I know the week is half done–but I’ve been back on track with meal planning, even if I didn’t get the post up 🙂 Of course the first half of the week was holiday and the second half is going to be spent trying to get back into our routine!
So this is what I’m working with this week:
1. There was no school Mon & Tues for New Years, but the kids headed back to school today. A return to school means a return to scouts, dance, Odyssey of the Mind, and piano lessons. . .
2. Yankee Bill has meetings Wed, Thurs, and Friday–so that means the kiddos and I will be on our own for dinner.
3. Saturday we will be taking down the tree and all the Christmas decorations. That will take most of the afternoon.
4. I’ve got leftover smoked turkey and leftover ham from the holidays to use up.
5. As always my goal is to have one venison 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: Venison Steaks on English Muffins, Potato Salad and Carrot & Jerusalem Artichoke Slaw.
Venison from the freezer–well venison LOIN–the absolute most tender part of the deer. First you fry up some onions (yum) Then we just slice it, pan fry it in a bit of butter so it’s very rare–and serve it on some buttered english muffins. Trust me–Deeee licious!! wE picked up some potato salad at the deli (yup–I don’t always do everything from scratch) and I grated up carrots and Jerusalem Artichokes then added some diced up homemade pickles and pickled red pepper I made this summer. Added a bit of salad dressing and called it good 🙂
This is my venison meal for the week.
Tuesday: Turkey Soup with Rolls
I made turkey soup from the carcass of the smoked turkey. Of course I added in turkey meat, but also carrots, onion, dehydrated corn and dehydrated summer squash (which has a MUCH better texture than frozen or canned. blech). I added some rolls because it felt like it needed some carb.
This is my soup meal for the week.
Wednesday: Ham Slices with Rice and Green Beans
There was still leftover ham, so I sliced it and pan fried it to warm up. I had leftover rice which I heated and some home canned green beans.
This is my pork meal for the week.
Thursday: Crockpot Turkey Tetrazzini
There is still a whole lot of turkey meat left, and it’s been a while since I made turkey tetrazzini-so it seemed a good match! It’s a one pot meal, so I won’t have a side.
Friday: Pizza Hut Crust Clone Pizza
It’s a Friday tradition–Pizza! I actually have a couple of homemade par-baked shells left in the freezer, so this will be especially easy to whip up.
Saturday: Tuna Stuffed Shells with Tossed Salad
I’ll use canned tuna and large shells for my Tuna Stuffed Shells recipe. I’ve got some greens from the garden (cold frames RULE) and will have a salad alongside.
This is my fish meal for the week.
Sunday: Curried Chickpeas and Rice
Well, I needed to fit in a bean recipe so curried chickpeas it is. I KNOW I published this recipe and for the LIFE of me I can’t find it on the dang blog. It’s driving me nuts.
When I find it, this will be my bean recipe for the week. Sigh.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .
Can you talk about how you par-bake and freeze the pizza shells? I’d like to do this more often, but mine always seem to be soggy this way.
I also have nice, crispy pizza if I par-bake the shell (just until set and beginning to brown) before adding sauce, toppings and cheese — then bake the shell directly on the oven rack, instead of putting it back on the pan. Even better than a pizza stone…