Our Family Menu

Failure

2011-01-31T10:19:00.001-07:00

Wow! I don't think in the history of making my menus I have ever NOT made one single thing on my menu that week. That is just impressive. So, really, I could just use last weeks menu as this weeks and be good. But I did make a menu for this week. I had to change things around a bit. I have some groceries I need to use up. Soooo.....here it is!

Sunday- Baked Ziti and garlic herb rolls

Monday- Spicy chicken fingers with Crash Hot Potatoes

Tuesday- Breakfast Burritos

Wednesday- Rice and Meatsauce

Thursday- Pork Chops and baked potatoes with asparagus

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- Canadian Bacon Pizza Bites

Getting Better

2011-01-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

Well, this week we did alright on the menu. We mostly ate what was on the menu, but not really on the days I thought we would. But, I like to be flexible like that. We'll have a couple holdovers from last week this week. I haven't been to the store at all in a whole week. That means I didn't spend anymore on groceries. That means this menu thing is saving me some money. I think I'll keep at it.

Here it goes for next week.

Jan 23-29

Sunday- Chicken enchiladas (it just didn't happen this week)

Monday- Homemade (spicy?) Chicken strips and fries

Tuesday- Pizza and breadsticks (maybe calzones, maybe pizza bites...but it will be pizza ish)

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday- Pork chops and scalloped potatoes

Friday- Spaghetti and rolls

Saturday- Nachos

Wow...it looks pretty boring this week. Good thing we aren't having any visitors.

Bountiful Baskets

2011-01-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

We tried out a new thing this week called Bountiful Baskets. It's a food co-op available in several of the Western States. Colorado doesn't have as good of a selection and only a few pick up locations, but it seems like a good deal.

For $15 we got:

2 lb carrots
1 bunch of lg asparagus
1 acorn squash
3 zucchini
4 cucumbers
4 lg yellow onions
4 grapefruit
6 Japanese pears
6 Fuji apples
12 oranges

Dave and Christian dug into the box as soon as we got home. I guess they were happy to have some fresh fruits and veggies to eat. So far it seems to be of good quality, so I guess we'll try it again and see how we like it. I'm excited to see what the box looks like in Spring and Summer. I am jealous of some of the other states that have the option to buy organic as well as other extra options. Oh well...maybe CO will be lucky to have that some day, too.

Well....

2011-01-15T12:30:00.001-07:00

Reality is....I stink at sticking to menus. I have the best of intentions, but I just don't do well. Oh well. I'm still going to make them, because even 50% is better than nothing. Plus it really, really helps cut down on wasting food and our food budget.

Here is our menu for Jan 16-22

Sunday- Chili and cornbread

Monday- Hamburgers and homemade grilled potato chips
(grilled potatoes are new...we'll see if it tastes as good as it sounds in my head.)

Tuesday- Breakfast burritos

Wednesday- Chicken enchiladas

Thursday- 4 cheese stuffed shells, meatballs

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- Rice and Meatsauce

Starting Fresh! Maybe...

2011-01-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

I can't guarantee this blog will get updated as often. I'm lazy about cooking these days. I'll probably post sporadically. But it was sorta fun looking back at what I ate a year ago.

Anyway, I was thinking about posting a menu for this week..a little late in the week, but it's better than nothing.

Jan 6-12

Sunday- Spaghetti and kielbasa

Monday- Pizza Bites

Tuesday- Took a friend out to dinner

Wednesday- Navajo tacos

Thursday- Tortellini Sausage Soup

Friday- Leftovers

Saturday- Rice and meatsauce

I even made devils food cupcakes this week, but I tried a new frosting recipe and it was a big disaster, so I bought frosting to use. It still tastes yummy.

Reality

2010-02-14T08:31:00.004-07:00

Feb 7-13

Well, getting sick always changes things up a bit. I am having a hard time getting back up and running full speed. Even half speed would feel like an accomplishment. So, here is what really happened last week. It was quite pitiful, really.

Sunday- Dave and Christian went to the In-Laws for the Superbowl gathering while I laid on the couch in a half daze wondering if I could take more medicine yet. I happily ate some leftovers Dave brought home for me.

Monday- I attempted to make the Pizza Hut pizza, but let's just say it was a flop. So, Dave stopped at Chipotle on his way home. It was YUMMY!

Tuesday- I was angry that the pizza didn't work out. I stewed about it all night and lost sleep over it. So, I made it for lunch. It was DELICIOUS! I made a 9x13 pizza and a 9 in round of cheesy breadsticks. We had friends over for lunch and they liked it too. And I ate leftovers for lunch the next day, yumm. It wasn't a perfect copy of Pizza Hut pizza, but I liked it better. We'll definitely have this in our regular rotation!

For dinner we had breakfast burritos. On Monday night we got burrito bowls with tortillas on the side and saved the tortillas for our breakfast burritos. Yummy! I wish I could figure out how to make just enough filling. We always have too much and none of us like it as leftovers. So, we just toss it. Sad!

