July Menu

I thought I would share my menu plans for this week.  I ran out of greens this morning.  So, I need to make a shopping trip.  I figured I might as well make a menu.  I have been terrible about menu making lately which leaves a bunch of cranky kids and a tired mama around 4pm. I tend to leave our weekends open.  It is a good chance to try something new or just eat up all the leftovers in the fridge and freezer.  During the winter I often toss leftovers in the crockpot on Sunday and pray for soup!

I have been faithfully drinking green smoothies daily and I feel wonderful.  Plus, I am actually meeting my nutrient goals.  They are usually two kinds of fruit, Kale and water.  I sometimes throw a couple of dates in there.  Not exciting. But, it tastes good and keeps me full.  The dates have way more calories than I thought, so I have been laying off those. 

And, don't forget to sign up for The 30 Day Vegan Challenge. I don't get anything for letting you know about it.  Well, I get the satisfaction :) Early Birds pay only $20 dollars for a whole month of support from a really great speaker.

7/23 Monday (recalling this one from my perfect memory)

B: hashbrown patties, cold cereal

L: Green Smoothies and nut butter sandwiches

D: Black Bean Burgers, homemade fries, tarter sauce

Snacks were fruit, half a sandwich, or leftovers from Sunday's Dinner

7/24 Tuesday (Happening as I type.)

B: Cold cereal, Veggie Sausage patties, toast and someone may have had leftover banana cake.

L: nut butter sandwiches, leftovers from the last two nights which include baked squash, pasta, Trader Joes veggie meatballs and homemade fries

D: Curry red lentils, rice, potato samosas

7/25 Wednesday

B:Oatmeal, green smoothies

L: Salads with Goddess Dressing

D: Canned or frozen soup and Grilled Cheese with Follow Your Heart Cheese

 

7/26 Thursday

B: Pancakes, green smoothies

L: nut butter sandwiches or left overs

D: Tacos and Rice

 

7/27 Friday

B: Leftover pancakes or toast, green smoothies

L: nut butter sandwiches or leftover tacos

D: Homemade Pizza, Bunny Love Carrot Chips, Soda

Found a new blog while searching for Vegan menus. Fimby is full of natural things and simple beauty.

I spent Saturday trying to find alone time. I let the boys play games and veg. But, first I knocked out the pile of dishes and laundry. I gave each boy one major chore. Little flower got herself a really plush bed and lots of babies in her giant play pen. I think I really needed that. I knew I wouldn't get to go anywhere and my fuse was short. But, it sure feels good.

::Things I need to do this week::
Finishing revamping chorepacks
Wash all the windows...they get dirty and moldy over the winter since the back half of the house is partially in the ground.
Oldest is hanging up the laundry we got behind on.
Read more in Siblings without rivalry...these boys drive me nuts. I get tired of yelling, leave me alone and the oh so popular..you are such a turd.
Make a Trader Joes list. I realize we haven't been there in a few months. Seems strange.

This weeks Menu

Well, this week starts up on Friday.  I plan to shop early on Friday morning.  We usually visit with friends that day.  But, that will have to wait to see how shopping goes. I am using my printable shopping list again.  We follow the menu from my last week for the entire month.  We were able to really stretch our budget and fit in some goodies, as well.

Breakfast 

F-Muffins or Granola Bars

S-Waffles or French Toast

S-Cold cereal or leftovers

M-Pancakes

T-Hot Cereal with honey

W-Eggs or breakfast burritos

T-Oatmeal

Lunch

F-Fruit, Crackers, Cheese, deviled Eggs

S-Quesidillas or leftovers

S-Leftovers/Fend for yourself OR English Muffin Pizza & Salad

M-Chickpea or tuna salad sandwiches/melts

T-Grilled Cheese & baked beans or soup

W-Peanut Butter and Jelly on bread/tortillas

T-Mac and Cheese & frozen veg

Dinner

F-Pizza

S-Snackies, pizza leftovers, poppers

S-Dad's Birthday...Fish Burgers, Coleslaw, Avocado, Homemade Fries, german chocolate cake

M-Bean Burritos

T-Chicken, tofu, cornbread, salad or frozen veg

W-Church, leftovers or spaghetti

T-Chili and baked potatoes

An Autumn meal...

