Meal Plan 11/24

It’s Thanksgiving Week here in the US, which means most folks are on a short work week, someone in the family has a big meal to prepare, and I can start playing Christmas Carols on Friday 🙂

I’ve got several things to consider this week:

1.  Thanksgiving dinner is at my Mother in Law’s house per usual on Thursday.  I’m bringing shrimp appetizer (purchased at ALDIs), homemade dinner rolls and creamed pearl onions.  Pretty easy.  Then for dessert we are going over to my mom’s house.  I’ll bring mincemeat pie since I still have a couple of jars of homemade green tomato mincemeat on the shelves.  My brother likes it 🙂

2.  Yankee Bill will be out hunting on Friday all day–so it’s just the kids and I for supper.  I’ve got appointments and errands that will take me out of the house most of the day on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I’ll need slow cooker meals or something simple to make those days.

3.  In the fridge I’ve got turkey broth & turkey, a sweet potato, lettuce, celery, some Brussel sprouts and quite a bit of cheese to include ricotta.  In the freezer there is plenty of frozen pork, venison, beef and a bit of chicken and fish. On the counter are some Jerusalem artichokes I dug but haven’t used yet along with two small winter squash and a head of cabbage.   In the garden I’ve got beets, carrots and Jerusalem artichokes under a thick layer of straw mulch, kale just hanging out in the garden like a boss, and chard, kale and parsley under the cold frames.

4. 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: Turkey Soup and Biscuits

I’ve got the soup going in the slow cooker. Bone broth, turkey, lemongrass, garlic, onion, celery and dehydrated carrots.  I may throw some kind of starch in later–pasta or rice most likely.  Before dinner I’ll just throw together some biscuits (seriously–they are quick to make if a tad bit messy) and we’ll have a nice warm supper.  Should be good for us–we’ve all got varying degrees of colds, and poor Buddy has been stuffy & coughing for days.  That’s why I go heavy on the garlic and onion in the soup–natural antivirals and all.

This is my soup meal for the week.

Tuesday: “Baked” Ziti and Salad

I’ll either put this all together ahead of time so that I can pop it in the oven when I get home in the evening, or else I’ll just figure out a way to cook the whole thing in the slow cooker (which usually means only partially cooking the pasta ahead of time and then adding extra liquid to the cooker).  This will use up the ricotta, some mozzarella and Parmesan, and some of the lettuce.

This is my meatless meal for the week.

Wednesday: Venison Steaks with Gravy, Boiled Potatoes and Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes and Brussel Sprouts

I’ll just pan fry some venison steaks and then use the pan juices to make some gravy.  The potatoes will just be peeled, quartered, boiled and tossed with butter and parsley.  The chokes and sprouts will be cleaned, cut in half and tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and then roasted in a pan at 400 for about 30-45 min.

This is my Venison Meal for the week.

Thursday: Thanksgiving

Food, Food and more Food

Friday: Cabbage Roll Casserole and Bread

I’ll use up the head of cabbage and some ground beef from our 1/2 steer in this easy cabbage roll casserole that can be cooked in the oven or started early in the day in the slow cooker.  I’ll make some fresh bread to go alongside.

This is my beef meal for the week.

Saturday: Fried Fish Patties, Homemade Rice ‘a Roni and Beets

We never ate fish last week. So I still have that frozen cooked fish that I have been meaning to use up.  So I’ll try yet again to get around to making patties based on my Salmon Patties out of it, along with some homemade Rice a Roni as a side.  Then I’ll dig up some beets from the garden and just boil them and serve with salt, pepper and butter.

This is my fish meal for the week.

Sunday: Homemade Baked Beans w/Bacon and Dinner Rolls

I haven’t made baked beans in, well, forever.  I’ll make a pot in the crockpot (which should leave plenty for at least one lunch during the week).  Because I still have to fit in a pork meal I’ll either add a ham hock from the freezer or some bacon to the beans.  Then on the side we’ll have rolls.  I really feel like I should try to include a vegetable, but I can’t think what would go with baked beans.  Maybe homemade coleslaw?  I’ll have to consider it.

This is my bean and pork meal for the week.

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