Farmer's Market and Menu Plan

For the last year or so, I have been going to the farmer's market without my older children. It was a nice chance to have some quiet time, plus they had lost interest in a lot of the process of shopping for food and preferred to hang out at home and have some "Dad time". With watermelon coming in to season and me having to shop with the baby, it was either one of them come with me or we have no watermelon . . . so my oldest came with me and, as it turned out, enjoyed himself :)

Most of the above photo contains our farmer's market purchases, though the dairy and seafood (!!!) is not pictured (milk and mozzarella, fresh water prawns and catfish) and the items in the front right corner come from our wonderful neighbor's garden. From top left, clockwise: Cucumber, blackberries, basil (in the baggie), tomatoes, round zucchini, individual sized watermelon, green bell peppers, onions, blueberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, more onions, garlic and potatoes (in the bowl), squash, cucumbers, banana peppers (all three from our neighbor), and peaches. We also bought another fig tree. When we couple these items with the chicken and beef we have in our freezer from past farmer's markets and a few other items with have stored up, there are many meal options. Here is what I've come up with so far (local items are in bold):

Roasted Veggie Omelet - (eggs from our hens, butter, onions, squash, zucchini) with tomato and cucumber salad.

Pesto Chicken Sandwich on homemade foccacia bread - (basil, olive oil, walnuts, Parmesan cheese; chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella) with cantaloupe

Roasted Chicken, squash/ zucchini pasta (cooked pasta, sauted onions and zucchini or squash, butter, basil, Parmesan cheese), peaches

Stuffed Zucchini (ground beef, onions, butter, squash, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cheese), blueberries

Burgers, browned potatoes, caramelized onions, watermelon

Spaghetti with meat sauce, bread sticks, steamed broccoli (we can't go without broccoli, even if it is not in season or local - oldest ds loves it), cantaloupe

Stuffed Green Peppers (onions, peppers, some of the prawns, rice, butter, some sort of thickener - probably corn starch - for a binder, cheese), peaches

We are also planning to use some of our peaches and blueberries for smoothies. In addition, we have family coming in today and they are bringing tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini from the garden. We will make salsa for snacking (not enough to can) with some of it (using our peppers and onions and some store bought cilantro). I also envision blueberry smoothies in our future.

It is so exciting to be in the early days of summer with so much available to us from local growers. At the market over the weekend, we were told that plums and figs will soon be available. We love these both for eating fresh and also for preserving. Can't wait!! In addition, we have made arrangements to buy "canner" tomatoes from a farmer so that we can put up salsa, spaghetti sauce and tomato puree. We also have blueberries and blackberries in the freezer that are destined to become syrup this week. I used to put up jam, but we don't really eat much jam here. Syrup, I think, will work better (we've already used up all the peach syrup I made a few weeks ago - we use it on pancakes and waffles, plus we use it in yogurt).

What's on your menu this week?

I am submitting this to Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday: May 16, 2011

I love posting our menu plan on my blog because for some reason, it helps me stay on track. I have not posted our menu in months, mostly because of pregnancy then a new baby. I had a few minutes today and decided to put up our menu for this week. I hope I can start doing this more regularly.

As a family, we seek out hormone and antibiotic free, pasture raised or wild caught meat, eggs and dairy. We also attempt to avoid processed food and make our own from local sources. All local items will be in bold.

Breakfast (will repeat):

*Yogurt (homemade, from local milk) with fruit (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or peaches) or maple syrup
*Smoothies (yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, banana, orange juice)
*Eggs and grits (local butter)
*French Toast (homemade bread, milk and eggs from our hens) topped with yogurt and preserves

Lunch (will repeat):

Egg Salad Sandwiches, carrots and cucumbers
Chicken Salad Sandwiches, cole slaw,
Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches, applesauce
Leftovers

Dinner:

*Crockpot Black Eyed Pea Soup (homemade chicken stock from pastured chicken), Homemade pickles or dilly beans (which ever my Mom wants - they are visiting)

*Hamburger Steak with caramelized onions and pan fried potatoes, side salad (local cucumbers)

*Pan Fried Fish (**hopefully** - the boys are planning to supply the main dish for dinner one night this week from our pond), caramelized onions and yellow squash, sweet potatoes

* Broccoli and Cheese Soup (broccoli from local farmer, chicken stock, homemade from pastured local chicken), sandwich or salad on the side

* Easy Broccoli & Beef, rice, smoothie

*Pizza with add your own toppings (will try to use up leftovers)

*Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, cole slaw or cooked cabbage (depends on what we feel like having)

Menu Plan Monday (Nov 8, 2010)

This week, we are going to continue our doubling of recipes to get more cooked meals in the freezer for when the baby comes. The boys were a great help last week, with Nick, our oldest making the lasagna with minimal help from me. WTG Nick!! This week is going to be COLD, so we will focus on soups and other warming meals, most of which freeze beautifully. As usual, we include all locally grown or homegrown items in bold. Here is our menu:

