Well someone left the door of the downstairs fridge/freezer cracked at some point this weekend. Everything inside appears to still be frozen, but there is a HUGE buildup of ice and frost on everything. . .so this week’s menu plan (and most likely next week’s) is dedicated to getting all that stuff eaten up so I can do a thorough defrost & clean.
The garden is in early prodcution mode-I’ve got plenty of snow peas to use in the next few days, the early greens from radishes, lettuces, cabbages and spring onions as well.
Besides those I’ve also got a few things to use up in the fridge upstairs-a packet of venison I defrosted then never grilled on Saturday, a half a gallon of skim milk that is just past it’s “sell by” date, some broccoli & cauliflower that are not looking their best anymore.
I’ve got to work around my meeting tonight, Yankee Bill’s on Wednesday, a half day of school on Friday and probable house guests over the weekend.
Whee! So let’s see what I can come up with shall we?
Monday: Turkey Burgers & Sauteed Snow Peas, Spring Onions & Radish Greens
The turkey burgers were in the iced up freezer-so they made a quick and easy dinner with some of the produce from the garden.
Tuesday: Cream of Broccoli/Cauliflower soup with Biscuits
This should use up the milk, broccoli & cauliflower. I’ll probably throw a dish of shredded cheddar cheese on the table so the kids & hubs can melt it into their soup. That will increase the protein content for the kiddos and make it taste richer. After all, skim milk isn’t really the best choice for a cream soup. Then again maybe I’ll add a can of fat free evaporated (NOT condensed) milk in as well to create a richer flavor without the added fat.
Biscuits will of course be homemade. The kids have been really loving eating toast with my homemade rhubarb jam as a snack & breakfast lately-I’ll make extra biscuits and let them use those.
Wednesday: Venison Packets, with salad and & buttered noodles
I’ll put the venison in foil packets with onion, bbq sauce and whatever else takes my fancy, wrap them tightly and cook them on the grill. There are lettuce, radish, spinach & cabbage greens in the garden to be used in a salad, and the noodles are left over from a big batch I cooked up on Sunday when I made Spicy Thai Noodles to take to a church potluck. That box of thin spaghetti was much bigger than I thought!
Thursday: Lasagna, Garlic Knots and sauteed mustard greens.
I had a package of ground beef that was in the freezer as well. I haven’t made lasagna in a really long time, so I will use the beef to make a big double, or maybe even triple batch. One will be cooked and the others will go into the freezer for future meals. I’ll use the standard breadmachine white bread recipe to make “garlic knots” (which is basically a breadstick you tie in a knot with a lot of garlic butter).
Friday: Pizza
Using the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe of course 
Saturday: Fried Rice
This is a great one pot, clean out the fridge meal. I’ll get to use up a bunch of bits and pieces out of the fridge crisper drawer, as well as some of the frozen veggies from the fridge.
Sunday: To be determined. . .
Once hubs decides what he wants for Father’s Day dinner. He’s having a hard time deciding.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad you caught the freezer in time. I had to throw out so many pounds of hamburger that was pasture fed beef when my kids got to our freezer one year.
Great way to clean out the freezer at least
Here is our menu plan for the week http://www.robynsonlineworld.com/2010/06/tasty-tuesday-menu-plan-june-15-edition.html