Meal Plan Monday- AK (week 2/4)

Last week went pretty well.  I mixed up some of the days toward the end of the week and ended up just cooking salmon on Friday.  Two new recipes to share with you- yesterday avocados were on sale so we made up some easy guacomole.  I also made some cake mix sugar cookies for a school snack that came out rather nice (they taste like Jiffy cookies).

So now we are on week 2.  It was really nice to look at my menu and give hubby a 4 item shopping list for the week!  Here is my schedule for this week and the rest of the month…
Week Two

Monday:  breakfast for dinner: sausage, pancakes, eggs

Tuesday:  Thai chicken curry, rice, springrolls

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Hawaiin Mini Burgers

Friday: date night

Saturday: crockpot Chicken Marengo

Sunday: spaghetti and meatballs, green beans

Week Three

Monday: leftovers from birthday party or pizza

Tuesday: Cajun beans and rice

Wednesday: sausage and pepper sandwiches

Thursday: Holy Thursday- lamb

Friday: Good Friday- soup and bread

Saturday: Bud’s birthday (dinosaur theme)- pizza and sides

Sunday: Easter breakfast- hot cross buns, coffee cake, fruit salad, sausage, hard boiled eggs

Easter dinner: ham, rolls, salad, green beans, scalloped potatoes, lamb cake

Week Four

Monday: leftovers!

Tuesday: Creamy Tuscan Bean and Chicken Soup

Wednesday: sausage lasagna

Thursday: tacos

Friday: salmon gyoza, vegetable lo mein

Saturday: leftovers or eat out

Sunday: meatloaf

For more inspiration check out I’m an Org Junkie every Monday. 

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Meal Plan Monday in MA

I’m beginning to think that I should switch to Meal Plan Fridays since I’m not great at planning dinners first thing on Mondays. So this is either really late for this week or a bit early for next, but here goes:

Friday: Baked fish and vegetable soup.

Saturday: Pizza and Salad

Sunday: Hot dogs and pink potato salad, Soup

Monday: Teryiaki Chicken with fried rice (onions, peas & carrots)–recipe from Dream Dinners cookbook

Tuesday: Baked Pork Chops with mashed potatoes and a sauce made from evaporated milk

Wednesday: Pork and Pink Bean Sautee–Leftover pork cut into pieces and mixed with beans and spinach

Thursday: Pasta & Sauce, or leftovers

Friday: Baked Tilapia with cracker crumbs

Saturday: Leftovers, or Pasta & Sauce (whatever doesn’t happen on Thursday!)

Sunday: Frozen Lasagna (recipe from Best Make Ahead Recipes)

Happy eating! Check out I’m an Organizing Junkie for more ideas. To find this week’s MPM, click here.

She’s also got a list of links for freezer recipes here.

Menu Plan Monday- AK

It is a cold dark morning as I write this and all I want to plan for the week is macaroni and cheese and Christmas cookies!!!  Well, some pie might be OK too.  But in the spirit of the new year and because I have to wear a bathing suit in less than a month, I will plan somewhat healthier meals. Be sure to check out I’m an Org Junkie for more meal plans and some organizing ideas to help you with all your new year’s resolutions!

Monday:  Fred Meyer fried chicken (I know, not healthy, but it’s pretty expensive here so when there’s a sale we indulge!)
Tuesday:  tacos, cornbread
Wednesday:  chicken barley soup, fresh bread (or cornbread depending on time)
Thursday: chicken curry, rice
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: stew
Sunday: halibut, edamame rice

Now on to taxes!  My resolution this year is not to be the person in line at the post office at 8PM April 15th!  (I’m not that bad, but my goal is to be done by March.)

Have a great day and Happy New Year!!

Jennifer

Meal Plan Monday- AK

Christmas, Christmas time is here. Time for joy and time for cheer!

Happy Belated St. Nicholas Day!  Sorry kids- no chocolate in your shoes.  Somehow that seems a lot more exciting when you’re a kid, now it just makes me think of stinky flavored treats- maybe keep an extra pair of unworn shoes for the occassion?  Plus I always forget until Dec 7!  Hubby had to work Saturday but took yesterday off and we spent the day relaxing and putting up the tree and outside lights.  We bought some white and blue LED snowflake lights that make our house look a little more sophisticated!

