Menu Monday

Summer is going by so fast. I can't believe it! I'll be back to school before you know it. :( It's lots of fun staying home with the kids, but sometimes I think they miss their teachers and friends at their school. (When they talk about them a lot, that's a big clue!)

Veggie of the Week: green beans

Fruit of the Week: strawberries and blueberries

Dessert of the Week: Angel food cake with cool whip and fresh berries (I've been on this kick since we saw Tim's grandparents in Minnesota at the end of June. It is gooood! Low cal, low fat, and super yummy!)

Monday

French toast and sausage

Spaghetti - an Isaiah and Mallory favorite! I made homemade vegetable marinara sauce last week, and it is goooood!

Tuesday

Cereal

Leftovers

Wednesday

French toast sticks

Grilled cheese sandwiches

Thursday-Sunday

Can I get back to you on this? Tim will be leaving for the National Youth Gathering, and my mom, sister, and two nieces will be coming to visit! We haven't discussed our menu yet. We plan to grocery shop when they get here.

- becky

Menu Monday

Monday - breakfast @ The Machine Shed (YUM); leftover bbq pulled pork - I made this yesterday in the slow cooker for the 4th of July. We had special visitors - Grandma Bette, Aunt Abby, Uncle Mark, and cousins Paul and Hannah!

Tuesday - Hot Pockets; more leftover bbq pulled pork

Wednesday - cereal; mini cheese ravioli with marinara sauce

Thursday - pancakes of the Mickey Mouse variety; leftovers

Friday - eggs & toast; Wedding reception

Saturday - breakfast burritos; pizza (frozen - I'm not feeling very ambitious with it being vacation season and all.)

Sunday - waffles (frozen - see I told you.); leftovers

- becky

Menu Monday

Fruit of the Week: peaches

Vegetable of the Week: peas

Monday

Toast, scrambled eggs, and applesauce

Homemade pizza - Festival's dough is the BEST!

Tuesday ~ ESY teacher @ 10:30

Cereal

Leftovers

Wednesday ~ maybe movie (Madagascar this week)

Waffles

Chicken with peppers and potatoes

Thursday ~ art projects

Cereal

Leftovers

Friday ~ game day (I'm sure Isaiah will leave me in his dust in Candy Land and Chutes & Ladders...)

Hot Pockets

Garden Quesadillas

Saturday

Pancakes & sausage

Leftovers

Sunday

Waffles

Leftoversg

Menu Monday

Fruit of the Week: apples (in the form of sauce) :)

Vegetable of the week: my intentions ~ broccoli, but we'll see how well that goes over

Monday ~ library

Scrambled eggs and toast

Sloppy joes

Tuesday ~ ESY teacher comes today!

Cereal

Leftovers

Wednesday ~ Father's Day preparations

Waffles

Grilled cheese sandwiches

Thursday ~ house cleaning day :P

Sausage, egg, and cheese Hot Pockets

Leftovers

Friday ~ mall

Cereal

Homemade pizza (YUMMY!)

Saturday ~ Brat Fry at Festival (Come out to support our church's youth!)

Pancakes and sausage

Pulled chicken sandwiches

Sunday ~ church and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Waffles

Leftovers

- becky

Menu Monday

Yes, it's the return of Menu Monday. I am officially on summer vacation, so this should be easier to keep up with. The menu I have set for this week is breakfast and lunch. Dinner is easy because it's VBS week at church. That means supper at church Sunday-Thursday nights. Woo-hoo!!

Fruit of the Week: bananas

Vegetable of the Week: corn

Monday
Scrambled eggs & toast
hot dogs & chips
Special Activity: library

Tuesday
Cereal
Tuna Noodle
Special Activity: Charlotte's Web at the Regal FREE summer movies

Wednesday
Waffles
Leftovers
Special Activity: Play Group at Derks Park

Thursday
Scrambled eggs & toast
Macaroni-and-Cheese
Special Activity: Play at church while Mommy gets ready for the Rummage Sale

Friday
Breakfast Hot Pockets
Sloppy Joes
Special Activity: Play at church while Mommy gets ready for the Rummage Sale

Saturday
Rummage Sale at church

Sunday
Waffles
Church picnic lunch

- becky

Menu Monday

The pulled pork baked potatoes were a success last week. Between that and the pot roast, I didn't even make spaghetti. We'll keep that on reserve for this week. We had planned to make some kind of rib roast for Easter, but we ended up ordering take-out from Famous Dave's. The All-American BBQ Feast was a special price for the day, so we ordered that. We have a TON of food left-over. I'm sure it will get us to Wednesday, at least.

The leftovers will be for our lunches; I'm trying to be good and have salad for dinners. I've been cutting up ham or chicken from the bbq and adding it to my salad. I've also been on a Craisins kick - yummy!

So, for this week it's leftovers followed by spaghetti.

- becky

Menu Monday

Last week's menu was a success! The Beer-Braised Chicken was not what I expected. It kind of looked like a stew with chicken breasts. Next time, I might cut the chicken into bite size pieces and serve it like a stew. Aside from the cooking time taking twice as long as the recipe said, it tasted pretty good!

I made the pot roast with dill yesterday. It was oUtStAnDiNg!!! I will definitely be making that recipe again.

Coming up this week are:

• BBQ pulled pork baked potatoes - I make boneless pork ribs in the slow cooker and shred the meat. Add a little bbq sauce and top it on a baked potato with other fixings - yummy!
• spaghetti and garlic bread

It's an easy menu for a busy week! It's Holy Week this week, so we have church Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (Easter!). No school on Friday and next Monday for me. I wish I had the whole week off, but oh well.

I'm not sure what I'm making for Easter lunch yet. We're kicking around the idea of a rib roast. I wanted to make a traditional ham, but Tim isn't a fan of ham. :-/

- becky

Menu Monday

I have two recipes picked out for this week. I plan to have salad and garlic bread with each dinner, and I will be enjoying leftovers in my lunches this week. Well, except for hot dog day on Wednesday. :) I don't know what it is about the school's hot dogs, but I really like them!

Both recipes go in the slow cooker. The slow cooker will be a lifesaver for me this week! I plan to make it to the gym at least 3 nights, and I have a Title I night at school one evening.

Meal #1: Beer-Braised Chicken

Meal #2: Pot Roast with Dill (from my Diabetic Slow Cooker cook book)

- becky

P.S. Please share slow cooker recipes with me! It is such a useful tool in the kitchen during the school year.

Menu Monday

I just can't get the hang of this Menu Monday thing. Our schedule is so different from week to week. I think that's my problem. Another thing I have going against me is the way my family eats. (Sounds strange, I know.)

We've gotten (a little bit) better at sitting down together as a family, but we're still not where I would like us to be. Maybe that would have been a good goal for Lent... Tim eats his bigger meal for lunch and usually has soup or salad for dinner. Mallory and Isaiah sometimes eat what I eat, but not if they eat before I get home from work. (Oh, how I cannot wait for summer vacation.)

I hope you don't think I'm complaining. I'm just frustrated. I suppose I should tackle this problem like any other - with baby steps. Now I just need to figure out what that first step we need to take is.

I don't have a menu planned out for the week, but I can tell you that I'm going to have corned beef on rye for lunch and Sausage-Zucchini Soup with garlic bread for dinner at the beginning of the week. Once the soup is gone, I'm not quite sure what the plan is. If only I could predict into the future when we will run out of soup.

Why is this so difficult?!?! Ugh.

- becky

Monday

I woke up this morning, and once again my eye didn't want to open. It seems the ickiness in my right eye has returned with a vengeance. I called the doctor to see if I could get an appointment, and the nurse said, "It depends." Are you kidding me?!?! If it is still grody tomorrow, I'll be calling again.

I finished listening to The Lovely Bones audiobook in my car today. I'm always sad when I get to the end of a good book. If only I had finished before it left the theaters. Darn. I guess I have to wait for the dvd now. :-( On the bright side, I checked out a new Jodi Picoult book at the library to take along on the womens' retreat this weekend.

I can already see that our menu for the week will be changing. I have over-planned yet again, and the Sunday dish is way to similar to the dish I made yesterday. Oh well. I'll get the hang of it eventually, right? And if not, it's not like the menu is etched into stone.

- becky

Menu Monday

Between our mini-vacation to Schaumberg and colds and ear tubes I kind of got off track for Menu Monday. Not to fear! Menu Monday has returned!

It has not taken me long to figure out that I only need to cook every other night. I'm trying to strategically pick my cooking nights based on our schedule for the week. Here is what I have in mind for this week:

Monday

Macaroni Grill boxed dinner leftovers and salad

Tuesday

crock pot lasagna, salad, and garlic bread

Wednesday

leftovers

Thursday

soup and salad

Friday & Saturday

Womens' Retreat - I won't be home for supper. Tim's parents will be in town, so I imagine they will want to eat out.

Sunday

Creamy Chicken and Pasta Bake, salad, and garlic bread

- becky

Menu Monday

We did OK last week in following our family dinner menu. We were thrown off a bit when there were no leftovers for Monday night, but I was glad the chicken taco pie was that good. Next time, I plan to add some bell peppers for a bit more flavor and mix it up with pepper jack cheese. Wednesday's rigatoni dish made A LOT, so I fish sticks were bumped to this week. I made Saturday's dish yesterday for lunch; it will make nice leftovers for my lunches this week. Both of the kids LOVED it! I loved it because it is so easy. Kraft recipes are great!

So here is our attempt at a menu for this week:

Monday
BBQ Chicken pieces with rice and salad

Tuesday
Fish sticks, mac-and-cheese, vegetable

Wednesday
Sloppy joe sandwiches, mashed potatoes, vegetable

Thursday
leftovers

Friday
Southwestern Potato Patties ~ New recipe!

Saturday
Grilled pork steak, party potatoes, skillet green beans

Sunday
leftovers

Menu Monday

Welcome to Menu Monday. I've decided to try planning our dinner menu a week in advance to see if it helps us to eat home more often and eat more balanced meals. I also saw this on another blog that I follow and thought it was a great idea. Since imitation is the best form of flattery, I'm sure it's okay to steal this idea.

Monday - leftover Chicken Taco Pie (from Sunday)


Tuesday - Stampin' Up Club and lia sophia party - grab 'n' go supper!


Wednesday - Rigatoni with Italian Poultry Sausage and Sweet Peppers


Thursday - fish sticks, dinner rolls, and vegetable/salad


Friday - pizza and salad


Saturday - New recipe! One-Pan Taco Beef and Noodle Skillet

We'll see how well we are able to stick to this. Husband-of-mine, if you are reading this, please don't tempt me to eat out. I am too easily swayed after a long day at work.

If you have any quick, easy, kid-friendly recipes that we could try, please post them as a comment to any of my Menu Monday posts. I'm always looking for new things to make!

- becky