Monday - White Bean Chicken Chili (making a double batch - will freeze extra), green salad

Tuesday - Caramelized Onion and veggie omelettes (gotta use up those eggs!! The hens are laying an average of a dozen a day now) and sliced oranges

Wednesday - French Onion Soup (local beef was used to make the stock - making extra to freeze), grilled veggie and cheese panini

Thursday - Chicken Noodle Soup (hoping to try our hand at homemade noodles - making extra to freeze), green salad

Friday - Cheese Burgers (will make and freeze extra burgers), mashed sweet potatoes, apple slices

Saturday - Chipotle & Beef Chili (will freeze extra), cornbread, green salad

Sunday - Leftovers

I am also hoping to do some baking and get some of that into the freezer. My boys are big snackers and it will be nice not to have to think about snacks for a few weeks with a newborn. Do you have any favorite snack recipes that freeze well?

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan (Nov 1)

This baby will be here before we know it. If I'm going to accomplish getting a freezer full of meals and teaching the boys to handle more in the kitchen, I've got to start doing this now. So this week, I had the boys help to plan the menu (they chose main dishes and I filled in side dishes) and they are going to help make the meals, including doubling of recipes for the freezer. I am only posting our dinner menu this week. As usual, I am putting locally grown items in bold. Here is what the boys planned:

1. Lassagna (making one for the freezer) with sauteed squash (we found locally grown summer squash at the farmer's market on Saturday :), a green salad and breadsticks (if there are any left,we will freeze those,too)

2. White Chicken Enchilladas (with some for the freezer), sliced sweet potatoes in butter and sea salt, green salad.

3. Turkey Meat Loaf (doubled for the freezer), green salad, mashed potatoes, green peas

4. Sloppy Joes (local beef), caramelized veggie blend, cut up apples (sloppy joes freeze really well, so we are doubling that recipe and freezing extra)

5. Burgers (local beef - we will make double what we will need, so that we can freeze some for later), caramelized onions, potatoes (probably using the recipe for breakfast potatoes from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook), steamed broccoli with butter and sea salt (so yummy!!)

6. Chicken Salad sandwiches, chicken corn chowder, green salad (if there is any extra chicken, we plan to freeze it in meal sized portions for later use)

7. This will either be "You are on Your Own" or leftover day.

I am submitting this post to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.

Menu Plan Monday (Oct 18th)

We had a nice long (3 day) weekend at home and for a the first two of those days, hubby and the boys were off in the woods leaving me with the house all to myself most of the time. I took the opportunity to get ahead on some of this week's cooking :) A great deal of this week's menu is either in the freezer or refrigerator, ready to heat and eat :)

Here is our menu plan for the week. As usual, all locally grown and homegrown items will be listed in bold.

Breakfast (with repeats):

*Eggs and Grits
*Oatmeal with pecans , coconut oil and honey
*Egg and cheese biscuit sandwiches (these are handy for that one morning when we have an early obligation in town)
*Smoothies (blueberries, bananas, yogurt, peaches or strawberries)

Lunch:

*Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
*Sliced Turkey sandwiches (cooked a turkey breast and made gravy to go with it - too bad there is no cranberry sauce, lol)
*Green Salad (homegrown greens) with boiled eggs, pecans, carrots and cheese
*Leftovers

Snacks:

*Yogurt (with maple syrup)
*muffins I made over the weekend
*Smoothie
*Homemade bread with honey butter
*Grapes
*Sliced Apples
*Carrots and herb cheese dip

Dinner:

*Italian Crock Pot Black Eyed Pea Soup and homemade bread

*Roasted Turkey Breast, Homemade Mac & Cheese (feeling the need for warm weather comfort food, I guess ;), green salad

*Meatloaf (grass fed beef from the farmer's market), steamed broccoli, green salad

*Fiesta Chicken (pasture raised chicken from the farmer's market, mixed with salsa - I think we have ONE jar of homemade salsa left-, corn and black beans) served in tortillas, with a green salad

*Crustless quiche (to use up random leftovers), or this Egg Puff from Premeditated Leftovers, green salad and mashed sweet potatoes

*White Bean Chicken Chili (pastured chicken and stock from that chicken), with a green salad (our garden it putting out lots of lettuce and other greens now )

*BBQ burgers, potato salad (kids have been asking for this) roasted mixed veggies

Once a meal has been eaten, all leftovers will go into the freezer for later meals.

