Meals for a Month – May

I’m still loving my month-at-a-time meal planning. Like with any planning, it has saved me a bundle of time. But doing it for a month seems to save me even more time.

Once I plan my menu, I lay out a grocery list for the needed items each week. Recipes requiring special, more pricey ingredients, I plan to have at the end of the month so I can hopefully find what I need when it’s on sale.

Then, I schedule a cooking plan of meals I can make ahead, double the recipe, and freeze.

After that, it’s sit back and relax time. I love that!

Here’s what May shaped up to be:

1. Out of town
2. Out of town
3. Out of town
4. Chicken | Asparagus Casserole
5. Spaghetti, Salad, Focaccia 
6. OUT – Birthday dinner!
7. Pizza, Green Smoothies
8. Cilantro Chicken, Rice, Corn Casserole
9. Tacos
10. Turkey Loin, Veggies
11. BLT Pasta (I used orzo instead and topped with croutons baked in bacon fat – Yum!), Applesauce
12. Spaghetti, Salad, Focaccia 
13. Rotisserie Chicken, roasted potatoes, veggies
14. Pizza, fruit
15. OUT – Birthday picnic – Curried Tuna Wraps – YUM!
16. Dinner with friends
17. Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, homemade buns, leftover salad
18. Spaghetti, Salad, Focaccia 
19. Asian chicken, rice, stir-fried veggies
20. Tuna medallions, guacamole
21. Pizza, fruit
22. Leftovers
23. Tacos
24. Crab legs, garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed spinach
25. Chicken | Asparagus Casserole
26. Steak, veggies
27. Spaghetti, Salad, Focaccia 
28. Pizza, fruit, leftovers
29. Out
30. Out
31. Out – Happy Memorial Day!

Meals for a Month

I’ve definitely joined the camp praising the benefits of meal planning. A little preparation makes for a lot of ease. But I’ll be the first to admit to you: I dislike meal planning, too. 

It takes time and precious brain cells (from my dwindling supply) to pull together a meal plan.

Some women plan completely from scratch. Others have a 2, 4 or even 6-week rotation of family favorites.

I fall into the first group. For a while now I’ve dedicated a portion of my Saturday mornings to planning our menu for the following week. Armed with the weekly ads, my menu planning cards and my links to favored recipe sites, I’ve taken 20-30 minutes to do my thing... until recently I switched things up again.

One of my highly-esteemed blogger friends finds time to menu plan on a larger scale. And so, for the month of April, I took the plunge and decided to plan out my entire menu... for the whole month. While I’m on a roll, why not? And you know what, we have a winner!

It certainly works for me.

Here’s some noted differences, however:

- Additional flexibility. I don’t have as much control over my month’s schedule as I do for the current week. Solution? I made sure to plan out meals for every single day of the month. Then as issues arose, I swapped days.

- Planning around unknown sales. Obviously you’ll never know the ad from one week to another. Solution? Enter freezer cooking and good ol’ fashion guesswork. I’ve been attempting freezer cooking for some time now, and in planning for the month, it’s really been a lifesaver. When things are on sale, I stock up in hopes to utilize the items the following month. Additionally grocery chains rotate their sales every 4-6 weeks, for the most part. So it helps to keep a mental tab on what sales might be coming up.

- More rotation. I’ve never been a big fan of meal rotation. However, I have found that planning for the month required a little more structure than normal. Solution: Taco Tuesdays Sundays and Friday night pizza.

