Menu Plan Monday

I'm trying to be better about menu planning, AND following through, sigh . . . but I'm trying . . . so in honor of that effort, here are the meals I'm planning for this week:

Breakfasts (fruit included with all of these):
Granola
Cinnamon Pancakes (I want to try this recipe, using whole wheat flour)
Coconut Rice (another new recipe I want to try. I found it on the Food on the Table site)
Banana Muffins
Scrambled or fried eggs
Regular pancakes
(Sabbath breakfast will be leftover muffins, or granola)

Lunches:
Corn Chowder
Wednesday will be a picnic if weather cooperates, if not we'll have picnic foods at home. So . . . deviled eggs, raw veggies and hummus, and quinoa salad
Black Eyed Peas with Spinach (another new recipe from Food on the Table)
Crockpot Taco Soup
Greek salad
PBJ
Sabbath dinner will be a potluck at our church

Suppers:
Mexican Rice and black beans
Vegetarian Calabacitas (another new recipe from Food on the Table), with salad and rolls
Quinoa burgers
Spaghetti and red sauce
Potato noodle soup (Fri)
Popcorn, fruit and salad (Sat)
Broccoli Garlic Pizza (want to try this recipe, with broccoli instead of chicken)

So that's the plan anyway . . . See what other people are planning at orgjunkie

Campmeeting Menu Planning

As I mentioned in my Campmeeting wrap-up post, one thing that I was thankful for was the easy menu I had planned that allowed for only cooking once a day. I thought in case it helped others, and also so I don't have to completely reinvent the wheel next year, I'd post what our menu was:

Breakfasts:
Breakfast cookies and fruit ended up being our main breakfast
I'd also made granola that Little Bit & I ate some days, but for some reason the big girls decided they didn't want granola.
The other breakfast that I planned/brought was Orange Julius. I made it ahead & froze it in jelly jars. The plan was to either let them thaw in the fridge overnight & run them through my miniature blender to get them back to normal constancy or to eat them straight from the freezer as a kind of "Italian ice" type thing. We tried thawing re-blending one day but for reasons that I didn't understand, the big girls didn't like that, I really have no idea why, they tasted just like fresh-made ones to me, but children can be weird. We ended up never trying it straight from the freezer because mornings were actually abit COLD so a frozen breakfast didn't appeal to us.

Lunches:
These were what I needed to be healthy, quick, and no-cook meals, and I'm soo glad I'd planned them that way!
Before we got there, I made Tabouli and my mom made pasta salad as our contributions to our church's potluck for Sabbath dinner. We then had the leftovers of those for lunch another day.
Taco salad - mom premade the dressing for me, and I mixed it all together at lunch time. We ended up having enough dressing (and other ingredients) a second day, at the girls' request.
Greek Salad
Subs
egg salad sandwiches

Suppers:
I did cook for these, but generally only needed one pot on the camp stove, so still low-cooking needs.
Potato Noodle Soup (we had this for supper the first night, so I pre-scrambled the eggs at home before we went), we ended up having enough to re-heat for a second meal
Haystacks (kind of build-your-own tostados with chips on the bottom instead of a tostado shell. I'd planned to use beans from the freezer, but when I pulled out the jar, it had cracked, not sure why I've frozen beans plenty of times in the past with no problem, so I just used canned beans. Heating them up was the only cooking involved. We also had dorito-type chips (the non-healthy part of the meal), shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced black olives, salsa)
Spinach Ricotta Pasta
I'd planned to pre-make Cheddar Ranch Burgers made with TVP and a couple eggs instead of the beef, and freeze them to re-heat on the griddle, but ran out of time, so instead we just got Morning Star Farm Grillers to have burgers one night.
We also went to taco bell a couple nights when I was too lazy busy to cook.

And finally snacks:
Watermelon
Strawberries
raw veggies and ranch dip
popcorn (the trust dept has free popcorn at campmeeting, on days that I managed to be around when they were popping it, I brought it back to the motorhome for a snack for the girls)
macadamia nut spread and crackers (we actually ate that once we got home,because the popcorn took priority while we were there!)

