The Eats for the Week!

Menu Board by Oh So Chichi!

Today, I have done nothing.  There is snow on the ground, it is cold outside, and I have become a permanent fixture on my sofa surrounded by the comforts of my blanket and pillow.  We all need a movie marathon day every now and then, don't you think?  After many hours of debate, I finally came to the conclusion that I should at least find my lap top and plan our meals while I lay here, as I am assuming my family will want to eat this week. They're pretty demanding like that.

Above is a cute menu board created by Oh So Chichi!  Isn't this the cutest thing!  Go here to be taken to the tutorial and learn how to create this menu board for your own home!

Breakfasts and lunches will be fairly basic this week and everything I need for those meal I already have in the pantry, so meal planning this week will consist only of dinners. Yes, is seems as if my laziness is going to be a week long event!

Dinners this week:
Penne with roasted asparagus, red lobster biscuits, spicy roasted cauliflower
Beef with Broccoli , white steamed rice, sauteed mushrooms
BBQ drumsticks, steamed broccoli with a cheese sauce, garlic potatoes
Game night foods: Chicken wings, queso and chips, crescent wrapped lil smokies, carrot sticks
Spaghetti, asparagus, garlic bread
Green salad tossed with roasted chicken breast, carrots, red peppers and tomatoes
Valentine's Dinner Out 

The Eats for the Week!

What we have cooking up this week!

Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board 

Another week?  Already?  Time just seems to go by so quickly these days, and I wish things would slow down, just a little.  My boys are growing up before my eyes and at least one day out of the week I find myself in tears at the thoughts of the oldest almost being through his freshman year of high school and before we know it he will be going away to college, with our second son not far behind him.   This makes me incredibly sad.  However, I am hopeful that they will always remember mama's good cookin' and come home every now and then to visit me.

But for now, my house remains chaotic, loud and full of hungry, growing boys, which brings us to this week's menu.  What do you have cooking this week?

Oh, and I almost forgot!  The picture I posted above came from the blog Make and Takes.  She has a great tutorial on how you can make this very cute Wipe Off Menu Board for yourself!

Breakfast:
Grapefruit
Hot oatmeal with fresh blueberries
Cold cereal
Toast with Apple Butter and banana
Bagel with Nutella and oranges
Waffles with apple slices

Lunch:
Left overs
Deli Meat Sandwich with mixed fruit and pretzels
Mac and Cheese with fruit snacks
Healthy  Choice for mom
Cheese and crackers with orange slices
Soup with crackers

Dinner:
Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Roast with carrots and potatoes with a side of spicy roasted cauliflower
Homemade chicken and dumplins, cream biscuits and fresh green bean stir-fry
Sweet and Sour Chicken, white rice, homemade egg rolls
Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, green salad
Kielbasa & Cabbage, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus

What we have cooking up this week!

25 pounds of carrots!

If you read by blog earlier this week, you will recall my joy over discovering Bountiful Baskets, www.bountifulbaskets.org, and that I also mentioned ordering 25 lbs of carrots for only $8.50, to be picked up today. Wow, let me just say that 25 lbs of carrots is a lot of carrots! I am so pleased with today's basket. For $15.00 I got a bag of red potatoes, 3 onions 4 green peppers, one red pepper, a package of blueberries, a head of cabbage, a bag of green beans, a bundle of asparagus, a stock of romaine lettuce, 2 grapefruit 8 oranges, 6 apples and 3 tomatoes. I am so pleased with this food co-op and can't wait to plan this week's meals! Now to start peeling and freezing some carrots!

25 pounds of carrots!

Freezer Day

photo courtesy of Bountiful Baskets Facebook  page! 

Today I am working from home, and as time permits (during lunch and in between calls), a freezer day.  Oh, where to begin....