I checked out some books from the library. One of them was....


I am making Sage, White bean, and Sausage soup from it. I am going to use Tofurkey Italian Sausages to make it vegetarian so everyone can eat it. Plus, greasy foods aren't sitting well with my stomach lately. Did I forget to mention it uses dry beans and my crockpot. I love the crockpot. I am planning on making some rice because we have a bunch of limes leftover from yesterdays dinner. a squeeze of lime is really good on rice. I am going to make pumpkin muffins, too. I am going to double up so we have enough for tomorrow's breakfast. I love muffins for breakfast.

Meals and Money or Money and Meals

I'm not doing so bad when I enter our income into the Global Rich List.  That's a fun little tidbit worth checking out if you are feeling a little down and out about your yearly income or your mediocre food bill.  

Some of those cheap meals we have been eating (and in no particular order):

• Spaghetti with two types of sauce & garlic toast.  A family member gifted us with some pantry staples from their overflowing pantry.  Spaghetti was one of those.  My kids are eating a ton of bread lately.  I made garlic toast out of all the leftover pieces of bread my children refuse to eat.  They always leave a few pieces in the bag.  I just spread with butter or Earth Balance and some garlic and Italian seasoning. 
• Chickpea salad spread melts.  We were out of pickles and relish (egads what will we do), so we used jalapeno olives instead.  It was delish.  This was spread heavily on pieces of bread, topped with thin slices of fresh tomato, sprinkled with cheese for those who eat it, and sprinkled with Italian Seasoning (from one of those nifty McCormick Grinder thingies).
• Teriyaki Tofu, Brown Rice, and salad with Goddess Dressing.  Trader Joes has a private label dressing that is so delicious.  I used to hate this stuff,  but it's the only salad dressing I like now.  I ate the leftovers at the gym the next day.  Just piled it up and put more dressing on the top.  
• Lasagna is on the menu currently.  A giant pan came from a family member.  Unfortunately for me, it contains lots of meat and cheese.  Both of which I vowed to give up after Mother's Day.  (I feel better by the way!) I'll probably grab some salad to go with it tomorrow.
• White Chili is on the menu for those not eating lasagna.  I made two pounds of beans, so I'm hoping that lasts 3 days because of that lasagna.  Made it in the crockpot, too.  Can't beat cheap and crockpot and doesn't make me sick when I eat it.
• I had planned on pizza after the chili was all eaten up.  

April Grocery Recap & May Meal Planning

So, we did skate through April just fine.  You can read about some of our meals from this previous post mid-month.  I'm trying to not have too much variety.  Mostly because it's easier to eat around leftovers.  If we have some cilantro left, what can I use it for next.  I really do think I did better by having less around the house.  It's just difficult.  I like having lots of food around for the boys sake.  It was good for my waistline though.  I got back on my weight loss track.  I'm not hugely overweight, but watching all the diabetes happening in my family is making me realize I, personally, need to get my health (and body) back in better shape.  Less sweets and enjoy some fruit.  Having less food around caused me to not grab something like bread or a sweet thing because I knew it was needed for the next meal or for the kids to take for lunches when we leave the house.

Today we are eating up bits and pieces.  Eggs tacos with some salsa verde. I love those little cans of sauce (I know it's sick, but if you look to the left you can see that amazon has it) you buy in the mexican section.  You can usually get them for a little over a buck.  Not bad if you consider what they can add to a few eggs and some corn tortillas. I bought a couple when they were on sale.  They aren't bad at all.  They are easy to grab and add to a simple meal.  You can mix the green one with some avocado for a really great avocado salsa.  There is a bean soup on the stove.  And, I will probably makes some chickpea salad sandwiches to go with that.  Tomorrow we are off to a family function and we only need to bring chips. 

Monday I'm going to hit Costco for burritos makins.  We will probably subsist on those for 4 or 5 days.  Everyone really wants burritos...so I'm going to stretch that meal out as long as I can.  I figure it's a good start to May.

