Menu plan for the week of October 30

By popular demand, I'm back with another menu post.

And by popular demand, I mean one person mentioned in passing that she used to look forward to reading my menu plan posts every Monday.

I'm here to serve.

When last I menu-plan-posted, I had started planning four weeks of meals at once, and I was loving it.  Menu planning kind of fell apart at the end of May and into June, because entropy, but now I'm back at it, and it makes my life so much easier.  I plan two weeks worth of meals, and repeat, for a total of four weeks at a time.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

• Creamy crockpot crack chicken*, buns, carrots, applesauce 
• Tacos with tortillas and taco fixings
• Fend for yourself
• Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, green beans
• Pizza, salad
• Montreal grilled chicken, salad, grilled broccoli**
• Hot dogs or brats, buns, chips, carrots

*Whose idea was it to do a crockpot recipe on the first Monday of the rotation?  A crockpot recipe, I might add, that requires chicken to be thawed and cream cheese, that we did not yet have, to be added.  That is too much for a Monday. That person should be fired.

**The other day, we were eating supper, and I said, look, everybody!  There are carrots on the table!  Because that's what I say*** when I want my people to eat the vegetables that are on the table.  And one of the children kind of sighed with his posture, and I said, you'd rather have broccoli.  And the kid nodded.  And I said, or asparagus, or Brussels sprouts, or cauliflower.  And the kid agreed.  And the husband was incredulous.  He couldn't wrap his mind around someone liking grilled or roasted broccoli more than raw carrots.  And I, too, was incredulous, that my kid's father didn't already know this about the kid, having lived with said kid for all of said kid's life.

***Well, I don't always say carrots.  I will say the name of the vegetable that is actually on the table.  Because if I said, look everybody, there are carrots on the table, and there were, in fact, no carrots on the table, that would undermine my credibility.  

Menu plan for the week of May 8

 I'm late with the menu plan this week.  That's because it's been kind of a crazy meal week.  And it's been kind of a crazy meal week because it's been kind of a busy week for us.  There have been many iterations of the menu this week as the week has developed, so I'm giving you the menu as it was planned weeks ago.  Just know that what's listed below is not actually how it's gone down.  I mean, we had pizza on Monday this week.  Monday!  As of today, Thursday, none of these things has been consumed on its planned day.

Here's what was on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Pigs in blankets, carrots
• Walking tacos
• Fend for self
• Bacon ranch chicken sandwiches, buns, carrots
• Pizza
• Hot dogs, buns, corn, fries
• Grilled chicken, broccoli, salad

Menu plan for the week of May 1

 It's May!  Doesn't really feel like it, though.  This is the first week of our newest four week meal rotation, and I am still enjoying planning and cooking this way.  The third and fourth weeks are so easy, and it's nice to have the space to try new recipes every month.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans, garlic toast
• Sausage pinwheels, raw carrots
• Fend for yourself
• Chicken pot pie casserole with cheddar biscuit topping, applesauce
• Copycat Mexican pizza, guacamole, raw veggies
• Hamburgers with or without buns, corn, chips
• Grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, grilled green veggie

Other:

• Hamburger buns
• Cookies
• Ground beef and broccoli casserole
• Hard boiled eggs
• Crustless quiche

Menu plan for the week of April 24

This is the last week in this particular four week menu rotation, so there's hardly anything for me to actually cook this week.  It's so gratifying to reap the rewards of past Scarlet's labor.  I could get used to this.

As far as saving so.much.money, I've noticed that the first grocery shop of a four week rotation is about 1/3 more than my typical weekly shop, and each of the three subsequent weeks is around 2/3 of what I would spend in a typical week, so that means that I'm possibly saving a little bit by shopping this way.  Maybe?  

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• French dip sandwiches (I made extra and froze the excess.  There's enough left that I bet I'll get a couple of lunches out of it, too), provolone, buns, green beans
• Tator tot casserole (from the freezer, yay!), applesauce, bread with butter
• Fend for yourself (always a favorite)
• Sheet pan chicken quesadillas (the filling's in the freezer, along with the shredded cheese), carrots
• Pizza, salad
• Hot dogs or brats, buns, corn, tator tots or fries
• Grilled chicken (already marinaded in the freezer), broccoli, salad

Other:

• Cookies.  Maybe these or these, because some clearance Reese's peanut butter eggs jumped into my basket the other day, and now they're hanging out in the baking cupboard, leering at me.
• Beef & broccoli casserole--I've been lacking in lunch options the past couple of weeks, and I happen to have leftover broccoli, and most of the other ingredients (I might even have some celery in the freezer, but if not, there's always celery salt)

Meal plan for the week of April 17

 Whoops.  I'm a little bit late this week.  Hopefully you all have been able to eat without my guidance.  I feel like you're probably ok, especially since I told you that this week is pretty much a repeat from 2 weeks ago.

