Menu Plan Monday: October 4

Last week I totally messed up my menu plan.  How?  By just typing it up and posting it and not writing it on my paper-and-pencil menu plan.  It was as if I hadn't planned at all.  See all those blank spaces?

 

The lunch column is blank too.  I'll mention that later. 

Planning is useless if the plan isn't available or doesn't work.  It doesn't occur to me to look on the blog for my meal plan.  It's supposed to be on the refrigerator, attached with the Challenge Butter magnet.

Today I did it right.  Here's my version of right:

I clear up the kitchen table and create some space for myself. I gather my supplies:  sharpened pencils, a few cookbooks and my recipe notebooks, my grocery list, and my meal planning sheet.  It's just a document I created in about 12 seconds.  There are beautiful printables to be found but this works well for me.  I guess it's possible I'd do a nicer job with a pretty colored planning sheet, but I doubt it and I'd also feel guilty about the unnecessary expense of color printing.  

Then I sit there and muse on what we'd like to eat, what's going on this week that might affect dinner, and what we have in the freezer, fridge, and pantry.  I ask my family what they are in the mood for.  Meatloaf?  NO!  Fried rice with tofu?  One yes, one "please can't we have meat?   I need meat!"    Then I write it all up.  I erase a lot.

I decided that on my next printing I'm going to change that useless lunch column to a place for notes, like "soccer practice 6 - 7 pm" and "defrost meat for tomorrow."  I am never going to plan out lunches unless we are having company.  My kids are working on a "lunch list" of foods they  like.  So far I think it has mac and cheese and pizza on it.  Helpful!

So here is next week's plan:

Here is it in a more useful form, with a lot of links to recipes this week.  Because I actually took time to plan it out, I am using recipes! 

Monday:  Cilantro chicken, rice, sauteed red bell peppers.  This is a truly wonderful recipe from The Splendid Table.  You should sign up for their email newsletter, Weeknight Kitchen.  I love getting recipes in my mailbox, don't you?

Tuesday:  Beef stew.  Everyone is excited about that because it means the weather is cool.    I think I will try this recipe from Williams-Sonoma.

Wednesday:  Randy's Sunday Night Fried Rice, with tofu.  Ooops, I have to go back to my menu plan sheet and add "cook rice for tomorrow" in Tuesday's notes column. 

Thursday:  Cochinita Pibil, a gorgeous pork recipe from Simply Recipes, which is another site you should be reading.

Friday: Curried Ground Turkey with potatoes, also from Simply Recipes.   This is the only way I can use ground turkey with my family.  It is so unbelievably good.

Saturday: Chicken with green olives, a recipe from Pioneer Woman.  I keep seeing references to this recipe on other menu plans and thought I'd better check it out.  Wow.  It sounds really good.  I'd move it up to Monday but I have a huge bunch of cilantro I need to use or lose.  

Saturday: Beef barley soup.   Not much else to say about that.

What are you eating this week?

Linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie. If you can't figure out dinner after checking out this site, you aren't trying very hard.

Menu Plan Monday: September 20

This is going to be a very dull eating week around here. So you might want to skip right on to I'm an Organizing Junkie to read some more interesting menu plans.

Monday my kids and I get to enjoy an all-day field trip, on a boat off the Jersey Shore.  We'll be eating dinner in the car on the way home.  The seminarian will probably have a burrito or burger at home by his lonely old self.

On  Tuesday we are juggling a trip to Costco for new tires, Boy Scout patrol meeting here, followed by soccer practice.  I'm thinking Santa Fe chicken in the crockpot.  People can scoop some out whenever they are ready to eat.  Everyone loves it.

Wednesday looks like it's going to be a reasonably normal day so I think I may try spaghetti and meatballs.  I've never made meatballs and my boy has been asking me to.  If anyone has any tips or great recipes to share, I'd be happy to have them.  I'm thinking about mixing turkey with the beef.  We normally despise ground turkey but I'm thinking between the sauce and some beef, no one will notice.  Unless they read this.

Thursday will need to be meatless night, but we've  already got pasta down, so I guess we'll have some kind of curry, either garbanzo bean or eggplant.  Or maybe both!   We picked up some naan at Costco a few weeks ago and it's waiting patiently in the freezer for us to try it out.

On Friday we'll have the pizza we didn't have last week.  We're down to pizza every other week now instead of once a week. I'm hoping we can do homemade pizza soon, but it's been a little too busy.  

Saturday my girlie and I will be on our own so I'm not sure what we'll do.  She will probably want macaroni and cheese or pizza again.  Maybe we'll go out.