A capful of oil, Food in April, meal planning, stretching the pantry,

So, I mentioned that we had another budget cut.  I can't see our budget getting any smaller.  Ouch...it really does hurt.  I did go and get on WIC.   That was a bit difficult for me.  I don't want to be dependent on services.  It has helped quite a bit.  I'll venture to say it's going to be the thing that helps us get through.  I have $100 a week for food plus WIC.  I have to be out of the house most days for things like the YMCA classes, taking my Grandma to her classes, friends, or church activities.  So, I'm not really menu planning.  I'm just buying enough groceries to get us through a few days.  Then, I try to stretch that food another day or two.  I have a pretty meager pantry currently and almost nothing in the freezer.  But, I just don't feel right stocking up on stuff.  We need to eat what we have.

A few months ago I was watching TV.  There was a woman doing her shopping in an open market. I want to say Africa, but I can't recall.  I just remember she got oil in the capful.  Just enough for that meal of cooking.  And, all I could think of was how I had been complaining about being low on oil.  And, yet I had so many capfuls of oil in my fridge.  

Thank you God for your abundant blessings.  

Food is on our table.

Food is in our bellies.  

Breakfasts we have eaten: 

Cold cereal with soymilk

eggs and toast

baked beans

smoothies (blueberries from Costco, flaxseed, soymilk, banana, and raw oatmeal)

Lunches and snacks we have eaten: 

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Chickpea salad on bread

leftovers

ramen

hard boiled eggs

deviled eggs

fruit

peanut butter cookies

Bread pretzels with mustard

Dinners we have eaten 

(I offer salad, fruit, and/or frozen veggies on the side.  We have had some canned veggies this month.  I don't usually do that, but it's one of those things I'm willing to do now.):  

We ate out a friends house once. 

Orange chicken, Peanut Butter Chicken, cornbread, rice, and spinach. (This was a clean out the freezer meal.)

Salmon Burgers with tater tots and canned green beans.

Veggie Burgers (got a big box at Costco).  

Soup and bread

Grilled Cheese, salad, and tater tots.

Taco Soup with all the fixins.

Tacos with all the fixins (I fry corn tortillas.  It's really tasty and much cheaper than those boxes of taco shells.)  We top ours with refried beans, shredded cheese, cilantro, onion, radish, finely sliced lettuce, salsa, pico pica sauce.  Rice with fresh lime juice on the side.

Homemade pizza.  We usually make personal size pizzas.  We top with a variety of stuff from whatever was on sale or I have around the house.  This time we had red sauce, pepperoni, black olives, green onions, black refried beans, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, chopped tomato.  I like to make pizza on Friday and use our leftovers from the last few days.  You can use barbecued chicken, curried meats or veggies, the list goes on.  It's amazing what's good on pizza.

Meal Planning

We recently got another budget cut.  God willing he will bless us and we will get through each month.   I thought I would share some good links I'm using for meal planning.  Since, I'm actually out of the house a few times a week for the YMCA or to drop my Grammy off at her Tai Chi classes, I'm going to start doing smaller shopping trips.  My goal is to see how stretchy I can get.

I'm sure the next week will be full of deviled eggs.

Vegetable Pakora http://www.ManjulasKitchen.com or her youtube channel  If you are looking for an excellent source for Indian recipes this is the best.  I love Indian food.  It's comforting and can be very cheap if you can get spices in bulk and use produce common in your area.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake I admit it.  I do like sweets.  I find if I make a sweet thing once a week, I don't feel deprived.  I usually make a sweet after a simple meal.  It encourages the kids to eat a meal they may not be excited about.

The Duggar recipes are big.  These are not foods I got to eat growing up.  I remember the first time I had tater tot casserole.  You can make tater tot casserole vegetarian and even vegan.  I never had casseroles growing up and I've never made them for my kids.  They aren't that fond of them.  But, sometimes it's nice to have an all in one dish.  My kids do like enchilada casserole and lasagna.  I usually make both of those in the crockpot.  They work well.

Taste of Home (which my Grammy insists on getting me.  I hardly use it because it's always so meaty and cheesy.)  had a section on layered salads this month.  They showed a taco salad.  We haven't had taco salad for a long time and I think that sounds yummy.  Either that or this yummy looking taco salad and cilantro, cucumber, and avocado dressing.

Greenish Tofu Curry.  My husband loves green curry.  I normally buy the jar at Trader Joes.  But, I would like to come up with my own recipe at home.