Well we are into the thick of the Christmas and holiday planning and execution now. . . even if the weather here in Upstate NY is still bizarrely un-Christmasy. Seriously, I was running around outside in just a sweater this weekend. In December. In New York. That just isn’t right.
As always there are many things going on this week:
1. We’ve got all our normal weekly events. Dance lessons. Scouts. Hubs at pool. Church on Sunday. You know-the stuff of life.
2. This coming weekend Princess and I are taking a trip down to the city (aka New York City) with a friend and her daughter to visit the American Girl Doll store. Don’t worry-I haven’t lost my Frugal mind. . . It’s the friend’s birthday and we are going along as tour guides. Princess has been fully briefed and reminded that she will NOT be getting anything at the store.
3. In the fridge I have 2 dozen eggs (that $.99 sale at Aldi’s you know), a big container of leftover baked beans, about 2 pounds of ground beef, a head of cabbage, some cooked but un-stuffed large pasta shells, and about 5 polish sausage. I’ve also got a loaf of “weight watchers” bread that was removed from the freezer while I was making space the other day. It’s been freezer burned so I figured it could be used for breadcrumbs or to make stuffing or something.
4. The garden still has brussel sprouts, chard, tat-soi, mizuna, turnip greens and carrots growing. Ah the wonders of winter gardening!
5. My goals are to have one fish, one venison, one meatless, one soup and one bean meal a week. Yes-I know that sounds like a lot but some of them can be doubled up, like a venison soup, or a meatless meal that is also the bean meal. . .
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: Stirfry
I went out to the garden and picked a bit of everything that was left (except the Brussel sprouts & turnip greens), cleaned and chopped it all, added an onion and made a stirfry up with some of the ground beef. It was served with a mix of brown & white rice.
Tuesday: Apple Sausage Strata with Turnip Greens
My apple sausage strata recipe will use up the polish sausage and the loaf of freezer burned bread. I have some apples I stored down in the basement as an experiment-if those are not good then I’ll either use home canned apple slices or pick up a few apples from the store.
For a side dish I’ll get some of the turnip greens from the garden and cook them “pot green” style. IE stew them to death in some ham broth with a bit of onion and red pepper flakes.
Wednesday: Beans and Greens Soup with Beer Bread
I’m going to rinse the baked beans and create a soup out of broth, onion, garlic, beans and some greens from the garden (most soup recipes seem to call for Kale but I’ve got a bunch of mizuna, so that’s what I’ll use). Whatever it winds up being will be cooked in the crockpot and I’ll whip up some homemade beer bread to go on the side. This is my meatless, bean based, soup meal for the week! Tada, that’s a three for one!
Thursday: Venison Parmesan over Noodles with Steamed Carrots
Friday: Frozen Pizza
Princess and I will be out of town, so I’ll leave a frozen pizza for Yankee Bill and Buddy.
Saturday: Yankee Bill’s Choice
I’m betting that Nana invites the poor helpless men over to her house for supper-but barring that, they can either eat one of the emergency frozen meals down in the freezer or go out for supper.
Sunday: Fishsticks, Mashed Potatoes and Peas
Believe it or not, Princess thinks fishsticks are awesome. We’ll be getting home right around suppertime on Sunday, so I need something quick and easy for dinner. Fishsticks (or frozen battered fish filets actually-from Aldi’s) will be very quick and painless to throw in the oven.
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Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .
For more great menu plan ideas, head on over to Menu Plan Monday at the Organizing Junkie.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Love your meal plans! I also incorporate one breakfast-for-dinner meal per week. Rather than making a big dinner, we have pancakes/frenchtoast and eggs for dinner once a week. It’s a budget saver!
Here’s an interesting dish that uses 2 things on your list of food on-hand: Meat Bun Bake. It uses 1.5 pounds of ground beef, 2 cups of chopped cabbage, 1/4 C. chopped onion. I usually double or triple it so I can use a whole head of cabbage, and then freeze the remainders before topping it with the biscuit batter so that I have an easy meal in the future.
Brown ground beef and drain. Put back on burner over medium heat and add cabbage and onion. Saute for 10 minutes or until tender. Add 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. (Freeze at this point for future.) Press into bottom of a greased baking dish – 9×13 or so. In a bowl, mix 1 1/2 Cup baking mix, 1 Cup milk and 2 eggs. Pour over cabbage mixture and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. I really like the taste of the cabbage with the beef and cheese, and it’s one of the more appealing ways to serve cabbage from my kids’ perspective.