Last week was a lot of pulling out Christmas decorations and trying to really clean the house.  Today I have a little more cleaning to do and I have to put the empty boxes away.  And then the rest of the week it’s on to more fun stuff!  Christmas crafts and COOKIES!!!  I talked to a nearby friend who also lives far from family and we’re going to get together and bake.  I’m looking forward to having some company while baking this year (company that helps, not the boys who just hover and taste test).

Because I’m going to be super busy with all I have planned this week, I have some easy/crockpot meals planned…

Monday:  salmon (from freezer- already in a lemon dill marinade), broccoli, brown rice
Tuesday:  beef stew , croissants
Wednesday:  pulled bbq beef (cook roast in crockpot until really tender, pull apart with a fork, add your favorite bbq sauce), baked beans, corn bread
Thursday:  leftovers and/or bbq beef pizza
Friday: date night- eat out
Saturday:  burgers?? depends on what’s going on that day
Sunday:  ham casserole (ham, peas, egg noodles, cream of something soup, french fried onions)

And as always, for more inspiration to plan meals this week, head on over to OrgJunkie.com.

Happy Christmas Time!!!

Jennifer 

Meal Plan Monday in MA

I dub this week “Week of the Little Piggy That Stayed Home.” I found some interesting recipes in the Grocery Bag section of this month’s Everyday Food. I’m glad this was a free subscription, since most of the recipes I have to tweak too much to fit our family’s needs and preferences. I tried the winter vegetable soup recipe last week and enjoyed it, so I’m optimistic about the companion recipes which center around ham and pork.
Stay tuned for next week, which will likely be the “Week of the Turkey.”

Sunday: Prelude to pork (aka: leftovers to make room for the week!)

Monday: Spice-rubbed pork loin with acorn squash (EF recipe)

Tuesday: Creamy Pasta with ham and broccoli (EF recipe)

Wednesday: Cubano Sandwiches (EF recipe, uses pork loin leftovers and ham)

Thursday: Leftovers eaten in a hurry since we’re going to see Miranda Lambert!!!

Friday: Baked Fish with herbed breadcrumbs and broccoli (EF recipe)

Saturday: Homemade pizza with pantry/freezer findings (maybe pork sausage??)

 

Shake up your meal plan with new ideas at I’m an Organizing Junkie this week. She has some great ideas for decorating your Thanksgiving table!

Menu Plan Monday- AK

This week is going to be low key since hubby’s out of town… So far I’m using the extra time for some organizing- kitchen, toys, basement and paperwork.  I got a few cookbooks out of the library, one of them being the Once-a-Month Cooking (oamc) manual so a lot of this week’s recipes are from that book.

Here is my plan for the week:

Monday- peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (see, I said low key!)
Tuesday- beans and rice
Wednesday- salmon patties (already in the freezer)
Thursday- Chili Verde using turkey (oamc)
Friday- Chicken Nuggets (oamc)
Saturday- Spicy Garlic Chicken Pizza (oamc)
Sunday- Mexican Stroganoff (oamc)

The OAMC recipes I plan on making extra and sticking some in the freezer for future use.  The holidays are coming up so I plan to use the first couple weeks of Nov for stocking the freezer with meals.  Although the freezer is already full with partial meals so I won’t have to do too much.  For more meal planning ideas hop on over to I’m an Org Junkie.  I promise you will find enough ideas there to plan meals for the next year!!!

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Menu Plan AK- July 27

What a fun weekend we had- camping again but this time we had the company of friends.  Nine adults and two kids altogether.  People floated the river, fished, hiked and hung out around the campfire eating snacks and yummy peach cobbler.  I decided after last year to line the dutch oven with foil before making the cobbler.  Clean up couldn’t have been easier.  And luckily for us it only threatened rain.  Well, it did rain a little, but not even enough for us to sit under the awning for more than 10 min.

Today is rainy and generally yucky out.  Actually, it’s warmer than it looks outside, but the grey skies make me want to curl up under a blanket with a good book.  Kids want me to play though so no books for me.  Oh well, that’s OK.

