are ideas I've been trying to get both Girl and Husband to embrace for a while. Since this is their idea, I am tentatively optimistic about the results.  It'll be easier for me to eat better if they're the ones wanting the healthier meals. 

Also, they think we should all eat breakfast in the morning. Amazing. I wonder why I never thought of that.

So! In the mean time... food. Because my family REALLY likes it when I feed them and it's so much easier to bribe convince them to do things when I have food.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     apple or banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     bagel and yogurt
Saturday: Amish Breakfast Casserole
Sunday:Oatmeal pancakes, turkey bacon


Lunches
choice of:
     leftovers
     sandwiches & fruit
     hot dogs
     chicken pot pie


Monday
dinner: roasted turkey legs (I still need to make some pomegranate molasses), french fries, salad


Tuesday
dinner: Apricot, Ginger, and Chicken Casserole, lima beans, broccoli


Wednesday
dinner: lentils and brown rice tacos, salad


Thursday
dinner: spaghetti, garlic rolls, salad


Friday
dinner: hamburger noodle casserole, broccoli, salad
fixing ahead for the weekend:
- all the chopping and grating for the Amish Breakfast Casserole
- Chicken Salad Dijon with grapes and apples
- mixing the Tasty Tuna Burgers (but not cooking them)


weekend lunches and dinners
- leftovers
- Chicken Salad Dijon with grapes and apples (plus fruit on the side)
- Tasty Tuna Burgers (plus Rosemary Sweet Potato Steak Fries and salad)

 

As I typed out the above, I realized that I've been remiss in posting recipes in my recipe blog so I'll be working on that some this week when I get the chance.

And I believe that's it for the food this week.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: June 20 - 26

WOO-HOO! Last week worked great. We cooked what was supposed to be cooked and we ate it! Not only that, but I made a chocolate-cherry ribbon dessert for the weekend and it was great. I've already started considering way to tweak it to make it better suited to our tastes.

I'm hoping for success again this week and just to make it more of a challenge, I'm planning breakfasts and lunches, too.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     hard boiled eggs and fruit
     turkey bacon
     toast
     bagels
     fruit

Monday
lunch: LUNCH OUT (Red Robin after orthodontist appointment
dinner: tuna casserole, broccoli, salad

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, salad, fruit
dinner: hamburgers, fries, salad

Wednesday
lunch: chicken nuggets, salad, fruit
dinner: easy garlic broiled chicken, mashed potatoes, green peas

Thursday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches, salad, fruit
dinner: lentils and brown rice tacos, salad

Friday cooking all weekend meals today
lunch: foraging
dinner: leftovers

Weekend
- roasted turkey legs (first, I'll have to make some pomegranate molasses), french fries, salad
- baked black bean and salsa chicken (an adaptation of this recipe), rice, broccoli

I believe that's about it.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: June 13 - 19

Things didn't go quite as planned last week. Life happens. I've shifted a few of the missed meals forward to this week (and next week) and am hoping I've figured how to avoid the "omg-too-many-leftovers!" situations that have been causing all the problems.

It's late, I'm tired, and I think I'm being kidnapped tomorrow. I need to be in bed so I'll make this short.

Food... because I'm supposed to feed them. Or something like that.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
- whatever can be found (actually, the husband is probably fending for himself since it'll be a miracle if Girl or I are out of bed early to actually eat breakfast)

Lunches
- haven't got a clue. Probably a lot of foraging this week.

Monday
dinner: disappearing chicken casserole, broccoli, salad

Tuesday
dinner: leftovers

Wednesday
dinner: chopped beef stroganoff, broccoli

Thursday - GROCERY DAY
dinner: cheddar mac & ham casserole

Friday
dinner: DAD COOKS! YAY!!
additional cooking (what I'll cook): weekend meals

WEEKEND MEALS
one: shepherd's pie
two: asian orange chicken, rice, salad

And that's all from me. Time for sleeping.

Sweet dreams, world.

Menu: June 6 - 12

We're getting better with actual eating of what's planned, but there's still quite a bit of work to be done in that area.

School releases the animals into the wild kids for the summer Friday with an early release time. As always, I have no idea what sort of impact that will really have on my days. This year, Girl wants a "social life" during the summer. I'm not yet sure what sort of Mom Magic I'm going to have to work to make that possible. I'm still trying to find out exactly what she wants.

