Monthly Meal Plan - September 2012

It's been a while since I've had a minute to post a meal plan, much less a monthly meal plan.  My little ones started back to school 2 weeks ago and we're settling into a little routine.  Our oldest is homeschooling 10th grade and that's coming along nicely too.  He is interested in culinary things, so we decided on Mondays, we'd learn a new technique and possibly make a dish.  He already helps out with supper twice a week.

For September, we're going to go back to our monthly meal plan.  In effort to cut down on eating out.  We've been spending too much going out to eat.  It mostly results from a busy day, and being too tired to cook.  To offset that, we're going to consult our monthly meal plan and have a game plan to avoid eating out and doing a OAMC day.  For those of you who don't know what that means, it stands for Once-a-month-cooking.  Generally, you prepare and/or cook all the month's meals in one day.  I loved doing this before, but life just got busy and I let it go by the wayside.  I think this will be a good teaching tool for Woolley since he's at home and he can help out.

Here's the plan:

Chicken meals
 - Easy Chicken Pot Pie - use precooked chicken
 - Chicken Enchilada Casserole - freeze and then make sauce day of
 - Chicken Parm Casserole
 - Parmesan Chicken Bake - Casserole have everything to make it, but not freezer friendly
 - Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken
 - Asian Chicken Dump (make double to use leftovers for Chicken Fried Rice)
 - Cilantro Lime Chicken Dump (make double to use leftovers for Taquitos)
 - Taco Casserole - can use precooked chicken
 - Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pasta - can use precooked chicken
 - Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

Beef meals
 - Cheap Korean Beef - pre cook and freeze for later in the month
 - Shepherd's Pie
 - Tasty Hamburger Casserole
 - Quesadilla Casserole
 - Beef ribs - Korean style Crock Pot
 - Porcupine Meatballs

Bean meals
 - Lentil tacos
 - 1983 Bean Nachos
 - Bean chalupas
 - Bean and cheese enchiladas
 - Black Bean Taquitos

Pork meals
 - Hawaiian Pork BBQ Roast
 - Orange Pork Roast pg 350

Breakfast for dinner ideas
 - Waffles
 - Hash
 - Muffins
 - Pancakes
 - Smoothies

Pizza meals
 - French bread pizzas
 - Bagel pizzas
 - English Muffin pizzas
 - Tortilla pizzas

The dump chicken recipes are the easiest.  We'll cook off some of the chicken ahead of time to use it in the Chicken Enchilada casserole and Chicken Pot Pies. 

OAMC March 2012 Completed...sort of

 My week got crazy busy.   In fact, I can't even remember what happened the early part of last week.  That's so sad!

I started out Monday with intentions of completing half of my list of recipes and meals.  Then I realized I miscalculated my ground turkey and didn't have enough, so I made what I could on Monday and then went out Tuesday and got more last minute food items...including 4 pounds of ground turkey.  Wooley helped me on Monday and Tuesday, but we still didn't get completely done.  I didn't get to the Turkey Sloppy Joes, so I'll do that as a batch cooking method and freeze the leftovers for another meal later in the month.  Also last Friday I stopped by Food Depot to see about getting some of things I needed for this week and they had chicken breasts marked down to $.59/pound.  Talk about STEAL!  I bought 5 packs with 4 breasts in each pack.  They needed to be frozen or cooked that day, so I got home and did the dump recipes using them.  WOOHOO! 

(The chicken dump bags in the freezer...ignore the frosty freezer.)

Here's what we got done:
4 meals of Smashed Pintos (for bean nachos, bean burritos, bean tostadas...whatever floats our boat that night)
1 lasagna (I didn't have enough pasta sheets for 2)
4 spaghetti meat sauce (portioned and ready to thaw and heat through with some pasta)
2 Kickin' Chicken Enchilada Casseroles* (we used leftover smoked chicken quarters from my husband's work and layered everything in casserole dishes with tortillas and broken taco shells)
4 Chicken Dump recipes - for crockpot
2 Beef Pizza sandwich - dump recipe for crockpot
2 Buffalo Chicken Casseroles - I used ground turkey, diced tomatoes and 1/4 cup Buffalo wing sauce omitting the water altogether and topped with Ranch mashed potatoes.  YUM!

(Buffalo Chicken Shepherd's Pie)

That's a grand total of 19 meals.  Plus I have the ground turkey to make the sloppy joes, that's 2 more for a total of 21.  Then we're planning breakfast for dinner 4 nights...that's 25 meals and eating out 4 times this month using restaurant.com gift certificates...that's 29 meals.

