Menu Plan Monday - April 19

This Rigatoni with Chicken, Bacon and Mushrooms from last week was probably our favorite. Actually, my husband's favorite by far! An exciting moment for me though was my picky toddler son actually eating all parts of this Brown Rice Casserole we had with peas. It was another successful week of meals.
This week will be a bit off for us. We have my in-laws in town and went out to eat last night, for lunch today, and quite possibly for dinner again tonight.
I have a dish that was in the freezer, a past with ground turkey dish, that I will reheat and have available for one dinner and possibly lunches.
Other meals we will be having:
Mozzarella Chicken and Rice Skillet
Breakfast for Dinner
Spinach Lentil Soup
For other great meals and ideas, head on over to Orgjunkie today!

Menu Update...

I did get some motivation to look up a few easy recipes and make it to the store this morning...

Yesterday we snacked enough on fruits and nuts (and a surprise loaf of pumpkin bread from my mom!) that we weren't hungry for lunch, which means we still have the soup we were going to eat available for today or tomorrow.

Then when we got off work and picked up our son (in the middle of the afternoon) we decided it would be a great (non-rush) time to go get some pancakes at IHOP since it was National Pancake Day and they were free! We did get a side item and tip, but it was a great meal for next to nothing! And it saved having to figure out dinner!

So I picked up just a few things this morning (before any snow rush started at the stores) and will also be able to make some things from ingredients already on hand. On the list:

homemade baked oatmeal
homemade granola
a spinach salad with bacon, eggs and mushrooms on top
a chicken and rice dish with bacon and carrots and a cream cheese sauce on top
a "cabbage roll" soup dish
another chicken and rice dish with carrots and onions, for later in the week
and stuff for a big breakfast for a meeting tomorrow: eggs, bacon, potatoes and mushrooms

I didn't have to buy a lot, and shouldn't have to do much for any of these meals, but I'm pretty excited about all the dishes we'll get out of the ingredients I've got.

Menu Plan Monday - February 15

Still Pregnant!
Still cold and snowy around here!
Still trying to stock my freezer and get my house and life in order for having baby boy #2 any time now...
Still making lots of soup since it is simple to make and simple to freeze, and great in cold weather!

We've been trying to eat a wee bit healthier over the past week or so, trying out some new things for breakfasts and lunches. Been eating a homemade baked oatmeal for breakfast a lot as well as tuna, yogurt/fruit/granola (homemade granola), and eggs for lunches (or sometimes breakfast too). Also getting in more raw fruits and veggies (harder to find decent deals this time of year), nuts, and dried fruits for snacks.

Here is what I am working towards for dinners this week:
Curried Chicken and Cider Soup (this has been on my list for a while, but I roasted my chicken and made my chicken broth, and I am ready to make the soup today!) I have made this one before and greatly enjoyed it!
Hearty Tomato Soup is on my list again, loved it the first time and looking forward to it again!
A simple Hamburger Macaroni Bake
And hopefully this Maple Apple Chicken

Find more great ideas and recipes at Orgjunkie.

Menu Plan and Stocking the Freezer

I am 34 weeks pregnant. I delivered at 37 weeks with my first son. I figure it's about time to get started with stocking my freezer, unpacking all the newborn clothes and necessities, and getting myself and my stuff ready as well...
Since  our area was expecting a big snow this weekend I decided that maybe it would be a good time to stock up on groceries and spend some time in the kitchen, since I probably wouldn't be able to get out anyways...it was worth the insanity at the store as everyone was nervously stocking up on bread and milk.
So far I have mostly worked on stocking for my 1 year old. I know some people often do everything in one day, but I prefer to do a couple things at a time, but not for the whole day. Just my way. Yesterday I made baked oatmeal (my new favorite breakfast for my son, and he loves it too!) and these breakfast cookies. They have similar ingredients, but the cookies have bananas and raisins.  Today I made banana muffins (a combination of two of his favorite foods: bananas and cheerios!) and broccoli potato soup (very simply onion, broccoli, potato, stock, and cheese). My son tried a muffin and enjoyed it greatly, and he has had the soup before and loved it! It feels great to be filling my freezer!

For the meals we will actually be eating this week:
Curried Sweet Potato and Apple Soup
Slow Cooker Turkey Stew
Cream Slow-Cooker Chicken
Chili Cheese Biscuit Pies

And some other recipes that I will be working on to add to my freezer collection:
Meatless Chili
Baked Chicken Fingers
Pea and Spinach Soup

We'll see if I really get to all of this. But I do already have all the ingredients for all of these recipes, and that excites me! It's the little things...
Head on over to Orgjunkie.com for more great ideas for meals.

Menu Plan Monday - October 26

I have been slacking about posting my menu plans, but luckily I have not been totally slacking in creating them. The weather has been perfect here for soups and that is most of what I have been making lately. There are some great recipes to allow the slow cooker to do all the work, and soup is also very easy to send to work with my husband! Plus my son has been able to eat some of them with us too!!
So, for this week, my husband will be making his favorite chili recipe call Quick Turkey Chili.
Also trying this Apple-stuffed Chicken recipe with a few apples I have from picking a while back. And we have fresh green beans from our garden to go with it, just like the picture scrumptiously depicts.
Also making a Cheesy Broccoli and Potato Soup that we will all be able to eat. Includes onions, potato, broccoli, vegetable stock and monterey jack cheese. Can't remember which magazine I cut the recipe out of.
And, finally, making a creamy chicken noodle soup. I just go by memory with this one, but includes water, chicken bouillon cubes, pasta, chicken and sour cream, and it is very delicious!

