Monday, January 12, 2009

Menu Plan Monday January 12

You may notice that I switched my 'week' and moved the weekend to the front of the line. I shop on the weekends and it just makes more sense for our family right now. Maybe when I am not working any more and go back to shopping at the beginning of the week I'll go back to Monday through Sunday again.

Dinners
Saturday: Spaghetti, green salad
Sunday: Baked chicken drumsticks, rice pilaf, and corn
Monday: Lasagnia and green salad
Tuesday: Shredded pork loin crockpot, twice baked potato and broccoli
Wednesday: Leftover night
Thursday: Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and green beans
Friday: Tacos

Reality is the days will get shuffled around but as long as Saturday and Monday happen then everything else is good.

Again this week I will make a breakfast bread and a sweet (most likely it will be Magic Bars).

Looking for more menu ideas? Check out I'm an Oranizing Junkie. Have a great week!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Menu Plan Monday January 5

Menu Plan for January 5, 2009

It will be a busy and changing week so the plan is to keep things simple and dinner going on the table so we stay out of the restaurants.

Monday: Spanish Rice, Tossed Salad -moved to Thursday

Tuesday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Salad - Moved to Monday

Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (crockpot), Rice, Salad - Didn't happen

Thursday: Leftover Buffet

Friday: Chicken ala King, Puff Pastry, Cranberry Sauce

Saturday: Lasagna, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread - moved to this coming Monday but did make spaghetti so the sauce is ready for Monday. ;)

Sunday: Roasted pork, twice baked potatoes, broccoli - moved to this coming Tuesday made baked chicken and rice with corn

I also plan to make banana bread, regular bread to go with some tuna salad to take care of lunches, and perhaps some croutons to use up so going stale bread. Banana bread was a great idea, tuna salad didn't happen so the reg bread became bread pudding Saturday night.

Looking for more menu ideas? Check out I'm an Oranizing Junkie. Have a great week!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year

MY 2009 GOALS
These are my GOALS!! I do not need to have everything on here accomplished by December of 2009. The list is way too long. Goals are something to work towards, not something that must be completed. As long as I accomplish at least 2 items from each category, then I will have met my goals for 2009.

Spend more time in God’s Word.
§ Have Daily personal Bible Study.
§ Have daily prayer time.
§ Start attending church again.

Keep in touch and spend more quality time with my family and friends.
§ Invite friends over once a month.
§ Have a Date night two times a month, even if it’s at home.
§ Send cards to family members on regular basis.

Make our house feel like a home.
§ Continue de-cluttering. Find at least 5 things each weekday to get rid of.
§ Learn how to deal with mail correctly.
§ Organize, straighten and make sure everything has a place.
§ Make home a place we can rest, relax and be refreshed.
§ Follow my routines list and PCC
§ Dishes need to be done before bed to enable the morning and next evening’s dinner to go better.
§ Create appropriate storage for games so they can be used.
§ Create a more permanent office area for dh.
§ Work out a reasonable system for seasonal décor.

Health
§ Exercise more.
§ Trim down enough so my clothes fit nicely. The scale is my enemy so this goal will have to do for the year.
§ Learn how to cook even more without using packets or canned goods.
§ Drink at least 4 glasses of water a day.
§ Add an additional serving of vegetables to each day.
§ Get physical and take meds on time.

Communication
§ Post to my blog at least twice a week.
§ Keep in touch by phone or email with extended family at least once a month.
§ Spend more time sharing my thoughts and ideas with dh.

Become better organized.
· Update and use Home Control Journal
· Update and use Christmas Planner
· Create a more workable plan for once a month cooking
§ Put together a workable menu plan each week and post it for dh to see and use.
§ Make an accurate grocery list and stick to it.

Do something for myself once a week.
§ Take a bubble bath, give myself a manicure, or do something else to take care of me.
§ Work on my paper crafting either going to an event or at home.

Financial
§ Use coupons and sales regularly for all purchases.
§ Save additional money by keeping a price book and track for appropriate stockpiling of non-perishable goods purchased at the best prices.
§ Find year long employment.
§ Focus more on paying down debt and working my FPU plan with dh.
§ Make sure quarterly taxes are paid on time.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Menu Plan Monday August 18th


What's new for this week? I am starting to add recipes for some of the meals. If you need them scaled larger please let me know as I have that done since I enjoy freezer cooking. Also note that I will play with recipes. What that means is if I am short on something or have a bit more I will adjust to make it work for what we will enjoy.


Last week had a few bumps and it caused some problems but it is a new week and a new menu. I will be going shopping today and in an effort to avoid some of the issues from last week I plan on correcting the menu if I am unable to get the needed items. I will not wait and hope to get them later in the week since that didn't work last week.


Here goes:
Monday - Steak, seasoned potato cubes, and broccoli (hold over from last week)
Tuesday - Italian sausage with peppers over spiral pasta, Side salad
Wednesday - Rice bowls (using pork and broccoli)
Thursday - Chicken with wine sauce, side salad
Friday - Leftover night as I'll be busy prepping for Saturday
Saturday - Block party no real cooking just "doing it all, LOL!"
Sunday - Birthday party so no cooking :)


Looking for more menu ideas? Check out I'm an Oranizing Junkie. Have a great week!

Chicken with Wine Sauce

Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 Boneless chicken breasts (yes, you can use bone-in)
6 slices ham
6 slices provolone cheese
¾ package green onions chopped
12 oz sliced mushrooms
2 cups half and half
2 cup water
2 teaspoons chicken base
½ cup white wine
½ cup sherry
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoon butter
1 package dumpling noodles

Directions:
1.. Place chicken in baking dish
2.. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees
3.. Saute garlic, green onions, and mushrooms and set aside
4.. Make a roux with the butter and flour
5.. Mix water with chicken base and add to roux, along with sherry and wine. Stir to thicken.
6.. Add garlic mixture and half and half. Heat through and turn off.
7.. Turn chicken and lightly salt and pepper
8.. Arrange slices of ham and cheese on top of chicken.
9.. Pour sauce over the top of chicken
10.. Bake for another 35-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through and sauce is bubbly.
11.. Serve over lightly buttered noodles.

Freezing:
I freeze chicken portions in rigid freezer containers and reheat in the microwave.

Spanish Rice

Recipes: 1
Servings: 8

Ingredients:

2 pounds Ground beef
1 medium onion
1 medium Green pepper
28 oz tomatoes canned
16 oz tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 ½ tsp Chile powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 cup rice, uncooked

Assembly Directions:
Brown ground beef. Onions and peppers chopped. Place everything in Crock pot. Stir. Cover, cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3 hours.
***Can be done stove top about 25-30 minutes.

Freezing Directions:
Freeze in plastic containers.
***Optional: Put all ingredients in a bag and freeze prior to cooking in a crock pot

Serving From Frozen Directions:
Heat and serve.

Italian Sausage with peppers and onions

Recipes:1
Servings: 4
Makes: 1.5 Qt

Ingredients:
1 pound Italian sausage
26 oz Garden style Ragu (T, O, & G)
1 Multicolor pepper (I like yellow, orange, and green in this)
1/2 Onion
1 pound pasta (we like spiral)

Assembly Directions:
Cook sausage and cut into bite sized pieces
Clean and cut veggies then lightly brown them
Add cooked and sliced sausage, Ragu and seasonings.
Simmer between 20 minutes and 2 or more hours (the flavors meld as you cook longer but it is good both ways).

Serve over cooked pasta

Freezing Directions:
Freeze sauce mixture separate from pasta