I have been introduced to a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets.  It is fabulous!  It not only  is in Wyoming, but several states, including Texas (for all my Texas readers and friends out there).  Go to this link to see if it is offered in your area.  BB is a volunteer food co-op and for $15.00 you get a laundry basket (literally) full of all kinds of fruits and veggies.  Plus, you have the option of adding whole grain breads, granola, etc.  You place your order every Monday and then pick it up on Saturday and you never know what you are going to get, so it is best to wait and go to the grocery after you get your basket so you don't over buy.  It saves tons of money in produce, plus we have been getting stuff that we might not normally buy at the store, so it is encouraging us to eat more fruits and veggies and overall healthier meals, as I meal plan around what we get.  Plus, the boys have been eating Kiwi and Pears like crazy this week and I didn't even realize they liked Kiwi.  It makes me so happy to see them try new things, and love them!  This week they had the option to order 25 pounds of carrots from Arizona for only $8.50.  That is a HUGE savings.  So, I plan on freezing those carrots to use in soups, roasts and as side dishes.  I really could just go on and on about it, but their website is packed full of information, so go check it out!

On Sunday we cooked a huge turkey with all the fixings and have been eating on that all week, so there is no meal plan for this week as we are in left over heaven and have plenty of turkey and veggies to get us through until next week.

So, today I am freezing some fresh corn on the cobb, some onion, broccoli and cauliflower and making a batch of Apple Butter using a bag of apples that we got from Bountiful Baskets.  I will share my freezing experience in a future blog.  As I have only frozen a limited variety of fruits and veggies in the past, I checked out Rodale's Complete Book of Home Freezing from the library earlier this week for tips and instructions for all of my freezing needs!  Needless to say, I a ready to get my freeze on!

Freezer Day

What's for dinner this week?

Magnetic Menu Planner from $5 Dinners!

This week we are cooking one of two extra turkeys we bought during the Thanksgiving holiday while they were on sale at rock-bottom prices.  This is something we decided we were going to try and do more often, cooking a large turkey that is, because it provides several meals for our family of six, and better yet, we all love the yumminess of Thanksgiving dinner!  

Above I posted a picture and a link to a magnetic menu planner from $5 Dinners.  She has two different printable versions, a scrapbook version and a recycled version, both of which are super cute!  

What's on your menu for this week?

   

Breakfast:

Hot oatmeal with raisins 

Cold cereal

English Muffins and Jam

Waffles and oranges

Banana, yogurt and toast

Eggs and toast

Bagel and Nutella 

Lunch:

Mac and Cheese

PB&J with homemade applesauce

Leftovers

Soup

Grilled cheese with apple slices

Deli Sandwich with pretzels 

Mini tortilla pizzas

Dinner:

Chicken & Dumplings (my mother-in-law's recipe), green beans, 7-up Biscuits

CrockPot chili 

Deli Fried Chicken (on sale with coupon), mashed potatoes, mac and cheese

Taco Salad

Spaghetti with whole kernel corn and garlic bread 

Roast Turkey (bought on sale at Thanksgiving and kept frozen), cornbread stuffing, diced potatoes, cranberry & orange sauce, green bean casserole

Left Overs 

What's for dinner this week?

This week's menu...

This cute recipe book can be found at Lucky Girl gifts.

Last week's menu stayed on task and we enjoyed some pretty tasty meals, several were new to us and have found their way onto our list of favorites.  This week I am attempting my first DIY project of the year, Homemade English Muffins.  I am hoping they turn out as yummy as Utah Deal Diva's did!

What yummy meals are you cooking up this week?

Breakfasts:
Homemade English Muffins with jam
Bagels with Nutella
Homemade Sausage and Egg "McMuffins"
Cold ceral
Waffles with oranges
Scrambled eggs with toast and banana
Oatmeal with toast

Lunches:
Soup
Grilled cheese with pretzels
Leftovers from Dinner
Lunch out with the hubby
PB&J with grapes
Healthy Choice meals for mom
Ham and Cheese sandwich with apple slices

Dinners:
Kielbasa & Cabbage with cornbread and mashed potatoes
Spaghetti with green beans and garlic bread
Southwest Enchilada Bake (freezer friendly meal) with green salad
Zatarain's Spanish Rice with Italian sausage, charo beans and cornbread
Nacho Cheese Chicken Chowder
Leftovers
Deli sandwich with soup and chips

This week's menu...

Hello 2012 and welcome back Meal Planning!