In other news, our microwave stopped working.  We're fairly confident that it's a switch issue and we'll be able to fix it, so don't worry about us.  In the meantime, we've been using alternative means to reheat leftovers, and we've been extra vigilant about taking things out to thaw with plenty of time.  I've found myself thinking, though, how did people reheat leftovers before household microwaves were common?  Did they use the oven?  Stovetop?  Just not have leftovers?  Repurpose leftovers into new meals?  Please comment below if you have any insight into this issue.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for, here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Shepherd's pie (from the freezer, yay!), applesauce, buttered bread
• Fend for yourself
• Nachos, raw veggies
• Chicken wings, green beans, jello
• Pizza, salad
• Hamburgers, buns, corn, chips
• Grilled pork chops, roasted broccoli, mashed potatoes

Other:

• Mini waffles
• Hot dog buns
• Cookies (probably either snickerdoodles or sugar cookies)

Meal plan for the week of April 10

 Kind of a strange thing is happening with my menu planning.  I used to be super annoyed when the meal plan had to change for some reason, like a meeting I hadn't known about, which meant more of the peoples weren't going to be around for supper, or a practice being canceled, which meant more of the peoples were going to be around for supper.  I found this to be especially true when I planned more than one week at once.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it was just because, if I was planning more than a week in advance, it was so much more likely that unanticipated events would occur at some point in the execution of that plan.

This time, though?  It doesn't bother me so much.  At the beginning of the week, I take a look at the calendar, and I take a look at the meal plan, and I move meals around if they're not going to work for the day they're planned.  And there's been a lot of meals not working on the day for which they were planned because track and field is a strange sport*.  And also, life.

This week, for instance, we're not going to be able to eat supper together on Tuesday, so the fend for self originally scheduled for Wednesday shifted to Tuesday.  Monday's meal moved to Wednesday, because we'll be celebrating a birthday on Monday with the birthday boy's choice of going out to eat.  Tuesday's meal was moved to Friday because I already did some meal prep for that Tuesday meal.  Friday's meal was taken off the schedule because it's something (pizza) we have every week, and I felt like no one would miss it this week.

And it's all fine!  It's ok!  I'm feeling sanguine** about it, instead of annoyed.  Yay!

And yay for food!  Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Out to eat, cake & ice cream
• Fend for yourself
• Tator tot casserole (make an extra and freeze for two weeks from now), applesauce, bread
• French dip sandwiches, buns, provolone, green beans
• Sheet pan chicken quesadillas, carrots
• Hot dogs, buns, corn, tator tots
• Grilled chicken, salad, broccoli

* More on this in a future blog post.

** cheerfully optimistic, sometimes to the point of seeming complacent, oblivious, or naïve

Food prep Friday (on a Thursday)

 I think I've mentioned that I food prep for the weekend on Fridays to minimize the amount of work I have to do in the kitchen on weekends.  This week, I needed a couple of the items I was prepping to be available on Thursday, so I went ahead and did the other stuff, too, and I thought I'd take you along.

First, I prepped my pizza crust for the month.  I added all of the dry ingredients, except the yeast, to quart sized mason jars, to make pizza crust prep super easy.  I just add the wet ingredients to the bread machine, dump on the dry, and top with yeast before starting the machine's dough cycle.  Making pizza crust in a bread machine is already really easy, but by measuring the ingredients ahead of time, it makes it that much easier.  During my first month of monthly meal planning, I actually made four batches of pizza dough on the first Friday of the month, which I froze.  But I didn't like how those frozen crusts turned out, plus they took up precious freezer space, so now I'm doing this.

Next up was jello cups, followed by peeling and cutting carrots.  These are both items that can be purchased already prepared, but both are less expensive to buy unprepared.  In the case of carrots, they also last longer in the fridge and taste better, if purchased with the peels on.