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday- ?? I'm not sure if any of us ate...we've all not been feeling well.

Friday- Hamburgers

Saturday- My best friend invited us over for dinner, but I stayed home and sent the boys. I just don't see how I'm still SO sick and Dave and Christian are just fine. I'm sure being pregnant might have something to do with it. Dave came home with a bunch of soup and said it was super delicious. I'm sure he'll want me to make it soon. Thanks, Miranda, for helping me out so I didn't have to cook!!

Menu Feb 7-13

2010-02-08T08:42:00.002-07:00

These weeks are flying by!

Sunday- Superbowl party at the In-Laws

Monday- Homemade Pizza Hut

Tuesday- Breakfast Burritos

Wednesday- Chicken Tortilla Soup

Thursday- Mongolian Beef (holdover from last week)

Friday- Free Day

Saturday- Enchiladas

Reality

2010-02-07T08:17:00.016-07:00

Jan 31-Feb 6

Sunday- Rice and Meatsauce
I finally got smart and halved the recipe. I mean, the recipe (if you can call it that) I have been using could easily feed a family of 7. So why would I make that much for a family of 3??

Monday- Mashed potatoes with kielbasa
Once again, I was smart to halve the recipe. Wow!! Who knew I could be so smart?

Tuesday- Puff Up Pancakes with Bacon
Dave and Christian LOVED this meal!! I thought it was good, but next time I'll add more sugar to the strawberries. The pancake itself has zero flavor. It really gets the taste from what you put on it. Oh...and 1/2 cup butter was WAY too much in my book. Dave thought it was perfect, but next time I'm only gonna use 1/3 cup. Ssh! Don't tell him.

Wednesday- Tacos
I used Old El Paso taco seasoning...and it had very little flavor. I can't for the life of me remember what brand we used to use, but Old El Paso isn't it! Oh, and I made my very own flour tortillas for this. They were okay, but a little too floury. It's going to take some practice.

Thursday- Goodtimes...and it wasn't that Good, Sorry! I think it's safe to say that it's WAY too expensive for fast food and my baby doesn't like it. Ewww!

Friday- Spaghetti (used the leftover Kielbasa sausage as the meat in the sauce.)

Saturday- Oven Baked BBQ Chicken
I don't really know how to cook. So, this was an experiment. But it was delicious. I seasoned chicken legs with garlic salt, pepper and poultry seasoning (I shook it in a gallon sized bag like shake and bake). Then I baked it covered at 350 for an hour, uncovered, drained the liquid, covered the chicken with bbq sauce and baked uncovered at 350 for another 30 min. It was moist, and yummy and very easy. Everyone ate it up with no leftovers. I guess that's a good sign.

I'd say we did pretty good this week. We switched things around towards the end of the week since I have yet ANOTHER cold! (That' 3 colds in 4 months!) Anyway, hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. I really enjoyed sticking to the plan this week. It doesn't take much to make me happy, I suppose.

Menu Jan 31-Feb 6

2010-02-01T21:04:00.001-07:00

Well, it's already another week. Time sure is flying by! So here we go for this week.

Sunday- Rice and Meatsauce

Monday- Mashed potatoes with kielbasa

Tuesday- Puff Up Pancakes with Bacon

Wednesday- Tacos

Thursday- BBQ chicken legs

Friday- Free day

Saturday- Mongolian Beef

I have to say, Dave is happy we're starting to venture out of our rut more often. Eventually I'd like to get a list of at least 31 meals that we love so that we never have to eat the same meal more than once a month. I know that is probably slightly unrealistic, but at least we can get close.

Reality

2010-01-30T23:09:00.002-07:00

Jan 24-30

Sunday- Complete BBQ chicken in the crock pot
   This was a big fat Sunday night disaster!! I couldn't remember what time I had put dinner in and I burned the food. YUCK! However, I truly believe it would have been delicious if I would have pulled it out sooner. We will try this again and I'll do better to not burn the food. This is the first time I've ever burned a crock pot meal. Oops!!

Monday- Chick-Fil-A

Tuesday- Chicken Fiesta with Black Beans
   This meal turned out GREAT! Everyone ate it up, but we all felt it needed more spice.

Wednesday- Baked Ziti
    This is my new favorite dish! Yum, Yum, Yum!!! And it's SO easy! The only thing that would have been better was to have garlic breadsticks. I didn't have time to make any bread. I made this meal in the morning and split the recipe into 2 smaller casserole dishes. I put one in the freezer and one in the fridge. When we got home from our evening I put the ziti in the oven and 40 minutes later dinner was served. I can't wait to see how the frozen ziti turns out. If it works, I'll have to make a couple batches for the freezer for after the baby comes.

Thursday- No real dinner...Christian had ravioli, and Dave and I just munched on whatever sounded good.

Friday- Roast
   It was very, very delicious...as usual.

Saturday- Stromboli

All in all, I think I did much better this week. I stuck to the menu, just switched a few days around. Hopefully we will have more weeks like this. It was super easy when it came to meal time. Plus, we love having leftovers for lunch. There's only so many turkey sandwiches you can eat in one week.

