Menu Plan Monday - 10/19/09 - A Little Late!

The cabin weekend was great!!! The weather was a little cold but warmed up nicely the day we left! LOL!



The leaves were changing and falling. It was beautiful! The best things was spending time with our very good friends and their children.

We took pantry staples like spices and such, but bought everything perishable when we got there. The shopping trip was fun and we had a list so we only over bought on just a couple of splurge items. We were blessed and ate very well for the weekend!


We returned late on Monday and it's taken me a couple of days to catch up. Here's this weeks Menu Plan Monday on a Thursday! LOL!!!


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What's up for the week of 10/19/09

Monday: Just got home. Oatmeal and cereal night.

Tuesday: Grilled cheese and Tomato soup

Wednesday: Pepper steak, crab rangoon, rice and egg drop soup.

Thursday: From the Freezer: Beef n Noodles with mashed potatoes

Friday: From the Freezer: Mom's stew. This is the last stew Mom made last winter. Bittersweet to eat it because it is the last she made for me before she passed away.

Saturday: Sandwiches then a Halloween Party!

Sunday: Pumkin carving party! Chili with all the fixins and frend onion soup.


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 10/12/09:


Monday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas (Taste of Home Cookbook Pg 174)-(Recycled from last week). Yep. Good!

Tuesday: Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes, Corn and Rolls. Chicken Fried Rice, Egg drop soup.

Wednesday: Yakatori Chicken with rice and Egg Drop Soup (Recycled from last week). Can't remember, but it wasn't this.

Thursday: Flat iron Steak Fajitas w/ Mexican rice (Recycled from last week). Can't remember, but it wasn't this.

Friday: Chili (At the Cabin) Yep. Good!

Saturday: Fish Fry - Hopefully! (At the Cabin) No fish. Grilled Chicken.

Sunday: Grilled burgers and dogs. Yep. Good!





The weeks are getting busier and the nights are getting colder. I am fighting the urge to turn on the furnace. Trying to hold off a little longer!!!

Menu Plan Monday - 10/12/09

We've got a busy week coming up! We are headed to a cabin on a nice lake to spend the weekend with some excellent friends! Had a quick conversation with my friend about what to eat while we are there. We have to take all of the food so we're trying to keep it simple!

I substituted a lot this week, because our week changed around a lot, but I'm finding that is normal for us! LOL

So check out my plan for this week and also what threw me off plan last week below. :-)

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What's up for the week of 10/12/09

Monday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas (Taste of Home Cookbook Pg 174)-(Recycled from last week).

Tuesday: Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes, Corn and Rolls

Wednesday: Yakatori Chicken with rice and Egg Drop Soup (Recycled from last week).

Thursday: Flat iron Steak Fajitas w/ Mexican rice (Recycled from last week).

Friday: Chili (At the Cabin)

Saturday: Fish Fry - Hopefully! (At the Cabin)

Sunday: Grilled burgers and dogs.


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 10/5/09:


Monday: Leftovers because Moma has a meeting! This worked great. Kids also had Spaghetti O's and Raviolis. No cookin' for me!

Tuesday: Grilled Steak Kabobs (Outback seasoned)-Potato, veggie, mac n cheese (Recycled from last week). - Made it and ate it. Steak was GREAT! Instead of mac n cheese, I made a new Risotto recipe that used squash and peppers from the garden. It was ok. Not our new fave, but OK.

Wednesday: Cracker Crust Chicken, mashed potato, corn, gravy, bread (Recycled from last week). Got around really late so I just made fast Hamburger Rice.

Thursday: Flank Steak Fajitas w/ mexican rice (Recycled from last week). - Went to get my hair done in the late afternoon and then took my sister-in-law to Pizza Hut for keeping the girls for me.

Friday: Yakatori Chicken with rice and Egg Drop Soup - Weird night. The kids ate snacks late that kinda doubled for supper. Husband and I both had big, late lunches so we just didn't need supper. Kids ate some Chocolate Malt o Meal for a snack at about 8pm. LOL!

Saturday: Eating out. Moma's going scrappin' !!! - Did this. It was awesome!

Sunday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas (Taste of Home Pg 174) (Recycled from last week). - Really felt like potato soup. So that's what I made! LOL!



The weeks are getting busier and the nights are getting colder. I am fighting the urge to turn on the furnace. Trying to hold off a little longer!!!

Menu Plan Monday - 10/05/09 It's a habit!

I feel comfortable enough, now that this is my 9th week of planning menus that I can stop counting the weeks! LOL!

I subsituted alot this week, but didn't even have to go to the grocery store to buy anything. (Yay!)

So check out this week and also what threw me off plan last week below. :-)

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What's up for the week of 10/05/09

Monday: Leftovers because Moma has a meeting!