Sunday I'm really going to do that roast beef I keep talking about but not doing.  Today was an unusually busy Sunday so we ended up have a leftover extravaganza. 

Enjoy your planning, cooking, and eating this week.  Post your plans or find some new ideas at Menu Plan Monday.  I'm late posting today; there are 284 menu plans ahead of mine!   That's a lot of ideas!

Menu Plan Monday: September 13

It's another week for easy, quick meals for dinner.  I am anxiously awaiting cold weather so I can start making soups, stews, chili...  all those things my family really likes to eat. 

Well, we do like to grill.  Last week's plan to brine and then grill some  chicken worked out really well.  I think I will always try to brine my chicken before cooking it.  It really made grilled chicken breasts so much better.   Brining instructions are all over the place; try it out!

Now to this week:

Monday:  Chicken enchiladas, refried beans, coleslaw.  The recipe is called Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Enchiladas; I cut it out of the San Francisco Chronicle years ago.  Their description:  “Quick, simple, mindless.  The perfect antidote to the hustle-bustle of Thanksgiving.”  It also suits the hustle-bustle of our lives right now.  I happen to have some cooked chicken so I'm substituting.   

Corn Oil

8 Corn Tortillas

3 Cups Chopped Roasted Turkey Meat

2 Cups Purchased Green Salsa With Tomatillos

1/3 Cup Sour Cream

3/4 Cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese (or Pepper Jack if you like it a little hotter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brush a nonstick frying pan with a light film of oil and place over medium heat. When hot, fry the tortillas, one at a time, until just speckled with brown and softened on both sides (do not let them get crisp); transfer
to a plate.  Brush the pan with more oil as needed.

Stir together the turkey, 1 1/2 cups of salsa, and the sour cream.  Spoon equal amounts of this mixture down the center of the prepared tortillas, fold the sides of the tortillas over the filling, then place seam side down
in a baking dish.  Spoon the remaining salsa in a band across the enchiladas.  Sprinkle with the cheese. Cover tightly with foil.  

Bake for 15 – 20 minutres, until the enchiladas are heated through and the cheese is melted.  (I usually let them cook uncovered for a couple minutes to let the cheese get a little brown.)  Serves 3 or 4.

Tuesday: grilled dinner - salmonburgers, hamburgers, sausages... potatoes, green salad.

Wednesday:  Some sort of pasta.  No meat!  My family loves meat but we have to do without more often.  I would like to get to 2-3 meatless dinners a week but I think the 13-year-old boy might run away.

Thursday:  Pork tenderloin.  Grilled?  Pan-roasted?  Sliced and cooked in mustard sauce?  Or caper sauce?  Unlikely; I keep forgetting to buy capers.

Friday:  Pizza.

Saturday:  Uncertain.  There is a Renaissance Faire I'd like to go to; there might be food there!

Sunday:  roast chicken with the typical sides.

Have a great week of cooking; find some inspiration (or post your own) at Menu Plan Monday. 

Menu Plan Monday: September 6

Before I get into this week's plan I want to tell everyone that the Curried Ground Turkey with Potatoes we tried last week was a fantastic dish.  My family despises ground turkey but I gave it to them anyway and they loved it. Of course the turkey picked up the flavors of the spices so it wasn't bland as ground turkey usually is.  This recipe will go into regular rotation in our house. 

Last week I made most of the things I'd planned, though not necessarily on the days I'd planned them.  We also skipped one thing in favor of steaks picked up on a great supermarket special one night.

Monday:  Brined, grilled chicken - this is a carryover from last week.  We have been hearing about and tasting brined chicken for a while now; it's time to try it for ourselves.  We'll grill potatoes and have a salad with this. 

Tuesday: Samonburger and coleslaw for Dad, fried rice for me and kids.  Our convenience foods for the week.  Soccer practice and a church meeting hit our dinner hour.   I'm happy that this doesn't happen very often.

Wednesday: We may eat out as we are thinking of taking a not-back-to-school trip to the beach.  If we do get home in time to eat, we'll have the makings of tacos and burritos on hand.

Thursday: Cardamom Chicken.  This is a recipe I cut out of the newspaper years ago; it's a curry-type dish I serve with rice and either roasted cauliflower or spicy sauteed green beans.

Friday:  Moroccan-style Chickpea Soup.  Something new I'm trying from the Cook's Illustrated book The Quick Recipe.  

Saturday:  Crusty Potato Pie.  This comes from The Zinfandel Cookbook.  It's made with shredded potatoes, eggs, milk, cheese. Sometimes I add ham.  You could add vegetables. It's one of those recipes to mess around with. 