Menu Jan 24-30

2010-01-25T14:51:00.001-07:00

Sunday- Complete BBQ Chicken in the crock pot

Monday- Baked Ziti with Garlic Herb Rolls (holdover from last week)

Tuesday- Chicken Fiesta w/Black Beans

Wednesday- Eat Out (Dave works late and I'm taking some friends to the airport right at dinner time.)

Thursday- Stromboli

Friday- Roast

Saturday- Chili Mac or Leftovers or whatever the heck sounds good

Reality

2010-01-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

Well, I can't decide which option I should try next. Since I can't seem to eat what I plan on the day I plan to eat it, I'm thinking of maybe just having 7 meals listed and then I just cross them off as we eat them. Or I could just post a Reality post on Sunday of what we really ate through the week. I might try both and see what we like.

So, here's our Reality post for last week. I thought we mostly did pretty well.
Jan 17-23

Sunday- Stuffed shells and garlic bread
Since this recipe is ginormous, we froze half the shells when we originally made it last month. We weren't crazy about how it tasted the first time we tried it, but this time we ate the shells from the freezer. It was SUPER easy and for whatever reason it was SO good! I'm not sure what I did differently, but yum yum yum! Also, for our family I think it would be better to split the batch into 3. They don't make good leftovers.

Monday- Turkey sandwiches

Tuesday- Sloppy Joes

Wednesday- Beef Enchiladas

Thursday- Pork Chops with Potatoes Au Gratin
This is a family favorite. Nothing special, but very tasty! I sear seasoned pork chops in a frying pan. Then I prepare a box of potatoes au gratin (someday I'll attempt making it from scratch) per the instructions on the box and put the pork chops right on top of the potatoes. Put it in the oven at 350 F for about 40 min. serve with a green veggie and enjoy.

Friday- Leftovers
I believe this needs to be a weekly thing. If not leftovers...pizza.

Saturday- Spaghetti (because I forgot to buy ricotta cheese...oops!)

Menu Jan 17-23

2010-01-18T07:30:00.002-07:00

Well, last week's menu was pretty much a flop. I was having some pretty bad heartburn, but it seems to not be as big of an issue for the last few days. So, here's our best efforts for this week.

Sunday- Stuffed Shells w/garlic bread
Monday-Sloppy Joes
Tuesday- Pork Chops w/potatoes au gratin
Wednesday- Enchiladas
Thursday- Rotisserie Chicken
Friday- Rice and Meatsauce
Saturday- Baked Ziti w/garlic herb rolls

It's nothing fancy or particularly nutritious around here lately, but I figure it's better than eating out all of the time. We've saved a bunch of money on groceries and such since I've started to plan menus (and usually stick to them). I sit down with the grocery store ads and make a menu for 2 weeks. Then I make my list and go to the store (and almost always stick to it). Now, I'm starting to use coupons more and learning all the fun things about matching coupons with sales and doubling coupons and so on and so forth. When I get more experienced with that I'll let you know how it's working.

At first I thought this process was pretty time consuming, but then I realized how much time I was spending everyday thinking about what's for dinner, and running to the store to get those last couple ingredients (with some extras). And the more I do it the easier and faster it is to do. So, I hope I can stick with this goal of mine not just for this year, but for years to come.

Well...There's Been A Change Of Plans

2010-01-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

Alright, apparently we're going to have to change our menu some this week. I've had awful heartburn and have very little desire to eat anything other than salad. So, the great thing about menus is that they aren't set in stone. PHEW! Hopefully next week will go better.

Menu Jan 10-16

2010-01-11T18:04:00.002-07:00

I make my menus for Sunday-Saturday.
So, here we go for this week.

Sunday- Breakfast Burritos

Monday- Pizza

Tuesday-Rotisserie Chicken

Wednesday- BLTs

Thursday- Baked chicken and Parmesan roasted potatoes

Friday- Stuffed Shells w/ garlic bread

Saturday-Tacos

Fresh Start

2010-01-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Since it's a new year, I have decided to get a fresh start with this blog. All of the posts that used to be here can still be found at this blog. I will not be adding any new posts there, but I didn't want to lose the last few years of blogging. So, I will primarily use this blog for family updates and anything else I decide to write about.

Since I have started to become somewhat obsessed with menu planning and grocery shopping, I have decided to post our weekly menus here and link to recipes. I don't intend for this to turn into anything big other than to keep me motivated to stick to our plan. While I've been very good at making and mostly sticking to our menus each week, I don't save the weeks prior. I hope this blog will help me remember what we have eaten in the past and if we liked it. And, maybe someday down the road if I decide to get even more fancy...I might even take a picture of what the food looks like.

I am nowhere near a good cook. I am a very picky eater. And I pretty much try to make things that are fast and easy. I wouldn't come here looking for any great culinary inspiration. I'm just a mom trying to save a few bucks (who isn't these days?) while learning to like to cook. Wish me luck!