Category Archives: Menu Planning

Five things Friday

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  1. I survived my first full week back at work full-time (in office) and working my second job (GUAM). Guam is slowly starting to pick up and I am beginning to realize that it may be Christmas before I return to a full schedule there. I am exhausted as expected but no worse for the wear. All three kids begin some form of school next week as well. This Sunday will look alot different as we get things prepared for the week. I am so glad to have a sense of normal returning if only for 1-2 days a week.
  2. The garden is continuing to surprise me with a few tomatoes, cucumbers, and even green peppers. I honestly expected it to stop all together so this is a nice surprise and treat.
  3. In less than two weeks we will be at DISNEY!!!!! After many emails and phone calls, we were given back all the money that was stolen from our gift cards. I am super excited!!! But fully anticipate that the next two weeks will be the slowest two weeks of my life.
  4. I had anticipated spending most of tomorrow and Sunday at the pool however the weather appears to be rain rain and more rain so it may be a quiet weekend at home instead.
  5. We enjoyed a meal at home every night this week and I am enjoying the fruits of my labor from the past couple of months!

Monday Menu Plan

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I started back to work today. That means the menu plans are simple and easy for most nights. We have 18 days until we travel to Disney with a goal of no eating out as a family from today until we leave. I will be eating out at lunch the next couple of weeks just because of starting back to work.

Breakfast– Saturday-Sausage and eggs Sunday- Waffles Monday- BLT sandwiches . Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets or tomato sandwich

Lunch-  Saturday- KFC ($30 fill up) Sunday-Gregg’s (local restaurant) Choices include sloppy joes, tacos, left-over chicken, sandwiches, egg rolls or corn dogs.

Dinner-  Saturday-left-over KFC Sunday- Left-overs Monday- Spaghetti and meatballs with homemade pasta sauce Tuesday- steak fajitas Wednesday- Grilled Chicken Thursday- Pasta salad or left-overs Friday- Ranch pork chops.

Monday Menu Plan

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I start back to work next Monday… one week from today…. I am not excited. This week our church is holding Vacation Bible school in the evenings. Everyone is involved in some fashion. I also planned on some extra down time in order to feel like I actually had a vacation. The theme of the week is quick and cool.

Breakfast– Saturday-Muffins from Costco Sunday- Bacon,biscuits and eggs Monday- , Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets or tomato sandwich

Lunch-  Saturday- Sliders of your choice Sunday- Salad or wraps Monday- egg rolls from school Tuesday- corn dogs Wednesday- depends on where the kids chose . Thursday- wraps or sandwich , Friday- good question

Dinner-  Saturday-left-overs Sunday- Pasta Salad Monday-Quesadillas Tuesday- Spaghetti and meatballs with homemade pasta sauce Wednesday- ??? not sure yet Thursday- chicken nuggets Friday- hamburgers and French Fries.

Monday Menu Plan

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The theme of the week is Tomato! We returned from the beach to find 12lbs of tomato with enough to last several more weeks. I am also doing easy as I will be driving alot and cool but tomato still rules!

Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuit King (since we returned early from the beach) Sunday- Bacon and eggs Monday- , Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets or tomato sandwich

Lunch-  Saturday- nachos Sunday- hot dog lunch with friends . Monday- tomato pie Tuesday- McDonalds (while running errands) Wednesday- Chinese from Panda Panda . Thursday- School lunch food , Friday- sliders- tomato encouraged

Dinner-  Saturday-Pasta Salad Sunday-Dominos Pizza Monday Stuffed green peppers (4 bags frozen for future use) Tuesday- Spaghetti and meatballs with homemade pasta sauce Wednesday- Pasta Salad with added pepperoni and tomato Thursday- Quesadillas Friday- Mexican.

Monday Menu Planning

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I am excited because, we were able to clean out and organize the freezers in the house over the weekend. I ended up only throwing away one single pork chop but the kids found lots of breakfast items to enjoy. During the month of July my overall goal is to reduce grocery spending. We also are planning a beach trip so we will plan at least 50% of the meal that we eat to take with us to save money. I also want to fill in my pantry whenever possible. I realized that I have several recipes that call for Cheddar Cheese soup. I stopped and purchased a can today on sale for $1.50. By using Amazon Subscribe and Save, I can purchase for $1.25 a can. I have a shipment set up for the end of the month. I am hoping to reduce trips to the store and expense by doing things like this. Summer foods are definitely dominating this weeks menu.

Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuit King Sunday-Breakfast bowls.(Remained was made into Breakfast burritos) Monday- , Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, breakfast pizza or omelets

Lunch-  Saturday-Chicken sandwich or pizza bits Sunday- Wings from East Coast wings. Monday- pasta salad Tuesday- Egg rolls from school Wednesday-(ham and cheese sliders school). Thursday- Salad, Friday- corn dogs from school.

Dinner-  Saturday-pasta salad Sunday-left-overs Monday Steak fajitas Tuesday- Cold Plate Wednesday- Instant Pot cheeseburger Macaroni Thursday- Sandwiches or left-overs Friday- sloppy joes.

Monday Menu Planning

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Last week did not go at all as I had planned on Monday. The weather turned really cool and we decide to change things up. The good news is that we did not eat out extra(1 time on Saturday) and we had everything we needed here. School deliveries were a pleasant surprise with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. My pantry and freezer are officially stocked up but I will continue to replace things we eat all of and add things as I find them on sale.