Sunday:  We are having a common meal at church, so dinner will probably be leftover extravaganza.

Find more menu ideas at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday: August 30

This is the week we are really starting our schooltime in earnest.  We had a fun summer - a longer summer vacation than we've ever had before - but now it's time to get back on track.  Other activities are starting up too, though, so it's another week of mostly quick and easy foods.

I start off the week with a meeting at church over the dinner hour, so I'm leaving my little family with some frozen orange chicken from Trader Joe's, rice in the cooker, and frozen egg rolls from Aldi.  Healthful, huh?  They will love it.

On Tuesday soccer practice starts at 6, which is about when Dad gets home, but somehow we'll manage Curried Ground Turkey with Potatoes which I just discovered on Simply Recipes.  It sounds wonderful.

Wednesday should be a "normal" day with everyone home for dinner.  I'm planning on Santa Fe Chicken, which I found at Semicolon (of Saturday Review of Books fame), and tortillas.

On Thursday we'll have our weekly meatless dish, which will be some sort of pasta.  My basil plants are huge and fading a little, so I'll probably use that along with some garlic and olive oil.

Friday is field trip day, so we'll do burgers and hot dogs on the grill when we get home.  Potato salad or cole slaw, whichever seems easier that morning before we take off.

Yesterday at a picnic we had some fantastic grilled chicken that had been brined.  I've been reading about brining for years but have never done it; I think I'll try it with some thighs I've got in the freezer.  Maybe a couscous salad with this.

Still thinking about Sunday - it's a week away, after all - but I have a couple of beef roasts in the freezer so I could do that, or I might just go for ease and have bean (black or refried) bean burritos. No poultry!  We are having lots of poultry this week!  A local store had thighs and drumsticks 75 cents a pound which is a really good price around here. But they're all pretty different dishes so I don't think anyone will get too upset.

Visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie for lots of menu ideas.  Post your own!  Every mother/cook I know is always looking for new ideas.  Does anyone ever reach a point of saying "I don't need any more recipes?"

Menu Plan Monday: August 23

It's another wild week here so meals are going to be simple. May I just say I am really looking forward to cooler weather? We are not hot weather food people. Everyone is missing soups, stews, risotto, chili... tired of grilled food and other meals designed not to heat up the kitchen.

We stuck pretty well to the meal plan last week; I did swap a few things around but we ate the things I'd planned to. Last week I thought I would add lunches into the plan but I did not. We are all working at our church Vacation Bible School next week so lunch will either be sandwiches or the McDonald's down the block from the church.

Monday: Tuna casserole. This is no one's real favorite but we like it well enough, and it's good to have on a day when I don't have time for something long-cooking. We will be out of the house most of the day so I need something fast. We'll have either cauliflower, broccoli, or salad with this.

Tuesday: Corned beef, potatoes, carrots. A winter dish, to be sure, but one my boy has been craving and asking for. I don't have cabbage but no one will really miss it but me. This meat has been in my freezer since March when this cut goes on sale. So it's time to defrost it anyway.

Wednesday: Greek Chicken - just baked chicken parts with olive oil, garlic, oregano, and lemon juice - along with some sort of vegetable, hummus and pita bread.

Thursday: Grilled salmon if I get to Trader Joe's before then. We really like the wild salmon they keep in their freezer section. But that store is hard to get to, so we haven't had it in a while. I'll try to stock up.

Friday: Pizza. Possibly homemade; more likely a take-and-bake from Walmart or Aldi.

Saturday: Out at a picnic. I don't know what I'm supposed to contribute yet. I hope it's dessert.

Sunday: I don't usually plan for Sunday. I try to get the kids to eat a lot of snacks at church so we can skip lunch and just have a large-ish early dinner. I like the idea of a rather formal Sunday meal but most often it turns into leftover extravaganza. We go to church both morning and evening, so the day is a little compressed for a large meal that entails a lot of work. I don't love doing the roast-in-the-crockpot thing. If I have one in the freezer, or find a good deal this week, I might do a pork tenderloin with mustard sauce.

I just realized I don't have a meatless meal this week. Oh well, better luck next time. Or, if I don't make it to Trader Joe's for salmon, I'll just make pasta with a simple tomato sauce.

Find more menu inspiration at Menu Plan Monday, hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday

This is another easy food week. We are still having summer camps and it's too busy for me to plan really nice meals. But fall is in the air and soups and stews will be coming back soon.

