Failure

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

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

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....

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...

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

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

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

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.