(I know it doesn't look like a lot of meals.  I poured everything into 1 gallon food storage baggies and pressed them flat.  Once they were frozen, I pulled them off a cookie sheet and stored them flat in the deep freezer.)

I think that's pretty good!

Monthly Meal Plan: March 2012

This month my husband and I are auxiliary pioneering.  If you are not familiar with that, it means we will be participating in a special ministry where we commit to spending at least 30 hours a month preaching about the Bible and God's Kingdom.  Normally the requirement is 50 hours, but this is a special month of activity since the Memorial of Christ's death is in April and we'll be distributing the invitation from door-to-door.  So if you see us coming, don't shut door :)

Earlier this week I spent a couple of days in the kitchen doing my OAMC day(s).  Here's my monthly meal plan to use up the things we made:

Monday - Casseroles
Tuesday - Soups
Wednesday - Breakfast
Thursday - Crock Pot Dump Chicken
Friday - Pizza or using our restaurant.com certificates
Saturday - Sandwiches/Italian
Sunday - Leftovers/Tex-Mex

1. Apricot Jam Dump Chicken
2. Oz Pizza
3. Turkey Sloppy Joes for lunch/Lasagna for supper
4. Leftovers for lunch/Bean Nachos for supper
5. Buffalo Chicken Pie
6. Hoppin' John Soup*
7. Breakfast for Dinner (Southwestern Scramble over Baked potatoes)
8. Pesto Chicken Dump
9. $2 Gift Certificate to Tyme Out Neighborhood Grill
10. Pizza Steak Sandwiches for lunch/Spaghetti for supper
11. Leftovers for lunch/Bean Burritos for supper
12. Chicken Enchiladas
13. Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup
14. Breakfast for Dinner
15. Lime & Jalapeno Chicken Dump
16. Oz Pizza
17. Turkey Sloppy Joes for lunch/Spaghetti for supper
18. Leftover for lunch/Bean Nachos for supper
19. Buffalo Chicken Pie
20. Chili
21. Breakfast
22. Balsamic Mustard Chicken Dump
23. Oz Pizza
24. Pizza Steak Sandwiches for lunch/Lasagna for supper
25. leftovers for lunch/Bean Burritos for supper
26. Chicken Enchiladas
27. Lentils and Sausage Soup
28. Breakfast
29. Asian Chicken Dump (Ken's Steakhouse Asian Sesame dressing with added ginger and soy)
30. La Parrilla
31. Tuna Sandwiches for lunch/Pineapple BBQ Meatballs

Okay dokey...hope the month goes smoothly without any hiccups!

Enjoy!

OAMC for March 2012

It's been a while since I've done a OAMC day.  My husband and I will be auxiliary pioneering for the month of March and I'm going to have to plan a really easy month.  So I thought it might be best to do a freezer cooking, OAMC day.  For those of you who are new to my blog,  OAMC stands for once-a-month-cooking.  Essentially you cook all your meals for one month all in one day (or two if you're like me), store them in the freezer and pull them out when you need them.  It's a huge time-saver during the month.  It can be a little overwhelming, but I've learned monthly meal planning is helpful.  You can see my earlier posts and the progression from Baking Days to OAMC days.

Here's the plan:
2 casseroles x 2
4 chicken dump recipes for crock pot
4 soups (leftovers can be eaten for lunch)
4 Tex-Mex nights
4 Italian nights
4 dinner out nights (hopefully to Oz Pizza, our favorite pizza joint)
4 breakfast for dinner nights
4 sandwiches for Saturday

I checked out pinterest and some of my favorite bloggers to get great recipes.

I also want to include a couple of snacks since I'm going to be uber busy.  I'll see if I get to these!

Breakfast ideas:
Banana Oat Muffins x 48
Cinnamon Banana French Toast x 48
Slow Cooker Peaches and Cream Oatmeal - no need to cook this one ahead for the month but I didn't want to forget about it.  It will reheat nicely each mornin.

Dinners:
Lasagna x 2
Spaghetti x 2
Chicken Enchiladas x 2
Buffalo Chicken Pie x 2
Smashed Pintos x 4 (2 for nachos, 2 for burritos)
Chili x 1
Mexican Chicken and Rice Soup x 1
Hoppin' John Soup* x 1
Lentils and Sausage Soup x 1
Chicken Dumps for Crock Pot (Lime & Jalapeno, Apricot Jam, Balsamic Mustard, Pesto Chicken, Asian Chicken-soy sauce, garlic, ginger)
Turkey Sloppy Joes x 2
Pizza Steak Sandwiches x 2

I think that does it.  24 meals, plus 4 nights of breakfast for dinner and possibly 4 nights of going out for pizza.  I might even have enough to go into the month of April!

I'll let you know how much I get done on my freezer cooking day.  I'll plan to do it on February 28 and 29.  That's a Tuesday and a Wednesday before the new month starts.

Enjoy!

OAMC: Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks...

I had originally planned to go to the beach at Callaway Gardens today, but my friend couldn't join us so I decided to stay in, do some laundry, clean the house and have an impromptu Once-A-Month-Cooking day.

Here's what we ended up with today:

No Bake Granola Bars - I had some dried cherries and cherry flavored dried cranberries, so I added both kinds to the mix along with chopped natural almonds.  Then after the granola bars cooled for a minute, I sprinkled the top with a few chocolate chips. 

Banana Oat Muffins - I doubled the recipe and made a dozen with a few chocolate chips on top for the kids.  They love it this way!  The other dozen are plain, just for me :)

Pizza Muffins - I added some fresh basil from our garden.  I wish I had turkey pepperoni, but only had regular pepperoni.  They are still only 120 calories per muffins, which is still pretty good. 

I found some canned yams on clearance at ALDI the other day, so I've been perusing recipes to use them.  I found this one for sweet potato and bean burritos and this one for sweet potato pancakes.  They had pretty good ratings so I'll give them a try later this week.  I also want to try some squash frittatas.  I'm supposed to go over to my cousin's house this week to learn how to pickle some cucumbers, and she said she has a pile of squash.  I can't wait to try out a new take on my favorite Summer Squash and Zucchini Quiche recipe.  

My Momma came over so I could highlight her hair.  It turned out really pretty!  I should've taken a picture of it.  Maybe next time!  Anyway, I wanted to get more done in the kitchen, but it was fun doing her hair.  Hope y'all are having a great Monday! 

Enjoy!

RECIPE: Pizza Pasta

I have lots of pasta.  

And we need to eat it up.  

We also love pizza.  

And this dish sounded too good not to give it a try.

It's also freezer-friendly, which is a big plus in my book!  I chose to make two 8x8 pans and baked one and froze the other for another meal later.

Pizza Pasta (adapted from One Crazy Cookie)

1 lb pasta (I'm using elbow since that's what we have)

1 lb ground turkey

1 tsp ground fennel

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 Tbsp parsley, fresh

2 Tbsp basil, fresh

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1/4 pound of turkey pepperoni, chopped

2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

2 cup grated Mozzarella, low moisture, skim milk

Boil elbow pasta for 8 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, brown ground turkey, drain and return to pan along with seasoning and spaghetti sauce.  

Add chopped pepperoni and cooked pasta.  

 Add fresh parsley and basil (if your garden is overflowing with it!)  

Stir together until well combined.  

 

Pour into 13x9 casserole dish or two 8x8 dishes and top with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan.  

Place the pepperoni slices over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

 

Serve with a green salad and enjoy your supper!

Enjoy!

This post has also been linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale 
• Mmmonday at Acting Balanced
• Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist 
• Muffin Monday at Talking Dollars and Cents 
• 2 Maids a Baking at 2 Maids a Milking
• Hearth and Soul at A Moderate Life
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Delicious Dish at It's a Blog Party
• Delectable Tuesday Blog Hop at Home Sweet Farm
• Tasty Tuesday at 33 Shades of Green 
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam 
• Made from Scratch Tuesday at From Mess Hall to Bistro
• $5 Dollar Dinner Challenge 
• No Whine Wednesday at Food on the Table
• Lets Do Brunch at My Sweet & Savory
• Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family
• Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• What's On Your Plate? at Good Cheap Eats

In the Kitchen: How to Freeze Oven Fried Potatoes

This is my favorite oven cheese fries.  They are low calorie and yummy to boot!  The only problem?  They take a good while to bake off.  So I experimented with the recipe to make it freezer friendly.  

Here's what I did:

Wash your taters

Cut them into wedges

Cover them in water

Dry them off before you put them into the seasoning bag.

