Friday
Stuffed bell peppers (stuffed with taco meat found in the freezer, topped with tomato puree and baked)
Brown rice
Celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing
Biscotti
Saturday (we've had such a string of glorious weather, that we brought out the patio chairs and fire ring to sit around, while eating dinner)
Homemade pizza, topped with leftover taco meat from Friday's stuffed peppers, the tops of those peppers, chopped, black olives, as well as marinara sauce from the freezer and mozzarella cheese
Apple wedges
Roasted marshmallows for dessert
Sunday
Mini pigs in blankets (Lil smokies wrapped in scratch biscuit dough)
Sweet potato fries (leftover in the freezer from Dollar Tree, my daughters's birthday dinner)
Apple wedges
Frozen green beans with toasted almond slivers
Brownies (daughters baked from scratch)
Monday
Meatloaf (from freezer), topped with leftover pizza sauce, the last green pepper, black olives, heated in oven
Mashed potatoes (last of the shriveled potatoes from November's stock-up, with cream cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, chicken fat, chives)
Cabbage, kale and celery slaw
Assortment of brownies, biscotti and toffee bars for dessert
Tuesday
Frozen bean burger patties
Leftover mashed potatoes, leftover rice or whole wheat bread
Kale sauteed in ham fat, with ham "cracklins" as topping
Oven-roasted sweet potato chunks
Shortbread cookies
Wednesday
Scrambled eggs with chopped ham from the freezer added
Carrot, raisin and peanut salad
French bread with rosemary, garlic olive oil drizzled over slices
Shortbread cookies
Thursday
French bread pizza (using extra bread from Wednesday's baking and frozen pizza sauce)
Cabbage, kale and celery slaw
Oven-roasted carrots
So, you may have noticed that this past weeks meals were less labor-intensive for me. (Or maybe that doesn't come through in my post -- trust me, much less labor-intensive.) This has been my gift to myself for the week. A week of easier meal-prep. You see, tomorrow is my birthday. A couple of weeks ago, I began preparing extras and freezing them, just for this week. It's been very nice to not have to cook as much this past week. Of course, by the end of the weekend, my freezer will be empty of pre-made meals, and I'll need to return to cooking fill meals daily, again. BTW, my birthday dinner is also all taken care of. I found some Mexican chicken soup in the freezer, as well as a casserole dish of chicken enchiladas! Both were good the first time around, so I'm sure they'll be delicious tomorrow! Happy birthday, me!
What was on your menu for the week? Was it a wintry menu (due to cold temps in your area) or a spring-like one? This time of year it seems that I can go either way with the menu. It's not hot enough to not want to use the stove, and not consistently cold enough to necessitate a hot soup to warm everyone up.
Have a great weekend!