This post is part of the Menu Plan Monday Carnival at OrgJunkie

Menu Plan (Oct 4) and Farmer's Market

I visited the farmer's market on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised at some of the wonderful things I found. There was a wonderful "no spray" lettuce farmer there with an amazing array of lettuces. Its been a long time since we've had lettuce from the farmer's market. We are enjoying the red leaf and green leaf lettuces so much. I also found some cooking pumpkins, some "no spray" butternut squash and some sweet potatoes in addition to our beef order (we are getting several this fall to carry us through until spring/ early summer when there will be more available).

Our beef order comes with each cut individually wrapped in butcher paper and the hamburger is wrapped up in one pound portions. Each time we get slightly different cuts and different amounts of hamburger. This order had a few t-bones, a few sirloins, two roasts, some ribs and lots of hamburger (what we use most). We also got soup bones.

This is the cooler I bring it home in. Each order is somewhere between 25 & 30 pounds. It takes us between three and four months to finish off one order.

We are going to use some of the local food we have in the freezer, as well as the farmer's market finds for our menu this week. As usual, I will put the local items in bold.

Breakfast (with repeats):

*Oatmeal with coconut oil, pecans, honey and blueberries
*Eggs and grits with cut up fruit
*Fruit smoothies made with homemade yogurt, blueberries, peaches and bananas
*Homemade granola with pecans, honey, butter, coconut oil, pepitas and dried bananas

Lunches:

*Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and applesauce
*Peanut butter sandwiches and cut up fruit
*Green Salad with feta cheese, walnuts, pecans, kalamata olives
*Leftovers

Snacks:

*Pumpkin bread or muffins (eggs are from our hens)
*Smoothies (blueberries, peaches)
*Apple slices
*Pears
*Cheese cubes
*Oatmeal cookies
*homemade bread and honey butter

Dinner:

*French Onion Soup (beef stock from soup bones - also will include small amount of beef; the dog was THRILLED with his jackpot when I gave him the bones earlier) with grilled cheese sandwiches and a green salad

*Roasted Chicken, sweet potatoes (probably just cooked in some butter - so yummy!!), green salad

*Dinner Salad with leftover roasted chicken, pecans, cheese, boiled eggs, cucumbers, carrots and some homemade bread

*Cheese Burgers with caramelized onions, green salad, mashed butternut squash

*Soup (not sure what kind, but I'm leaning towards Italian Black Eyed Pea Soup) and homemade biscuits

*Pizza with leftovers (some of which will be local) and maybe caramelized onions and black olives as toppings and a green salad

*Crustless Quiche (eggs) to use up any veggies that need to be eaten before they go bad and a green salad (if we still have lettuce or if ours is ready to begin using).

Our hens are consistently laying 7 eggs a day now (1 blue/ green, 1 dark brown and white speckled and 5 light brown). That means we are getting about 4 dozen a week - plenty for us to use and enough to share with our neighbors, too :) Earlier, when dh and I were out feeding/ watering the chickens and collecting the eggs, a katydid flew at me and I jumped/ screamed (eek!!) and dh laughed (because it was really funny). My response? To begin crying - so out of character for me. I am obviously experiencing some sort of pregnancy hormone thing. I am now entering my third trimester (time is flying for me this time) and I think we are having a really big boy - check out that profile:


To me, I look much farther along than just 6 months, lol. I think I better get to work with farm projects, Christmas shopping and freezer cooking!! It will be here before I know it.

I will be submitting this to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.

Menu Plan: August 30-Sept 5, 2010

This week, we are having a "clean out the freezer" week as our fall beef order is scheduled to be ready this weekend and we are also getting 6 fryers and a duck (!!!) from our pastured poultry farmer this weekend.

Here is our menu. Locally grown or raised items are in bold.

Breakfasts:

*Oatmeal with pecans and honey
*Yogurt with honey or maple syrup and sliced pears
*Granola (local honey and pecans) and milk
*Scrambled Eggs and grits (someone now raises and grinds several different corn products and sells them at our farmer's market).
*Pancakes or waffles with maple syrup or honey and cut up fruit
*Peach and blueberry smoothie

Lunch:

Leftovers
Baked Potatoes
Freezer Meals that have been packaged in individual servings

Dinner:

Grilled T-Bones and Sirloins (using up the last of our spring beef order) with baked potatoes and steamed broccoli

Spaghetti (we are using rice noodles since regular noodles do not agree with hubby - i hope we like them), green salad and sauted squash

Homemade Pizza (plain cheese or cheese and black olives for the boys and what ever we can find in the freezer to use as toppings for hubby and I) and a green salad

Roasted chicken, sweet corn and sweet potatoes (though I may try Alea's sweet potato recipe if I can get my hands on some cauliflower)

Tuna burgers with home grown micro-greens (if they are ready to use by then) and cut up fruit

Soup (probably chicken noodle that way we can use up lots of our frozen local veggies) and cornbread (cornmeal and eggs from the market)

Ok, so while I am excited beyond belief to be getting a pasture raised duck from our poultry farmer, I am unsure of how to prepare it. I'd really like to just roast this one to keep it as simple as possible to see if the family likes duck. Anyone have any tips? TIA :)

Menu Plan for the week of Aug 2, 2010

I have not posted our menu in many months, but this week, I've had the time to plan a menu and the time to post it. I like posting it because then I feel some accountability and am more likely to stick to it and not rely on deli chickens or take out.