I made some buns to use for hamburgers this weekend as well as for sandwiches next week--they're in the oven right now.  I also put together a mini sweet potato casserole and its topping, for Hubby to enjoy on Easter.

Not pictured are the extra Shepherd's pie that I made on Monday and froze, the hard boiled eggs I made on Wednesday because all of the egg cartons in the house were in use and I had more fresh eggs that needed to be cartonized, and the sausage that I cooked up for this weekend's pizza and future quiches.

Also not shown are the three Bluefield-family-sized bags of boneless skinless chicken breast that I covered with marinades before freezing and the two pounds of cut-into-small-pieces-and-seasoned chicken that I'll use for a recipe next week and three weeks from now.

All this food prep, it's about being kind to my future self.  It's also kind of about future-proofing my life.  On any given day, I don't know how I'm going to feel about cooking for my family, but by getting as much of the prep done ahead of time as possible, I'm making it much less likely that I'll give up and serve cereal for supper.

What kinds of food prep do you do to make future meals easier to get on the table?

Menu plan for the week of April 3

 It's April, y'all, and as you know, if you read yesterday's post, I've got meals planned for the rest of the month.  Yay!  One of the advantages of repeating meals every two weeks is that I can meal-prep the first week for the third week.  So this week, I'll be making two Shepherd's pies--one for this week, and one to freeze for two weeks from now.  

Here's what's on the menu this week: 

Supper:

• Shepherd's pie, applesauce, buttered bread
• Nachos, raw veggies
• Fend for yourself
• Chicken wings, green beans, jello
• Pizza, salad
• Hamburgers, buns, corn, chips
• Ham, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts

Other:

• I've been on a peanut butter cookie kick lately, but I think I've run out of peanut butter cookie recipes that I want to try for now.  Regardless, I'll make some sort of cookie, probably.  Maybe these?

How I've been menu planning

Well hello, strangers.  Long time, no read.

Today I wanted to write about how I've been meal planning lately.  Spoiler alert: it's been so.much.easier.

For years I have heard and read that once a month shopping is a way to save so.much.money.  The idea is, you only shop once a month for everything for that month, and by staying out of stores the rest of the month, you're reducing impulse buys, and you're more likely to make do with what you have, versus running to the store if you discover you've run out of something.

When we lived in West Virginia, I shopped once every two weeks, because we were so far out of town.  It was easier to plan meals back then, because the kids didn't really have opinions about what they did and didn't like, plus our family, as a whole, ate much less back then, so I could rely on leftovers at least once or twice a week.  I mean, the kiddos were 5 and 2 when we left.  How much can a 5 year old eat, versus our current at-home teenagers?

When we moved, we were much closer to grocery stores, and I fell into the habit of shopping every week. Over the years, it's become more and more difficult to plan meals for various reasons, and it became a huge chore to figure out what we were going to eat every week.  I wanted to plan 2 or 4 weeks at a time, but I felt like I just couldn't get ahead.  It was so difficult to get one week down, I couldn't wrap my mind around doing any more.

In January, I decided I was going to do it: I was going to bite the bullet and plan a month of meals at once (it was fortunate that the month I decided to start has only 28 days :) ).  So here's how I did it.

I had already loosely defined a few days a week, for instance, we almost always have pizza on Fridays, and grilled food on Saturdays and Sundays.  So I put those things into the plan.  Then I filled in the other days, for two weeks, with themes, like Mondays were casserole-type things with ground beef, and Thursdays were pressure cooker rice bowls.  Finally, I copied those two weeks to the next two weeks, et voila!  I had 4 weeks of meals planned.  

And let me tell ya, it wasn't quite et voila.  It actually took me about 3 weeks to get that first plan actually planned.  I spent a lot of mental energy trying to plan a variety of proteins, styles of cooking, and flavor profiles.  But I am so thankful that I spent that mental energy up front, each week when I don't have to think about it.  Now whenever I think of a meal I'd like to try for the following month, I put it on the calendar right away, and generally the plan is complete by the time we finish the previous plan.

That first month, I actually attempted to get all of the shelf-stable food in my first shopping trip of the month, but I knew I'd be going back every week, since I could only fit one week's worth of milk in my fridge.