Tuesday: Grilled Steak Kabobs (Outback seasoned)-Potato, veggie, mac n cheese (Recycled from last week).

Wednesday: Cracker Crust Chicken, mashed potato, corn, gravy, bread (Recycled from last week).

Thursday: Flank Steak Fajitas w/ mexican rice (Recycled from last week).

Friday: Yakatori Chicken with rice and Egg Drop Soup

Saturday: Eating out. Moma's going scrappin' !!!

Sunday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas (Taste of Home Pg 174) (Recycled from last week).


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 9/21/09:

Monday: Beef and noodles with mashed potatoes - Grilled Cheeseburgers cause it was easier! LOL

Tuesday: Julie's Chicken Pot Pie - Made Beef and noodles from Monday

Wednesday: Grilled Steak Kabobs (Outback seasoned)-Potato, veggie, mac n cheese - Easy Spaghetti with marinara sauce.

Thursday: Cracker Crust Chicken, mashed potato, corn, gravy, bread - Pepper steak at family's request.

Friday: Family party at a friend's house. I will take Tortilla roll-ups and Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies. - Did this. It was yummy. Party was a blast!

Saturday: Flank Steak Fajitas w/ mexican rice - Out to eat at Logan's

Sunday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas (Taste of Home Pg 174) - Ended up making baked spaghetti. The other night I accidentally opened a can of ITALIAN stewed tomatoes instead of DICED tomatoes. I saved them and used them tonight and made a meal around them so they wouldn't be wasted!


The weeks are getting busier and the nights are getting colder. I am fighting the urge to turn on the furnace. Trying to hold off a little longer!!!

Menu Plan Monday - W/O 9/29/09 EIGHT WEEKS Strong!

So ... I am still impressed with this whole menu planning thing. I think the most amazing thing is that I find myself throwing away much less food than I did before. It seems we are able to get things used up BEFORE they go bad. That is good!

I have also added a few more recipes to our menu. I found two REALLY good ones this past week. See my review of last week below this weeks plan.

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What's up for the week of 9/29/09

Monday: Beef and noodles with mashed potatoes

Tuesday: Julie's Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday: Grilled Steak Kabobs (Outback seasoned)-Potato, veggie, mac n cheese

Thursday: Cracker Crust Chicken, mashed potato, corn, gravy, bread

Friday: Family party at a friend's house. I will take Tortilla roll-ups and Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies.

Saturday: Flank Steak Fajitas w/ mexican rice

Sunday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas (Taste of Home Pg 174)


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 9/21/09:

Monday: Easy Spaghetti with sauce - Made it, ate it.

Tuesday: Potato Soup - Made the stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy (See Wedensday below) We will for sure add this to the rotation, Carl said that he thought it was the best chicken he as have had! WOW!

Wednesday: NEW RECIPE - (Recycled from last 2 weeks) Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy from Miss Vickie's pressure cooker cookbook. Page 236. Gonna keep this on the menu until we give it a try! Ended up eating out at a local restaurant.

Thursday: NEW RECIPE - Yakatori (marinated, grilled sirloin steak kabobs), oriental green beans, egg drop soup and rice. (Recipes from allrecipes.com and cooks.com) - Swapped Thursday and Friday of this week. Pizza was good as usual!

Friday: Home made pizza - C'Mon garden! One more round of green peppers and tomatoes! Please?!? - Ok so tonight was the night to try the recipes listed for Thursday above. WOWEE!!! This was gooooood! Found out it is really called Yakiniku (Grilled Beef). Yakatori is chicken. Anyway it was amazingly good!!!

Saturday: Cracker Crust Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn. - Had quick spaghetti with meat sauce and bread.

Sunday: Beef and noodles with mashed potaotes (slow cook roast starting in the morning). - Got stuck out at the lake ... LITERALLY! So we ate a Pizza Hut on the way home. Very late! LOL!

Have an excellent week everyone!!!

Menu Plan Monday - W/O 9/21/09 SEVEN WEEKS Strong!

I would say we have a habit here with this menu planning thing! Whoo hoo!

I committed to making at least ONE NEW MEAL each week.

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(See below for what last week was and what we actually did for supper).

Monday: Easy Spaghetti with sauce

Tuesday: Potato Soup

Wednesday: NEW RECIPE - (Recycled from last 2 weeks) Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy from Miss Vickie's pressure cooker cookbook. Page 236. Gonna keep this on the menu until we give it a try!

Thursday: NEW RECIPE - Yakatori (marinated, grilled sirloin steak kabobs), oriental green beans, egg drop soup and rice. (Recipes from allrecipes.com and cooks.com)

Friday: Home made pizza - C'Mon garden! One more round of green peppers and tomatoes! Please?!?

Saturday: Cracker Crust Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn.