Give them a shake in the bag

Arrange the taters on a tin foil lined baking sheet (I always make sure they are situated so that the skin of the potato is on the foil.  It keeps them from sticking so bad to the foil.)

Bake them at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes.  You're only partial cooking these.

Cool and then flash freeze on sheet pan.

Remove from the pan and baggie them up.

To eat them, preheat oven to 425 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes until done.  (I sprayed a little non-stick cooking spray over the tops to help with the browning.)

They were so good!  

This works for me.  I hope you'll give this a try.

Enjoy!

In the Kitchen: How to Freeze Rice

When I'm thinking of our monthly meal plan, I try to remember to put a few "kits" together in the freezer for quick lunches and suppers.  Having those "kit" components in the freezer, can result in a delicious meal literally in minutes.  One of the components I try to have on hand is pre-cooked rice.  We recently transitioned from white rice to brown rice.  Brown rice is supposed to be healthier for you.  Only thing is, brown rice takes 45 minutes to cook on the stove top.  And spending 45 minutes working on supper is not my ideal situation.  I love to cook, but some days I just don't have the time.  My go-to rice meals are Chicken Fried Rice, Stacy's Southwestern Chicken and Rice and Fiesta Salad. 

So how do you freeze pre-cooked rice?  This is how I do it:

Wash and rinse some of the starch off the brown rice in warm water.  

Look at how milky the water is...

Bring water to a boil and add the rice...

Cover with lid and cook for 45 minutes (DO NOT OPEN THE LID)...

After the timer goes off, turn the stove off and let the rice continue to steam for another 5 minutes.

Fluff with a fork and spread onto a cookie sheet to cool slightly...

Label the freezer storage baggies and fill with rice (I usually  fill the bags with 1-1/2 cups of rice, three 1/2 cup servings)

Squeeze all the air out of the bags and pop into the freezer.

To reheat:

Slightly open the zipper top about 1" to allow steam to escape

Microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot and steamy...

Ta da!  You have rice ready in 2-3 minutes on those busy day!

This works for me.

Have you tried freezing rice before?  What recipes do you use it in?

Enjoy!

Don't forget to check out my new eCookbook Sweet Creations Volume 1 "Basic Southern Cakes"!  It's only $2.99!

This post has been linked to:
Works for me Wednesday at We are THAT Family
Kitchen Tip Tuesday at Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Monthly Meal Plan: December 2010

I've been planning our monthly meal plans for over a year now.  I cannot tell you how much easier life flows when you have just one small detailed ironed out, like "what's for dinner".  We eat out a lot less, saving quite a bit of money (money we didn't have anyway).  We eat a lot less junk food (which we don't need anyway).

Last month we picked up on the cheap sweet potatoes ($.35/lb at Food Depot).  I'll probably pick up a few more pounds to puree and freeze in 2 cup portions.  We also got a free turkey from Kevin's work and I bought one at Publix for $.59/lb.

We might have a few changes along the way, but here's the game plan.

Here's what we're planning for December:

1. Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Hashbrown Casserole*, Oranges
2. Crock Pot Chicken, Potatoes, Broccoli and Green Beans
3. Pizza
4. Soup: Chicken Tortellini Soup*, Peasant Bread
5. Chalupas
6. Tex Mex:  Mexican Pasta Shells* with Sante Fe Salad
7. Crock Pot Chicken, Broccoli Rice & Cheese, Green Beans
8. Breakfast:  Frittata with Fried Taters and Oranges
9. Soup:  Yakisoba Chicken Noodle Soup*
10. Pizza
11. Turkey Dinner:  Billisu's Oven Roasted Turkey, Cornbread Dressing, Southern Style Collards, Squash Casserole, Sweet Potato Souffle, Mashed Potatoes, Rolls, Sawdust Pie*
12. Ravioli Lasagna*, Salad with Garlic Bread 
13. Tex Mex:  Burrito Casserole with Sante Fe Salad
14. Crock Pot Chicken, Red Quinoa Pilaf, Sweet Peas and Carrots
15. Breakfast:  Pancakes, Bacon and Grapefruit
16. Soup:  Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup, Peasant Bread
17. Family:  Subway
18. Family Dinner
19. Family:  Subway
20. Crock Pot Bean Enchiladas* with Guacamole Salad and Corn & Tomato Salad
21. Crock Pot Maple Chicken with Sweet Potatoes* with Broccoli and Cheese
22. Breakfast:  Frittata and Apple & Spinach Salad
23. Soup:  Lasagna Soup with Peasant Bread
24. Pizza
25. Leftovers
26. Pork Chops with Apricot Sauce*, Warm Lentil Salad*
27. Tex Mex:  Turkey Taquitos*, Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Fries
28. Crock Pot Chicken, Rice and Green Beans and Corn
29. Breakfast:  Pancakes, Sausage and Oranges
30. Soup:  Creamy Chicken Noodle Lipton Soup with Crackers*
31. Pizza

We have a few new recipes to try this month.  Some things I made quite a lot, but have never documented for Sissy's recipe blog.  I'll be blogging those recipes over there.  The ones that are successful, will make their way to her blog as well.

As for the freezer cooking this month, I've sort of been working on it a little this week.

• Southern Style Collards - using up some collards we got while at Callaway Gardens
• Soaking Great Northern Beans and cooking them today in the crock pot for meals this month
• Lemon Poppyseed Muffins - I didn't get to make these last month, but hoping to get to them this week
• Oatmeal Pouches - trying maple and brown sugar flavored this time around
• Cinnamon Banana French Toast Sticks - the kids gobbled them up fast!  They really loved them and so did I!
• Baked up some sweet potatoes yesterday, mashed them and bagged them for the freezer for Sweet Potato Souffle later this month
• Crunchy Granola - I've got about a cup left
• Homemade Pancakes - I'll do this in a batch cooking job when we eat them for the first time next week, then I'll freeze up the rest

Hope you have a great month!

Enjoy!

This has been linked to:

• Mommy's Kitchen Meal Plan Monthly
• Life as Mom - December Freezer Cooking

OAMC: Completed for November

This month has been a little hectic.  As you can tell, it took me almost 2 weeks to get most of our OAMC done.  I'm back at work and trying desperately to find my rhythm again.  Anyway, this is what I got finished:

Fruity Breakfast Burritos - 24 burritos (vanilla yogurt with frozen blueberries)

Cinnamon Banana French Toast Sticks  - 30 pieces (substituted mashed bananas for the pumpkin and these are SO good!  Sissy told me next time we need to make a million!)

Pumpkin Spice Granola with dried Cranberries and Pecans 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars - don't they look pretty?  

Well, I sort of had a little mishap...they ended up in the floor.  Chocolate smears and granola crumbles...truly SAD!  But I decided to not let it get me down...

Thankfully my Momma had just swept and I had mopped that morning and decided to turn the hopeful Granola Bars into ...

 

...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola (I just crumbled them onto a baking sheet and baked them at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, tossing and turning every 10 minutes to avoid burning.  It didn't turn out as crunchy as the Pumpkin Spiced Granola, but I've been eating it served with milk for breakfast and snacks.  It's really tasty!)

Refried Beans in the crock pot (3 lbs worth!)

Pizza Muffins These are really yummy, but the recipe only made 7.  Next time I'll double it to get the full dozen.

I also had an opportunity to make a new granola bar recipe.  It was delicious. They are so good!  I made 24 Cherry Almond granola bars.  Oh my word, they are delicious!  I can't wait to try and make some that resemble those Sweet & Salty granola bars with the cashews!

That's it.  I didn't get as much done as I wanted.  I'll probably do some batch cooking throughout the month.  We'll have to see as we go.

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:
Life as Mom - November Freezer Cooking Results
An Oregon Cottage - Sad Saturday

RECIPE: Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie

I wanted to make a lower sugar version of a cookie for my kids' breakfasts and snacks.  This is what I came up with.  It's pretty tasty. I made these for my OAMC and now we can eat them all month long.  YUM!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie (adapted from this recipe)

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup pureed pumpkin

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 cup Quick Cooking Oats

1-1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 cups dried cranberries

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, honey, eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and stir well.  Add oats and stir until combined.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  In separate bowl, sift flour, soda, salt, and spices.  Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture.  Stir to combine.  Add cranberries and combine well.

Use a large scoop and scoop onto baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Press the tops down slightly to flatten the cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes. 

This makes 17-18 large cookies.

These freeze great.  I also made some using the butterscotch chips from the original recipe, but it was way too sweet for me; especially first thing in the morning.   But you change it up to suit your family.  That's what recipes are for!

Enjoy!