I don't think I've saved too much money over the past two months.  For sure I didn't save the so.much.money I'd been promised, possibly due to prices rising, and possibly due to me already keeping pretty tight control over grocery spending.  But I'll tell you what I did save: my sanity.  It was so lovely to only plan once and have 4 weeks of meals on the calendar.  At this point, it's easy for me to sit down on a Saturday or Sunday and make my grocery list.  

So yay!  Menu planning, for now at least, is not as difficult as it has been in the past.  Let me know if you try it, or if you have any questions.

Up next: this week's menu plan.  Stay tuned.

Menu plan for the week of December 5

 It's Christmas cookie season, so I asked my kiddos what kind of Christmas treats* they would like to have.  

The first kid I asked said sugar cookies.

The second kid I asked said sugar cookies.  And then when I told him that his brother had already chosen sugar cookies, he said snickerdoodles.

The third kid I asked said sugar cookies, and then snickerdoodles, and then agreed with my suggestion of white chocolate peppermint candy cane kiss cookies.

At least we know that everyone will be happy with the cookie choices.

I was planning to make at least 4 dozen of each cookie** each weekend beginning this past weekend, leaving one dozen out for the people to eat, and freezing three dozen for future use.  I started with the white chocolate peppermint candy cane kiss cookies on Saturday.  And the dozen cookies kept out to eat were gone by noon on Sunday (they're delicious.  You should try them).  Well, alrighty then.  I made the snickerdoodles on Sunday, and there are still some left Monday morning, plus there's no one here who's going to eat them at least until 4:30 pm, so that feels like an improvement.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Steam crisped chicken drumsticks, raw carrots, grapes
• Pizza, salad
• Fend for yourself
• Kielbasa and potatoes/kielbasa and cauliflower, green beans
• Shepherd's pie, bread with butter, applesauce
• Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic toast, green beans
• Hot dogs or brats, buns, jello, chips, carrots

Other:

• Sugar cookies
• Hamburger patties
• Taco seasoned beef
• Grain-free granola

* because it's ok to have treats at this time of year that are not cookies.

** or treat!  But in this case, they all turned out to be cookies

Menu plan for the week of September 26

 Last week, the same friend who gave me some of her sourdough starter handed me a box that was labeled "banneton proofing basket kit."  Take this, she said, I have an extra.

I think most people, when they hear sourdough, picture those round crusty loaves with intricate patterns carved into their tops.  And one of the tools that the folks who make those types of loaves use is a banneton, which is a fancy name for a basket that holds the dough during the second rise.  And I can not, for the life of me, figure out how those folks get their loaves out of their fancy baskets and into their Dutch ovens for baking without totally deflating the dough.  My friend said she couldn't figure it out either.  Because of that, and because there are so many other ways to use sourdough starter that my family is more likely to actually eat, I honestly had never given serious consideration to making one of those artisan loaves.  

But then, the kit came into my life.  When I opened the box, I was expecting to find a banneton and a banneton liner.  I did find those things, along with a few other tools, but on top of all that laid the gorgeous book, Artisan Sourdough Made Simple by Emilie Raffa.  I am a sucker for a beautiful cookbook, and this, my friends, is a beautiful cookbook.  And now I need to make all the things, including the things that require a proofing basket.  Up first, a Cinnamon raisin swirl loaf (without the raisins).

And here's what else is on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Chicken fettuccini alfredo, green beans
• Burritos or tacos, taco toppings, carrots
• Beef stroganoff or fend for yourself
• Fend for yourself
• Pizza, salad
• Hamburgers or hot dogs, buns, chips, raw veggies
• Grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, grilled broccoli

Other:

• Sourdough brioche
• Cinnamon raisin swirl artisan sourdough loaf (without the raisins, and possibly without the walnuts)
• Cookies (maybe snickerdoodle or oatmeal chocolate chip)
• Taco bean soup

Being kind to my future self

 I've been thinking a lot about being kind to my future self lately.  

As you may have gathered from last week's menu post, mealtimes have been a bit ... scattered ... around here.  Sporadic.  Chaotic.  There has been a breakdown in our usual mealtime routines, which means, among other things that, while I usually wash dirty dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher immediately, or at least within 30 minutes, after supper, I have not, lately.

And so suddenly, it'll be 9:30 or 10 p.m.*, and the dishes will have not yet been washed, and have I mentioned that I am exhausted?  Yes, yes, I have mentioned that.

