Well I MADE a menu.....

It was midweek by the time I got it figured out, I just never posted it here.

Wednesday.... Pizza, veggies and dip
Thursday.... Spaghetti with Italian Sausage, garlic bread
Friday.... Ham and bean soup, cheese biscuits
Saturday... pork loin roast, mashed potatoes, peas
Sunday... burritos

So far I've been so so in following it.

Wednesday we did have pizza. I made 4 pizzas...garlic spinach, garlic artichoke and 2 cheese with sauce. There was tons leftover that were used for breakfast, lunch and snacks. I need to redo the spinach version...it was dry and bland...plain garlic would've been a lot better. The artichoke was delicious but expensive. I used artichoke tapenade leftover from our trip to Niagara Falls. Price breakdown... dough ($2), spinach ($.50), artichoke tapenade ($3), 4lbs cheese ($9.80), sauce ($.44)

Total for Wednesday's dinner... $15.74

Thursday I wasn't feeling so great after getting home from Carrie's doctor's appt. It was almost a FFY (fend for yourself) day. Just before bedtime I decided to make 20 grilled cheese sandwiches. 30pcs bread ($1.86), margarine ($.35), 30 cheese slices ($2.75), celery ($1.10)

Total for Thursday's dinner... $6.06

Friday I finally got the spaghetti and Italian sausage made. 2lbs linguini ($1.36), 2 cans spaghetti sauce ($.1.76), can of crushed tomatoes ($.69), Italian sausage ($5.94)

Total for Friday's dinner... $9.75

Running total cost of meals since April 15th.... $316.99 (24 meals...one being pizza delivery and another a birthday)


We ran out of milk. Carrie ran into the store and grabbed 3 gallons... $6.09

Running shopping total since 4/15.... $584.02

Menu... April 26 - May 2

Sunday... Drew's birthday...steak, salt potatoes, cake
Monday... Sloppy Joes, pasta salad
Tuesday... Liz's late dr appt... Cowboy beans
Wednesday... Luke dentist appt probably not home for dinner... Chicken nuggets, canned veggies, mashed potatoes
Thursday... Pizza
Friday... Spaghetti and Italian sausage, homemade bread
Saturday... Weekend conference at church...eating at the grill/snack bar probably. Sandwiches if not,

Menu... April 19 - 25

OK, I think I have this nailed down finally. I was having a hard time because Tom and I are planning on going away for the night on Saturday. Michelle has to work until 7, so dinner has to be quick and easy.

Sunday... Grilled burgers and hotdogs. Tom's oldest brother brought us some Hoffmann hotdogs and joined us for dinner.
Monday... Tacos
Tuesday... Dentist appointment...probably end up at my parents' house and ordering a sheet pizza.
Wednesday... Pork Roast, mashed potatoes and salad
Thursday... Pizza
Friday... Chicken nuggets, veggies and dip
Saturday... Sloppy Joes, pasta salad

Menu from April 15th shopping trip

List of what I bought on the April 15th shopping trip

I had a brown sugar ham in the fridge which I'm using today, so I'm including the price of that in the shopping trip total....$12.70, making the total $253.88.

Brown Sugar Ham
Scalloped potatoes and ham (with hash brown potatoes, soup from the pantry, milk)
Ham and bean soup (beans from pantry)

Roasted Chicken leg quarters
Chicken and gravy (using a few chicken thighs from 10# bag)

8# burger patties - 32ct - divided box in half for 2 dinners (used 16 last night for dinner)

10# burger...already cooked and in the freezer
3# Seasoned for tacos
3# cooked with green pepper, ready to be made into sloppy joe
Rest divided in 3 baggies...one plain for stroganoff, two with green peppers for spanish rice and goulash

6 - 2.5# meatball and meatloaf mix (beef, veal, and pork)
1 for Chili
2 for Meatballs
2 for Meatloaf
1 TBD (to be determined)

Hotdogs.... 3pkgs for hotdogs in a bun, 2pkgs for cowboy beans

Pork loin roast - cut in half for 2 meals

Banquet chicken nuggets

Raw shrimp....shrimp alfredo

Italian sausage - spaghetti

Mozzarella cheese... pizza


According to my count that's 24 meals. Not too shabby! :o)

Not feeling like doing much in the kitchen

With the recent passing of BIL who I referred to on this blog as UB (see my main blog which is listed on the left) I've been a little numb. My brain is mush, the thought process is in slow motion with a few speed bumps in the way. I know having a menu planned would ease things but making the menu itself isn't in my line of thinking right now. Still, considering everything it does seem that I'm managing to feed the family well and at a decent time.

