I’ve been a bad, bad menu planner. . . I did cook a lot last week, but I never did get the whole menu plan thing done. It’s just been crazy busy. This week I am back on the wagon!
There just seems to be so much going on with school activities, harvest, preserving, fall planting/gardening and a house in utter chaos.
1. Mondays and Wednesdays are insane for the next month or so. On both those evenings Princess has 2 hours of field hockey, then a half hour break and then 45 minutes of dance class, then home just in time for bed. For added fun on Wednesdays Buddy has scouts right in the middle there as well and Yankee Bill has a meeting. Dinner is going to have to either be something really quick and simple, or else I’ll have to have it all ready to go ahead of time in the crockpot.
2. Thursday I’ll be out of the house most of the day for errands. That means I can’t have something that needs a lot of prep time planned for that night. Friday is a half day of school for the kiddos.
3. In the fridge I’ve got cooked radish greens, fresh picked carrots, a zuchetta squash and some radishes that need to be used soon. I’ve also got a package of hotdogs and a can of chicken that didn’t seal in my massive canning session last week. I also unearthed some ham pieces and a bag of shrimp in the freezer that should be used soon.
4. As always my goal is to have one venison meal, one fish meal, one bean meal, one meatless meal and one soup meal per week. Since I have a half of a pig in the freezer I better try to squeeze one pork meal in each week as well!
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: Ham, Mashed Potatoes and Radish Greens
When I was moving things around in the freezer I found a package of ham pieces that I really should use up. I’ll just heat them up in a skillet (I love how the juices in ham caramelize a bit when you cook it in a frying pan and give it such a great flavor). Because it’s going to be a very busy day I’ll just use instant mashed potatoes, and I’ll boil up the radish greens and add a bit of bacon, onion and red pepper.
This is my pork meal for the week.
Tuesday: Venison Chili with Biscuits
All this week it is supposed to be in the low 60’s, so my Wanna Be Wendy’s Chili sounds good. . . and if I make it Venison Chili I knock out two of my goals for the week 🙂 Typically I’d match it up chili with cornbread but since tomorrows meal includes a corn bread type casserole I’ll use biscuits instead.
This is my venison and my bean meal for the week.
Wednesday: Corn-Dog Casserole with Roasted Green Beans
I don’t even have a recipe for this one yet, but I should be able to figure something out! My kids typically don’t particularly like hotdogs, but they do like corndogs. I’ve made homemade corndogs before, but it’s a pain to dip & fry them. If I work the hotdogs into a casserole with the cornbread I should get a similar flavor. And since it’s a casserole I can put it in the oven, drive Princess to field hockey, come home, take it out and have it all ready for her to eat in between FH & dance.
Green Beans are producing like crazy in my garden, and roasted green beans are one of my favorite ways to eat them. So that’s a natural 🙂
Thursday: Pumpkin Pancakes with Fried Apple Slices
The kids are always thrilled to have pancakes for dinner. Since Fall is in the air it’s time to dig out some fun pumpkin recipes like my Pumpkin Pancakes. I always feel like I need a vegetable with a meal–but vegetables don’t really work with pancakes. So I’ll go with fruit instead. I’ve got canned apples from last year that I’ll fry up as a side.
This is my meatless meal for the week.
Friday: Homemade Calzones
I’ll use the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe to make dough and then we’ll make a selection of small calzones for everyone to enjoy. I’ve always got Mozzarella & sauce in the house 🙂 Since I’ve got that chicken that didn’t seal to use up maybe we’ll make some sort of BBQ Chicken Calzones too. Then again, maybe I’ll just use that up for sandwiches during the week.
Saturday: Shrimp Stir-fry over Rice
Somehow I STILL have a bag of shrimp in my freezer. I swear, I really don’t buy shrimp that often! Anyway, a great way to stretch an expensive meat ingredient is to make it into a stirfry-that way you get a lot of veggies and just a bit of the protein. I’ll use carrots, broccoli, beans, squash etc from the garden for the veggies, make a quick sauce from broth & soy sauce with spices tossed in, add the shrimp at the end and serve it over rice.
This is my fish meal for the week.
Sunday: Leftover Buffet
By the end of the week we should have a lot of little bits left over. If we’ve been especially hungry and eaten all the leftovers then I’ll create a big pot of soup or stew and serve it with biscuits or bread.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .
I’ve made this corn dog casserole several times, and my family likes it.
http://gooseberrypatch.typepad.com/blog/2011/05/rru-casseroles.html