One way to take charge of my slump in homekeeping is to get back to menu planning instead of occupying brain power each and every day to think of what we are going to be eating for dinner. (As an aside, I got a chuckle out of an article in the paper yesterday that said Americans are eating out at fast food more because of the economy. I guess we are weird, but we are eating out even less at fast food. When we do the math, even fast food can approach $20 for a meal for our family. Think of all the groceries you can buy with $20 when you are careful!) Thankfully we have lots of ingredients on hand right now so this won't be too difficult. Breakfasts will likely be made up of some of the 30 boxes of cereal (for less than a dollar per box) I bought this weekend, yogurt, and fruit.
I'm always looking for lunch ideas since it seems I lack inspiration for that meal more than any other and always need something quick and hopefully balanced. Do you have any ideas to share?
Monday
L - quesadillas, oranges, leftover rice and orange chicken
D - sausage corn chowder, biscuits, green salad
Tuesday
L - turkey cheese biscuit rolls, apple slices
D - beef roast, mashed potatoes, steamed herbed vegetables
Wednesday - make a batch of bread: 2 loaves, 1 dozen cinnamon rolls, 1 dozen dinner rolls, 1 dozen garlic cheese breadsticks
L - stovetop mac & cheese
D - vegetable beef stew, green salad, whole wheat dinner rolls
Thursday
B - whole wheat cinnamon rolls, fruit
L - canned soup with pasta thown in to bulk it up, dinner rolls
D - rigatoni bake (pasta, meat, sauce, cottage cheese, mozarella), garlic cheese breadsticks
Friday
L - leftovers
D - homemade pizza - maybe one taco and one pepperoni, salad
Saturday
B - oat waffles (with some cottage cheese blended in for more protein), blueberries, yogurt
L - pasta bar: cooked pasta with choices of meat, alfredo and red sauce
D - salsa cheese chicken, spanish rice, corn
Sunday
L - burritos made from last night's leftovers and beans
D - pasta e fagioli soup, bread/biscuits/etc.
Ideas for next week: cook a turkey and use it in lots of different ways, balsamic pork chops, loaded baked potatoes, turkey soup with homemade noodles and homemade broth.
What's cooking at your house this week?
5 comments:
For lunch, Abby loves whole wheat penne pasta w/olive oil and garlic. You can throw in any vegetable and they taste delicious. example: broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, squash, frozen veggies, etc... This is so easy and cost efficient!!! Leftover chicken or shrimp is good to add also. This is also quite filling.
Oh yea. Tuna fish is also good in the pasta!!!
Hello Rachel! I just spent some time reading your blog and getting caught up on what you have been writing again. It was great seeing you a few weeks ago. I am almost done with my Compassion work and I would love to have you guys over before long. We should meet at the park sometime this soon as the spring weather is on its way!!! I miss seeing you more! Your blog is always an inspiration to me...I will say what I always say..."Your such a Martha Stewart!!!"
YES my friend. I need help in this area as well. As does MSchuster. (so I read on her blog) Today I had in my HEAD what I was going to make, but didn't bother to see if I had all I needed (which I didn't) so we scrambled to come up with burritos, ala creative style tonight. Sigh. I so need to get on top of this.
I would love your waffle recipe with cottage cheese to get more protein. I love your menu for this week.
I also wish I had the ability to make my own bread as well.
Some lunch ideas we have often are salad with chunk chicken added for protein (chicken found in vacuum packs by tuna). Omelets are one of our favorites w/ cheese and anything else that needs to be used up. We also do our own Egg/Canadian bacon muffins w/ whole wheat English muffins. One of our favorites are crepes filled w/ fruit. I agree it is so nice when you have your menu planned out. Thanks for sharing.
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