Meal Plan 10/28

Welcome to the end of October!  I can’t believe how fast the fall is flying by.  It’s been a busy season, but things on the kids sports/activities front are getting ready to slow down soon (as in a couple of weeks) and then we’ll just have holiday chaos to deal with!

I’ve got several things to consider this week:

1.  It’s Halloween week–so we’ll have trick o treating on Friday and our annual post party for our friends to come by afterwards.  I’d imagine I don’t really need to do a dinner that night–just something that’s real food for the kids to eat before they head on out.  Then afterwards there will be cheese and crackers etc for nibbling.

2.  Tues and Wed I’ve got plans that take me out of the house for the day–I won’t want to cook anything big those nights.  Yankee Bill has pool on Thursday night and will be gone Sat & Sun, so smaller meals there.  The kids are in the last two weeks of play rehearsal so we are going to have some late nights –I need food that’s ready so they can eat some between school and rehearsal and then will stay warm/warm up easily for them to nosh some more once they get home if necessary.

3.  I’ve still got tomatoes in the fridge from the garden.  I absolutely must use those up or toss them out.  And I hate tossing out food.  Ditto for the last of the green peppers and green onions I grew.  I have some leftover pork and some broth from last week’s Cici’s Pork Chops, extra biscuits from last night’s dinner, 2/3 of a loaf of last week’s bread, and some stew beef I defrosted and then only used half of.  My cheesemaking extravaganza with “the girls” means I have about a pound of homemade mozzarella and a cup of homemade ricotta-both of which should be used within a few days.  I also kept about 3 cups of the whey which I’ll use for breadmaking.

4.  My buddy who plants an acre of potatoes brought my winter supply by, so I have plenty of red potatoes.  In the garden I’ve got carrots, beets, kale, chard, daikon radishes (which may possibly be woody) and broccoli.  In the freezer I’ve got corn, snow peas, chard stems, and greens.  On the root cellar shelves I’ve got a variety of home canned stuff.  I’m not going to list it all!

5.   As always my goal is to have one venison meal, one beef meal, one fish meal, one pork meal, one bean meal, one meatless meal and one soup meal per week.

Taking all that into account here is my game plan:

Monday: Meatloaf, Biscuits, & Carrots

I defrosted a pound each of beef, venison and hot pork sausage and made a meatloaf out of it with a bunch of the breadcrumbs I save (and an egg).  Criss crossed a couple pieces of bacon over the top, used the drippings with water and some bullion cubes to make a brown gravy.  Dug some carrots from the garden and sauteed them up with the green onions I also pulled in a big of bacon grease I’ve saved (from our organic pig!).  Made homemade biscuits using some of the whey leftover from cheesemaking for the liquid.

It was yummy, and it technically could count for my pork, venison and beef meal!

Tuesday: Beef Vegetable Soup with Biscuits

I’ll make a beef soup in the crockpot (as soon as I get done writing this) using the pork/sauerkraut broth (it’s not that sour), carrots, onions, some potato and the beef.  I’ll probably get all fancy and take the time to brown the beef for a nicer look and deeper flavor.  I’ve got about a dozen biscuits left (and of course bread) so that will be ready to go whenever folks need to grab a bowl.

This is my soup meal for the week.

Wednesday: Pasta Bake with Green Salad

I’ll whip up a pasta bake, putting the homemade ricotta in the sauce and the fresh mozzarella over the top (using jarred store sauce and probably elbow mac since that’s what I usually have on hand in the pantry).  I may saute up some of the Italian sweet sausage from our pig to go in.  Somehow salad just seems the best pairing to pasta (it’s something about the combination of heavy and light I think)-so I’ll flesh out some storebought lettuce with veggies from the garden (chard, kale, carrot etc)

This is probably my meatless meal–and even if I put in some sausage it won’t be very much, just a touch for flavor.

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner–Pancakes and Bacon

We haven’t done breakfast for dinner in a long time.  The kids love it, Yankee Bill isn’t so hot on it (he’s a “breakfast food in the morning only” kinda guy) so pool night is a great time to slip in this meal.  Plus I can make the kids cook it–Buddy makes a mean pancake from scratch.

I consider this my meatless meal.  Yes–I know there is bacon, but it’s literally 2 strips each.  That’s basically a garnish.  My meal plan, my rules!

Friday: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Tomato Soup

If I can get the kids to sit still long enough I like to get a meal with some actual nutrition in them before they go out and gorge themselves on candy.  I’ll make the tomato soup with milk for that reason as well.

This is another meatless meal (without even bacon!)

Saturday:  Pork “This and That” Curry over Rice

I’ll be able to use up the leftover pork and a bunch of bits and bobs of vegetables by making “This and That” curry with my favorite Golden Curry Cubes.  Hopefully that will see the end of the tomatoes as well as some of the onions and green peppers.

Sunday:  Ham, Stewed Greens and Buttered Shell Beans

The ham will be from our pig and cooked in the crockpot.  Love that-makes it so easy.  I’ll stew up some kale in broth with onion and a bit of hot pepper flakes.  Yum.  Finally I have a bunch of dry beans I’ve grown myself–I’ve been wanting to try some to see how they taste (and if I should plant more next year)–I really want to see the flavor so I’ll soak them, boil them and then serve them with just a bit of butter, salt and pepper so I can really get an impression of the texture and flavor.

This is my bean meal for the week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .