Menu Plans: 8/17-8/29

In an effort to keep on top of things at home after returning to work full-time last week, I've tried including a balance of crockpot and freezer meals.  It's going to take me a month or so to get into a good rhythm with these changes, but the need to watch the food budget is keeping me motivated right now.

8/17: Grill:  bratwurst and marinated tilapia
8/18:  Vegetarian Chili Ole (crockpot)
8/19:  Buffalo Chicken Mac (Quinoa) & Cheese (cooked and froze chicken and quinoa ahead of time and assembled day of)
8/20:  GF Meatloaf and Potatoes (crockpot - Made meatloaf and froze ahead of time.  Great new recipe!)
8/21:  Frozen Pizza
8/22:  Leftovers
8/23:  Ate at Festival of Nations
8/24:  Still plenty of leftovers :)
8/25:  Creamy Key Lime Chicken Enchiladas (Made ahead of time for the freezer)
8/26:  Southwestern Quinoa (made ahead of time for the freezer) and chicken sausages
8/27:  French Bread Pizzas (regular, vegetarian, and GF versions)
8/28:  Leftovers or fast food
8/29:  Filets with Sour Cream and cheese

Grocery Shopping

If you're like me, grocery shopping can be burdensome.  It's even more difficult if you can't manage to make it to the store alone!

A few years ago, our pay schedule changed to monthly instead of bi-weekly.  At that time, I made a planning and shopping shift and decided to menu plan and grocery shop for a month at a time.  (Mind you, I still get produce during the month through our co-op, and I have to stop for milk.)  It was hard at first, but now it is my normal routine.

One of the tools I found online while I was doing this was a master shopping list (http://simplemom.net/tools/downloads/).  I have tweaked my version to add the things I buy regularly (and need to remember to pick up), using her format, but it has saved me a ton of time.

Menu Challenge

What a week!  I feel far more normal today, which is partially due to getting back into a routine now that school has started...although I could do without the super early mornings!!

Dinner tonight was minus my baby, since he was invited to go see the Cards game tonight.  With just the kids and me, I decided to just throw a bag of chicken tenders in the oven that I didn't realize was in the freezer.  (Gotta love surprises!)  Along with that, I fixed broccoli and noodles to use up a partial box of pasta and the bunch of broccoli that came in the produce basket this week.  That is one of my favorite things to eat.

A friend shared this link through Facebook a few weeks ago for single ingredient banana "ice cream," and I've really been wanting to try it: http://userealbutter.com/2010/08/12/single-ingredient-ice-cream-recipe/.  In the last co-op pick-up, I ended up with two bunches of bananas that went from green to overly ripe very quickly (I'm sure due to the heatwave we've had and the hot temps inside the house).  I went ahead and sliced them and flash froze them for a later date.  Today was the later date.

I made a very small batch of just plain banana, a bit larger batch with peanut butter, and the rest with cocoa and peanut butter.  All of my kids loved it (chocolate/peanut butter got the most votes), and my daughter said, "This is the bomb diggity!  Can I have more?"  One of my daughters doesn't like peanut butter or chocolate, but the banana was just too plain for her.  I think next time I might see what the consistency turns out like with strawberries or another fruit added.  Great solution for too many bananas!  (I get tired of freezing bananas for muffins at a later date.)  And a great solution for the three of us who are lactose-intolerant and want something frozen and creamy!

Veggies, Veggies, Veggies

This month is an odd meal month for us, mostly because of my hurried planning at the end of July.  I have another week's worth of menus in my plan for August, but obviously that won't cover us unless I either do more shopping or get creative.  As of right now, I'm choosing creativity.

For a few years now, I have participated in Community Helpings Co-op for our fruits and veggies (and a few other fun extras from time to time).  Monday was pick-up day, so I have a box worth of produce to implement into the menu.

Tonight I decided to make some pepperoni roll-ups for dinner, but I knew that with five of us at the table I needed more.  I had two jumbo (and I mean jumbo) carrots that I cut into sticks for my less creative (and more picky) eaters, and for the rest of us, I created this:

I had a partial box of whole wheat couscous in the cabinet, so I cooked that as instructed.  (This particular recipe used one cup of uncooked couscous, which yields about two cups when cooked.)  In a small skillet, I heated olive oil and added one peeled and diced sweet potatoes and a few slices of onion (which I also diced).  After the potatoes were tender, I added two leaves of collard greens that had been chopped and cooked for just a minute or so.  I also sprinkled the veggies with Emeril's Essence (a staple in my spice cabinet).  When done, I stirred this into the couscous, and I served some crumbled feta cheese on the side for any takers.  

Even my non-sweet-potato-liking husband liked this recipe, and my daughters asked me to make another batch so they could pack it in their school lunches for tomorrow.  For someone who had never cooked with greens in the past, I have found that I can throw them into a lot of different dishes.

Next up for some night this week: tackling the quinoa in the cabinet.  :)