Menu for this week (still lots of lettuce to be eaten, it’s growing faster than we’re eating it!):

Monday– Brats (because we didn’t eat enough hotdogs this weekend), mashed potatoes and carrots (separate since hubby doesn’t like carrots)
Tuesday– Chicken soup, homemade bread
Wednesday– Salmon quesadillas
Thursday– Korean beef stirfry
Friday– something shrimp
Saturday– beans and rice with polish sausage
Sunday– sausage gravy and biscuits

To browse other people’s plans for the week visit I’m an Org Junkie.

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Menu Plan Monday- AK

Last week I didn’t get around to planning or posting a menu.  Instead of unpacking and getting ready for the week ahead, we spent Monday afternoon fixing this problem .

I feel like I’ve been out of a routine since mid-April, so since I don’t have much planned this week I’m going to try to get some semblance of order back to my household… starting with meal plans… 

Monday- BBQ ribs from last night, broccoli
Tuesday- Chili Rellenos (using poblano peppers instead of green chilis), refried beans, rice
Wednesday- Stew, sourdough bread
Thursday- Salmon Quesadillas (I need to try a new recipe, thinking of either a variation of this one with cream cheese, or this one with cajun seasoning)
Friday- Cheeseburger pizza, salad
Saturday- Salmon alfredo, green beans, garlic bread
Sunday- brunch– pancakes, eggs, homemade hashbrown potatoes dinner– Buffalo burgers, fruit and veggie tray

And for more inspiration to start planning menus visit I’m an Org Junkie.

Have a great week everyone!

Jennifer

Back to the real world

Hello everyone- did you miss me? I feel like I’ve been away for ages even though we’ve been out of town for only two weeks. I think in part it’s because I spent the last few weeks boycotting technology while we were visiting our families. I literally logged on to the internet 2 times in 2 weeks (both times to check on library books I forgot to return before we left). We had a great trip and I will post pictures and details about that another time. But for now I need to get back to business!

Now that “summer” is here I am going to try to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible. There will be a lot of grilling out, crockpot meals, and easy to fix stuff. Also watch for more camp meal ideas since we plan on doing a lot of camping again this year.

Now on to my menu for this week. Be sure to stop by I’m an Org Junkie to check out other meal plan ideas.

Monday– roast (crockpot), baked beans, pasta salad
Tuesday– taco salad
Wednesday– roast chicken (again, in the crockpot), mashed potatoes, broccoli
Thursday– “leftover” pizza
Friday-beef stew (from the freezer), fresh bread, green beans
Saturday– salmon (grilled), grilled onions, pierogies
Sunday-??? depends on if we head up to our cabin

One more thought before I go- we stopped to buy some lemonade from a little girl yesterday and she inspired me to make my own. She had slices of strawberries floating in homemade lemonade. For mine I cut up a few strawberries (I think 3), put them in the bottom of a pitcher with a TBS of sugar and let them sit a few minutes. Then I mashed them very slightly, filled the pitcher with lemonade (3/4 c. lemon juice, 1/2 c. sugar, almost 2 qts water) and let it sit in the fridge for an hour. YUMMY!!!!!

Hope everyone is having a bright sunny day!

Jennifer

Happy Thanksgiving

This year I certainly have a lot to be thankful for.  I have a wonderful and handsome husband, we have two beautiful boys.  My husband has a good job and is good at his job, which allows me to stay home to care for them.  We live in such a beautiful part of the country, in a nice home with a creek in the backyard and a view of the mountains in the winter.  We have our health, and friends, family, neighbors.  It’s always nice to have a day that “forces” you to think about what you are blessed with.  What are your blessings?

After last year, Thanksgiving will never be the same for me.  I will always associate it with the birth of my second son (born 3:15AM on Thanksgiving morning).  And I’ll always call him my little turkey, not only because he was born that day, but because at 10lb 5oz he was bigger than our Thanksgiving turkey!

We grew up eating traditional Thanksgiving fare: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and rolls.  And don’t forget the gravy.  Or the pumpkin pie!  Extra whipped cream on mine!  Note for future years: add corn on the cob, ham and shrimp cocktail!

This year I’m going with pretty much the same.  However, because my husband is very picky about stuffing, I am leaving out the apples, raisins, mushrooms and walnuts.  I also found a really good looking recipe from the Crockpot Lady for pumpkin cheesecake in the crockpot.  Her picture looks so yummy and the recipe sounds pretty easy so I thought I’d try it. 

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends.