More Menus... We Like Food, Yes?

My new menu plans have been successful, so I want to share some more with you. Or, at least, I want to put them in a nice official-looking format so I can be impressed with myself, and also, find them later when I'm in that absolutely-no-clue-what-to-cook mood again.

Here we go, picking up where I left off, with what I actually cooked last week (some of it was planned, some of it was not):

THURSDAY
Noon
Chicken Soup with Rice (using leftover chicken from earlier)
Bread
Fruit Salad

Supper
Black Bean Soup
Chicken Quesadillas
Green Salad
Chocolate Chip Cookies


FRIDAY
Noon
Leftover lentil soup (doctored up so it tasted a little different)
Bread
Applesauce

Supper
Potato Chowder
Deviled Eggs
Leftover canned fruit
Green Salad
Chocolate Chip Cookies


SATURDAY
Noon
Pancakes
Fried Eggs

Supper
(At a friend's house)
Ham and Bean Soup (she made)
Fresh whole wheat tweiback (I made)
Rice Krispy confection bars (another friend made)

SUNDAY
Noon
Leftover Ham and Bean Soup (she sent us home leftovers!)
Tweiback
Fruit (I can't remember exactly what)

Supper
Black Beans and Rice (made from leftover bean soup)
Toasted tortillas with Guacamole
Green salad

MONDAY
Noon
Ham and Parmesan Frittata
Lima Beans
Hot cinnamon apples


Supper
Baked Ham
Layered mashed potatoes (made with both white and sweet potatoes)
Fresh tweiback
Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

TUESDAY
Noon
(Leftovers)
Ham sandwiches
Layered Mashed Potatoes
Lima Beans
Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Supper
(okay, this was a lazy meal)
Biscuits and Gravy
(that's it-- no vegetable, no dessert)

Some of those menus might not sound very notable, however, I'd like you to know that I ran out of groceries for my planned menus Thursday night. I was supposed to go shopping on Thursday to replenish and be able to make the rest of the week's menus, but for various reasons, mostly involving the weather, I didn't make it out of the house, and still haven't due to other reasons, mostly involving car troubles. Now are you impressed? I made it four whole days past what I'd planned for!

However, tomorrow I absolutely MUST get to the grocery store. There is a limit to what I can make out of what's hanging around. Pretty soon you get to the end of what's hanging around!

So now, what's planned for the rest of the week? I have no idea. (Oh wait. That's not what I'm supposed to say.)

Actually, I do have a plan, but I think I'll wait and post after the fact. It feels more credible to myself to account for what I've already done, than to post high-falutin' menus that may or not actually come off.

As I said, tomorrow I have to bundle up, and commandeer a vehicle, and get to the grocery store, pronto, and another reason why is that I promised to make dinner at noon for Hubby's folks, so they will have a meal waiting when they get home from BigCity. Hubby's dad had a pacemaker installed today-- yes, TODAY, as in The Day Before Christmas Eve (originally it was scheduled for Christmas Eve, so he at least now has an extra day to rest up before we celebrate Christmas on Saturday)-- and he gets released tomorrow.

It's interesting that after the surgery, he felt better than he had before the surgery. Makes me want to start pricing pacemakers for Hubby.

Menu Plan Monday

Here we are again, another week for which to plan what in the world we're going to eat. You know, Jesus said not to worry about "what you shall eat, or what you shall put on," but I tell you what-- doesn't it seem like a woman's life is mostly concerned with these very things? I think I need help...

Monday
Dinner-- Spaghetti (leftover from Saturday)
Supper-- Grilled Steak, Pepper, and Mushroom Kabobs with grilled potatoes

Tuesday
Dinner-- Cheeseburger Soup
Supper-- Grilled Salisbury Steak and potatoes

Wednesday
Dinner--Macaroni and Tuna Delite
Supper-- Minestrone

Thursday
Dinner-- Spinach Frittata with Parmesan Sauce
Supper-- No Fuss Chicken with rice

Friday
Dinner-- Linguine With Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Supper-- Magnificent Steak, rice

Saturday
Dinner-- Minestrone or leftovers
Supper-- baked ham and sweet potatoes

Sunday
Dinner-- sandwiches and lunch fixin's
Supper-- same as dinner


On another note, I made a discovery today. I found out why I hate cleaning. It's this: I don't like getting dirty and having my hands in yuck. But when you clean, you have your hands in the dirt and hair and mildew and garbage and dust and cobwebs and grease and who-knows-what-else. And then it's usually on my clothes too. Yuck. Maybe I should clean before stuff gets dirty. Is that possible? Any suggestions?