And that is the our campmeeting menu!

Menu Plan Monday - March 14

Trying to be organized for a change, but also being somewhat flexible . . . rather than assigning specific days, I'm going to just do categories (the girls & I will be leaving Friday morning, so there will be less meals than normal):

Breakfasts:
Granola (I use half butter & half coconut oil for the oil)
Cornmeal mush
Pancakes
egg roll-ups (new recipe)
warm chocolate soother (cut arrowroot in half to make a drink, not a hot pudding)

Lunches:
Quesadillas
Greek Salad (new recipe)
Lentil Cups
Sandwiches

Suppers:
Southwest Roll-ups
Penne with spinach and ricotta
falafel & flat bread with tzatziki sauce
leftovers

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by orgjunkie

Menu Plan Monday - Feb 7-12

Trying to get back into the habit of menu planning . . .

Monday
Breakfast: leftover blueberry muffins
Lunch: Potato Noodle Soup (leftover)
Supper: Baked Burritos

Tuesday
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Quesadillas
Supper: (Mommy & Little Bit go to bookclub, Daddy usually takes the big girls out)

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cornmeal Mush
Lunch: Sandwiches
Supper: falafels in pita bread

Thursday:
Breakfast: muffins
Lunch: (new recipe) Quinoa Pilaf 
Supper: Broccoli stir-fry

Friday:
Breakfast: Fried cornmeal mush or Pancakes
Lunch: Fried rice
Supper: Vegetable soup and mushroom soup

Sabbath:
Breakfast: leftover muffins
Dinner:  not sure yet, need to decide if we're going to potluck . . .
Supper: fruit, popcorn, sandwiches

Head on over to Laura's blog to see what everyone else is planning this week.

Menu Plan Monday

Believe it or not, I'm actually getting our menu posted for Menu Plan Monday for once!!! We're visiting my parents right now, so the menu really starts Tues night when we get home. I went ahead & included meals for all meals, but reserve the right to skip one if we have enough leftovers at any point to make a meal of leftovers LOL. In most cases, if I use a recipe, there's a link to it if you click through to the detail of the calendar entry.

Menu Plan Monday

I haven't participated in Menu Plan Monday in FOREVER!!! But did I mention I'm trying to blog more regularly? And generally be more organized . . . so, here goes . . . (click on the items to find links to recipes, if applicable)

Menu Plan Monday

This week my parents might be coming up for the weekend, but nothing's definite, and we don't have definite plans while they're here, so . . . I went ahead & planned the menu through the weekend, things that we can all eat if they're here, or just our family if my parents don't come. But obviously it's all variable based on what we decide to do while they're here.




See other menus here.

Menu Plan

Since I'll be driving home from my parents' tomorrow, I'm going to go ahead & post my menu plan tonight. We won't be home till tomorrow afternoon, so I don't have a plan for breakfast & lunch tomorrow.

Last week I made sourdough bread and still have bread in the freezer so this week I'm going to use my starter to attempt a sourdough muffin recipe (hence my switch from my normal schedule of muffins on Thurs).

My overall menu plan is:



Visit orgjunkie for more menus.

Menu

This week is a short week, menu-wise, since the girls & I will be going to my parents this weekend (and dh will be left to fend for himself LOL), leaving Thurs afternoon, so that's when the menu stops.

First a quick rave from last week, we had Chocolate Cranberry Muffins for breakfast on "muffin day" and the girls LOVED them :) and they really aren't THAT unhealthy either!



Other menus for this week are here.

Menu Plan Monday

Nothing like procrastinating huh? But technically it's still Monday for another 40 minutes (longer in other parts of the country LOL). I actually DID make a menu plan this week, just forgot to post it earlier today. So now it's late & I'm tired, so instead of babbling on I'll just get on with it . . .



To see more menus this week, go here.

Menu Plan Monday

I figured a new year was a good time to get back to posting menu plans (I HAVE continued to menu plan (most weeks) just haven't been posting them because I've been lazy or something . . .).

