The kiddos are anxiously counting down the days until Christmas, I’m counting down the days until both my parents, my brother & my sister (with baby) descend on the house. We are totally in a flurry of decorating, house cleaning/organizing, and Christmas shopping & wrapping. Not to mention the regularly scheduled program of kids sports, husband’s evening meetings, meals, laundry, blog writing, business correspondance and a backlog of review items. Oh, and throw in 1 hr three days a week of physical therapy for my shoulder on top of all that.
I love the holiday season, but it does get chaotic!
So my plan for this week’s menu plan is to try to follow the “KISS” principle from back in my Army days. “Keep it simple-stupid!”
Monday: Venison Steaks w/Brown Gravy & Onions, Baked Potatoes, Carrots
Yankee Bill will be home for supper, but he’s got to head out early for Pool. We had a different guy clean & butcher the deer this year-and he had the ability to cube the steaks. So we figured what the heck, we’d try it. So now Yankee Bill has said several times “I can’t wait to see how that tastes”. . . so tonight we’ll find out. I’m not going to do anything fancy with them this time-just sautee in a bit of butter with onions. Toss a couple of potatoes in the oven to bake-viola, dinner!
Tuesday: Quiche & Salad
Wrestling practice for Princess, so we need something that can be made early so she can eat before and the rest of us can eat after/during (only one of us takes her over, the other stays home with Buddy. Hanging around and watching sis practice for an hour is hard for an active 6 yr old.)
Sunday after dinner there was a lot of rice and sausage leftover, so I decided to get a little ahead of things and whip up a couple of rice crust quiches to have for the hectic days ahead. I’ll use one for this meal with a tossed salad, the other will be frozen and saved for lunches next week. Although there is some meat in this meal, I’m going to count it as my “meatless” meal since the sausage is more a seasoning than a main course.
Wednesday: Turkey Soup & Biscuits
Spending the day in town with errands, which usually means I won’t get back home until just before dinnertime. A crockpot is the way to go on these occasions! I did a massive chicken cooking session on Sunday night-the meat was frozen up for future meals, but the bones were tossed in the crockpot to cook overnight for stock. I was able to pick another cup and a half of meat off the bones!
I’ll toss the meat in the de-fatted stock along with any leftover baked potato, cubes, carrots etc. If there isn’t enough to make a full soup I’ll fill in with some leftover veggies, carrots & celery from the crisper and some pasta. I’ll use my Homemade Biscuit Mix to whip up some last minute drop biscuits.
Thursday: Baked Chicken, Green Beans & Rice
Have a conference call conveniently scheduled (can you hear the sarcasm) at 4:30-5:30pm. Need something that can be made & cooking while I’m on the phone. I also have the same situation I do on Tuesday nights-Princess has wrestling practice again. I’ll cook the chicken and rice in time to feed Princess before the start of my conference call and simply reheat for everyone else later.
Friday: Pizza
Heck, it’s a tradition. Couldn’t make it without my “Pizza Hut Crust Clone” recipe though. I think I’m going to plan ahead and make a double batch of dough, then crank out not only our two pizzas, but also a bunch of homemade calzones that I can freeze up and have ready for a meal next week.
Saturday: Salmon Patties, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
I haven’t made Salmon Patties for quite a while! This should be a bit more time intensive (with the frying and all-baked just don’t cut it) but I’ll have a bit more time on the weekend. Taters will be instant and the beans out of the freezer from our garden produce. This counts as my fish meal for the week.
Sunday: Spaghetti with Italian Venison Sausage & Mixed Veggies
Church & Christmas Pageant rehearsal in the morning. Walk through of the house my mom is buying in the afternoon. My sister & her baby fly in to Syracuse at 8pm-so I’ll need to head out around 7ish to pick them up. . . So there is time for an early dinner & cleanup before going. . . but I’ll want to keep it simple (is that my refrain for this week or what?). Spaghetti & sauce can be whipped up quickly & reheats well. I’m pairing it with frozen veggies cooked in the microwave. Easy peasy.
So that’s my plan. For more great menu plans check out Menu Plan Monday at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.
Sounds yummy!!
I try! Honestly, I’ve got to add a bit more variety into my menus, but this week & next are not the time to do it-way too much going on!