 

This post has also been linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday at Southern Fairytale 
• Meatless Mondays at My Sweet and Savory 
• Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays
• Hearth and Soul at Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• At the Well this week
• Delicious Dish at It's a Blog Party
• $5 Dollar Dinner Challenge
  
• Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam 
• Tuesday at the Table at All the Small Stuff 
• Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
• Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom  
• Colleen's Fall Recipe Swap at Colleen's Kitchen
• Tasty Traditions at Coupon Cookin
• Recipe Swap Thursday at Prairie Story
• Family Food Fridays at Get Healthy Cheap

Week at a Glance - Meal Plan Monday 10/4/10

This week is going to be weird.  I'm having wrist surgery bright and early Monday morning.  I've never had this type of surgery before and I'm not looking forward to it.  I'm sure everything will be fine and hopefully it will help with my carpal tunnel syndrome.  The kids are spending the night with my parents Sunday night since we have to leave at 5:45 a.m. Monday morning.  Kevin is taking off work tomorrow so he can drive me to and from doctor's office.  We'll pick up the kids afterward and come home to take a nap.  Sissy has ballet lessons on Monday afternoon.  I'm not sure what to expect with this surgery so I don't know if I'll be taking her or Kevin.  

I didn't get finished with my OAMC plan from last week.  I did finish with most of the baking goodies.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes - 24, only 22 made it to the freezer, Boo-Boo kept swiping them :)

Chocolate Chip Zucchini - 12 Muffins, 2 Mini-loaves

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip - 12 Muffins, 2 Mini-loaves

Lemon Poppy Seed - 4 Mini-loaves

Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies - 18 Breakfast Cookies

Corn Dog Muffins - 24 Muffins

Breakfast Burritos - 27 Burritos 

The hamburger meat was not thawed out, even though I've had it in the fridge since Friday.  I put the frozen packets back in the freezer since I won't be able to get to them any time soon.  I'm guessing I'll do the meatloaves and hamburger patties in a batch cooking session later this month.  I kept forgetting to soak the pinto beans so I'll do them later too.  

Weekly Breakfasts:  Muffins, Breakfast Cookies, Apples, Smoothies

Weekly Snacks:  Apple Slices with Cheddar; Graham Crackers with PB and grapes

Weekly Lunches:  Corn Dog Muffins, applesauce, cheddar sticks; Pasta Salad, apple slices; Macaroni and Cheese, pearsauce, mozzarella sticks

Monday:  Drunken Pork Chops*, Spicy Black Eyed Peas and Green Beans (surgery 6:15 a.m., ballet lessons 3:30 p.m.)

Tuesday:  Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken , Green Beans, Peas and Carrots (my cousin is coming over to visit and help me out; meeting 7:30 p.m.)

Wednesday:  Egg and Ham Frittata (adding fresh spinach on one side for me and the kids)

Thursday:  CHICKEN REMAKE: 3 Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake*  with salad (family worship night 7:00 p.m.)

Friday: Homemade Pizza - BBQ Chicken and Pineapple

Saturday:  Family Dinner

Sunday:  Spaghetti with Meatballs and Salad

That's it for this week. 

Monthly Meal Plan: October 2010

This is going to be a short month.  

We've got a little vacation planned at the end of the month.  

I've got a surgery scheduled on Monday the 4th.  I've suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome for about 15 years.  It's gotten really bad and I should have had the surgery 2 years ago, but then Hunter came along.  They aren't really sure if it will help with the numbness and tingling, but it's worth a shot.  I'll be out of commission for a few weeks and will be doing most of the OAMC on Friday and Sunday.  Saturday we might go pick apples.

We'll be celebrating our 12 year anniversary.  That's pretty exciting!  The best part?  We'll be celebrating at a place called Disney!

 We'll also be "remaking" meals this month.  Focusing on Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken and a Beef Roast.  To help with our weight loss, I'm going to be adding my new favorite salad, Sante Fe Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette, to our Tex-Mex night each week.  