But lately I've been deciding to be kind to my future self by washing the dishes, even though I'm exhausted.  And my future self is always so appreciative of my past self.

Also, I feel like I need to mention** that the dish fairy hasn't shown up around here for weeks, which makes it that much more difficult to wash dishes.  I mean, without the dish fairy putting them away, the clean and dry dishes from yesterday take up all of the room where I want to put the clean and wet dishes from today to dry.

I feel like it's a really good idea to ask myself, every day, "what can I do to make things easier for future Scarlet?"  And I've been coming up with things each day to set future Scarlet up for success.

I'm still exhausted, though.

How about you?  Do you ever think about how you can make your future self's life a little easier?

* For reference, bedtime is usually 9:01 p.m.

** I feel the need to mention this so you will feel sorry for me.  I mean, no dish fairy, for weeks!  How can I be expected to cope with such drudgery? 

Meal plan for the week of September 12

 Remember how I asked for meal ideas last week?  Well, one of you actually responded!  Isn't that exciting?  Someone actually read a blog post, and was so moved by it that they took action.  

That person suggested chicken burrito bowls, which you may recall we actually had on the menu about a month ago, and we really liked them.  And by we really liked them, I mean I really liked them and no one else complained verbally about them.  So it's on the menu again this week, because who cares how anyone other than the cook feels about the meals?  

I'm strictly using the whole eat it or starve philosophy of meal planning at this point.  Of course, they don't actually starve, because they are all either adults or teens (and one of them happens to be both adult and teen), and they are fully capable of feeding themselves.

Great idea, dear reader!  Thank you.

And, uh, if any of the rest of you would like to be thanked publicly in this space, feel free to send your meal ideas my way, too.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Supper:

• Chicken burrito bowls, raw veggies
• Meatballs, mashed potatoes (this'll be my first time using the canned potatoes; cross your fingers for me), green beans (we had one last green bean harvest that I need to use)
• Mac-n-cheese, carrots, fresh fruit
• Creamy crock pot crack chicken, buns, salad, carrots or celery
• Hot dogs or hamburgers, buns, potato salad, corn, jello
• Beef and/or chicken tacos, corn or flour tortillas, taco toppings, black bean and corn salsa
• Leftovers/FFS

Other:

Yup, there will be other things.  Just not sure what yet.

What's on the menu at your house this week?

Italian Sausage Cauliflower Soup: a low carb interpretation of Zuppa Toscana

 I gotta be honest with you.  I'm publishing this recipe mostly because I want to remember what I did this time that made it taste so good.  But if you want to try it too, you should.  It's really yummy.

I first tried Zuppa Toscana on the day our previous slow cooker fell victim to inertia.  So delicious.  On that day, I modified the recipe for stovetop, and the next time I made it, this time in my new crock pot, I discovered that I preferred the stovetop method, although the slow cooker is really convenient.  I think it's because I like a thicker soup than the original recipe provided in the slow cooker.  If you prefer a thinner soup, feel free to add water or additional broth.  Later on, I found a lower carb Zuppa Toscana copycat recipe.  This recipe is inspired by both.

This low carb soup is creamy and thick, with a slight spicy kick from the sausage and crushed red pepper.

Italian Sausage Cauliflower Soup

Makes about 6 servings

Click here to print this recipe

• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, diced (use more or less to your taste)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (use less or omit if you don't like a spicy kick; use more if you do)
• Salt & pepper
• 16 oz frozen cauliflower florets
• 12 oz frozen riced cauliflower
• 4 c chicken broth or stock
• 1/2-1 c heavy whipping cream
• 10 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled, or a couple of handfuls of real bacon pieces--measure with your heart
• 2 c chopped kale or spinach, optional 

Instructions

1. In a large pot, sauté 1 lb Italian sausage with 1 diced onion until sausage is cooked through.  
2. Add 2-3 cloves of minced garlic.  Cook and stir for a few more minutes until fragrant.  
3. Add crushed red pepper and salt and pepper to taste*, 16 oz frozen cauliflower florets, 12 oz frozen riced cauliflower, and 4 cups chicken broth.  
4. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.  
5. Add 1/2 - 1 c of heavy whipping cream, 10 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled, and kale or spinach, if using.  Heat through.  Serve and enjoy!

* I used 1/2 t pepper and 1/2 T salt, but my homemade chicken stock didn't have any salt in it.