Let's see what we can do for this week. Tom bought steaks (actually a lot of them!) with the 5 pkgs for $20 deal at a local store. We intended to grill them on charcoal but life got in the way, visitors were here and the charcoal was never started, so I broiled them. We had 2pkgs of egg noodles and Michelle's pkg of sweet potato fries to go with them. I still have 5 pkgs in the fridge to deal with soon.

Yesterday I managed to put a dent in our egg supply. I haven't been quick to give them away because they have been pretty icky looking with the chickens having a dirty coop and a VERY muddy yard. Actually I've thrown away quite a few just because they didn't get dealt with in a "safe" timeframe IMO. Hopefully with the nicer weather the condition of the eggs will change. I have to be honest too. In the grand scheme of things...the chickens haven't been our top priority the last week and have been slightly neglected. Anyways, we had ham slices, hash browns and eggs for dinner on Monday. Every week to 10 days I've been boiling up 7-10dz eggs and storing them in an aluminum pan in the fridge. This allows us to grab one for a snack or meal whenever. It also makes for quick egg salad, which I used up the last batch for on Sunday. So Monday I boiled up 7 dz more.

So now what to do? Michelle wanted corned beef and cabbage for today but I never got my rear to the store. I wanted to buy to briskets...one for a meal and another to make Rueben salad. It's basically shredded corned beef and thousand island dressing. We then spread it on rye bread, add swiss cheese and sauerkraut to make sandwiches and toast it. It helps make a regular amount of corned beef serve our crowd. Maybe we'll buy a few of them this week, and if I'm lucky they'll be clearanced lol.

I just talked to Tom, I think he wants to grill the steaks out. It's a good thing that steak is my favorite food...3 times in 6 days could be a bit much. lol (we had it for Val's birthday dinner last Wed) I was thinking of using those for sauerbraten. I guess that's what I can do with the rest of the roast I cut Val's steaks from...it's in the freezer.

So that leaves... Wed, Thurs, Fri and Saturday. I need to go grocery shopping so maybe I'll leave them as TBD (to be determined) Athough I could trim the rest of the ham and use the bone for soup, freezing the big hunks of meat. And there is spaghetti and eggs and.... I guess we'll see. Gee for having a brain for mush, I sure did ramble on enough.

Menu... March 1 - 7

Last week went so-so in terms of following my plan. Wednesday ended up being Cowboy beans and Thursday was a FFY (fend for yourself) night as I wasn't home. The major change was on Saturday. Tom ran to Walmart after picking up Michelle at work and came home with 2 bags of frozen flounder. Still hankering for fried fish, I breaded them up and threw them into a pan of oil....YUM! Tons better then the Tilapia but not the delicious paper thin sole I was hoping for when he mentioned flounder. People look at me weird when I mention fried sole but it was my favorite thing to fry up when I was working at the fish store. Anyways back to work here.

Sunday... Shrimp Alfredo finally got eaten
Monday... Luke's 16th birthday so his choosing. He wanted chinese or pizza so we did the sensible and had BOTH! We got some sesame chicken and lo mein from a local place, baked up some frozen digorno's supreme pizzas and I made 2 16" garlic and 2 cheese pizzas.
Tuesday... Breakfast for dinner...eggs, bacon, toast, homefries.
Wednesday... Chicken and gravy, biscuits
Thursday... Grilled cheese and Soup
Friday... Olivia's 9th birthday. She's decided she wants tacos with the works! Sounds good to me
Saturday... TBD (to be determined) I'll probably get groceries on Thursday

Menu... February 22 - 28

OK...so last week didn't go so well. The pork loin roast wasn't teriyaki. Wednesday chicken kabobs ended up being Hoffmann hotdogs Michelle had bought. Thursday was cereal and sandwiches and Friday was the Hawaiian pizza. Saturday was a busy day in the kitchen. We had tons of food as usual. Fried parmesan Tilapia (tasted a bit "dirty", will do flounder next time), Shrimp skewers, teriyaki chicken, veggie tray with ranch dip, tons of goodies to go with milk chocolate, white bark, and caramel dips, garlic bagel chips with roasted red pepper humus and brushetta. The humus was my first attempt at homemade and was ok. I'm not sure what it was about it but something was off. (probably a matter of ingredient quality...used canned and jarred) The "offness" has decreased over time and today it's pretty tasty.

