Sunday, May 31, 2015

Menu Plan June 1-7

It's hard to believe this is the first week of June! I'm enjoying the longer daylight hours and the appearance of fireflies in our yard. Not as fond of the humid Alabama temps, but thank the good Lord for air conditioning!

Our church is conducting our annual Vacation Bible School this week, so we'll be on the go. Plus my sweet hubby is celebrating his birthday on Tuesday, so we're going to postpone the celebration until VBS is over.

So here's what I've got on the menu for this busy week:

Monday
Pretzel dogs (from my freezer stash), spiralized potatoes
Tuesday
Steak bites, twice baked potatoes

Wednesday
Panko crusted salmon, spinach Parmesan
Thursday
Cheeseburger macaroni, oven roasted brussel sprouts
Friday
Homemade pizza

Saturday
Grilled pork & veggie kebabs

Sunday
Crockpot beef tips and gravy, mashed potatoes

For more meal planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Menu Plan May 25-31

Sorry this is late, but I've had a busy, busy weekend!

On Saturday we purchased a new mattress set for our king size bed. We've had a memory foam mattress for about 2 years and I never really liked it. I woke up with sore shoulders and neck almost every day. I finally came to the conclusion that memory foam just isn't for me. Charles agreed that he really didn't find it all that comfortable either.

So we found a great deal at Sam's Club and snagged the last king size set they had of this particular style. I have to say, I love it already. Sore shoulders are gone! Charles isn't quite ready to give his seal of approval since it takes him a long time to get adjusted to anything new. But he's pleased that I'm pleased with it.

Sunday was of course a day of church activities and then Monday was Memorial Day. I did a lot of grilling prepwork and we hosted some friends. So I've barely had time to sit down at my laptop.

Now that I have, here's what is on this week's menu:

Monday
Grilled burgers, hot dogs and brats

Tuesday
Jambalaya, crusty bread

Wednesday
Baked egg rolls, garlic sesame noodles

Thursday
Homemade pizza

Friday
Girls' night - all the guys are going camping

Saturday
Grilled steaks

Sunday
Leftovers

Hope y'all have a great week!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Menu Plan May 18-24

Last week I had to clean out my chest freezer to make room for half a cow we had purchased. The meat was processed and we needed a place to put it! If you can find a good source of grass-fed beef, I highly recommend purchasing a quarter or half a side of beef. It's a large expense all at once, but well worth it in the long run.

I was so glad when the farmer called us to let us know it was time. I was completely out of ground beef from our last half cow. And nothing you can buy at the grocery store tastes like locally grown beef.

So a lot of my cooking this week involves beef, as well as some other family favorites. I'm even trying a meatless recipe, Unstuffed Pasta Florentine.

Monday
Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, homemade fries

Tuesday
Unstuffed Pasta Florentine, garlic bread

Wednesday
Chicken patty sandwiches, zucchini noodles (zoodles)

Thursday
Spaghetti, salad

Friday
Homemade pizza

Saturday
Grilled steak, baked potatoes

Sunday
Savory beef roast, crockpot potatoes

For more meal planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Grinding Your Own Meat at Home

Do you know how expensive it is to buy ground chicken or pork? Not to mention how pricy hamburger is these days.

Well, I've got good news. If you have a food processor, you can grind your own meats at homes. Buy your meat on sale if you can to save even more money. I routinely buy pork loin at Sam's Club for $1.78 a pound. Then I grind part of it up to use as sausage or simply ground pork.

Ground chicken is very expensive. But if you buy chicken breasts on sale, you can grind your own. You have the added benefit of knowing exactly what is going in to your ground meat.

The same is true for beef. If you can get a roast on sale, use some of it for ground beef.

Here's what you do.

Use the metal blade on your food processor. Cut the meat into slices or chunks. You can leave some fat on it because that will help the meat stick together.
Pulse the processor several times until the meat reaches the desired consistency. Don't over do it, or you'll end up with meat paste instead of ground meat.
Now my ground pork is ready to be made into sausage. I just add the spices I want and mix it all together. In this case, I'm making Italian sausage.

Now my ground sausage is ready to be used in my recipe. More likely than not, I'm going to use this to make Italian Sausage Sandwiches. I've stopped buying sausage links and patties now and make my own. It's so much cheaper and healthier!


Monday, May 11, 2015

Menu Plan May 11-17

I hope all the mothers out there had a lovely Mother's Day. I'm so thankful for my kids and the privilege I have of being their Mama. I'm also grateful for the wonderful mom God gave me who set a great example for me to follow.

This is how I spent my Mother's Day weekend:

At the beach in Destin, Florida! My sister-in-law and I took our girls who share the same birthday in July to the beach. We spent two lovely days enjoying the scenery and great food. And we also took a dolphin cruise and got to see many dolphins. Here are the birthday girls:
Now it's back to the real world, which includes meal planning and preparation. So here's what I've got on the menu this week:

Monday
Coconut curry chicken, rice

Tuesday
Baked egg rolls, garlic sesame noodles

Wednesday
Panko crusted salmon

Thursday
Zucchini casserole

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
Grilled hamburgers, homemade fries

Sunday
Moroccan beef patties, Parmesan couscous

For more meal planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Monday, May 4, 2015

No Menu Plan This Week

After an extremely busy week and weekend, I'm going to take a week off from posting a menu plan.

We had a wonderful low country crawfish boil here at the house on Saturday and everyone really enjoyed it.
We hosted a youth group fellowship on Sunday night after church, too. I don't mind telling you, I'm beat!

So hopefully I'll see you next week. Hope y'all have a wonderful first week of May!