May 31 | Menu Planning
Can you believe today is the last day of May? Wow! Summer is almost upon us! I just wish we had the weather to prove it. We’ve had nothing but rain for the past week! At least I haven’t had to water my plants! 🙂
Last week I never posted our menu due to my blogging break during our Canadian long weekend. We did eat though! I’m in the process of cleaning out our freezer so that’s what we ate, meals I had in the freezer. This week, I’ll still be going through our freezer, so that’s what our menu will mainly consist of. I love easy weeks! Here’s what I’ve got planned:
Monday: Beef Dips, fresh veggies
Tuesday: Chicken & Broccoli pie (chicken is in the freezer)
Wednesday: Spaghetti with tomato sauce, garlic bread, salad (tomato sauce is in freezer)
Thursday: Sloppy Joe Calzones (in the freezer, just have to make the dough, I don’t use crescent rolls)
Friday: Cannelloni (in the freezer)
There! That should leave some empty space in the freezer! As usual, if you would like some more menu inspiration, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie!
May 17 | Menu Planning
I got my flower pots planted! Now all I have to plant are my tomato plants and my pepper plants! Oh and I’d like to do a second pot of lettuce seeds. I’m giving another go at container gardening this year. I’ve moved my pots to the other side of the house where they should get way more sun. Which I’m hoping will help them grow better then last year! I’m planning on giving updates throughout the summer on how everything is growing. So make sure you watch for those if you’re interested!
I’m pretty sure Summer is upon us, my menus are starting to lean towards all kinds of salads! Any kind of salad is good. Couscous salad, pasta salad, green salad, Greek salad…the list goes on! Yum! Oh, and never mind that my days are now starting at 4am. (I start work at 5am) Those early hours definitely mean that Summer is near!
Lets get on with this weeks menu shall we?
Monday: Chicken Divan (carried over…again!)
Tuesday: Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce in the slow cooker
Wednesday: Summer Rolls for myself (the husband has a soccer game out of town!)
Thursday: Stir-Fried Sichuan Green Beans (Cooks Illustrated has a free 14 day trial)
Friday: Hamburgers, Couscous Salad, Raw Veggies (Mother-in-Law is coming for a visit!)
As usual, I’m sure I won’t get everything made that I have planned, something always comes up! If you would like some more menu inspiration, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie!
May 10 | Menu Planning
So, I have no idea what well be eating this week as I’m writing this! If I was smart, I would have planned our menu on Saturday since I knew we we’re going to be out of town all day yesterday for our Mother’s Day fun! I brought along my notebook to jot down my menu ideas, but honestly, I didn’t want to think about it. I just wanted to enjoy the day with my Mom and Dad and my husband!
So what you see below, is me winging our menu as I type! Here goes:
Monday: Pork Satay, whole wheat pasta salad, Greek Salad
Tuesday: Chicken Divan (carried over)
Wednesday: Sesame Chicken, Roasted potatoes, steamed veggies
Thursday: Cheesy Beef and Rice (carried over)
Friday: Hamburgers, homemade fries in the oven
There we go! I think that should be okay! Oh, and there are a couple of carried over meals because my husband cooked one night. And another night we went on a spontaneous hiking trip that took us to a nearby town, so we ate out!
Again, if you would like to see hundreds of other menus, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie!
May 3 | Menu Planning
Welcome to the first week of May! Is it really May already? Wow. We’ve been having some very early Spring-like weather these past few days. Rain, wind and even some hail! Makes me really tired since I work outside and my body is constantly trying to decide if it should be hot or cold!
Starting this week, I’m making some pretty drastic changes to our eating habits. Well, it’s all a bit overwhelming so I’m starting with baby steps. I’d like to start making more meals with whole foods and less processed ingredients. I don’t think we’re doing to badly at the moment since I do use fresh fruits and veggies for everything, brown rice, whole wheat pasta…etc. I do think there is a lot more room for improvement though! My husband and I decided that we don’t need to feel it’s necessary for us to cut costs on groceries. This is going to be the hardest for me since I have long prided myself on my $60 a week or less grocery budget! Eating more naturally is going to cost some money up front I believe. I am going to try my hardest to source out the best prices for ingredients I’ll be needing, and not buying them all at once! I’m determined to do this as frugally as I can! I’ve been especially inspired by the blog, Keeper of the Home to make more healthful choices. You should check it out!