Breakfast– Saturday-Sausage crescent rolls Sunday-bagels Monday- , Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, breakfast pizza or omelets

Lunch-  Saturday-Bad Daddy Burger Sunday- Left-overs. Monday- corn dogs (school) Tuesday- sautéed zucchini and squash with other dipping veggies Wednesday-(ham and cheese sliders school). Thursday- Salad, Friday- left-overs

Dinner-  Saturday-veggies and fruit Sunday-quesadillas using left-overs Monday- Chicken Sandwich with left over French fries Tuesday- Olive Garden Chicken pasta Wednesday- Egg Roll in a bowl Thursday- Cheesy corn dog muffins Friday- Spaghetti and meatballs.

Monday Menu Planning

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I am on summer break!! I am so excited to finally have some guilt free down time and hope to enjoy every second of it! However today the weather is not cooperating so I may even have to change up the menu plan to add a soup! The goal this week is to use up left-overs. The kids will begin receiving 6 breakfasts and 6 lunches from the school starting this week so we need to make some space!

Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuit King! This is become a favorite and I am not upset with that idea! Sunday-Toast, bacon and eggs Monday- , Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits, breakfast burritos or omelets have been added for the next couple of weeks.

Lunch-  Saturday-left-overs Sunday- Seafood from a local restaurant. I ate out today (Monday) and Matt will eat out (Friday). So depending on what the kids get from the school we may just eat left-overs the rest of the week. I am also planning to add it what ever we can harvest from the garden!

Dinner-  Saturday-BBQ salad using left-overs Sunday- left-overs Monday- Pork Fried rice (all left-overs) Tuesday- Quesadillas using left-over BBQ chicken or pork. Wednesday- Italian Spaghetti Salad (depending on weather) or left-overs or soup Thursday- Cheeseburger pizza Friday- Olive Garden Chicken and pasta!

Recipe Challenge 36 and 37

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I have decided that since I am doing so well on this challenge that it would probably be best aka make my life easier if I plan to go ahead and finish the challenge during my summer break. This way, when we start back to school and our crazy busy life, I can enjoy some new favorites! The second reason is that it allows me to keep up with my goal for blogging as well! I also want to get my recipe book and folders cleaned and organized this summer as well.

I decided to try this first recipe AppleSauce BBQ Chicken for a couple of reasons. I wanted a good easy meal with chicken and second I still have some baby food from Braxton that I need to use, applesauce is one of these. The recipe is from one of my new favorites websites One Hundred Dollars a Month. I have only been reading for about a year but it is a wealth of information. This chicken turned out perfectly. I had 5 random piece of chicken breast left in a bag so I decided to go ahead put it all in to make room in the freezer. I was worried about enough sauce but I had plenty! The recipe is a freezer meal but I just added it all to the crockpot, chicken first, onion and then the sauce. I decided to go ahead and shred the chicken prior to serving. It was a huge hit. Definitely a repeat but will likely cut the recipe in half next time because it made two additional meals. The first is below and the second is chicken sandwiches on Sunday.

After dinner I place 3 cups in a bowl for the second recipe BBQ chicken salad. I got the idea for this from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures but really made it my own. I simply add a bag of Cole slaw mix and 2 tablespoons of lemon to the chicken. Mix it all up and put in the refrigerator. We took this to the pool and enjoyed for dinner on Saturday. Another hit! The original recipe said you could use canned chicken and I may do that next time.

Two repeats in a row! Fifteen more recipes to try sounds very doable at this point! This is the reason I want to finish the challenge finding lots of good and simple meals for the winter! The official count is
Repeating 18
Maybe 8
No 11

5 Things Friday

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  1. Next week should be the most normal week since March. Monday is my last day of work for the school year!!!!!! The kids have swim practice Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Piano is scheduled for Wednesday. Zach has baseball games on Tuesday and Friday. And finally on Tuesday, Kendall finishes her oral surgery! Never thought a crazy busy week would cause this much excitement!
  2. The square foot garden is awesome! We are currently harvesting zucchini and snap peas. I have small tomatoes and green peppers! The cucumbers are flowering finally so I am so thankful and excited!
  3. The school system benefits reset in July of each year. Because of the ability to place even more in my flex spending account this year which is pre-tax. I was able to move our braces payments from the regular account back to the medical flex account which gives us an extra $267 a month. I will need to use at least $100 of this each month for other medical expenses but it is still a huge savings.
  4. This past weekend, we decided to have a yard sale. We have been slowly cleaning out different parts of the house during COVID-19 so I was anxious to finally get rid of the excess. I am very pleased that we made a profit of over $200! Even better is I had a lady come and purchase all the remaining clothes at the end of the day. This was huge and saved us a trip to Goodwill.
  5. I was very excited to find Suddenly Salad marked at $1 during my last trip to Walmart Express. I was able to stock up ! We will have these at least once a week for most of the summer! I am also excited to try several new salad recipes that I found on line! I have decided to try and complete the 52 recipe challenge over the summer! I am afraid that once we go back to school, we need to stick to easy and recipes we are comfortable with!

Monday Menu Planning

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6 DAYS! That is the official count down for my work! This week we have added baseball games and practice. Next week, we start swim team practice. I can’t tell you how overall excited I am! We do have more summer meals and crock pot meals as it is getting much warmer around here!

Breakfast– Saturday-Sausage biscuits (during the yard sale) Sunday-, bacon and eggs Monday- , Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits, breakfast burritos or omelets have been added for the next couple of weeks.

Lunch-  Saturday-Burger King from yard sale profits Sunday-Chinese from Panda Panda The kids will have school delivered lunches for Monday and Tuesday only this week, Matt has 2 days of chicken sandwiches and 2 days of hamburgers I am going to return to eating at least one salad a week and also continue with some left-overs on other days.

Dinner-  Saturday-Pasta salad with lots of extras Sunday- Hamburgers and Hot Dogs Monday- Left-overs Tuesday- Chicken enchiladas Wednesday- Creamy Chicken Spaghetti or Left-overs depending on the refridgerator Thursday- BBQ chicken Friday- Meat Loaf