So, here is this week's menu. Although dh just informed me that he'll be working later some nights this week so those nights we might mix things up & make things that the girls & I like but he doesn't.



See more Menu Plans here.

Menu Plan Monday

I'm scrambling abit since we just got home, but here is, at least, a tentative menu for this week (see other links here)

Menu Plan Monday

I've been bad about menu planning and worse about posting when I DO plan (and not so good about following the plan either. But I DID at least plan menus for this week. Or course, I've already deviated, because I was looking for something else in the freezer & noticed half a bag of cheese ravioli that's been in there forever, so we had that for lunch instead of sandwiches. I've been craving perogies recently (not sure why, or what even made me think of them again), not much nutritional value to white flour dumpling dough full of mashed potatoes & cheese, but they're yummy & when I stopped at the grocery store yesterday they had them on sale, so I indulged, we'll see what the girls think of them tonight LOL (and yes, apparently today is a day of white flour dough w/ cheese/starch inside it LOL).

Last night we made pizza pockets using this recipe, that I've been meaning to try for awhile. To make it economical/healthy I really need to get back to making my own butter & yogurt, but it tasted good. DH doesn't like tomato sauce so I left the sauce out of the pockets & the girls & I just dipped ours in sauce on our plates, seemed to work fine. DH dipped his in a mixture of sour cream & hot sauce (shudder). So we just put shredded cheese & black olives in ours. I may try it w/ broccoli sometime too, think that would work well and add some nutrition (and everyone in our family likes broccoli). I threw a few in the freezer to make sure we like them fine frozen & then baked (can't imagine why we wouldn't but you never know), and once we confirm that, I'm hoping to either make a huge batch for the freezer or make them w/ some regularity & make extras for the freezer each time, so that we have a good stash in the freezer to use post-baby. I'm thinking it will be an easy thing for whoever has time to fix for anyone who gets hungry WHILE I'm in labor too. I'm quite certain anyone other than my 5 yr olds, who will be here while I'm in labor will be capapble of laying frozen pockets on a baking stone & putting them in the oven for half an hour, and then opening a jar of spaghetti sauce to go w/ them. (the 5 yr olds could do it if not for the risk of being burned).

So, after all there, here's our menu for this week. Dh is going to be gone on Fri, so we're going to try our hand at making copycat olive garden minestrone soup. The girls LOVE it at Olive Garden, so we'll see how we do w/ the homemade version.

Menu Plan Monday

Finally at least a somewhat quiet week . . . we have orientation at the birth center Tues night, so I'm not sure if we'll eat and then go over or meet dh somewhere for supper first or what . . . but the crockpot pintos are easy enough to save for Wed if we don't eat them Tues night. My parents are coming sometime at the end of the week/weekend, so I'm just going to play that by ear depending on when they come and what we do and such, hence the lack of planning at the end of the week. I've got several new recipes scheduled for this week, we'll see how much of them I actually do LOL.

Of course, dh decided to make us a big breakfast this morning, so I think today will be mostly a 2 meal day, with a substantial snack for the kids mid-afternoon, so I'll either shift the zucchini crab cakes to tomorrow's lunch or skip them (but I do have yellow squash/zucchini that I need to use).



Check out other menus here.

Menu Plan Monday

We're really only eating at home two days this week (today & Wed), tomorrow the plan is to go to Sesame Place (that was the plan last week too, but it didn't happen, I think it actually will this week). And then the girls & I leave Thurs morning to spend the weekend at my parents'. So the menu for this week is pretty short. Tomorrow we'll take along "egg mcmuffins" to eat on the way down for breakfast, but then just go to Taco Bell for lunch and stop somewhere on our way home for supper. And while I'm gone dh gets to fend for himself LOL. Someone at work gave dh some pita bread that we need to use so I asked dh what he likes on pita bread (since he seemed to find it odd when I made the typical pita bread sandwich *I* knew as a kid, which has scrambled eggs, and cheese and lettuce & stuff in it, he ate it, just commented he'd never heard of such a thing before) and he said he likes "gyros". Now all of us but him are vegetarian so I'm not about to be cooking lamb, so we're going to see how he does using soy curls instead. But the other "key" ingredient is the Tzatziki sauce, so I'm going to try making it (using this recipe) and see what he thinks.

