Menu Planning 6/3-6/14

Here is my menu plan for the first two weeks (roughly) of June.  We are going on vacation and I wanted to plan my meals and hopefully save some extra money to make sure we can have a really good time when we do go later this month.  So here is what I have come up with:

Today:  Breakfast for dinner w/mango and peach smoothies

6/4:  Chicken Fajitas w/black beans, rice and Fruit salad

6/5:  Sausage Pear Quiche w/steamed broccoli, biscuits

6/6:  Brat Stew

6/7:  Meatball Soup w/french bread

6/8: Sweet and Sour Keilbasa w/rice and salad

6/9:  Grilled Hot dogs w/fruit and mini corn on the cobs

6/10: Homemade Pizza

6/11:  Beef stir fry w/rice and biscuits

6/12: Pork Chops w/rice and veggies

6/13: Grilled Cheese w/tomato soup

6/14:  Leftovers

Menu Planning hates me.

So in my never ending quest to bring a peaceful flow of organization to my home I set out to come up with a basic menu plan.  This menu will have 31 dinners (some repeated) with a full list for grocery shopping.  The idea behind this is so that all my families favorites are on it and that I can use this to know what to stock up on for my pantry so I can make a dinner on the fly if need be.  You know for those days when everyone is going crazy and the house took over.  The problem I am having w/this menu plan idea is remember what the heck we like! LOL! 

Here are things I have come up with:

• Italian Chicken (crockpot dinner..repeated)
• Sandwiches (cold cuts, roast beef, subs, grilled cheese, etc)
• Homemade Pizza (repeated)
• 2 Cup Casserole (repeated)
• Kabobs (repeated)
• Burgers/Hot Dogs (repeated)
• Meatball Subs
• BBQ Chicken
• Brat Stew
• Chili
• Sloppy Joes
• Tacos/Fajitas/Quesadillas
• Breakfast 4 Dinner (repeated)
• French's Chicken
• Baked Mac-n-cheese
• Spaghetti/Baked Ziti/Lasagna (repeated)
• Stuffed Peppers
• Meatloaf
• Chicken Alfredo
• Quiche
• Roast
• Whole Roaster Chicken
• Pork Loin
• Ham/Turkey
•  

Those are the dinners on my 31 day basic menu.  Now to make a list of ingredients that I would need to have.   Things I would have for pantry stocked items would be stuff like:

• pasta noodles (elbow, lasagna, ziti, etc.)
• pasta sauce (alfredo, tomato)
• Meat on sale (chicken drum sticks, whole chickens, ham, turkey, etc)
• bags of pizza crust mix
• flour
• sugar
• spices
• frozen fruit
• frozen veggies 

How do you menu plan?  

Thursday night dinner!

Tonight we had French's chicken.  (Look on the back of the can/bag for directions) With it I served cantalope and salad.  Talk about yummy!  I ate and was actually satisfied.  AMAZING!

What did you have for dinner?  Do you blog about your menus if so please link it to me in a comment so I can check it out!

Happy Thursday!!!!!

Todays shopping

Today I went grocery shopping.  I am not quite done but I am happy with what I have done so far.  I spent less than $150.  I got:

• pork chops w/noodles and veggies
• pot roast (need to buy the veggies when i am ready to cook it)
• 3 lbs of hamburger meat for various dinners (sloppy joes, etc)
•  chicken breasts for various dinners
• lasagna 
• turkey meatballs for subs and/or spaghetti w/meatballs

Those are just a few dinners I am sure. I really have to look through my cabinets and check out the stock of items I have on hand.  When I shop I buy random items that I can use to throw a dinner together in a pinch.  So I keep those in stock for the times when I am too sick to venture out. 

How do you grocery shop best?  And what kind of things do you buy regularly?

Some recipes we have had recently!

I don't know about you but I sometimes loose my desire to walk into the kitchen.  Call it laziness, lack of inspiration, or whatever but there are so times when going in there is more of a chore than a joy.  Not to mention when you try and feed a family of picky people!  Sound familiar?

Well here are a few recipes we have had in our home lately.  I hope they help you out.

