Menu Plan

I know, I know, it's been a while.  Holidays kinda had me all wrapped up, we hosted both Thanksgiving dinner AND Christmas dinner and we got WAY off course with the menu planning and grocery shopping.  Hoping to put all that back on course now that it's a new year!!  So here we go...

M ~ Salad with Chicken
T ~ Sheppard's Pie
W ~ Left overs or sandwiches
Th ~ Crockpot Apricot Chicken with Broccoli and Rice
F ~ Ravioli
S ~ Burgers with Turnip Coleslaw
S ~ Dinner with Gramma Lynn

M ~ Slow Cooker Jambalaya 
T ~ Apple Pie Chicken and Stuffing
W ~ Left overs or sandwiches
Th ~ Inside out Chicken Pot Pie
F ~ Pizza
S ~ Crockpot Chicken Sloppy Jose's
S ~ Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

M ~ Crockpot Ranch Chicken
T ~ Chicken Curry with Vegtables
W ~  Left overs or sandwiches
Th ~ Spaghetti and Meat Balls
F ~ Grilled Cheese (on Panera Tomato Basil...)
S ~ Pizza
S ~ Meat Pie

Now to make up a list and hunt for some coupons :)

A Month (Plus) of Menu Planning...

We really tightened our budget so I am going to try to do a majority of our shopping twice a month now, with a budget of $650/month for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and toiletries for 5 people, lets see how this goes!

*Disclaimer...wherever I say sandwiches, I really mean something quick since we wont be all together as a family...be it PB&J, Grilled Cheese, french toast, etc...

22 Something quick... (shopping day)

23 Spinach Pita Pizza

24 Apple Pie Chicken

25 Crockpot Chicken Enchilada

26 Farm Share Stir Fry

27 Sandwiches

28 Sandwiches

29 Tater throw together

30 Pizza Puffs

October

1 Sloppy Joe Chicken

2 Inside out Chicken Pie

3 Farm Share Stir Fry

4 Sandwiches

5 Sandwiches

6 Corned Beef Quesidillas (shopping day)

7 Chicken nuggets and tots

8 Pizza Hut for my Bday :)

9 Out

10 Steak

11 Sandwiches

12 Sandwiches

13 Spaghetti and Meat Balls

14 Spinach Pita Pizza

15 Inside out Chicken Pot Pie

16 Sheppard Pie

17 Farm Share Stir Fry

18 Sandwiches

19 Sandwiches

20 Italian Chicken (Shopping day)

21 Hot dogs

22 English Muffin Pizza

23 Soup and Grilled cheese

24 Apricot Chicken

25 Sandwiches

26 Sandwiches

27 Tacos

28 Meat Ball Subs

29 Burgers

30 Out

31 Stirfry

Things to try DIYing this month to save on

Cream Of Whatever Soup

Cheese itz

Granola bars

Menu Planning

So I have been on a recipe finding binge on pintrest and it reminded me I need to do my menu plan! Here it is...

Wednesday ~ Tomato Soup

Thursday ~ Sheppard's Pie

Friday ~ Egg and Cheese Muffins (Breakfast for dinner we need a break from the pita pizzas! Going to freeze them and try them out for breakfast on Sunday so we can see how well they really taste after being frozen)

Saturday ~ Cheddar Crusted Chicken

Sunday ~ Tacos

Monday ~ Inside out Chicken Pie

Tuesday ~ Apple pie chicken

The farm we get our farm share from took a pretty hard hit from Irene so this week we see the last of the tomatoes and some of the less hearty greens. Good news is though the broccoli and cabbages and other sturdy greens didn't get hit that hard so we will be seeing more of them in our box.

I have gotten in the habit lately of just throwing out what I have no idea how to use, hoping to really break myself of that this week.

Menu Plan

Wednesday ~ Coldcuts

Thursday ~ Creamy Bail Pasta

Friday ~ Spinach Pita Pizza

Saturday ~ Hamburgers and coleslaw

Sunday ~ Inside out chicken pot pie

Monday ~ Italian chicken

Tuesday ~ Spaghetti and meatballs

Ktloo's Carrot Cake

So sorry for the lack of posts lately...things have been just crazy lately...BUT I do have a recipe to share!

Matt picked up some carrots at a local farm stand so I decided to make up some carrot cake, however I couldn't find one recipe that I liked everything about so I just winged it and came up with this...

Ktloo's Carrot Cake

3(ish) cups shredded carrots

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp Cinnamon

4 Eggs

1 1/2 cups applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 handfulls :) Crasins

Preheat oven to 350, mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased (Pam'd?) 9x13 pan and bake for about 40-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Neufchatel Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz package Neufchatel Cheese (a/k/a philly cream cheese lol)

1 softened stick butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

enough powdered sugar to get the right consistency you are looking for

cream the cheese and butter together, add the vanilla extract and about a cup of powdered sugar, keep adding sugar and mixing until you reach a consistency you like

I was kinda really proud that I whipped this up and it actually came out good/edible/not burned/tasting like carrot cake :) it was rich and super moist and super tasty and everyone ate it! I will definitely make this again!

Baby Turnip Coleslaw

This recipe?? So easy and so yummy... I got the original recipe from here and didn't alter it at all...it was so easy it didn't need any altering. It made an excellent crunchy addition to our burgers and even Cassie ate some :)

Bottom line?? We will definately be making this again, I think that I may even plant some turnips once I *finally* start my garden.

CSA Week 3 and Menu Plan

This week's Farm Share contains...Mesclun Mix, Red Lettuce, Green Lettuce, Baby Pak Choi, Bright Light Swiss Chard, Radishes, Dill and Steaks

Wednesday ~ Sandwiches or Pasta of some kind (Recently discovered that there is a Farmer's Market at the church at the end of our road on Wednesday afternoons so I'm going to have to go check it out...which may have an effect on the meals for the rest of the week :) we shall see what happens)

Thursday ~ Steak and Baked Potatoes

Friday ~ Pita Pizzas

Saturday ~ Cilantro Chicken

Sunday~ Chicken Veggie Gravy over puff toast

No idea what we are going to do with the Baby Pak Choi or the Radishes yet, but apparently the Swiss Chard makes excellent wraps so we will have that for lunch!

We were told by the woman at the farm that there will be basil soon, and broccoli and cauliflower too, finally something I recognize AND know how it should taste lol...

***ETA ~ The more I think about it, the more I think I found a use for the Radishes...will be making this for dessert on Friday ***