Monday: Salmonburgers. I try to always have a bag of these babies in my freezer. (I buy them at Costco but I've seen them in lots of stores.) They are a great emergency or busy day dinner with coleslaw and maybe some oven-fried potatoes. (I often skip the potatoes since I serve them on a bun. My family does love their carbs, though.) A little dill sauce goes well with this: equal parts mayo and either (or both) yogurt and sour cream; lemon juice, fresh or dried dill, salt and pepper to taste. Delicious and easy.

Tuesday: Randy's Famous Sunday Night Fried Rice with tofu. With egg rolls if I get to Aldi, which has our current favorite frozen version. This is becoming a weekly request.

Wednesday: Tacos or burritos: whatever combination of spiced ground beef, cheese, refried beans, tortillas, tomatoes, lettuce, and salsa that people want. And some salad and/or fruit. This is also a weekly meal for us.

Thursday: Some sort of chicken. I have drumsticks in the freezer so that's a good bet. Probably oven-fried or maybe grilled. Potato salad, I think. Probably this recipe which I've been making for years from a magazine clipping in my recipe binder. Happy to see it online.

Friday: Pasta, garlic bread, salad.

Saturday: Sandwiches: roasted red peppers, fontina cheese, basil, garlicky olive oil. Assemble the sandwiches, brush with the olive oil, bake. An old favorite from, I think, Bon Appetit magazine long long ago. Oh, the kids will have their without the peppers. Probably a green salad with this.

Now that I've been planning dinners for two weeks, I should add some lunch plans. For some reason lunch is hard for me. I think it's because for so many years I worked and always ate lunch out. So I haven't fully adjusted to making lunch at home, even though I haven't worked for about 13 years. Lunch always catches me by surprise and thus is likely to be some variation on bread and cheese with some veggies and fruit so I can pretend it's a balanced meal. I do make the seminarian's lunch most days now, and I need to sharpen up a bit. Leftovers don't always work. Tonight's salmonburgers don't lend themselves to microwaving the next day even if there were substantial leftovers. Any stray bits go to the dog anyway.

Find more menus, or post your own, at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Jumping into Menu Plan Monday

Menu planning is probably one of the best homemaking ideas that I rarely follow. My life goes so much easier when I plan, yet I hardly ever do it. I guess I somehow enjoy spending most of my day muttering "what am I going to make for dinner" under my breath and badgering my family for ideas that don't include cheese, and include only ingredients I have on hand - as if they would know what those are. But I don't think so.

I have one vivid memory of the value of planning meals. The day my mother died was a day of chaos. Of course. It would have been the day to rely on takeout pizza or send someone to pick up fast food. I could have asked my husband, a competent cook but one out of practice, to put something together. Skipping dinner was an option for me, but not for my little family. My young kids were freaked out enough by the day; they needed something normal to happen.

So when it was dinner time I was able to look at the menu plan on the refrigerator and say "oh, yes, we're making tamale pie." And my good friend, who had so graciously spent the day at my house with my kids, helped me prepare dinner. It was a normal thing to do on a very abnormal day. It helped me to do something mundane. I think it helped my kids too.

Since then I have done menu planning sporadically, and it has always simplified my life. It's not even unpleasant for me to sit at the kitchen table with some cookbooks, my recipe binder, my menu plan sheet, and some newly-sharpened pencils. Actually it's very pleasant to play with my recipes. Maybe doing this Menu Plan Monday will help to get and keep me on track.

Monday 8/9: Pork roast, sweet potato fries, and either green beans with red bell peppers, or collard greens depending on my trip to the produce store. The pork roast is simple - rubbed with garlic, paprika, salt and pepper, vinegar and olive oil, then tossed in the crockpot.

Tuesday 8/10: Macaroni and cheese, carrot sticks with ranch dressing... my girlie is having a sleepover and that is the proper sleepover food, I'm told.

Wednesday 8/11: A garbanzo bean/tomato curry and rice. Maybe some naan if I have energy to make some or find time to buy some. (Whole wheat tortillas are a decent substitute.) Or maybe this recipe for samosas which I snagged from SmallWorld.

Thursday 8/12: Another sleepover but this time with hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, and potato salad. Probably carrot sticks and ranch dressing, too.

Friday 8/13: Pizza or pasta with tomato sauce, salad.

Saturday 8/14: We'll be camping with the Boy Scouts so they'll feed us.

Sunday 8/15: Grilled steak, potatoes, salad or green beans or some other veggie.

A very simple week; lots of easy food as is fitting for summertime and sleepovers. I can't wait for hearty soup and stew weather.

Find more menu plan ideas at I'm An Organizing Junkie. Looks like a good site all around. There are a lot of menu plans up: I am number 205!