Sunday: Beef and noodles with mashed potaotes (slow cook roast starting in the morning).


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 9/7/09:
Monday: Tacos - Planned it, made em. Ate 'em! With fresh salsa to boot!

Tuesday: NEW RECIPE - Grilled steaks, fried potatoes, velveeta mac n cheese, green beans. I used the Outback Steakhouse marinade from a copycat recipe book. It was wayyyyyy yummy!

Wednesday: Spaghetti & Meatballs with french bread - Littlest daughter thought Pepper Steak sounded better. So that's what we did (pulled from Sunday)! Took the opportunity to let the girls help measure chop (w/supervision) and stir. They were very proud of supper that night and ate really well!

Thursday: Chicken Enchiladas - These turned out yummy, even though I left the oven on BROIL!!! (I turn it onto that to preheat and forgot to switch it down! ACK!!) Thank gooness the rack was low enough, just the cheese got crispy, just the way I like it! These rock! Especially the next day for lunch!

Friday: Chicken fried rice and crab rangoon - Ended up out shopping. Suprised the girls and took them out to Red Robin. Sat on the patio. It was wonderful! I had a chicken apple salad with goat cheese and walnuts. Amazing how sitting outside, you can taste everthing totallyy seperate really strong. It was cool!

Saturday: NEW RECIPE - (Recycled from last week) Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy from Miss Vickie's pressure cooker cookbook. Page 236. Gonna give this one a try! - Went out to see "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" Ate real quick at a local burger place.

Sunday: (Recycled from last week)Pepper Steak - Once of our faves this summer because it's easy and our garden is still crankin out the peppers! - Celebrated my birthday with some friends that invited us to their house for dinner. Good times!


Have a great week everyone!

Menu Plan Monday - SIX WEEKS! 9/14/09

I would say we have a habit here with this menu planning thing! Whoo hoo!

So, last week. I committed to making at least ONE NEW MEAL each week. Even though we flip flopped some meals this past week, I plan to pick up with this again this week.


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(See below for what last week was and what we actually did for supper).

Monday: Tacos - Made some fresh salsa Sunday will be good to use for this.

Tuesday: Grilled steaks, fried potatoes, velveeta mac n cheese, green beans.

Wednesday: Spaghetti & Meatballs with french bread

Thursday: Chicken Enchiladas

Friday: Chicken fried rice and crab rangoon

Saturday: NEW RECIPE - (Recycled from last week) Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy from Miss Vickie's pressure cooker cookbook. Page 236. Gonna give this one a try!

Sunday: (Recycled from last week)Pepper Steak - Once of our faves this summer because it's easy and our garden is still crankin out the peppers!


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 9/7/09:
Monday: Labor Day - Back home from Camping @ the lake late - Ate at the Marina

Tuesday: Grilled hamburgers and french fries. Need to use lefteover thawed hamburger patties from the lake. I also will pre-cook some of it to make nachos later this week out of the extra pound of patties I thawed so they won't go to waste. - Ended up making Hamburger Helper. Husband had already ate. Kids and I really like HB Helper. :-)

Wednesday: Cracker Crust Chicken with red potatoes in gravy and peas - I just use crushed saltines (with some seasoned salt) to coat chicken cubes that have been dipped in egg and then fry them. (This is the third week of this being on the menu. If we don't cook it this week, I'm taking it off the menu for a while!) - Cooked it and we ate it. Made regular mashed potatoes and corn adn some really great homemade gravy. Gotta put this back on the menu everyone really liked it. (Leftovers were great the next day too!)

Thursday: Home made pizza. Still have alot of good peppers from the garden. Plus, I bought pepperoni on sale for camping (to make pizza pockets over the campfire. SEE NOTE BELOW). We didn't end up using it so, Home made pizza sounds good! - Husband brought home pizza in honor of NFL opening night. OK by me!!! LOL!

Friday: Baked nachos using fresh salsa I'm gonna make this week and the ground beef I cooked on Tuesday night. Didn't make salsa. Ended up going out to dinner with husband, kids and sister-in-law.

Saturday: NEW RECIPE - Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy from Miss Vickie's pressure cooker cookbook. Page 236. Gonna give this one a try! - Didn't end up making this so it's on the menu for this week. (See above). We had some good friend's kids over and my oldest daughter requested that I make homemade chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes. We had this several weeks ago and everyone chowed down. If that meal pleases FOUR finicky kids, yes dear, I will make that! ;-)

Sunday: Pepper Steak - Once of our faves this summer because it's easy and our garden is still crankin out the peppers! - Had friends over so we ended up having home made pizzas that were planned for Thursday.

Have a great week everyone!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 9/7/09 - 5th Week! A habit for sure!

