Two weeks into my menu planning adventure, and we’re getting better at sticking to the plan. We finally made pizza with whole wheat pizza crust, and it was delicious! The best pizza crust I’ve ever made, for sure!
Pizza is also a great way to use up leftover meat and veggies. We topped ours with mozzarella cheese, leftover chicken, green onions, olives, and fresh tomatoes. I think homemade pizza will be our new weekly tradition.
This week I’m trying to keep the oven off, as it will be hot. We also have a ton of fresh tomatoes to eat, so I’m trying to incorporate those into our menu, too.
Finally, as part of my daughter’s homeschool study on the Pacific Islands, she’s throwing a luau on Friday, which explains the massive Hawaiian themed menu that day. She picked the menu herself and will help make all the food.
Menu for August 17-23
Monday: Burritos, fresh tomatoes, grapes
Tuesday: Mediterranean Pasta, Mediterranean Summer Tomatoes
Wednesday: Cuban Grilled Chicken Salad, fresh fruit, rolls
Thursday: Burgundy Pork Tenderloin, baked yams, salad
Friday: Huli Huli Chicken, Sesame Cabbage Salad, Mango Bread, Hawaiian Carrot Cake, Rainbow Punch
Saturday: Pizza with whole wheat crust, fresh fruit
Sunday: Leftovers, or breakfast for dinner
What’s on your menu this week?
For more Menu Plan Monday, be sure to visit I’m an Organizing Junkie!
Photo by VirtualErn.
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Every meal has meat in it. Every meal. Meat is expensive on both individual and environmental levels. There are many far healthier, kinder ways to get protein and iron.
Taking advantage of the season here….
Minus tides for clamming, and low clear rivers for fishing,
plus the gardens doing well…
So while not specific to the day….
Clam Fritters from fresh dug cockles.
Fresh salmon.
Clams au grautin – ground clams with potatoes and grated Tillamook cheese in a sauce.
Freshly smoked bony salmon – we smoke the boney parts leftover from the commercial filleting and get meals and meals from it :)
Fried clam strips.
If lucky, a fresh trout :)
And flaked smoked salmon on a chef salad.
Side dishes and veggies will be around what we are pulling out of the garden now.
Lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, peas, kohlrobi, zukes and cukes, beets, swiss chard, onions, cabbages, kales,carrots, and potatoes.
Something we really like this time of year is fried cabbage and beet tops, sauted with onions and bacon :) YUM!
As you can see, this is VERY easy on the grocery budget and very good for us! By eating with the seasons, off the bounty of the land,we keep the grocery budget WAY down.
And in response to the above poster, some of us are omnivores,with no apologies given. Self harvested local meat/seafood is free for the taking (except for the harvest license/tags) which helps us lower income folks out, and I believe in making good use of what God has provided for my use, as long as I am respectful and thankful for what He is providing for me. Clams are a staple now in my diet all year long, and in the fall/winter, hopefully we will add fresh deer and elk to supplement them.
Actually, we’re having bean burritos tonight, our pizza will likely be vegetarian this week, since I’m not cooking a chicken, and Sunday’s meal will depend on whether or not we have meat left over. If we have breakfast for dinner, it won’t contain meat.
I happen to have cooked chicken in the freezer for Tuesday & Wednesday’s meals, and I have a pork tenderloin in the freezer, too. Just trying to use up my freezer stock.
oh – and I forgot the crab… Fresh out of the sea yesterday and on the dinner plate last night :) Picked crab salad for lunch today!
I’m coming to your house, Marci! I love fresh crab!
Another nice menu Lynnae.
I am with you about not turning the oven on. We have been doing cold meals like sandwiches and salads this past week. Any cooking has been out on the grill with a cold beverage in hand . . .
It is wonderful that you are making progress! Is it getting easier to plan menus? It should be; it takes consistent practice. By all means, keep the oven off. Does your family like grilled cheese sandwiches? sometimes I make grilled cheese sandwiches in our electric skillet, but they can also be made in a frying pan on the stovetop. Add some tomato soup with fresh, sliced cucumbers as a side dish, and it’s a very quick and easy meal that is also inexpensive.
Just thought I’d mention that you can make your own frozen pizzas to save time next week! I make up and roll out my crust as I normally would, but I don’t add any toppings. Then I bake it at about 425 for five minutes (while I’m topping the pizza that we’re going to eat that night). Once the “uptopped” pizza cools, I put the toppings on it and freeze it on a cookie sheet. Once it’s frozen, I get my cookie sheet back because it’ll be nice and stiff. At that point you can wrap it in aluminum foil. I’m not a huge fan of aluminum foil though. So, I’m looking for another method that can be reused. I’m wondering if there are any food-grade plastic bags or something like that.
But freezing our own homemade pizzas comes in handy. For those nights when you don’t feel like cooking. Or when there’s “nothing” in the house. Or when you have unexpected company.
Enjoy!
Marci, it’s not FREE if it costs a life. ANY life.
Lynnae – then you would have LUVED dinner tonight – More fresh crab :) With fresh picked salad greens sauted in bacon grease and onions. And killed some beets and added the tops to the saute.
And this afternoon the grandkids and I killed off the last of the potato plants and dug up all the potatoes – Out of a little volunteer patch, we got over 20 lbs of potatoes – the tiny ones we boiled up for parsley-buttered potatoes – Yummy with the crab :)
Tomorrow morning we are going to show my brother from FLA how to get clams here (as opposed to how we got them back in FLA) – going after cockles! So that’s dinner tomorrow night! I have permission to be late for work as the clam tides this week are early morning! Nice boss! Green beans are ready to be picked – so will have clams and green beans mostly.
And Wednesday the guys are all going fishing – sooooo Hopefully, fresh fish! The salmon runs are just starting here. We canned up 23 pints of smoked salmon this morning, as well as eating a lot fresh. Looking for some tuna to can up also!
Re: Pizza…. my daughter makes those fake mini pizzas for the kids when she’s in a hurry – sour dough muffins cut in half – sauce applied, then toppings. The grandkids love having their own little mini pizzas that they can top themselves before the pizzas go into the oven.