So onto this week...

Sunday... Leftovers from Island celebration. Michelle also bought Arby's for us. :o)
Monday... Sauteed marinated shrimp, sauteed mushrooms, subs
Tuesday... Chili, biscuits
Wednesday... Breakfast for dinner (eggs, bacon, homefries)
Thursday... Grilled cheese and soup
Friday... Hamburgers, french fries, sauteed veggies
Saturday... Shrimp alfredo, salad

Menu.... February 15 - 21

Is it Sunday already? No? It's Monday!?! Oops! The kids being off for midwinter break has messed up my routine. (I originally typed...It's TUESDAY...then realized I was wrong) It's our annual Island week, so this menu isn't so typical.

Sunday... Frozen pizzas (ICK! Even if they are pizzerio uno's), veggies and dip
Monday... Tom's making a beef soup, biscuits
Tuesday... Teriyaki Pork Loin Roast, sauteed mushrooms
Wednesday... Sweet and Sour Chicken kabobs, sauteed broccoli normandy mix
Thursday... Hawaiian Pizza, snacks
Friday... Cowboy beans (not islandy but I have it in the fridge and I need something easy that night)
Saturday... Fried Seafood

Menu...February 8 - 14

I'm a little behind and am not up to snuff on the rest of the week. But I'll try and get this done! It really helped last week to have it written. A few times I thought....I don't feel like making dinner, we'll have something easier (like sandwiches). Then I thought...but it will mess up my menu! Besides you don't have to think about it, it's already planned.

Sunday... Broiled steak, sauteed mushrooms, garlic egg noodles, candy sweet potatoes

Monday... Hot dogs and boxed mac and cheese (was out shopping with a few girls)

Tuesday... Scalloped potato soup, biscuits

Wednesday... Spanish Rice

Thursday... Chicken nuggets, corn, mashed potatoes

Friday... Egg spinach casserole, hash browns

Saturday... Not sure if we'll do something special or not, so not planned right now...still thinking

February 1 - 7

Having gone grocery shopping a few times this week I have a lot of options to choose from. This makes my menu planning hard. I want to have everything NOW!!!

Sunday... Super Bowl "Party"...snacks...BBQ cocktail wienies, tequila lime chicken wings, cheese tray, chips and dip

Monday... Goulash (elbow macaroni with jarred sauce and tons of browned burger added)

Tuesday... Chicken and gravy, baked potatoes, bread

Wednesday... Pizza, veggies and dip

Thursday... Meatball subs, mozzarella cheese sticks (will be out most of the day)

Friday... Breakfast for dinner...eggs/breakfast casserole, hash brown patties, corned beef hash

Saturday... Burgers, french fries

Menu...January 18 - 24

UB to the rescue!

UB is an uncle that shares our land (and many times meals) with us. Every once in a while he decides he wants some things from the store, hands me money and asks me to get it...along with whatever I want to. Yesterday he was in the mood for greasy Walmart fried chicken and V-8 juice. So I got to spend a bit of his money along with my own...making meal planning easier here. I included the things I bought for meals in my 2009 totals (see next post). I didn't include the fried chicken since it's take out (debating on including that budget in this blog), the V-8 is totally his...none for our use.

So the menu for this week so far is...

Sunday... Pizza, baby carrots and dip
Monday... Taco Soup with corn chips
Tuesday... Spaghetti with sauce and Italian sausage, homemade french bread
Wednesday... Meat and bean burritos with homemade tortillas, spanish rice
Thursday... Venison stew, biscuits

I'm not planning Fri and Sat since I'm hoping to go grocery shopping before those days, which will change the menu drastically.

Menu...November 23 - 29

I have NO idea what I'm making for tonight's dinner, much less the rest of the week. I'm glad this makes me think about it so I don't have to deal with "What's for dinner?" all day long, everyday.

