Eggs

With bacon, sausage, toast, and coffee. Yummy.

Last night we had pasta. I had a stressful afternoon with The Lovely Daughter, and pasta was about all I could manage.

I need a new menu plan.
Wednesday: leftover pork roast
Thursday: Stir fry - beef with peppers and onions
Friday: Soup and sandwiches
Saturday: Burgers
Sunday: Chicken

Crockpot pork loin roast

This was a pork sirloin roast that I used a recipe for one of my online friends (Thanks, Micki!!) gave me. Green onions, garlic, soy sauce, cinnamon, and allspice in addition to the usual crockpot stuff. It also called for fresh cilantro, which I didn't have. I added a little dried chervil instead. It came out pretty well, I think - I was afraid it would be too salty, but the meat itself wasn't. We also had biscuits, roast potatoes, and broccoli. The boys had hot dogs/corn dogs.

Tacos, etc.

I made taco filling using (1) ground turkey, and (2) shredded leftover beef. The mid-kid also made burritos, and the Small Man had a lettuce (!) burrito. We did get him to try a taco, but he didn't want to eat it for some reason - likely because it falls apart when you bite into it. He finally wound up eating a "cheese and ham" sandwich.

Last night we wound up having cheese and crackers. I had to drive to Poolesville to pick up The Lovely Daughter and didn't get home until fairly late. I had Mexican food for lunch yesterday and didn't want tacos last night!

I bought a pork roast today to try a new crockpot recipe tomorrow.

Fish

Not "real" fish, but from the freezer case. TMOTH and I had Phillips Panko-coated crab cakes. Not bad for freezer crab cakes. The mid-kid had crispy fish filets. The Teen Diva and Small Man had chicken fingers. Baked potatoes and cantaloupe to go with all of the fishy and chickeny goodness.

Last night was freezer food too - lasagna, and garlic bread to go with it.

Menu plan:
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: Chicken fast food
Wednesday: Pasta - hopefully lasagna
Thursday: Tacos Fish
Friday: Fish Tacos
Saturday: look into crockpot recipes (Pork loin)
Sunday: Chicken
Monday (MLK holiday, so time to cook): Homemade bread, for sure, some kind of meat?

Fast Food

Subway and McDonald's. Small Man had a "Winter Gala" at his preschool that started at 6(!), so most of us ate Subway before while Small Man had McDonald's afterward. He really likes the Alvin and the Chipmunks toys they have right now :)

Stew/soup

We had the leftover pot roast with added broth, with seashell pasta. Tomato soup for the boys.

Pot roast

Man, I love my crockpot for pot roast! With potatoes and carrots, cheated using mushroom and onion soup mix but added extra onions. Homemade rolls, too!

Pizza night

The Lovely Daughter had a late rehearsal, so I had to drive to Poolesville to pick her up. That meant I didn't get home until about 6, and didn't get to the grocery store as planned. I did take a pot roast out of the freezer to cook tomorrow.

Menu plan:
Sunday: Pancakes
Monday: Soup & sandwiches
Tuesday: Chicken
Wednesday: Pasta - hopefully lasagna
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Fish
Saturday: look into crockpot recipes

Pasta

Rotelle pasta with sauce, garlic bread, salad. A favorite dinner.

Chicken shish-kebab

Fondly known as "lizard on a stick" at our house. Chicken thigh chunks, mushrooms, green pepper, onion; grilled and served with cous cous.

The menu plan needs tweaking as well, since we had omelettes last night. We can still have pasta tomorrow, but don't want to have soup the next night (since our soup almost always has pasta in it!). Soup can move to Saturday or Sunday. Friday, we can have...pork chops?

Omelettes

TMOTH and I had ours with bacon and mushrooms and cheese; just cheese for the kidlets. Bacon and/or sausage, toast or bagel.

The lizard on a stick will have to wait until tomorrow.

Last night was burgers and tots. The burgers were really good - I bought a pound each of 80/20 and 93/7 beef - for some reason, at Safeway this week, the mid-range beef was way more expensive. The mixture was really really good.