Menu Plan Monday (on Tuesday...)

I love the idea of posting menus weekly, but Mondays are a crazy day to post, for me.

Nevertheless, here are my menus for this week. You may notice they bear a startling resemblance to last week's menus. That's because, when I was struggling with coming up with a new set of meals to cook for hot weather Hubby said, "You made menus last week, right? What's wrong with doing the same thing again?."

So, with a few minimal changes, here we go again:

MENU PLAN MONDAY

Monday
Dinner-- Beef-Broccoli-Noodle Stir-fry; peaches, strawberries and bananas; italian bread
Supper-- Party Beef Sandwich, Veggie Slaw

Tuesday
Dinner-- Sunburst Potatoes, Vegetables, and Cheese; ham; sliced peaches
Supper-- BLT's; corn on the cob; strawberry yogurt

Wednesday
Dinner-- Cheesy Ham Frittata; Tossed Salad
Supper-- Sloppy Joes, Kidney Bean-Macaroni Salad, Mud-from-the-Crik

Thursday
Dinner-- Mom's Macaroni & Cheese, sauteed brocooli w/onions
Supper-- Grilled Ginger Pork, cheesy cauliflower

Friday
Dinner-- leftovers
Supper-- Salsa Peach Chicken, rice, Russian Veggies

Saturday
Dinner-- taco salad, fresh fruit
Supper-- spaghetti, salad

Sunday
Dinner-- hamburgers, chips, baked beans, fruit salad
Supper-- sandwiches, grilled vegetable kabobs, ice cream

If this heat wave breaks, I want to have pizza one day. Pizza day kills two birds, as they say, because I make up a huge batch of bread dough and use it for pizza and for bread, so I get a meal and a batch of bread at the same time. However, in this hot weather I hate to heat up the house like that.

Menu Plan Monday and Chocolate Sauce

I am happy to have found this "game" online, where bloggers share their menus. You know, I used to plan menus and shopping lists, but over the last year I have become slack, and cooking meals has been pretty chaotic in consequence. However, with the encouragement of knowing that there are many others doing the same thing I think I can become organized again. So here is my tentative menu plan for this week. (Since we homeschool and therefore have the family home all day, I am cooking two meals a day.)

Monday dinner has already happened at this writing and it was good. The peanut mole' was a new thing for me, and though I had my doubts about the peanut butter, it was actually good, and our guests asked for the recipe!

Monday
Dinner-- (birthday celebration meal) Grilled Pork Loin with Peanut Mole', marinated potato chunks, salad, coffee cake and ice cream
Supper-- Salsa Pizza, oranges & grapefruit, leftover cake

Tuesday
Dinner-- Sunburst Potatoes, Vegetables & Cheese; sauteed ham slices, sliced peaches
Supper-- grilled hamburgers with mushroom sauce, corn-on-the-cob, tomato mozzarella salad

Wednesday
Dinner-- Cheesy Ham Frittata, Veggie Slaw
Supper-- Sloppy Joes, Kidney Bean-Macaroni Salad, Mud-From-The-Crik

Thursday
Dinner-- Mom's Macaroni & Cheese, sauteed broccoli w/onions
Supper-- Grilled Ginger Pork, Cheesy Cauliflower, salad

Friday
Dinner-- Leftovers
Supper-- Salsa Peach Chicken with rice, yellow squash & zucchini, fruit yogurt

Saturday
Dinner-- taco salad, fresh strawberries with Reddi-Whip
Supper-- spaghetti, salad, bread sticks

Sunday
Dinner-- sandwiches, chips, fruit
Supper-- fast food


And here's the recipe for today. It's not original with me-- it comes from an old Mennonite cookbook-- but I would have invented it if I hadn't found it! This is a family favorite.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Stir together:
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 TB cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

Add:
1 1/2 cups water

Cook till thick, stirring.

Stir in:
1 1/2 TB butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Use to make chocolate milk, or to top ice cream; or pour it over unfrosted cake or brownies. It's good any time, but especially when it's warm.