Sunday... Church potluck for lunch...made chicken alfredo, Tom made dinner...doctored up cream of mushroom soup (added burger, dried onions, and green beans) was pretty yummy! We decided it would be good on toast.

Monday... Beef roast, pasta salad (gravy saved for Wed)
Tuesday... FFY..snacks, cereal, sandwiches
Wednesday... Burger and gravy over egg noodles (might turn it into stroganoff)
Thursday... Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house
Friday... Michelle bought fixings for ham dinner....might do it this day. If not then Saturday.
Saturday... Up in the air....might do a smorgasbord of small dishes (only have cheese for 2 pizzas) or mexican dinner of burritos, tacitos, bean dip, etc.

Menu...November 16 - 22

Running a little behind here. The good part is that we've kept to half the food plan. The bad part is that there's still half of it to not follow. lol

Sunday... Sloppy Joes and corn
Monday... Spanish Rice
Tuesday... Scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes
Wednesday... Pizza
Thursday... Roast beef, pasta salad, peas
Friday... Homemade macaroni and cheese, green beans
Saturday... Parent's night out...kids have chicken patty sandwiches, corn

Menu...November 9 - 15

Having spent an obscene amount on groceries this last week, you'd think this meal planning gig would be easy. Then why can't I just whip 7 meals off the top of my head and be done with it??? Thinking....thinking...thinking....

Sunday... UB's birthday dinner...Steak, salad, french bread, chips, cheesecake
Monday... Spanish rice
Tuesday... In honor of Veteran's day...NAVY bean and bacon soup, bread
Wednesday... Shrimp alfredo and linguini
Thursday... Dentist appointment...has to be easy...Chicken patty sandwiches, carrots and dip
Friday... Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Saturday... Beef roast

Menu...November 1 - 8

Again we're out of propane!!! I informed the company that we were low on Wed and asked to have a delivery by the weekend so we didn't run out. Here is it 1:45 Tues afternoon and I'm still waiting. If they don't come today, they are coming to get their tank and I'm calling someone else. Even if they delivery today, it may be their last. I'm sick of dealing with this each and every month. I'm sick of going days without propane. I've asked and asked again to please be put back on automatic delivery but they haven't done it. I'll go to a company that will. (and speak of the devil here they are! I should've ranted hours ago lol)

Well I guess that means I can do my menu now and we can have Pizza tonight!

Sunday... Angel hair with sauce
Monday... Smoked Sausage, micro'ed potatoes, salad
Tuesday... Pizza, salad
Wednesday... Chicken and gravy with mashed potatoes
Thursday... Venison and bean soup, bread
Friday... Breakfast for dinner....pancakes and eggs (need something quick, have a dentist appt that day)
Saturday... Roasted Roosters (if we cull the roosters down on Thurs) TBD (to be determined) if no roosters on Thurs.

I'm not so gung ho on this menu. That means I'll probably be revising things later in the week.

Menu... October 26 - 31

Sunday... Venison stew, bread and butter
Monday... Kielbasa with beans, salad
Tuesday... Chicken stirfry with rice
Wednesday... Venison Chili, bread sticks
Thursday... Shrimp Alfredo
Friday... Halloween...probably get $5 pizzas or dollar menu stuff.
Saturday... Harvest feast at church...dinner there

Menu... October 19 - 25

So after the major shakeup last week I did fine. Of course it helps that I didn't have set plans for Saturday. lol What we ended up doing was munching all day. I made a huge bowl of egg salad for lunch with plenty of leftovers. Then it was CORN (clean out refrigerator night).

New week, new menu although this week I'm a bit fuzzy on how things will go. I do have the next few days planned out so that should be easy enough...

Sunday... Pizza...cheese and bacon
Monday... Scalloped Potatoes
Tuesday... Pasty or chicken pot pie
Wednesday... Venison chili, cornbread
Thursday... Spanish Rice
Friday... Beans & rice burritos, CORN (clean out refrigerator night)
Saturday... Venison Stew, biscuits

Noelle, the scalloped potatoes recipe is coming up soon. It's one of those just throw in recipes, so hard to write out.

