Another week here at Frugal Upstate means another round of menu planning.
A few things to consider this week:
1. I’ve got a lot of vegetables and odds and ends in the fridge to use up. I also purchased two family packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts at $1.69 lb and a pack of boneless pork chops for $1.49 lb. I have to either cook them or freeze them this week.
2. I seem to have collected a few odd ingredients that I need to think about incorporating in to my menus eventually. Like the 3 cans of sauerkraut. (What was I thinking?)
3. We’ve got swim club 3 nights this week at 5pm-so dinner needs to be ready for the kiddos by 4:30 each of those nights.
4. It’s our anniversary week-so we’ll be eating out at least once. Also we’ll have family in town this week so we might have an additional meal out.
5. As always I try to fit in one meatless, on fish and one venison meal each week.
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: This and That Curry with Rice
This and That Curry is one of my favorite use up the leftovers meals. You really can use anything-like that leftover salad that is still good but starting to look a little wilty. A couple of tablespoons of 3 or 4 different veggies, meats, etc. I’ll cut up a little of the chicken I bought and add a pot of rice.
Tuesday: Sauerkraut Pork-chops with Buttered Noodles & Green Salad
I’ve got to think up a better name for this recipe. It was my favorite dish that my mom used to cook while I was growing up-pork chops cooked in Kosher Sauerkraut and stewed tomatoes. . . It tastes much better than it sounds. I’ll make up some noodles and toss with a bit of butter, so we’ll put that on the side and then round it out with a green salad. I seem to have a lot of salad fixings in my fridge–I think spring has put me in the mood for roughage 🙂
Wednesday: Tuna Stuffed Shells with Carrots
I’m eating this one for you folks! I’ve got a stuffed shell recipe that I’ve tweaked a bit and I need to try it one more time before it’s fit for publication. That’s the protien and the pasta–so I need a vegetable. Although my heart is screaming “steamed asparagus” my head is saying “wow-that wouldn’t be frugal”. What would be frugal is using up some more of the carrots I canned before I have fresh carrots overtaking me from the garden! Oh yeah. This is my fish meal for the week.
Thursday: Pinto Beans, Wild Mustard Greens and Sweet Northern Cornbread
I haven’t had a straight bean meal in a while. Although Buddy won’t be pleased (he is not a fan of beans) everyone else should like it. I’ll let the little guy have PB&J along with his greens & Sweet Northern Cornbread if he likes. And the Mustard Greens? Well, I’ll be posting about that soon. This is my meatless meal for the week.
Friday: Mac ‘n Cheese
Hubs and I are going out on Friday night, so the kiddos get quick and simple.
Saturday: Venison Vegetable Soup with Homemade Biscuits
Saturdays get busy, don’t they? I’ll use the crockpot and get the Venison Vegetable soup going by mid morning, then all I have to worry about at dinner time is whipping up a quick batch of biscuits. This is my venison meal for the week.
Sunday: Flat Roasted Chicken, Baked Potatoes and Dandelion Greens
I told you last week that the recipe for Flat Roasted Chicken over at Shutterbean intrigued me. . . and I had planned to make it for Sunday dinner. Well, yeah, that never happened. I had buttermilk to use up in the fridge so I went all out and made buttermilk pancakes AND buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast Sunday morning. So of course everyone was too full to even consider eating lunch until almost 3, which meant I wasn’t about to cook a huge dinner. Long story short-I’ll try this meal this coming Sunday. It will be especially nice since my brother will be visiting and I’d like to have a nice homey meal with him. I will make the dandelion greens just the way I did in my “Free Food-Foraging Dandelion Greens” post.
Hmmm. I guess I didn’t work in those boneless skinless chicken breasts, did I? I better put those in the freezer today!
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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.
Jenn, here is one of my favorite foods to use up some of your saurkraut . Unless of course you wanted to send it to me;).
Just boil up rice and cook it fluff and cool ahead of time or make leftovers a day ahead.
Cut up a pound of bacon ( or less if you don’t feel like living extravagant!), fry till almost cooked. turn off heat.
In a greased 2 quart casserole layer
rice, some bacon and grease( just a little), then drained saurkraut, repeat ( I usually only do this twice, but 3 times mixes it up more). Bake in a moderate oven for half hour to blend the flavours. Serve and eat. ( I like it cold later too! In fact when we make it I over eat every time, I always say I won’t this time, but I do).
I took this to a weight watchers event and most people passed it by ( bland looking) but a couple of ladies tried it, and raved about it and went back for more! Then everyone wanted to try it and it was gone! One lady wanted it as an easy potluck recipe and couldn’t believe that’s all there was to it.
Jenn,
I never heard of saurkraut with anything but smoked sausage or a hot dog condiment until I moved back East. Porkchops and sauerkraut, I thought eww! but very tasty once I learned to make it. My faovrite recipe for sauerkraut is to throw in cut up smoked sausage, fresh chopped green apples, saurkraut drained, and a little apple vinegar. Throw in the crockpot and yummy! I have even used the turkey smoked sausage with good results. I am gonna give Pat’s a try up above, sounds delish!
Pat-that sounds good, I’ll have to try it sometime! I love everything in it. Rice, bacon & Sauerkraut.
Amyrlin-I think that Kraut is more of a germanic thing-so you get more of it in areas where there were German settlements. Like a lot of the East coast (PA etc). I’ve heard a lot of recipes that combine the apples with the sauerkraut. I’ve found that the sweetness seems to take some of the edge off of it.