So, I am still diggin' on the Menu Planning. Not quite sure why it's working, but I am soooooo glad it is! :-)

I also have a new goal, I'd like to share with you ... If your family is like ours, you have about 10 standby meals that you know everyone will eat and you just make the heck out of them til everyone is just SICK of eating the same old thing all the time! Well, to help combat dinner boredom, I committed to making at least ONE NEW MEAL each week from my many cook books or the unlimited resources on the internet. Of course I know what they may eat and not eat so I use that as a guide. But I'm also not afraid to push the limit of their picky little tastebuds either! LOL!!! So, here's to my new cooking adventures! I will let you know the source of my family's new eating adventures! ;-)

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(See below for what last week was and what we actually did for supper). We went camping over the holiday weekend, so stuff switched around a little. Because of the holiday, I am posting on Tuesday.

Monday: Labor Day - Back home from Camping @ the lake late - Eat at the Marina

Tuesday: Grilled hamburgers and french fries. Need to use lefteover thawed hamburger patties from the lake. I also will pre-cook some of it to make nachos later this week out of the extra pound of patties I thawed so they won't go to waste.

Wednesday: Cracker Crust Chicken with red potatoes in gravy and peas - I just use crushed saltines (with some seasoned salt) to coat chicken cubes that have been dipped in egg and then fry them. (This is the third week of this being on the menu. If we don't cook it this week, I'm taking it off the menu for a while!)

Thursday: Home made pizza. Still have alot of good peppers from the garden. Plus, I bought pepperoni on sale for camping (to make pizza pockets over the campfire. SEE NOTE BELOW). We didn't end up using it so, Home made pizza sounds good!

Friday: Baked nachos using fresh salsa I'm gonna make this week and the ground beef I cooked on Tuesday night.

Saturday: NEW RECIPE - Stuffed Chicken Rolls with Gravy from Miss Vickie's pressure cooker cookbook. Page 236. Gonna give this one a try!

Sunday: Pepper Steak - Once of our faves this summer because it's easy and our garden is still crankin out the peppers!


HOW WE DID LAST WEEK of 8/17/09:
Monday: NEW RECIPE REPORT- Baked Chicken Chimichangas - Taste of Home Cookbook. Page 174 - Ok, this was something totally new ... And it ROCKED!!! This recipe is worth the price of the entire cookbook. Seriously! Can't believe the chimichangas got crunchy just from being in the oven. This is on my list of stuff to make again.

Tuesday: Spaghetti with italian meatballs and french bread - Made it. Ate it. Family was happy. We hadn't had this for a while because all were burned out on it before. Made the meatballs with a little garlic powder. Carl liked them. (He's usually anti-garlic)

Wednesday: Flank Steak Fajitas - Made them, ate them. Used fresh salsa. Yummo!

Thursday: Cracker Crust Chicken with red potatoes in gravy and peas - What is up with this chicken? Each night I plan to cook it, we are busy out shopping ... Used an email coupon for Carlos o' Kellys and saved a little $$ since we ate out.

Friday: Camping - Eat out on the way there - Pizza Hut according to plan. Called in the order so it was ready when we got there. Wanted to get back on the road FAST! LOL

Saturday: Camp out - Burgers and Dogs grilled - Campfire corn on the cob, chips Dip -Wellllll ... Here's where we get creative! I love camp cooking. It's always a challenge. You have to plan every single meal. There isn't any running to the pantry for cereal and milk ... Unless you PLAN it like that! LOL! So, I ended up with a grat deal on frozen sirloin steak kabobs and tons of fresh veggies from the garden so we took metal skewers camping and grilled marinated steak kabobs. I also took a bunch of corn on the cob (also on sale!) and pulled back the husks, cleaned out the silk, buttered, salted and pulled the husks back up and covered them in foil and then grilled the corn over the campfire. You have to remember to turn them frequently so they don't burn, but they are soooooooo good!

Sunday - Camp out - Burgers and Dogs grilled - Campfire corn on the cob, chips Dip - This we did except we ate the corn a night early. On this night, we did the baked potatoes the same as the corn. (Baked potatoes take longer though! Start them early).

Monday (Labor Day): Back Home Something easy. We stayed at the lake really late so we just took the boat to the Marina and ate supper there. It was REALLY GOOD and not as expensive as I would have thought. Now, the marina grill is closed until next Memorial day, but it was really cool!

NEW IDEA!!! Camp cooking is so fun. I also want to reccommend these little camnpfire irons you can put bread (or anything) into and close them up and grill them over the campfire. Talk about YUM!!! We took sweet stuff to make apple pies (fresh apples, cinnamon and sugar) but we just didn't get to it. We did have grilled ham and cheese one day for lunch and the next morning, grilled bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. They are very cool!

What a fun week made much less hectic by our menu planning! YAY!

Have a great week everyone!