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| Nature can't seem to decide if it's winter or spring. The native plum is in bloom, but I woke up to snow. Later in the day we had hail, graupel, then large heavy snowflakes. |
Last week's menu went close to plan. We did swap out a couple of side dishes for items that we needed to use soon. But the mains were all as planned. So, in reality, successful menu planning requires some flexibility in its execution.
Green vegetable frittata, using frozen garden greens and onions in the egg dish
Brown rice
Apple wedges
Tuesday
Beef braised in a tomato sauce (I have some leftover pizza sauce to use up)
Mashed potatoes (the instant variety -- not my favorite, but it is what we have)
Carrots added to the beef braising sauce
Creamed frozen garden greens
The cut of beef is called a heel roast. I’d never heard of this cut before, so I googled how best to prepare it. Braising it is!
Wednesday (other daughter)
Cabbage patch soup
Toasted cheese sandwiches
Apple, garden-fresh kale and cranberry salad
Thursday
Taco bowls using leftover beef from Tuesday, green pepper, tomatoes, avocado, garden watercress, cucumber slices, cheese, and tortilla chips
Mixed fruit crisp (using frozen apple chunks, frozen blackberries, and frozen rhubarb dices)
Friday
Pepperoni, green pepper, mushroom, and olive pizza
Steamed garden-fresh Brussel sprout greens with onions
Carrot-raisin salad
Weekend dinners:
One night of mostly leftovers from the fridge. The other night will likely be a meatless meal, using dried beans (black-eyed peas).
Lunches:
We're experiencing a brief return to winter this week. After a couple of weeks of slightly warmer days, we've now had snow and hail in the last 24 hours. I'm thinking hot soup and egg salad, toasted cheese or peanut butter sandwiches plus apples and a batch of slaw will be welcomed by all for lunches. I'm baking 3 loaves of whole wheat bread today and will make some cookies tomorrow to add to our lunches.
I had to look up what graupel is. I'm not sure if I've ever seen it or not. We've having a warm up this week, but it's going to be with rain, so I guess I won't make it into the yard to start cleaning things up as I had hoped. As always, I wish I could come eat at your house when I read your menus. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteTiming yard work this time of year can be rather problematic. For me, if it's cold and dry, I don't want to be outside working for very long. But if it's on the warmer side, that often comes with rain. Hopefully you'll have some dry weather to get yard clean-up done soon.
I wish there was some way we could all gather for a potluck. Everyone else's meals always sound so much better than my own. And maybe that's a common thought we all have.
I also looked up graupel. I suspect that I've experienced it before but have never heard the term. Today will be a crazy weather day for us. It's currently in the low 50s and is supposed to get up to around 60*. Overnight a cold front is coming through and we will have thunderstorms and then snow. Sounds like your abrupt weather change has moved east, Lili.
ReplyDeleteI don't come up with a master plan for our weekly meals. I made soup yesterday because we had leftover cornbread and that seemed like a good way to use it up. Tonight I plan on making some sort of chicken breast meal, but the jury is still out on what exactly it will be. :)
Hi Kris,
DeleteEvery once in a while the weather forecasters like to dazzle us with new-to-us terminology. About 2 years ago that was "grauple." Now the forecasters throw that term around regularly in my area.
Yum, cornbread and soup sounds like a winning combination!
Strange weather coming our way tonight and into tomorrow. Winds 50 -60 MPH with damaging hail and lots of rain.
ReplyDeleteI defrosted my deep freezer this past weekend and no surprises other than a lot of chicken legs and thighs and a lot of cabbage. I had one red cabbage that I made a German style sweet and sour side with, one pkg of bacon ends and pieces that I cooked and I pulled out a whole chicken and roasted that on Sunday. We had leftovers from that on Monday and even some left today for chicken salad with crackers for snacking. I saw a broken lid on a container of frozen tomatoes so I rescued those and made a pot of creamy tomato soup which are having tonight with grilled cheese sandwiches. I rarely plan meals a week in advance but more like make a meal with something that needs using and then make something with the leftovers. We've never gone hungry so it's working.
Alice
Hi Alice,
DeleteI believe that it's what works for each of us that counts. Some weeks I don't meal plan in advance. Right now this is really helping our household to do so, as my daughters both cook a night each per week. They like to get an idea from me on what they can cook or work with in advance. And I'm also having to use some larger cuts of meat, like the larger roasts and whole chickens, as that's what's left in the freezer currently. For me, that means I need to plan ahead. Our weekend meals are much more flexible, though.
Your roasted chicken sounds like it served you well for a few days. I've never made a German sweet and sour cabbage before. It sounds like a delicious way to use red cabbage.