I have been so tired this pregnancy, that it has been difficult to cook, much less plan for meals. In fact, many time in the last months, I've wondered how women through the centuries have survived having to prepare everything from scratch while exhausted and extremely nauseated in pregnancy. There were a few weeks when I could not even walk through the kitchen without retching. The family had a lot of chicken nuggets and deli chickens those weeks.

We are eating as locally as possible so I mark the local items in bold.

Breakfasts (with repeats):

Granola (homemade in the crock pot using local honey and pecans)
Yogurt (homemade and flavored with maple syrup or honey)
Waffles (made with local eggs)
Baked Oatmeal (made with local eggs)

Lunches:

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Muffalettos on homemade bread with cut up fruit
Bake Potatoes with butter and cheese
Leftovers from Dinner

Snacks:

Carrots and dip
Herb Cheese and crackers
Watermelon
Chips and Salsa (homemade with local ingredients)
Gingerbread (a favorite of our nephew who is visiting for the week)
smoothies (peaches, blueberries, strawberries)

Dinner:

Monday - we had roasted chicken with a green salad (cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes)

Tuesday - Homemade Pizza (some of the veggie toppings are local - banana peppers, for one) with sliced cucumbers and cantalope.

Wednesday - grass-fed beef burgers with steamed broccoli, fruit and sweet corn (in the freezer - our neighbor grew it and gave it to us).

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Roasted Chicken, black beans and brown rice and caramelized mixed veggies (most of the veggies are local - zucchini, yellow squash, red peppers, onions)

Saturday - Soup made from the leftover chicken - probably white bean chicken chili,but the final soup will depend on what we have a lot of and what we find at the farmer's market. We will have it with cornbread (probably) and anything fresh I can find a the market.

Sunday - Probably leftovers to clean out the fridge.

Preserving:

I have not preserved much so far this week since there were only 2 vendors at the market yesterday and they mostly had what I already have preserved in abundance. I have frozen more zucchini and am drying blueberries and peppers. Hopefully, there will be more tomatoes at the market as I'd like to can more sauce and salsa and maybe dry some, too. I am also eager to find the first figs of the season - hopefully this week.

Menu Plan (June 21st)

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are expecting a new addition to our family in January and I have spent the last 3+ weeks being quite sick. I'm finally felling somewhat better and am ready to get back in the kitchen. One of the things I've noticed about myself this pregnancy is that I have an increased need for carbs - not a lot, but definitely at least one per meal. Without it, I was hugging porcelain, with it, not as often. So, with that, here is this week's menu:

Breakfasts:
French Toast
Baked Oatmeal
Ham and Cheese Omelet with hash browns
Eggs and grits

Lunch:
Hummus and homemade flatbread
Pizza Rolls (trying something new-will try to post instructions later)
Sandwich braid filled with any suitable leftovers
leftovers from supper

Suppers:
*Lassagna, steamed broccoli, cut fruit (we had this yesterday)

*Chicken Noodle Soup (lots and lots of veggies, especially squash, lol), bread (cooked this last night in the crock pot)

*De-boned Shrimp Stuffed Chicken (got this in Louisiana when we were there for my grandmother's funeral last week), steamed California Blend Veggies (this chicken is currently cooking, before it gets too hot to run appliances in the house)

*Mongolian Beef and Broccoli with rice (using some leftover beef stew for this instead of thinly sliced skirt steak)

*Chicken Salad Sandwiches, green salad, chickpea salad

We are also having family in for the weekend. We will cook for them once and they want to take us out the rest of the time (nice!! )

*I will also cook crockpot chicken cacciatore and freeze it for later if we don't need to have it right away.

Menu Plan Monday 2-22-10

Key:
homemade
locally grown/ raised

Breakfast this week will mostly be either scrambled eggs, yogurt with maple syrup and pecans or smoothies made with frozen fruit and yogurt.

Lunches this week will be either leftovers from supper, or (for me) mixed greens salad with some kind of protein(and lots of olives) and (kids/ hubby) turkey or chicken salad sandwiches.

Suppers:

Monday - roasted chicken, asparagus and rolls

Tuesday - BBQ roast sliders (I will have mine in a lettuce wrap - I'm trying to limit carbs to one serving a day during lent - the others will have theirs on leftover rolls) with steamed broccoli

Wednesday - Thin crust pizza (either BBQ Chicken or Plain Cheese) with a side salad and roasted veggies

Thursday - Muffaletto sandwiches on focaccia bread with a side salad.

Friday - baked tilapia, sweet potatoes and a green salad

Saturday - Celebrating our oldest son's 10th birthday - his choice

Sunday - probably leftovers or a sandwhich

Check out hundreds of menu plans at Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday 2-8-10

We are getting settled in our new place - it feels more like home every day. Shopping for groceries two weeks at a time is working out wonderfully for us - we are spending less time shopping because we don't go to the store every time we are missing ingredients, plus we are spending less because we don't go to the store every time we are missing ingredients. Instead, we are using what we have either to substitute ingredients or to substitute a different meal and it is working really well.

This week, breakfasts will include:

Baked oatmeal,
French toast (from the freezer)
Yogurt (homemade Greek style with maple syrup and pecans)
Berry smoothies

Lunches

sandwiches (including some of our "micro greens" we have growing inside the house)
leftovers
Salad with feta, kalamata olives ,etc

Snacks

homemade bread and honey butter
homemade king cake (Mardi Gras is next week)
homemade yogurt with add-in's
smoothies
homemade crockpot granola with milk or yogurt
cookies (probably some sort of sugar cookie that we can make into hearts and decorate for valentines day and also some sort of breakfast cookie)
carrots and cucumbers with ranch dip
Chips and salsa
pecan/ fig pinwheel cookies
apples
pears
cheese cubes


Supper:

Pizza - will do individuals that everyone can top as they like - with a green salad

BBQ Chicken Sliders with broccoli slaw

Baked tilapia, steamed broccoli and homemade bread (all three with lots of butter :) )

lasagna from the freezer with caramelized mixed veggies and bread of some kind

white bean chicken chili

We will probably do breakfast for dinner one night since we have a lot of eggs - either scrambled eggs, hash browns and ham or a ham, hashbrown and egg fritata.

Go check out everyone's menu plans at OrgJunkie.com

Updated Menu

In an earlier post, I asked for help with menu ideas as I had not had a chance to plan the menu and was hoping to avoid the store this week (we live 30 miles from the grocery).

My friend, Alea, from Premeditated Leftovers (go visit her!!) left a comment with some great ideas which we are going to incorporate into our menu. In addition, I found another bag of dried beans, this one black-eyed peas, and I decided to incorporate those into the menu as well. Here is some of what we came up with:

Snacks:
Pumpkin bread (in the oven as I type)
yogurt with pecans (from my Uncle's trees, so local) and maple syrup
Coconut macadamia nut cookies
homemade crescent rolls
homemade granola bars
some sort of scone (printed about 6 recipes - will try to update when we decide)
pear sauce muffins (local, homecanned pear sauce) - if we have any eggs left

Supper:
tortellini with red sauce and steamed veggies

Crockpot Black-eyed pea soup (made some veggie stock with odds and ends from the crisper)

chili as Alea suggested in her comments with the dried beans and diced tomatoes and some of the ground turkey

"blackened" tilapia over caramelized onions and veggie blend.

If I have any black-eyed peas left over after the soup, we'll have hoppin' john with the rest of the ground turkey, rotel tomatoes and some brown rice.

If we have sausage left over after the soup, we will also make pasta salad with it as suggested by Alea.

We will probably eat the ham for breakfast instead of incorporating it into a supper meal.

I'll try to update the blog as the week goes and let you know how the meals are going.

Menu Plan Monday 1-25-10

Well, it is already Monday afternoon and I still don't have a menu plan for this week. We had guests over for the weekend (yay! We were so homesick and it was great to have a little bit of "home" come to visit.) and as soon as they left, we started unpacking boxes again. The boys and I continued the trend this morning after a really abbreviated school (just the basics today) and got 4 boxes of toys unpacked and sorted (and some even boxed up for donation) and at least 6 boxes of books sorted. So I guess now I need to start thinking menu. Any ideas? We live out in the "country" now and are trying not to have to drive 30 miles to go to the store this week. Here is what I have in my fridge/ freezer:

4 slices of ham (large slices for frying/ breakfast)
3 lbs of ground turkey
1 lb ground lamb
1 lb tilapia
1 lb smoked sausage
1 lb black beans
1 lb kidney beans
1 lb cheese tortellini
1 Box Cous Cous

4 eggs
1 lb sharp cheddar
1 wedge parmagiano regiano
2 oz. feta cheese
1 quart heavy cream
1 pint yogurt

2 pints salsa
2 jars spaghetti sauce
3 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans rotel tomatoes (with chilis)
1 can creamed corn
1 can black olives
1 jar kalamata olives
assorted pastas
Puff Pastry
2 lbs butter
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Soy Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Pizza Sauce

2 lbs asparagus blend stir fry veggies
2 lbs broccoli
lettuce
6 small onions
1 lb california blend veggies

1 lb almonds
1 lb walnuts
2 lbs cashews
2 grocery bags full of in-shell pecans (from my Uncle's property)
typical pantry items like baking items, oatmeal and such

We have a few things left over from the weekend, so tonight we will probably have those. Anyone have any idea what I could do for the rest of the week? Thanks :)

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday 1-18-10

It is so good to be back in the kitchen. During the whole buying/ moving process, we ate from the pantry as much as possible at first (so as not to have to move it) then when things got really busy, we started relying on prepared foods from the grocery and take out. Whew! I'm glad thats over. Its good to be back in the kitchen.

The next month or so are going to be a time of learning for us. Our new home is 30 minutes from the nearest grocery store and almost 45 minutes away from the nearest farmer's market (the only one open this time of year). There will be no running to the store to pick up a missing ingredient or gallon of milk. So experiments are under way and adjustments will be made as needed. For now, the goal is twice monthly grocery shopping. If that goes well, I'd like to try to get it down to one big trip and and one small trip (milk and produce) per month. Anyway, here is this week's menu (I usually put all locally grown/ raised items in bold, but right now, there are not any locally grown items in our menu. Hopefully very soon, that will change):

Breakfast:

*Yogurt with maples syrup and walnuts
*Oatmeal with nuts and fruit (this is the preferred vehicle to get coconut oil into our 9 year old)
*Eggs, ham and grits with fruit
*French Toast (to use up some leftover homemade bread) with maple syrup and fruit
*Homemade crockpot granola with either yogurt or milk and fruit
*Strawberry and Blueberry smoothies

Lunch:
*Leftovers from supper
*Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches (We are using homemade foccacia bread to make sandwiches this week - I'll try to post the recipe - its a favorite here).
*Green salad with what ever is available (my favorite is feta cheese, kalamata olives and walnuts with ceasar dressing)
*Cheese quesadillas (how do you spell that anyway?)

Snacks:
*Grapes
*Smoothies
*Carrots and cucumbers dipped in dressing
*Homemade rolls with honey butter
*Cookies, probably oatmeal chocolate chip (got my kitchenaid mixer back from storage!! Will make a double batch of cookie dough, bake one batch and freeze the rest for later)
*Popsicles (the boys have been asking for popsicles for a while. We make smoothie and freeze it in popsicle molds - we will probably do strawberry this week, but we also really like blueberry)
*Apples
*Hummus and Pita
*Chips and salsa
*Cashew butter on graham crackers

Supper:

We now have freezer space again so for a few of these meals, I am making double batches and freezing half for later.

*Sloppy Joes (freezing half for later) sliders on homemade rolls with a green salad and fruit (probably grapefruit)

*Fish tacos (panfried tilapia) with chipotle mayo and steamed broccoli (I plan to pan fry 2 pounds of tilapia and IF there is any left after supper and lunch, I'll freeze the leftovers and reheat later in the oven - the boys love tilapia and it makes a great quick/ easy lunch- like chicken nuggets, only I know whats in them)

*Green salad with olives, feta cheese and shredded chicken (from the freezer-left over from last week), with homemade rolls (left over from sliders)

*Spaghetti with meat sauce, oven roasted veggies (olive oil, salt, pepper - roast in 400 deg oven for about 45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until nicely browned (we like ours almost charred - so yummy!!) and green salad

*Gyros (ground lamb, spices, garlic, onion - will post recipe once I find it) with lettuce, onion and tzatziki (made with homemade greek style yogurt) on flat bread (will post this recipe once I find it) , hummus and (if our parsley plants survived the freeze and the move) tabbouleh.

*Clean out the fridge, leftover buffet, Yoyo (you're on your own).

Check out Organizing Junkie for hundreds of menu plans.

Menu Plan Monday 11-9-09

I'm back from my spontaneous blogging break with this week's menu. During my break, I started something new for our family by making a monthly, rotating menu. For the most part, my family likes to have the same things for dinner, so I created a monthly menu that will repeat each month for 3 months. At that time, I plan to change it up some, based on my family's preferences at that time. The menu is flexible, allowing for me to include local seasonal fruit and veggies and also allowing for trying some new recipes. So far, dinner is all that I've planned out on a monthly basis. I'm hoping to add breakfast, lunch and snacks to the regular menu plan soon. All local items are bold.

There are some things that are on the menu every week as regular items. Those include 2 roasted chickens (we eat some of it for one meal, use some in soup, use some in salads and use some for chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and for hubby to take to work - we also make soup stock from the bones of the chickens), homemade yogurt, homemade focaccia bread (we use it for sandwiches - yummy!!), and broccoli cheese soup (my oldest loves this soup - its the only one he'll eat).

This week, we are also having:

With the roasted chicken we're having purple hull peas (from Dad's garden) and steamed broccoli

Chicken enchiladas with a green salad and steamed Cauliflower

Meatloaf (turkey and lamb mix) with caramelized onions, baked butternut squash and spinach salad

Pan Fried Tilapia, black beans and brown rice, green salad

Chicken Noodle Soup (with lots of local, seasonal veggies)


This week, breakfasts will include:

Whole Wheat Pancakes with pecans and satsumas (we LOVE satsumas and my Uncle grew these!!)
Eggs and Ham with grapefruit
Pear Sauce Muffins with yogurt
Yogurt with fresh fruit
Fruit Smoothies (including local blueberries we froze during the summer and lemon juice from our lemon tree)

This week, lunches include:

Chicken salad sandwiches (with spinach from the farmer's market)
Greek Feta Salad (will include some lettuce and cherry tomatoes from my garden)
Leftovers from dinner
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

This week, snacks include:

Banana Nut Bread
Satsumas
Apples
Fig Pinwheel Cookies (with pecans)
Yogurt
Raw Milk Cheddar Cheese
Pumpkin Bread
Chips and salsa (we are almost out of our homemade salsa)
Smoothies

This post is my entry at Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday 10-19-09

We had such a great weekend. Some friends from out of town visited and we enjoyed their company and the sun was out so we enjoyed the outdoors for the first time in weeks!

Here is our menu for this week. The items in bold are from a local source, either our garden or a local farmer.

Breakfast with repeats (we usually have a fruit or veggie with breakfast)

Baked Oatmeal (I made some yesterday while our guests were here and we have lots left over - used local pecans)
Eggs and ham
Cheese and spinach omelet
Homemade Greek Style Yogurt with maple syrup

Lunch (with a fruit or veggie)

Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Chicken Noodle Soup
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Cheese Enchiladas
Leftovers

Snacks:

Berry Smoothies (this past week, I added some lemon juice from our lemon tree to the smoothies and it added such a nice brightness to it. I'm going to try to find a local source of lemons for using when our tree runs out of lemons.)

Pumpkin Bread
Banana Nut Bread (local pecans)
Carrots and cucumbers with cheese spread
Hummus and Pita
Apple Sauce
Chips and salsa (we are down to only 3 jars of the salsa we made this summer)

Dinner:

Chicken Noodle Soup, Green Salad (we are starting to use some of our salad greens from our garden, though we still don't have a lot, so it is a supplement to what we buy at the grocery store) with feta and kalamata olives (my current salad addiction).

Mexican Lassagna (recipe from 30 Day Gourmet website for members only, otherwise I'd post a link), sauteed squash, cut up fruit

Roasted Chicken, Smothered Cabbage, carrots

Meatloaf (combination of ground turkey and ground lamb), green salad, purple hull peas (from my Dad's garden).

We've also got some leftovers in the freezer that we need to use up (lassagna and chicken quesadilla filling), so we will have those on the remaining days of this week with an added veggie or two.

Go to Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday and see hundreds of menu plans.

Menu Plan Monday 10-12-09

Pecans are falling off the trees now and my parents have a tree in their back yard, so we have been the recipients of many many pecans. We are shelling them as we need them and using them in lots of yummy things. We are also getting some cold, very humid weather (which seems even colder than it actually is) which is making us want soup even more than usual. Here is this week's menu. All locally grown food is in bold.

Breakfast with repeats (we usually have at least one fruit with breakfast):

Eggs and caramelized onions
Soaked oatmeal (with honey, pecans, pastured butter, cream and coconut oil)
Blueberry Smoothie (with homemade yogurt and local blueberries (in our freezer) and lemon juice from our lemon tree)
Pumpkin pancakes

Lunch (with one fruit and one veggie):

Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Green Salad (lettuce and spinach from our garden) with kalamata olives, feta cheese, and walnuts
Leftovers from supper

Snacks:

Pickles
Chips and Salsa (we made the salsa during the summer from farmer's market produce)
Snickerdoodle Blondies (first time trying them - they look yummy!!)
Soaked Whole Wheat Bread with pastured butter and honey (I cut the recipe into fourths since this is our first try with soaked bread. If we like it, I'll make the regular recipe and freeze the extra - I soaked it yesterday and over night and plan to bake it this morning)
Carrots and cucumbers dipped in herb cheese dip (I am using homemade Greek style yogurt in place of the cream cheese in this recipe)
Apples
Cashew butter on graham crackers
Hummus and pita
Homemade yogurt with maple syrup or honey
Blueberry Smoothies

Supper

French Onion Soup (homemade stock made with locally raised grass feed beef bones) with a green salad

Gyros with tabouli (using homegrown parsley) and hummus

Pan Fried Tilapia, caramelized onions and mixed veggies, sauteed sweet potatoes

Cream of Butternut Squash Soup, soaked bread with honey butter, gingered carrots (from Nourishing Traditions cookbook)

Pizza and green salad (not sure what kind of pizza yet - we are having guests so we will make what they like)

Grass-fed Beef Burgers, broccoli, and if our potatoes from the garden are big enough, we will have new potatoes - if not, probably fries made with store-bought potatoes.

Check out Organizing Junkie for more menu plans.

Menu Plan Monday 9-21-09

Its hard to believe its already Monday again, and time to plan this week's menu. I am looking for a new soup recipe, so if you have a favorite, please share in the comments. Here is what we're going to have this week:

Breakfast (will include fruit and/ or veggie):
Smoothies made with fruit and homemade yogurt
Scrambled eggs and/ or ham
French Toast with butter and maple syrup
Breakfast burrito
yogurt with maple syrup or fruit

Lunch:
Leftovers
Chicken Salad Sandwich
Green Salad


Snacks:
Mixed nuts
Smoothies
Carrots and cucumbers with dip
hummus and chips
yogurt with maple syrup
fruit
popcorn
chips and salsa

Supper:

Tuna Burgers (like a crabcake but made with leftover tuna or canned tuna, and served on a toasted bun with lettuce, etc) with oven roasted potatoes and caramelized onions

Pan Fried Tilapia, sauted squash and black beans with brown rice

Fish Tacos (made with leftover tilapia) with chipotle mayo, lettuce, and avacado and fresh fruit (probably red grapes and strawberries)

Grass-fed beef roast with a green salad

BBQ beef sandwiches with veggie tray and dip

I'd also like to make soup one day but am looking for something different from our usual soups (chicken noodle, broccoli cheese, french onion, shrimp and corn chowder, black-eyed pea soup). I'd love any soup suggestions you might have. What does your family love?

Find more menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday 9-14-09

My mind has not been on cooking for the last few weeks and my heart has not been in it for longer than that. For a while now, we've been concerned with the health of a parent and trying to get appointments and diagnoses, etc. I am amazed at just how emotionally exhausting that can be. If you are a praying person, we could really use your prayers. Thank you.

Okay, the menu for this week is going to be plain and simple:

Breakfast (with repeats) Includes fruit and/ or veggie:
Yogurt
Smoothie
Eggs and ham

Lunch (with repeats) includes fruit and/ or veggie:
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Turkey Sandwiches
Salad with Olives and Feta cheese and shredded chicken
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Snacks:
Fresh Fruit
Veggies in ranch dip
Chips and Salsa
Cheese cubes
Yogurt
Smoothies
Hummus and pita
Cookies (if I can motivate myself to bake)
Pumpkin Pie (N has been asking me to let him bake one for two weeks - Maybe this week)

Dinner:
Broccoli Cheese Soup and green salad

Turkey Meatloaf with sauteed sweet potatoes and green salad

Roasted Chicken with acorn squash and broccoli

Chicken Noodle Soup (crock pot)

Pan fried Tilapia in a wrap with lettuce, cheese and Chipotle mayo with fruit

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday 8-31-09

This week is going to be a Pantry Challenge week - a week where we try to create all of our meals with items we already have on hand. This week, I am hoping to only need to buy milk and maybe onions (but only if we run out). Here is our menu and as always, the locally grown items will be in bold.

Breakfasts (with repeats):
Banana nut pancakes with butter and honey or maple syrup
Eggs and Bacon
Oatmeal with flax, walnuts, pecans, coconut oil, butter, and blueberries
Kefir Smoothies

Lunch (with a fruit and a veggie):
Peanut Butter and Honey or Jam
Turkey Sandwiches
Breakfast Burritos
Leftovers

Snacks:
Homemade bread with honey butter
Pears
Kefir Smoothies
Yogurt with fruit preserves or maple syrup (my favorite!!)
Banana nut bread
Watermelon (such a yummy yellow flesh watermelon grown by a farmer we know)
Fig-Pecan Pinwheels
Carrots, Cucumbers and Cherry Tomatoes with ranch dip
Herb Cream Cheese and Crackers
Chips and Salsa
Hummus and chips

Supper:
Grass-fed beef burgers with caramelized onions, cheese and homemade buns with sweet potato fries and watermelon.

Chicken Noodle Soup (summer squash, zucchini, broccoli, navy beans, spinach, corn, small pasta shapes) and homemade bread with honey butter.

Tuna Burgers on homemade buns with a side salad (if the lettuce is still fresh) or carrots and cucumbers (if the lettuce is not fresh anymore)

Shrimp and Potato soup and pan roasted asparagus blend veggies.

Honey Mustard Chicken with purple hull peas and broccoli

Panfried Tilapia with black beans and brown rice (made with homemade beef broth) and any veggies we still have on hand

Butternut Squash Soup and what ever else we still have in the fridge

What are you having this week? Share your menu at I'm An Organizing Junkie (will link as soon as her post is up).