That said, here’s what our April plans looked like:

1. Spaghetti, Salad
2. Pizza, Fruit
3. EASTER
4. EASTER
5. Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Biscuits, Salad
6. BRC Quiche, 3 Bean Salad
7. Hamburgers, Fruit
8. Rotisserie Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Bread
9. Pizza, Green Smoothies
10. Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, Broccoli
11. Tacos|Burritos, Fruit
12. Sweet/Sour Turkey Meatballs, Veggies
13. Crab Legs, Roasted Potatoes, Veggies
14. Vegetarian Lasagna, Bread
15. Jamaican Salmon, Rice, Carrots
16. Pizza, Fruit
17. Cilantro Chicken w/ Avocado Salsa, Rice
18. Tacos|Burritos, Fruit
19. Rotisserie Chicken, Veggies, Corn Muffins
20. Vegetarian Curry, Rice, Fruit
21. Asian Chicken Orzo Salad, Fruit
22. BRC Quiche, Salad
23. Pizza, Fruit
24. BLT Pasta, Salad or Fruit
25. Tacos|Burritos, Fruit
26. Soy Salmon, Baked Potatoes, Veggies
27. Crepes, Sausage, Fruit
28. Spaghetti, Veggies, Bread
29. Rotisserie chicken salad sandwiches w/ yogurt
30. Pizza, Fruit
31. Lettuce Wraps, Fruit

BON APETIT!

Menu Cards

What’s for Dinner

It’s good to be getting back to normal in our house. And to prove it’s true... here’s this week’s menu at a glance... already complete on a Monday morning. :-)

15. Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken, Bread, Veggie

16. Sloppy Joes, Fruit

17. Crepes, Fruit

18. Asian Chicken & Orzo Salad, Bread

19. Pizza & Salad

20. Spaghetti, Salad, Bread

21. Fajitas, Fruit—Morenna’s 2nd birthday party foods!

What's for dinner?

There's a brand new baby at our house. Given that, I'm sure you might be rather annoyed that I'm posting up our weekly menu plan rather than the gazillion of adorable baby pictures taking up space on my camera. Begging to be viewed. Cooed over. Etc.

But I'm trying to be good. And this past week was a perfect reminder to me as to why menu planning is so terrific.

Sunday night found my hubby and I heading off to the birthing center to meet our new little daughter. (More on that soon, I promise. Soon.) How nice it was to leave and know that Morenna and my mom were set as far as food goes. No guesswork was needed on the part of my mom as to what food combinations she could concoct from the random items in my fridge and cabinets.

And since we got home from the hospital, meals have been a breeze. Here's what was on deck for us last week:

Monday
B: Oatmeal
L: Tuna Salad
D: Zesty Corn | Black Bean Quesadillas (added chicken, too), Spinach Salad

Tuesday
B: Eggs
L: Mac & Cheese
D: Turkey & Wild Rice Soup, Fruit

Wednesday
B: Pancakes, Bacon
L: Cheese & Crackers, Fruit
D: Spaghetti, Roasted Asparagus

Thursday
B: Cereal
L: Quesadillas
D: Slow-Cooker Pesto Chicken (excellent!), Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans

Friday
B: Bagels
L: Egg Salad Sandwiches
D: Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday
B: TBD
L: Leftovers
D: Beef Stir Fry, Saffron Rice

Sunday
B: Cereal
L: Leftovers
D: Snacky items

And now (drumroll, please)... trot out the baby pictures...

Freezer Baking Day

I wrestled with a bit of disappointment that I wasn't able to participate in real time with my favored bloggers - FishMama and MoneySavingMom - as they took the blogging world by storm and loaded up their respective freezers with lots of yummy food. The flu does place one in survival mode, after all.

But in the days since, I've been stashing things in my freezer a bit at a time. Perhaps it's a bit better I'm doing my cooking a little at a time anyways, seeing how I waddle around like a duck these days and my belly is sagging a bit low.

But then there was Monday.

After a six-hour stint of six-minute spaced contractions on Sunday (whoa, that's a lot of "S's"), an urgency to tackle my pre-baby to-do list swept over me. Since Baby Roo decided November 16th was not her idea of a good birth day, I marched into the kitchen and stormed my pantry.

Morenna was a real comrade-in-arms and occupied herself with dirtying up the kitchen... something normally off-limits but when you have a crazed mom on your hands, you can get away with anything.