Head on over to orgjunkie.com for more great menu plans and ideas!

Menu Plan Monday - August 2

I am sorry that I have been MIA for a bit now. I hadn't noticed quite how long it had been until I looked at the date of my last post. Last week I didn't have much of a menu. I pulled some stuff from the freezer, made a dish from the pantry, and the rest was provided for us at a volleyball camp we were working. Yep, volleyball is now officially in session (although it never seems to actually end) so life will only get busier around here. But we love, and that's why we do it!
So, for this week, with volleyball tryouts and practices not ending until 630 at night and likely not getting home until 7 or 730, I am trying to make meals that are VERY quick, or that can be prepared ahead of time.

Monday: Garlic Zucchini Pasta, sliced tomatoes (from mom's garden!!)

Tuesday: Thai Chicken with Basil, Fresh corn salad (sour cream, worcestershire, salt, corn, red pepper, green onions)

Wednesday: Crock Pot Applesauce Chicken, rice, green beans

Thursday: Sloppy Joes (good and simple, but don't remember where the recipe is from), Corn salad (from above)

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: More Leftovers or Pizza

Using a Whole Chicken

A while ago I posted about cooking a whole chicken in the crock pot. And I was SO excited! It smelled good, and tasted good, and it was so simple!!

Well, this time I decided to go even further with the chicken! After cooking it for about 8 hours in the slow cooker (making the house smell scrumptious!) I let it cool for just a bit. Then starting pulling off all the meat.

I put some of the meat into a soup that was on the stove-top waiting. I also had some more meat left over that will go great on a salad with the fresh lettuce from our garden!
Then I took everything else, everything that was left after I got the meat I wanted. Kinda gross, but my husband did this part, so that made it a little easier for me. All of that went into a pot, along with a bunch of celery leaves and a few stalks, a couple of whole (including the skins) onions, a couple of bay leaves, and water. I would have put in some carrots (unpeeled) but didn't have any left after my carrot mac and cheese and making baby food.

I brought all this to a boil, then turned it down and let it simmer for an hour or two (don't totally remember, didn't set a timer, just checked on it occasionally and then eventually decided it had been long enough).
Then poured it through a strainer so all the pieces and veggies and such would stay separate, of course! And poured and poured until I got all the broth out I could get.
I have these containers in the fridge for now. I will go back and scrape off the top (fatty part), then used some to make some homemade pea soup for my little one, some will go in the freezer for a later date, and some will stay in the fridge to have on hand.

SO, I got (A) meat for a soup (B) meat for salad (C) broth for pea soup (D) broth for the freezer (E) broth for now and (F) a wonderful feeling knowing that I did it all myself (with husband's help, of course) and made the best use of a whole chicken that I could! And the cost of all of this? The whole chicken was $3, the celery leave and inside stalks I probably would have thrown away otherwise, a few cents for the onions...by far under $5 for all of this!!

I'll post more about the pea soup later. For now, this is what works for me, head over to We Are THAT Family for more great ideas!

Lots and Lots of Chicken!!

A while back I found a good deal on chicken and I stocked up! I had just gotten my big freezer and needed to fill it up!!
I was slightly daunted by the fact that it was a lot of chicken, and I also wasn't used to buying chicken with the bone in, but I knew I wanted to make good use of it...eventually...
I used some of it to make some Raspberry Chicken, enough so that we had some the week I bought it, have had some since then, and there is still one more bag of it in the freezer. Very easy and great on the grill this time of year! Thanks OAMM!

In the mix of all the chicken I bought were 2 whole chickens! I have only bought chicken this way from the store...when it has already been roasted for me, and I want to shred it for something tasty on top of a salad or in a soup...I've never bought any meat whole before!

Well, after searching for a recipe (the easiest recipe I could possibly find) I landed back at my favorite crockpotting site for a simple-and what sounded like delicious-recipe!

So, I gave it a go last night. We have next to nothing in our fridge. I've been holding off for a new month, and some new motivation for planning and shopping. So, in the meantime, I decided it would be a good idea to have some chicken on hand for meals, and what better way than to let it cook itself all night long while I was in bed sleeping. Granted, it is a little weird to wake up and smell food cooking in the house, but I have used the crockpot before and gotten somewhat used to this.

When I came down in the morning, here is what I found.
MMMMM...smelled good...and even though it was only 7am I had to try a piece! Moist and delicious! It fell right off the bone, just like she had said it would! If It hadn't been 11 at night last night when I was putting it in to cook, I may have taken the skin off first since we don't normally eat it anyway (at least I try to not let my husband eat it!) and this would have put more flavor into the actual chicken. But I am very satisfied.

And. Even Better! I spent $3.02 on this chicken. Can't get a roasted chicken from any store at that price! Unless maybe it's been sitting out all day and it is cold and dry, but who wants a cold, dry chicken when you can have one that looks like this and tastes professionally done?! It really can't get much more simple than this!