Menu... October 12 - 18

OK...so I did ok until Friday when I didn't come home for dinner. I had a dentist appt that ran close to dinner. So instead of picking up the little ones and running home, we had dinner at my parents house. Those at home had eggs, cereal and/or sandwiches. Saturday I utilized the church grill we run with tasty fare such as...burgers, hot dogs, chili, sausage and peppers, chicken sandwiches and salt potatoes. No cooking for me.

Tom came home from work on Tuesday looking like Santa Claus with a sack over his shoulder. It was 55 gal trash bag with frozen venison and a wild turkey breast...all vacuum packed! I have to admit I haven't really dealt with the deer we processed this spring. So I'll have to incorporate it more. I'd love to hear your favorite recipes for venison.

So now what's for this week? Hmmm...

Sunday... Tom made a huge pot of venison soup. Was yummy
Monday... Shrimp Alfredo with linguini, garlic bread sticks
Tuesday... Bacon wrapped wild turkey breast, sauteed mixed veggies, stuffing?
Wednesday... Rice and bean burritos
Thursday... Spaghetti with vodka sauce (frozen from last time)
Friday... BBQ venison sandwiches
Saturday... Chicken and gravy over rice or biscuits

And just a reminder... Join in with...


(click the graphic above to go to the challenge for October)

Menu... October 5 - 11

Yeah yeah I know...think up a menu for crying out loud! I've got 2 days done....does that count? lol

Sunday we had a late dinner since Pat took all his siblings out apple picking. Tom and I were busy butchering 6 roosters while they were out. So I threw together a pot of Broccoli soup (recipe coming up after I'm done here). It was nice to get something out quickly that everyone was looking forward to eating (it's been a while since I've made it). So now onto the rest of the week....

Sunday... Broccoli Soup, bread
Monday... Roasted rooster, mashed potatoes, sweet peas
Tuesday... Homemade macaroni and cheese, ham
Wednesday... Chicken and gravy, rice, green beans
Thursday... Pork roast, sauteed broccoli normandy,
Friday... Shrimp Alfredo
Saturday... church conference...have to bring lunch and dinner
Lunch... sandwiches, chips, fruit
Dinner... taco salad, tortilla

Now lets see how well I stick with it. :o)

Two new dishes this week

Both didn't go over too well. The first one was on Monday and was my mom's vodka sauce. I tried to double the recipe and added a bit more cooking time on it. I don't think it was quite enough time though because the sauce had chunks of tomatoes in it...my mom's never does. I don't know, maybe it was the brand of crushed tomatoes I used. The taste was ok, just the texture was off. I know the recipe is great, everyone always asks her for it. So it has to be operator error.

The second one was Tuesday and was Michelle's version of Chicken Marsala with penne. She picked an Olive Garden copycat recipe. This time we tripled the recipe. We also substituted deboned chicken thighs for the skinless chicken breasts. I'm not sure if she added too much oil or if it was the fat from the thighs (I tried to remove as much as I could) but it was WAY too greasy. It seemed like the sauce turned into a huge layer of butter/oil. I'm not sure if we'll try this particular recipe again but we'll definitely try making the dish again.

Last night I made tried and true homemade pizza. 2 topped with pepperonis and 2 with bacon. I made quite the mess when I tried to slide the pizzas off the tray and onto the rack for the 2nd half of cooking. They were both a bit too soft to be on the rack yet. The first pepperoni ended up in pieces and with melted cheese all over. The bacon fared a lot better. The last 2 came out beautiful. :o)

Today is Michelle's birthday!!! (she's 21 now) She's been wishy washy about what she wants for her dinner. I bought her a carrot cake from BJ's and we'll have vanilla ice cream and/or root beer floats. (I bought Michelle birthday cake ice cream too, not sure if we'll have it for the party though). She's finally settled on breakfast for dinner! So I guess we're having pancakes, sausage, bacon, and fruit parfaits. Can you tell it's been a while since I made pancakes around here? LOL

No set plans for tomorrow but I think I'm heading toward broccoli soup with garlic rolls. Michelle is having friends over on Saturday night. The kids are set to be gone so it'll be just Tom and I with the 2 littlest kids. I'm thinking of doing a snacky party type of meal.

Maybe next week I'll get it together and post a menu BEFORE I'm using it! Oh yeah, and stick to it too.