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| blackberry crisp, bubbling hot out of the oven |
As I said about last week's menu plan, "if all goes according to plans." We all know that weeks where things do go to plan are rare. Mine are no exception. So, here's the plan from last week in brief, and where things changed:
Monday- bean burgers, rice or instant mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, sliced tomato, mixed fruit crisp
Tuesday- beef stew, banana muffins, cabbage slaw
Wednesday-leftovers from Monday
Thursday- plan: Shepherd's Pie. This is where I discovered we were accumulating too many leftovers. So the plan shifted at this point. Reality: I reworked the leftovers so we had bean burgers, skillet baked beans, instant grits, cabbage/sprout slaw, tomato and avocado slices.
Friday- plan: pepperoni pizza, spiced fig applesauce, Reality: Shepherd's Pie, using leftover grits mixed with leftover mashed potatoes as topping, with cheese on top of that, plus chocolate-covered raisin clusters.
This coming week, here's our menu (again if all goes according to plan):
Monday (one daughter's night)
Green vegetable frittata, using frozen garden greens and onions in the egg dish
Brown rice
Apple wedges
Blackberry crisp
Tuesday
Roasted whole chicken
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Steamed carrots, make double
Leftover blackberry crisp
Wednesday (other daughter's night, but the two of them have been working together on parts of this dinner)
Homemade stuffed-crust pepperoni pizza (you use string cheese to stuff the crust)
Sautéed green beans
Tossed salad
Valentine’s cake (already baked and in the freezer)
Thursday
Leftover chicken/gravy over slices of bread
Leftover carrots
Creamed spinach
Friday
Chicken, noodles and gravy
Steamed broccoli
Weekend dinners: one night chicken noodle soup and slaw. Another of cooked pinto beans done Mexi-style, with rice, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, and apple wedges.
Wednesday brunch (Valentine's Day)
waffles, raspberry silken tofu, ham, sausage, strawberries, scones, apple slices, and chocolate in some form
The rest of the week's breakfasts will include homemade bread, either steel cut oats or cream of wheat, homemade muffins, eggs, peanut butter, milk, and fruit.
Lunches will include homemade tomato soup, smoothies, cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs, peanut butter, apples, Cole slaw, bananas, and various leftovers.
We don't go out to eat on Valentine's Day simply because we don't feel we receive very good service when restaurants are so crowded as they are on some holidays (Mother's Day is another such holiday). Instead we cook at home, or occasionally pick up something from the deli at the grocery store. In addition, we like our own cooking. If what I wanted was to avoid washing dishes after the meal, I'd have us use paper plates and grill our dinner. As it is, while we're not thrilled to be hand-washing all of our dishes these days (broken dishwasher), it's not something we complain about (at least not much). And this year, I'm in luck. One of my daughters is really into cooking these days and wanted to prepare dinner on Valentine's Day. So I'll get my night off from cooking without eating out.
So what's on your menu for the week? Do you like to go out to eat on holidays like Valentine's Day, or do you prefer to eat at home?