1. pizza
2. Apple Picking - BBQ restaurant
3. Drunken Pork Chops*
4. Crock Pot Chicken 
5. REMAKE: 3 Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake*
6. Eggs and Ham Frittata
7. Bean Burritos with Sante Fe Salad
8. pizza
9. family dinner
10. hamburgers
11. Crock Pot Beef Roast
12. REMAKE: Pineapple Beef Stew*
13. Egg, Cheese and Spinach Frittata
14. Bean Nachos with Sante Fe Salad
15. pizza
16. Meatloaf
17. Ribeyes, Potatoes, Salad
18. Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken
19. REMAKE: Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta with Chicken*
20. Stuffed French Toast with bacon*
21. Bean Tostadas with Sante Fe Salad
22. pizza
23. spaghetti
24. 12th Anniversary - dinner out
25. tacos
26. nachos
27. hamburgers
28. Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken
29. Easy Chicken Fried Rice
30. dinner out
31. Meatloaf

We'll be trying a few new-to-us-recipes (marked with *).  We'll also be taking food with us to Disney to cut down on the eating out expense.  The condo has a full kitchen so I'm really excited about that.  I don't mind cooking while on vacation, it will be fun.  We'll probably keep breakfast simple with cereal and bananas or eggs, bacon and toast.  We'll probably eat lunch at Disney.  I'll pack simple snacks, maybe fruit gummies, apples, pretzels and water.  We might eat dinner out a couple of nights.  There's a Pirate Ship Dinner Theater near our hotel, and I think the kids would love this.  The other nights we'll keep simple with spaghetti, tacos, nachos, crock pot chicken and potatoes, chicken fried rice.  We have one of those coolers that keep foods frozen for hours and hours so I'll take what I can from home to cut down on paying full price at the grocery store.   

OAMC Plan:
Crock Pot Pinto Beans turned into Refried Beans (used in burritos, tostadas, nachos)
Form Hamburger Patties x 12 (need about 2.5 lbs, using for 2 hamburger dinners)
Form Meatloaves x 2 dinners
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (from a box, free after coupons)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins
Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes (using boxed pancake mix $.14 a box at Publix)
Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie - cranberry and butterscotch
Breakfast Burritos for fast breakfasts for hubby
Ham and Cheese Pockets for fast lunches
Cheddar Cheese Sauce for Cheese and Macaroni for fast lunches
Frozen Bananas and berries for Smoothies 
Corn Dog Muffins for fast lunches 

Have a great and tasty month!

Are you doing any OAMC?  I'd love to hear from you.  I'm in search of some new recipes to try.

This has been linked to:
Mommy's Kitchen Meal Plan Monthly
Life as Mom - October Freezer Cooking

OAMC: Plan for September

Over the summer months, we didn't do much once-a-month-cooking.  We mostly did batch cooking and did a lot of "winging-it".  Our freezer still has a pretty good stockpile and I really need to defrost it.  My friend Jodi came over a couple of weeks back and she thought I was kidding about the frost in there.  Nope, I don't try to exaggerate on my blog.  I try to keep it as real as I can.  There is probably a layer of about 5" thick ice and frost in the freezer.  I know!  It's really terrible, but it's our $100 Craigslist freezer and it does a pretty good job of storing frozen food.  So, like I was saying, it needs to be defrosted and I'd like to make a chalkboard chart on the door.  I love that idea and think it might save me some memory cells since the inventory will be on the door and not in my brain.  

Here's the game plan for September:

Pancakes x 2 meals

Black Beans x 6 meals

Pizza Dough x 4 meals

Bacon - baked and then frozen for meals

Meatballs for Sub Sandwiches x 3 meals

Hamburger Patties x 1 meal (I already have some Taco Burgers in the freezer so I only need to pat out enough burgers for one more meal)

Ground Beef for Spaghetti

Chicken Breasts x 5 meals (BBQ Chicken Pizza, Chicken Nachos, Chicken Soft Tacos, Chicken Salad, Southwest Chicken & Rice)

Banana Muffins x 12

Blueberry Muffins x 12

Mini Blueberry Scones x 16

Crunchy Granola x 4-6 cups

Tuesday Prep and Baking:

Last minute purchases of pantry items we don't already have on hand

Soak black beans overnight
Bake the bacon in the oven, bag and store in freezer
Poach chicken breasts on stove top, shred, bag and store in freezer

Bake muffins and granola

Thaw hamburger meat 

Mix scones and flash freeze unbaked, bag and store in freezer

Wednesday Cooking:

Start beans in the crock pot

Mix the pancake batter and heat skillet to start working

Bake the bacon in the oven, bag and store in freezer

Mix Hamburger Patties, flash freeze, bag and store in freezer

Brown ground beef, drain, bag and store in freezer

Poach chicken breasts on stove top, shred, bag and store in freezer

Mix Meatballs and bake, flash freeze, bag and store in freezer

I think that's gonna do it.  

Have a great month! And be sure to check out what others have planned for September at Money Saving Mom.