*Disclaimer:  These recipes were written on a card and given to my by my mother in law and another friend.  So I do not know their original origin.

2 Cup Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked chicken or turkey
• 2 cups uncooked macaroni
• 1/4 cup onion
• 2 cans of cream of chicken soup.  (You can also use cream of broccoli or one of both.  i suggest one of each.  SO good!)
• 2 cups milk (I just fill my small soup can per cup of milk rather than dirtying another dish)
• parsley 
• 2 cups shredded cheddar

Directions:

• Mix chicken, macaroni noodles, onion, soup, milk and parsley together into bowl.  Pour into sprayed 9x13 pan and refridgerate overnight.
• Top w/cheddar.  Next day (or same if you want to) bake in preheated oven at 350 for about an hour (or until noodles are cooked).  ENJOY!

Cook suggestions:  I added a 1/2 bag of frozen broccoli per 1 casserole for extra filling.  If you don't have leftover chicken or turkey from a whole one and need to cook from the beginning...I suggest cooking the chicken with the onion, pepper to taste, and a little bit of garlic powder.


Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 small can of cheddar cheese 
• 1 small can of cream o mush soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup butter (softenened)
• 1/4 cup onion (optional)
• 28 oz. bag of OreIda Potatoes O' Brien (has onions and peppers already in it)

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients in bowl.  Pour into sprayed 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 55-60 mins or until done.  ENJOY!

Cooks suggestion:  Serve with Eggs and Smoothies for a breakfast night!  Would also go good with Ham.

Talk about a challenge.

So I am trying to change up my eating habits.  Basically weeding out most if not ALL of the processed foods we consume.  This is definately going to be hard to do.  I mean my pantry is stocked full of it. 

Since being diagnosed with Graves disease I am even more tired than I should be.  Part of the reason for changing up the eating habits.  I know this is going to take a LOT of discipline on my part but I feel this needs to be done.  Sadly I am at a loss as to how to start and where!  Guess its time to pull out my brain from hibernation and get some thinking on!


I will post my menu plan as soon as I figure it out!  Until then if you have any ideas PLEASE share with me either comment below or on the facebook page!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve

Wow.  I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  That amazes me.  Simply amazes me.  This year has been a bumpy road to travel with lots of crazy events.  I can't believe it is coming to an end.  In many ways I am so thankful for that but at the same time it brings about some reflection time.

This year we welcomed our fourth child into the world.  A boy.  FINALLY!  After three girls I am so thankful to have him join us.  I will never forget the day they told us it was for sure a baby boy.  My husband must have texted every person he knew and worked with.  The guys he worked with told him it better be a boy or else.  They all cheered him on when he came back.  LOL.  Another big event to happen this was having two children in school.  This came at a good time because I had a new little guy at home and I was very tired and emotionally distraught.  Little did I know that I had post partum depression and was going to be diagnosed with Graves disease before this year was over.

This year has had its joys and challenges.  Our financial state has suffered due to my lack of energy to put effort into saving money in the grocery department.  It also seemed like everything kept breaking and needing fixing.  Like the fact that we had a tire to replace last night and my husbands car seems to be on its death bed.  I hate when things like that happen.  However I realize that as 2011 comes to a close that we are truly blessed.  I may not have thousands in savings, perfect health, or all the things on my "want" list but I have a great husband, beautiful children, and good doctors who are willing to answer all my questions as they come up.

So friends take heart that you may not be where you want to be with your cleaning, grocery budgets, finances or whatever but you do have blessings in this life.  So sit back and take note of what they are.  Family who loves you?  A God who loves you?  Friends?  Enough money to pay bills?  Food to feed your bellies?  You are blessed.  Maybe not without struggle but blessed regardless of it.  

I hope you know that I care for you.  I may not know you but I still care.  I know my God loves you and that is enough for me to love you as well.  So know that as Christmas Eve approaches tomorrow and you celebrate with gifts and food and music that you are loved and cherished during this holiday season.  Enjoy the end of 2011 and I will see YOU in 2012!!!!!!

CHEERS TO THE CHRISTMAS SEASON AND 2012 OUR NEW YEAR!