So, food... because we always have food. My family is so much less growlish and bitey more pleasant to be around when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
- whatever can be found, including white cheddar popcorn and cheesecake (nothing really planned this week, I'm tumbling some ideas around in my skull)

Lunches
- haven't got a clue. Most likely, it'll be leftovers or sandwiches with fruit. Or maybe just a bowl of white cheddar popcorn and some M&Ms.

Monday
dinner: skillet chicken parmesan, green beans, crescent rolls, salad
additional cooking: pasta sauce

Tuesday
dinner: sloppy tater joe casserole, broccoli, salad
additional cooking: sloppy joe sauce

Wednesday
dinner: asian orange chicken, rice, salad

Thursday
dinner: shepherd's pie

Friday
dinner: DAD COOKS! YAY!!
additional cooking (what I'll cook): potato skins, plus weekend meals

WEEKEND MEALS
one: meatloaf (still tweaking this recipe), mashed potatoes (using potato guts from potato skins), green peas
two: lentils and rice with fried onions, baked falafel patties with yogurt-tahini sauce, salad

I think that's all. Any guesses on which meal will be skipped/shifted to a future date?

Much to do today and I'm running out of time.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: May 30 - June 4

Last week's menu went a little awry around Wednesday. The Asian Orange Chicken meal got bumped, so did the Skillet Chicken Parmesan meal, and, well, actually, the rest of the week. Things got weird. It happens.

I've been using Plan To Eat to plan my meals (and grocery lists) since November so last week's explosion of meals not cooked isn't much of an issue. I simply pulled those items into the coming weeks and all is well.

So! Food. Because my family really likes it when I feed them.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Breakfasts
choice of:
     cold cereal
     cheesy eggs (actually egg beaters, but whatever)
     banana and peanut butter
     hard boiled egg and cheese
     toast
     biscuits


Monday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Tasty Tuna Burgers, french fries, salad

Tuesday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Chopped Beef Stroganoff, broccoli

Wednesday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Chicken and yellow rice, salad

Thursday - GROCERY DAY
lunch: leftovers (or take out, depending on how long the shopping takes and how hungry I get)
dinner: leftovers

Friday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Baked Ziti, salad

Saturday
lunch: leftovers OR sandwiches
dinner: Lentils and Brown Rice Tacos, Salad

Sunday
lunch: leftovers
dinner: leftovers


I believe that's everything. I'm still working on indexing my recipe blog and adding more recipes there. I'm also still trying to figure out if I even want to keep it since most everything I put there will undoubtedly (eventually) be added to my Plan To Eat account/cookbook. Eventually, everything will be all orderly. Eventually.

Blue skies, world.

Menu: May 23 - 29

It's been almost a year since I've updated this blog. A lot has happened in that time. A lot that I'd just as soon not delve into here. This isn't the place for it. Instead, let me just say that, as a part of my grieving process, I'm making extra efforts to blog again. Creating, it seems, is my way of coping with a lot.

I suspect (hope) this renewal of blogging will begin as a trickle of skimpy posts that eventually develops into a small but steady stream of more interesting and detailed posts. And I will more than likely miss a week or two during the first months (or, at the very least, be late with the posting) as I reintegrate this task into my weekly routine. Though, truthfully, finding my writing voice again is more of a concern to me than missing or being late with a post. I started losing it last January and lost it completely over the last six months.

Or maybe I just need to reconnect.

Anyway... food...

While I still plan the weeks Sunday through Saturday, I'll be listing the menus here as Monday through Sunday for one very simple reason: Sundays are ALWAYS "leftover" days. I try to cook enough food on Friday to carry us through to Sunday night. I get two days I don't have to cook and my family still gets to eat. Win-win. Listing Sunday through Saturday meant starting the week by re-listing what I had previously cooked or listing "leftovers". Neither option appealed to me, so I reached for another option. I'm kind of quirky that way.

As always, much gratitude for Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday.

Monday
dinner: shepherd's pie

Tuesday
dinner: shepherd's pie leftovers

Wednesday
dinner: Asian Orange Chicken, rice, broccoli

Thursday
make early in day: pasta sauce
dinner: Skillet Chicken Parmesan, broccoli

Friday
dinner: LEFTOVERS
cooking for weekend:
- Spaghetti with Fresh Tomatoes
- Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions (Mujadarrah)
- Baked Falafel Patties with Yogurt-Tahini Sauce
- Middle Eastern Tomato Salad

Saturday
lunch and dinner: FORAGING ON WHAT I COOKED FRIDAY

Sunday
lunch and dinner: FORAGING ON WHAT I COOKED FRIDAY

And that, I believe, is all.


Blue skies, world.