Here's what she accomplished:

- Rolling leftover dough around in a fluffy pile of flour;
- Putting said flour all over her face, her clothes, her step-stool, and the floor;
- Dropping said leftover dough in my bowl of banana muffin batter, and then fishing it back out;
- Emptying my 5 lb bag of red potatoes on the kitchen floor;
- Transporting each of the said potatoes to the living room couch while counting them: "One... two... three... six...";
- Being generally good-natured and cute.

Here's what I accomplished:

- Made 5 lbs of freezer mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner;
- Made 2 dozen pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving dinner (I made these for Christmas last year and we loved them - so tasty!);
- Prepared a double recipe of Chicken-Asparagus Casserole (one for dinner and one for freezing);
- Chopped and bagged 5 lbs of asparagus for winter eating (got them at a terrific price!) not pictured;
- Individually froze and then packaged 2 lbs of bacon, not pictured;
- Prepared two stir-fry packets (one for dinner this week and one for freezing);
- Chopped 1 pineapple;
- Made 2 dozen banana crumb muffins

Whew. Was I ever pooped at the end of the day. And of course that would be the day my child refused a nap, which happens about once every 3 months. But although tired, I felt so good knowing the food in my fridge would not be going bad and that my post-baby food tally was growing.

To the casserole and the stir-fry packets I've also added: a chicken pot pie, 2 broccoli-cheese quiches, pizza dough, and three bags of spaghetti sauce. Those things, combined with the two Birdseye Steamfresh Meals for Two that I got cheaply at a good sale last week, brings my frozen meal allotment to a grand total of: 11.

But lest I tempt you to envy me... here's what was on my other counter:

Hmm, now if I could have just arranged labor to kick in before I had to address the dishes...

Another Week of Food

The last two weeks didn't bring about much in the menu-plan department due to the flu. But the week prior we had a yummy selection of food for each day and I was able to throw some ideas together for this past week to just get us by. Definitely prefer the whole planning-it-out thing, though.

As I mentioned, I tried planning out breakfast and lunches in addition to dinner. I found I did like having a plan for breakfasts, but lunches never quite went the way I had scheduled, so I'm thinking it may have been a waste of time to plan them out? I might try again just to see.

Anyways, here's another menu to share:

Monday
B: Muffins & Eggs
L: Mac & Cheese
D: Oven Fried Chicken, Lima Beans

Tuesday
B: Eggs & Toaster Strudels (got these for cents on sale last week)
L: PB & J
D: Almond Crusted Tilapia, Baked Potatoes, Fruit

Wednesday
B: Sunshine Toast
L: Hot Dogs, Applesauce
D: Slow-Cooker Lasagna, Salad

Thursday
B: Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
L: Egg Salad
D: Chicken Pot Pie, Fruit Salad

Friday
B: Cereal & Eggs
L: Leftovers
D: Eating at a party

Saturday - Didn't end up happening due to the flu :-P
B: Blueberry Coffee Cake
L: Cheese Quesadillas
D: Out

Sunday
B: Cereal & Eggs
L: Leftovers
D: Tacos, Fruit Salad

Finally Home Again

It's hard to believe that nearly a month has passed us by since my last post of any substance. Actually, it's not so hard to believe. We've been BUSY! More on that later...

For now, here was our menu from last week for those of you who like to follow along. Yes, I do have this week's plan all set and ready to go, but I find it a bit easier to share the previous week, since something always changes by week's end.

Last week's plan simply included dinner. This week, however, I bit the bullet and decided to plan all our meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. It certainly takes a bit more time. I'll let you know what I think about the process next week.

Sunday
Tuna Casserole w/ Peas; Fresh fruit (The casserole was just "ok")

Monday
Spontaneous dinner out with West Coast friends!!! (More on that later :-))

Tuesday
Chicken Fajitas; Black bean soup (with a couple tweaks)

Wednesday
Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage; Spinach salad (and since we had a houseful of company, we popped the cork on some fancy apple wine my mother-in-law had given us. It was definitely a fall-themed meal!)

Thursday
Homemade pizza; Salad

Friday
Chili w/ Baked Potatoes; Fruit

Saturday
Dinner out

Any great recipes worth sharing for next time?