Here we go, the first menu on my journey to eating more healthfully:
Monday: Chicken Divan (carried over)
Tuesday: Roast Beef, Broccoli salad, baked Hedgehog Potatoes (recipe below), Carrots
Wednesday: Cheesy Beef and Rice
Thursday: Piled High Chicken Potpie
Friday: Cannelloni (in the freezer), salad
There you go! I think I’ve made it simple enough for myself so I can pull it off. And nothing is too strange! My husband might be put off by the sweet potato in the Piled High Chicken Potpie, but he can pick around it! 🙂 If you would like some more menu inspiration, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie!
Baked Hedgehog Potatoes
8 smallish purple potatoes (or any colour)
6 large cloves garlic, sliced into razor thin rounds
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp harissa (I don’t know what this is so I’m omitting!
fine-grain sea salt
Yogurt Mint Dipping Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375
Wash and dry the potatoes. Act as if you were going to cut each potato into very thin crosswise slices, but only cut 80 percent of the way through; the potatoes need to stay intact. Toss the garlic, olive oil, harissa and a couple pinches of salt together in a small bowl. Tuck the garlic slices deep into the potato crevices and rub the outsides of the potatoes with any leftover harissa-spiked olive oil. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and place them on a baking sheet or baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for another20 minutes, or until fork tender.
Whike the potatoes are baking, make the dipping sauce. Combine the yogurt, garlic, mint, cilantro, salt, and a few grinds of pepper in a small bowl and stir well. Serve the potatoes with the dipping sauce on the side or drizzled over top.
Apr 26 | Menu Planning
Hmm, what to eat, what to eat. I wasn’t really sure what to make this week. I was feeling uninspired when I was planning this menu! I think it’ll be okay though! I’m planning a BBQ meal for tonight if the weather cooperates. Yesterday we had beautiful sunny weather but the day before, it was hailing while I was at work!
Last week I had someone wondering why there seems to be a lot of repetitive meals on our menu. That’s a very good question and one I should answer! You see, when we don’t eat a particular meal one week, I carry it over to the next week so it will get eaten. Saves me some grocery money too since I already have the ingredients for a carried over meal on hand! There are a few reasons why the meals don’t get eaten in the first place.
- I don’t feel like making it so I pull out an extra easy meal from the freezer
- Hubby cooks, his skills are limited but very appreciated!
- We head out for dinner. Either a restaurant or we get invited to someone’s home.
Basically, I treat our menu as a guideline. I don’t beat myself up if I don’t stick to it each week.
I think that explains it! Here’s this week’s menu:
- Monday: Pork Satay, roasted potatoes, steamed veggies (carried over)
- Tuesday: Sloppy Joe Calzones
- Wednesday: Chicken Peanut Pasta
- Thursday: Crockpot BBQ Pork Chops, rice, steamed veggies
- Friday: Teriyaki chicken & Rice bake, salad
There, that sounds okay! If you would like to see many more menus, check out I’m an Organizing Junkie!
Apr 19 | Menu Planning
Is it really time for a new menu? The weeks seem to be flying by! I think I’m starting to get back into the groove again after starting my seasonal job a few weeks ago. Only thing now, is my hours at work are getting earlier and earlier. Pretty soon I’ll be getting up at 4am! It’s a good thing I like mornings.
This week on the menu, I have two meals that didn’t get prepared last week so I only had to think of three more meals. Here’s the plan:
Monday: Pork Satay, roasted potatoes, steamed veggies
Tuesday: Chicken Divan
Wednesday: Tortellini Bake, served with veggies or salad
Thursday: Garden Chowder Soup, garlic buns
Friday: Spaghetti with some tomato sauce I made that is now in the freezer
What’s on your menu this week?
If you’d like some more inspiration, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie!