Throughout the 2011 holiday season my meal planning seemed to get lost in the hustle and bustle of company parties, school functions, gift wrapping, seasonal baking and so on....

I was excited this morning, the first day of a new year, to sit down at my computer with my pen and paper (yes, I'm a write it down and cross it out type of gal) and meal plan for this week.  I found some new budget friendly and healthy meal choices that will be new for our family as well as some family favorites that we tend to eat every week.  I look forward to sharing these new foods with you and if you try them and like them, I would love to hear about it!  The Project Girl offers a FREE downloadable menu planner to make your meal planning that much easier.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from our family to yours!

Week of Jan 1, 2012:

Breakfasts:
cold cereal
english muffin with apple butter. (my Jan DIY project is homemade english muffins so keep an out for that recipe later in the month).
waffle and fruit
oatmeal and banana
scrambled eggs and toast
Chocolate No-Bake Energy Bars
bagels and Nutella

Lunches:
PB & J sandwich with bananas
Left over soup and crackers
Ham Sandwich and chips
Grilled cheese and apple slices
Healthy choice meals for mom
Left overs from dinner
Cheese and crackers with oranges

Dinners:
Black eye peas, kielbasa and cabbage, fried potatoes and sweet cornbread
Pasta Bake with Kielbasa and Apples , whole kernal corn,  Red Lobster Biscuits
Spaghetti with meat sauce, cut green beans, and garlic bread
Hearty Lasagna Soup  with garlic bread
One Pot Chili Casserole and corn on the cobb
Left Overs
Date Night with the hubby at Proud Cut (using gift card won at Christmas Company party)!

Hello 2012 and welcome back Meal Planning!

Menu for the week of Jan. 10, 2011

i almost didn't blog about our menu this week as it really didn't change from last week, due to a few reasons such as, we ate left overs, i was sick a couple of days so the boys fixed mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches for themselves, and with dad out of town we had left over ingredients and will be able to repeat the meals this week! went grocery shopping last night and only spent $58.00 for the week, and that included toilet paper, diapers, wipes, some cleaning supplies and extra food! the budget is loving this week!!

this week meals include:

BLT sandwiches (left over ingredients so we can repeat this one!)

Mac and Cheese

Chips

Homemade mini pizzas with Spanish Rice (SUPER EASY KID FRIENDLY MEAL) **will blog this one!

Fish sticks with mashed sweet potatoes and whole kernel corn

Spaghetti with meat sauce, green  beans and french bread

Chicken swiss bundles **will blog this  one!

Chicken Alfredo, salad, and french bread

***Meal out (picking husband up from the airport and will dine in Dallas)

Menu for the week of Jan. 10, 2011

Meal Planning in 2011

In 2010 I began weekly meal planning, which really helped with eliminating the big "what's for dinner?" question that I was being asked by my husband, my kids and even more importantly, myself !  It also helped me organize our pantry and made grocery shopping trips more productive and efficient, as we actually started saving money because we were sticking to our very detailed list and only buying what we needed for the weeks menu. So, for 2011 I thought I would start sharing our weekly menus and then blogging some recipes that are on the menu for the week after we prepare them.  As my husband will be in Alaska off and on over the next few months, you may notice that the kids and I resort to more "kid friendly" meals while dad is away.  These are fun for the kids and easy for me as playing the role of  mom and dad can some days be totally exhausting!

Menu for the week of January 3, 2011

Monday 1/3/11
BLT sandwiches
Spanish Rice
Tortilla Chips and Salsa

Tuesday 1/4/11
Chili Dogs
Mac and Cheese
Green Beans

Wednesday 1/5/11
Fish Sticks
Whole Kernel Corn
Sweet Potatoes - Mashed

Thursday 1/6/11
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Green Beans
Garlic Bread

Friday 1/7/11
Dinner out or Left overs (Dillon has a basketball tournament)

Saturday 1/8/11
Lunch: Frozen Pizza
Dinner: Chicken Swiss Bundles (will blog this recipe)

Sunday 1/9/11
Fettuccine Chicken Alfredo
Green Beans
Garlic Bread

Meal Planning in 2011