Breakfast for Dinner

I have a love-hate relationship with weekends. Who doesn't love being with family and having daylight hours to blow through to-do lists?

But I don't like cooking on weekends. By the time Friday night rolls around, I'm done with food prep. Despite menu planning - which I love - I still am not in the mood to be in the kitchen.

In an effort to curve our weekend take-out bill, I've established Saturday's dinner as breakfast time. :-) It's working so well for us, especially since I can't do the fancy recipes I'd like to on Saturday mornings because of being pregnant.

Banana-nut pancakes have become a favorite of ours. I double the recipe and freeze the extras for quick weekday breakfasts. We had them again tonight and loved them yet again... so I thought I share the love recipe with you:

Hearty Banana-Nut Pancakes
*Recipe adapted from epicurian

1.5 cups flour (wheat or all-purpose)
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
3/4 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large very ripe bananas)
2 large eggs
1/4 to 1/3 applesauce (amount dependent on flour type)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped pecans or walnuts

~Enjoy!~

What's for dinner?

My plan to post our weekly menu certainly didn't last too long! I'm still really loving the whole menu-planning thing. Not only has it saved us money, but my husband claims it's brought a whole lot more variety to our meals. Yay!

Here's what we ate for dinner the last few weeks:

Mondays: Out; Pineapple pork loin & rice; Cheddar cauliflower quiche

Tuesdays: Grilled chicken, green beans; Fettuccine Alfredo w/ zucchini; Fried chicken, spinach

Wednesdays: Stuffed green peppers, salad; Grilled chicken w/ grilled tomatoes; Vegan enchiladas

Thursdays: Taco salad; BBQ pork loin; Pasta, glazed carrots

Fridays: Chicken broccoli casserole; Buffalo chicken dip w/celery, carrots and tortilla chips; Out

Saturdays and Sundays we rotate with either eating out, having breakfast for dinner, or eating leftovers.

Any good recipes you've tried lately and care to share?

Who's Minding the... House?

It has been and continues to be a humbling experience to possess all the joys (who am I fooling?) of pregnancy while chasing down a toddler. My family and my home have all suffered. But it's also been a time of blessing to watch those around me chip in to help, especially my husband. I owe the current state of our home (yes, it's fairly clean!) to him... and also the current state of my emotional life (that's in good shape, too).

Now that I'm slowly regaining my pre-morning sickness ground, I've had to start doing things a wee bit different than normal. Here's how I'm minding my house at the moment:

-- My previous cleaning schedule has been shelved in lieu of an end-of-the-day tidying. There is dust in my house. Lots of it... but I'm only able to tackle a room when my energy meter decides to climb.

Did I ever mention that we purchased a Roomba?! I had hoped to write a full review of the newest member of our house -- affectionately termed Mosie (a combination of the Jetsen's Rosie and Wall-e's Mo) -- but something got in the way, I guess. So here's my review: Buy one. Now.

-- I'm managing my time using my personalized daily docket (at right). "MIT" stands for "most important things". Many thanks to SimpleMom for the inspiration.

-- And as you can see, I'm now menu planning. I've never been big into menu planning. Besides the pre-thought hassle (in my previously uninformed opinion), my tastes always changed from day to day, so I wouldn't follow it anyway. But now that food and I are not the best of friends, I've found a weekly planning session to be a winner of an idea. I only have to really think about food once a week, and my family has a rounded meal each evening. They are happy. Very happy.

Even better, I've started having Matt grill out a larger than normal amount of meat on Sundays, so then I can use it in quick dishes during the week. Doubling dinner portions also leaves us handy options for lunches.

Last week's menu:

Sunday - Matt grilled chicken; leftover green bean casserole
Monday - Blackbean vegetable soup; cornbread; peach crisp
Tuesday - Parmesan Tilapia; green beans; cantelope
Wednesday - Chicken tacos; corn-on-the-cob
Thursday - Dinner out
Friday - Beef stir-fry w/ carrots & zucchini

And that's the latest on who's minding our house... if you wanted to know. :-)