Menu Plan Monday: $400 grocery trip

We got our income taxes back and it was sizeable amount, so Saturday I went grocery shopping... and spent $400. Wow. It took  me hours to put away the food, I swear.

So needless to say, we have ingredients for probably every single meal you can think of. The problem is, of course, putting them all together!

Monday - Beef stew with bread and salad. I am debating on this version, which is a "baked" version made in the oven.
Tuesday - Bourbon Chicken with rice and stir-fry veggies (we LOVE this recipe)
Wednesday - Carmelized onion pork chops with baked potatoes and roasted garlic lemon broccoli
Thursday - Pasta, nummy quick garlic breadsticks, salad
Friday - Meatloaf, potatoes, salad, rolls
Saturday - I have no idea...
Sunday - Pot roast and rolls, mmmm...

This is the first week in a month or so that I have actually made a plan, and it feels good to get back in the groove!

Now I'm going to go browse the other plans at Org Junkie to see if I can fill in that Saturday gap...

Menu Plan Monday: Mmmmmbeef.

Mmm, beef. That's this week's "featured ingredient" because I'm not grocery shopping this week, and we bought a large portion of a cow a few weeks ago, so we have a LOT of beef!

Last week I made crock pot cubed steaks, and MAN, were they good. I skipped the gravy and just cooked them in beef broth, since Tams can't have gravy, and then Ben and I smothered OURS in gravy after they were done. But whew. They were excellent!

I didn't get to try any of the rice or bean dishes last week because it seemed like those days things came up and dinner got skewed. But a lot of them require things I don't have on hand, and since I'm not grocery shopping, that won't work. So those are going to be put on the back burner until next week.

• Monday - Hearty Skillet Supper (Allrecipes) with bread
• Tuesday - I don't believe this, but I'm going to try carrot soup. Something I've never even considered. I guess candied carrots would NOT be a good side for this one, huh?
• Wednesday - Burgers, fries, salad or broccoli
• Thursday - Pasta, salad or other green veggie, garlic bread
• Friday - Homemade pizza - going to try to make Tams her own pizza dough and see if she'll be okay with just sauce and toppings.
• Saturday -Crockpot shepherd's pie - I think I tried this before and it bombed, but I'm going to try again
• Sunday - Pot roast with carrots, potatoes, onions, fresh bread, and preferably salad if we have any left!

I've run into a bit of a road block with my off-line cookbooks. Most of them are old-time books from the 50s-60s-70s and they all feature LOTS of wheat, dairy, and egg. Not to mention a ton of meat dishes. So I've gone to searching for vegan recipes for Tamsyn, and adding in my own meat if I feel it needs it.
Some of these recipes are new experiences for me, and I think the carrot soup is going to be a REALLY new one...

So if anyone has any good, vegan recipes (preferably without wheat, too, but I'm not picky!), please share!

And don't forget to head over to The Organizing Junkie for more menu plans!
Kudos!

Menu Plan Monday

 

Head over to Organizing Junkie for more meal plans!

This week's meal plan is fairly easy to do, since I will be working straight from our stockpile. We have $30 for groceries this pay period, so I will keep that in reserve for next week, so that we could get some fresh fruit and veggies.

Mon - Ham and bean soup, using broth from last night's potroast and ham saved from christmas. Home made 'sweet' rolls with butter, salad.

Tues - Chicken Salsa Fajitas (minus the flour) with all the trappings of fajitas.

Wed - Spicy Beans 'n' rice, cornbread, salad

Thurs - Crock pot cube steaks, mashed potatoes, salad, bread???

Fri - Hearty skillet supper, bread, salad

Sat - Black bean enchiladas (didn't get a chance to make these last week), cornbread, salad (I hope I have enough salad to go around!)

Sun - Pasta chicken alfredo, spaghetti for the girls. Garlic bread.


Mmm. I'm starving now! After scanning the recipes, I think I have everything needed for all these meals. We have plenty of fruit and snacks for the kids. Sandwich stuff for me. I did a nice grocery run Friday and stocked us up, so we're really ahead of the game. (For once!)

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Lately I've been dying to go back to school. I've been studying Russian and guitar as things to distract me, but nothing beats the thrill of working towards good grades (am I insane?). I spoke to Ben about our tax refund and, assuming it's a fair amount, we agreed that we would pay out of pocket for the few credit hours I need to take to re-qualify for financial aid.

That's very reassuring. Even one class would be excellent. One step closer to a degree.

I'm also considering applying to OUL - Ohio University, Lancaster. I'm wondering if my financial aid restriction will prevent me from getting aid from OUL too. Something to think about.

Meanwhile, life goes on. We cancelled Tamsyn's birthday party because of bad roads and snow, but we had a nice little celebration just in our family. I got some great pictures of her. And then that afternoon we Skyped with Ben's parents and they had a blast.

The house has been coming along, too. Yesterday we cleaned out our closets and reorganized them so everything would fit. Ben cleaned out enough of the garage to fit my car in and fixed a few minor dents. We also cleaned out a LOT of the utility room, giving us a huge walkway instead of just a tiny little path!

So, on that note, time to go. I have SO much to catch up on in regards to the house today.

Kudos!

Menu Plan Monday, and More

(Check out Organizing Junkie for more menu plans!


Welcome to my first post of 2011!

One thing I have been terribly lax at is menu planning. For our family, when it works, it WORKS. When I don't make one, well, we go through the rush-whats-for-dinner daily.

So here we are again. A new year. Hopefully a new start.

Mon - Sweet & Sour Beef Stew over rice, homemade french bread

Tues - Bourbon chicken (a family favorite), stirfried veggies, over rice

Wed - Spaghetti or Alfredo pasta, more homemade bread, green beans

Th - Chili with cornbread, Broccoli

F - Bean enchiladas, cornbread, lemon garlic broccoli

S - Tamsyn's birthday party! We'll probably have a meat/cheese tray, so we'll finish that off, as well as cake and goodies.

Su - Plain ole' pot roast, french bread, salad


Now the trick: to stick with it!


Tamsyn turns 2 in 3 days (I originally typed '3 in 2 days'. WHOA, there, mommy, back up!). Her GF/DF/EF cake is ordered from Pattycake Bakery, a vegan bakery here in Columbus. I LOVE the fact that they are already vegan. They also take Gluten-free orders on a regular basis, so I'm not very worried about cross contamination. I could, of course, make T's cake here at home - but there is something about birthday cakes that makes me want buy them. Partly for the lovely decorations, done by real people. Partly because I LOVE birthday cake - the kind you get from a real bakery. LOVE it. Love it so much that I am having a 2nd, "regular" cake made for T's party. All for me (but I might share with some guests). After all, her birth day included me, right? So I get cake too!

Ahhem. Yes, I'm 6.


And in a random swing of topics, we sold Molly yesterday. :( For many reasons. The first is that the goats have to somehow pay for themselves... they weren't. Molly was the ringleader, she was a pain in the neck, so she went first.
Connie is up for sale, too. I'm debating on listing Nicky, just because I don't see any real reason to keep him.

I'm also considering breeding the "babies". I guess they're not really babies anymore! I'd like to wait until late January, though. That way they are a solid 9 months old. Connie was 8 months old when we bred her, and I feel that was a tiny bit too young.

Alright, well, time to go do some dishes, bake some bread, and make some yummy stew.

Kudos!