Other then that, I think things are pretty self explanatory:



See other menus for this week here.

Menu Plan Monday

We somehow have a fridge FULL of leftovers, so first priority is to get those eaten up w/o everyone getting TOO bored of the same things LOL. I don't think we really tried anything new & exciting last week so, w/o further ado, here's this week's menu. Tentative plan is to go to Sesame Place on Wed if dh can get off work and the weather's warm enough to make a water park fun. So, guessing we'll take stuff to eat in the car/park for one meal and eat at Taco bell for the other meal.




Other menus are here.

Menu Plan Monday

It's been a busy day & I'm running behind, but I DO have a menu for this week. And hopefully will follow it better than I did last week w/ VBS and all. Current plan is to go to Hershey's Chocolate World on Friday (the girls have been asking to go ever since they saw it on Jon & Kate Plus Eight LOL), so we'll for sure eat out for lunch, not sure if we'll be home for supper or not, so I went w/ something relatively quick to fix if we ARE home, and no biggie to skip if we're not home.

So, here's this week's menu:


See other menus here.

Menu Plan Monday

First some quick "reviews" of some of the new recipes we've tried in the last couple of weeks:

Greek Macaroni Salad Did I rave about this? We had it a few weeks ago & we all loved this! Our family tends to be a creamy pasta salad kind of family (probably because none of us like vinegar except for cleaning LOL) but since this uses lemon juice, that wasn't an issue. My girls ate it by the plateful. DH ate it, and said he'd eat it again. My parents got here the evening after we'd had leftovers of it for supper & mom saw it on the counter, tried it & told me she needed the recipe (so mom, if you hadn't tracked it down before now, here it is LOL).

Lettuce Wraps This is not a "budget" recipe, but it's healthy & my girls LOVED it. DH wasn't as impressed, but I think he'd tolerate it once in awhile. I'll tend to make it on days he works late or doesn't come home for lunch or whatnot.

Maidrites I made this on Friday when dh was gone to a funeral, and my parents were here. Not sure what dh will think of it, but we all liked it. Very similar to the veggie burgers my mom makes, but easier since you bake it instead of frying it into patties.

Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas I thought these were good. I used this recipe to replace the cream of chicken soup and it worked well. And of course used vegetarian chicken. DH didn't like them (didn't really say why, just said he didn't) and the girls ate them, but didn't rave about them or ask for more, so we won't be making them again around here. But for less picky families, I'd still recommend them :)

And now, on to this week's menu. We have VBS this week in the evenings, so I may give up and just do sandwiches or something some nights. I'm hoping by using the crockpot a bunch, that will shift the cooking early enough in the day to make it work. We're also tentatively planning to take the girls to Hershey (the chocolate factory tour) on Friday, though as the week progresses, I'll decide if I think doing that AND the final night of VBS are too much for one day, in which case we'll shift Hershey to next week. But for now the menu reflects being gone to Hershey on Fri.



See other menus here.

Menu Plan Monday

We're going to Sesame Place again on Thurs, and I think dh is taking the girls to Grandmom's again for part of the weekend (since they enjoyed Sabbath School this past weekend, we want to go back this coming weekend for some continuity, so they'll leave after church (not sure if they're staying here for lunch first or what, so I do have Sabbath dinner on the menu, but reserve the right to just heat something up if I'm on my own LOL). Oh & our shopping this morning took longer then expected so we switched things around and ate the leftover spaghetti for lunch and I'll make the lettuce wraps for supper.

So, here's this week's menu:




Go to OrgJunkie to see more menus for this week.

Menu Plan Monday

Our internet was down this morning, but FINALLY here's this week's Menu.



Other menus for this week can be found here.