Pizza

I made pizza dough from a recipe I got from a Washington Post online forum about 10 years ago. I added italian seasoning to the dough. The sauce was just tomato sauce from a can with some italian seasoning and garlic added. I'd been using spaghetti sauce from a jar, but it's a little chunky for pizza sauce. One of the small cans was enough for 6 individual-sized pizzas. That way everyone can get what they want! I'd like to grow enough sauce tomatoes this year to can tomato sauce again.

Shepherd's Pie

Made with leftover lamb and chicken, onions, mushrooms, carrots, and celeriac. A little parmesan on top of the mashed potatoes. Just exactly the right thing for a very very cold day.

Menu planning

Saturday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast Shepherd's Pie; pasta for kids
Sunday: Pork loin roast, fried apples, canned biscuits Pizza
Monday: need something fast and easy - both Boy Scouts and Quilt Guild meet that night. Burgers and tater tots!
Tuesday: Lizard on a stick, rice or couscous, some sort of vegetable.
Wednesday: Pasta of some sort, salad, garlic bread
Thursday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast
Friday: Soup

Hoppin' John and bok choy

Hopefully the bok choy is "green" enough to work for wealth in the new year!

The rest of the family had hot dogs or corn dogs. Carrot "coins" were their way of ensuring wealth ;^) We also had kiwi as well.

Appetizers - and strawberries

New Year's Eve dinner in the living room of appetizer-y things: pizza rolls, mozzarella sticks, spring rolls, rangoons, taco dip with tortilla chips, the summer sausage TMOTH got from Santa, and pickles. Plus, Safeway had Florida strawberries at buy 1 get 1 free, so we had some not-so-terrible-for-winter strawberries as well. I thought about miso soup but didn't get started early enough - nearly everything else was just pull out of the freezer and stick in the oven.

Leftover leg of lamb

Just warmed up the roast lamb. Made broccoli, pasta, and had some summer squash from the freezer. Rolls from a can.

The lamb then got taken apart. We now have a nice-sized piece and a package of big cubes for kebabs in the freezer, and a few leftover bits to combine with leftover chicken for something - shepherd's pie, perhaps?

Menu planning

Wednesday: Not much leftover chicken, so we'll be having the leftover lamb. Probably make a focaccia to go with it. Sauteed bok choy and broccoli. Au gratin potatoes or rice.
Thursday: Appetizer buffet (goes well with the champagne!)
Friday: ? Hard to plan for this - we'll be in DC most of the day at the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit, and don't know what time we'll get home. Maybe dinner out at Red Hot and Blue or takeout from somewhere. Need to have hoppin' John!!
Saturday: Omelettes, bacon & sausage, toast
Sunday: Pork loin roast, fried apples, canned biscuits
Monday: need something fast and easy - both Boy Scouts and Quilt Guild meet that night. Burgers and tater tots!
Tuesday: Lizard on a stick, rice or couscous, some sort of vegetable.

Stuffed flounder

It was...interesting. I made the filling with some onion and celery, chopped shrimp and artichoke hearts, and crushed wheat thins. I went to add some sherry to the mixture, and - what the HECK just went into my pan?!?! That's a little too dark and thick for sherry!!! Turns out the last time TMOTH bought sherry, he bought the wrong kind - some kind of sweet sherry that didn't turn the dish inedible, but didn't help all that much. A little bit too sweet. I think I'd make it again, only with a dry sherry.

I also made coleslaw, even though I'm the only one that eats it, and hushpuppies. Heathen kids had frozen fish filets or frozen chicken fingers (well, they were cooked, but they started out frozen).

Roasted chicken leg quarters

And the chicken was eaten by all but one kid!

Home-made bread (which said kid made up on), mashed potatoes (courtesy of TMOTH) and gravy, cantaloupe, and cucumber.

I think I forgot the leftover lamb on the menu planning. It needs to get re-eaten the next few days.