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| These are the turkey-cream cheese-spiced fig jam-and watercress sandwiches from Wednesday. The stuff that looks like pickle relish is the spiced fig jam, a jam made from unripe, green figs (from our two fig trees), flavored with plenty of lemon juice and cloves. The watercress is our garden came back in early September. It's usually an early spring green, here. |
Friday
turkey in gravy from freezer
*rosemary-garlic rice
frozen green beans
frozen peas
*apple pie
Saturday
leftover rice with beans
cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes (given to us)
tossed salad of lettuce, watercress, parsley and cherry tomatoes (given to us, even the dressing)
assorted pie (given to us)
Sunday
*olive, tomato, basil pizza
cantaloupe, strawberries (given to us)
*applesauce
Monday
hamburgers on homemade buns
cantaloupe (given to us)
*pears
Tuesday
black bean burgers, topped with leftover pizza sauce
*garlic toast (on bread that was given to us)
*watercress and tomato salad
*green, waxed and Romano beans
Wednesday
*turkey, cream cheese, watercress, spiced fig jam sandwiches, on homemade whole wheat bread
*fresh pears
frozen peas, corn and green beans
Thursday (my daughters and I were very busy cleaning all day, and this was the best I could do for putting dinner on the table)
*baked ham and pinto beans, with garden bell peppers and tomatoes
homemade bread and butter
frozen veggies (combo of corn, green beans and peas -- nothing exciting, but it did fill us up)
Friday
roasted chicken leg quarters, topped with marinara and sauteed green bell peppers
*rosemary-garlic brown rice
*sauteed yellow crookneck squash with garlic
*plum-rhubarb pie
Saturday
*Italian-style chicken and noodle soup (with tomatoes, green beans, squash, garlic and onions)
dinner rolls
*leftover plum-rhubarb pie
Sunday
a noodle dish brought to our house by friends -- very yummy! I added some heated up, leftover turkey sandwich meat, that had been sitting out for a couple of hours
steamed cauliflower and broccoli (I steamed some of the leftovers from our lunch gathering)
dinner rolls
*salad made with leftover lettuce from sandwiches, plus garden tomatoes
grapes, leftover from lunch
frosted pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies :-)
Monday
ham and bean soup, using homemade chicken stock from Saturday, saved chicken fat from freezer, ham from Sunday's lunch, onion powder and leftover cooked pinto beans -- easiest soup I've ever made!
whole wheat dinner rolls
broccoli and cauliflower with dip (leftovers)
*ginger pear and apple crisp
* indicates item for this part of meal came from the garden or orchard
I took a lot of shortcuts in meal prep this week. My daughters had one week off in between the end of their summer jobs and beginning of fall quarter, and we stayed pretty busy. They had a lot of errands to run, things they had needed to do or get all summer, but never found the time. So I spent a lot of hours in the car. In addition, I've been planning an early fall gathering for Sunday, so have been busy with preparing and decorating for that event. (In other words, this gathering has been the impetus behind me getting the house all fall-like. So, don't feel like you're "behind" if you haven't decorated for fall yet. It may not even feel like fall where you live!)
So, I've been a bit busy, and couldn't do much more than sandwiches, burgers or frozen leftovers, most evenings.
Our gathering on Sunday was a light lunch. We keep a fund going for entertaining. We haven't used any of this money for months, so there is enough to cover the expenses of a simple lunch (and it won't have to come out of the grocery budget). But we did use many items that I have in stock here, anyways, such as roasted peanuts, dried cranberries, orange juice, lemonade, garden lettuce, coffee, tea, ingredients to make buns and cookies. I'll be using the entertainment budget to cover sandwich meat and sliced cheese, veggies/dip and grapes.
Last weekend, my daughters and I volunteered at a charity tea, and were gifted with a box full of leftovers, including a whole cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries, lettuce, parsley, watercress, cherry tomatoes, a Costco jar of peanut butter, and a small loaf of bread, as well as 5 slices of pie. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the produce items, and they filled out our menus for a few days. Using the watercress encouraged me to go out to our garden and really harvest our own late-summer watercress.
The fall garden is looking okay, not fabulous, but there is still plenty to harvest for the next month -- 4 heads of cabbage, Swiss chard, kale, lettuce, radish greens, beets, carrots, potatoes, only a couple of pumpkins, (and small ones at that), and some small onions. It's not abundant, but it is something, and will provide a good chunk of produce for October. In November, we'll need to rely on purchased vegetables, once again. Makes me sad that out delicious, fresh and organic produce is coming to an end for the year :-(
Moving into October, it looks like Soup-tober is back! I love a good supper of hot soup, fresh bread, and pie!
