December Menu Plan

Yay!  I was able to sit down while Levi was napping, and I was able to get a menu plan together for December.  (Now, whether or not I stick to it is another story...)  I may change around the days, but I usually am able to conquer all of what I have planned in one way or another.  :)

This month is busy with birthdays, holidays, surgery (my mom's), shopping, baking, etc.!  January will be here before we know it!  So, hold on~

Here goes December:

1 - Fried Chicken Tenders, baked potato, broccoli, corn

2 - Tacos, rice and veggies

3 - Chicken and Noodles (Wish I could make them like my Mom!)

4 - Baked Sandwiches (maybe turkey and provolone ~ YUMMY!)

5 - Chicken Enchiladas

6 - Ham Macaroni and Cheese

7 - Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

8 - Bean Burritos (Meatless meal)

9 - Baked Chicken and Rice

10 - Spaghetti (From this day on for a couple weeks, I'm planning on cooking for us and Mom and Dad.  Mom will be coming home from the hospital on this day.)

11 - Pork Chops and Stuffing

12 - Donato's Pizza (I don't really care for this, but it's Rob's birthday and he wants Donato's.  So, I'm going to be a good wife and suffer...)

13 - Pulled Pork, Chips, and Fruit Salad (Hoping to get a cheap piece of pork and slow roast it.  We have to feed the college students lunch on this Sunday.)

14 - Chicken Manhattan

15 - Chicken Pot Pie

16 - Pancakes (I'm going to try Pumpkin Pancakes probably.  They sound so good!)

17 - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup or Leftovers

18 - Planning on traveling to Tennessee, so probably eating on the road.

19 - 20 - Tennessee

21 - Spaghetti  (We love spaghetti at our house!)

22 - Fried Chicken Tenders

23 - Potato Crusted Chicken Casserole (Kind of like chicken pot pie in a crispy potato crust)

24 - Ham  (Would like to bake a ham with the works!)

25 - Dinner at my Aunt's house

26 - Ham Macaroni and Cheese (or something else with leftover ham)

27 - Taco Soup

28 - Chicken and Dumplings

29 - Chicken Beans and Rice

30 - Beef Burritos

31 - Chicken Parmesan

As you can see, we eat a lot of chicken.  I might (in my spare time) look for different recipes to try with chicken.  Of course, this may be the wrong month to attempt this!  Anyone want to share their favorites?

Menu Plan for October

Well, here it is...

1 - BBQ Shredded Chicken

2 - Pizza (Domino's had $5.00 large pizzas.  Couldn't resist!)

3 - Chicken Parmesan

4 - Fried Chicken Tenders

5 - Ham Mac and Cheese

6 - Hash Brown Casserole

7 - Baked Lunch Meat Sandwiches

8 - Mozzarella Chicken

9 - Chicken Fried Rice

10 - Steak on the Grill (We only do this when there is a good sale.  Haven't had it for a long while...)

11 - Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches (Serving college students lunch and staying at church all day)

12 - Potato Crusted Chicken Casserole

13 - Pizza Burgers

14 - Egg, Bacon, Cheese Wraps

15 - Pork, Rick, Broccoli, Cheese Casserole

16 - Chicken and Dumplings

17 - Lasagna

18 - Beans and Rice in the Crock Pot

19 - Pancakes

20 - Veggie Beef Stew

21 - Enchiladas

22 - Baked Lunch Meat Sandwiches or Calzones

23 - Spaghetti

24 - Going to Tennessee

25 - Going to Tennessee

26 - Biscuits and Gravy

27 - Grilled Chicken

28 - Fish Sticks

29 - Burritos

30 - Burgers

31 - Chicken Manhattans

Do you have any family favorites?  I'd like to hear what other families enjoy for dinner.  We'd like to try some new things.

I can't wait to hear from you...

More APPLES!

Still haven't made it to the APPLE ORCHARD yet...  All of the APPLES will be gone by the time I get there, it seems.  I still had a few APPLES left from my quick trip to Adrian's that had to be used up.  I was going to make another half recipe of the APPLE Dumpling Dessert from my previous post, but, instead, I thought I'd make some APPLEsauce to go with our Mozzarella Chicken (another yummy dish) dinner last night.  So, I found this recipe, cut up the APPLES, added the other ingredients, threw it all in the Crock Pot (my best friend!), and went to prop my feet up!  (Okay, I wasn't able to do the last thing.  I have a 2-year-old, you know...)  When dinner was ready, I opened the crock and ummmmmmm ~~~~ nothing smells better than hot APPLES with cinnamon!  (Rob actually had to ask if he could eat it.  He thought it was potpourri.  I had to laugh at that one for quite a while.)  It was very yummy!  In fact, I got some APPLES today at the grocery to make more on Sunday for our lunch with the college kids.

Rob will be going to a men's conference tonight and tomorrow, so it's just me and Levi tonight.  Probably going to run to the library after dinner to return some books and videos.  I have several train books and a train video waiting for me, too.  Then, CVS and Walgreens maybe?  Oh, also have to go to Office Max to make copies of our church bulletin for Sunday.  

Tomorrow, my mom and Mrs. Holloway (a.k.a. "Mickie"  ~  I don't call her that.  She was my 3rd grade teacher way back when...  I still call her "Mrs. H.") will be going with me and Levi to the Covered Bridge Festival.  We'll be heading to Bridgeton for a COLD day of eating, shopping, eating, walking, eating, talking, and... oh, did I mention eating?  Okay, I won't be eating that much.  But, maybe some hot chocolate, some soup in a bread bowl, and definitely PUMPKIN ICE CREAM!!!  I don't care HOW COLD it is outside ~ I'm not leaving there until I get my PUMPKIN ICE CREAM!!  I look forward all year to this ice cream.  It's the best I've ever had!  (Kind of like waiting all year for Pineapple Whip at the State Fair...)  Anyway, enough about the food, the ladies from our church will be going, too.  Hopefully, we'll meet up with them this time.  (We went to Edinburgh last month with the ladies from our church, but we never saw them!)  

We hope to be going back to the Covered Bridge Festival on Tuesday with my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my husband.  He took off work for this.  Hope the weather is nice!  (We originally were planning to go today, but we changed the day since it is RAINING.  I'm not complaining because we really needed it...)

I still have some pictures I need to post from our recent doings.  Maybe I'll have a chance tonight after Levi goes to bed.  Also, now that October is close to the halfway point, I'll finally get around to posting my October menu plan!  I'm just a little behind...

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful time of year ~ the changing colors, the brisk fall wind, etc.  It will be gone before we know it!  Then the dreaded SNOW!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

APPLES!!

I love apples!  Haven't been able to actually go pick apples, but I did stop by Adrian Orchards on Friday to buy some apples.  I needed to use them up, so tonight I made my newest favorite apple recipe.  It is called "Apple Dumpling Dessert", and my husband said it tasted better than apple dumplings.  (Don't anyone tell Bro. Dean...)  That's saying a lot!  Here is the link, if anyone is interested.

  www.applerecipes.us/apple-dumpling-dessert.html

ENJOY!

Happy Fall!

AMAZING Fruit Salad

On Labor Day, we had my parents and my aunt and uncle over for a cook-out.  We chose to make pizza burgers, which is one of our new favorites!  So, my mom brought dessert, homemade chocolate chip cookies and carrot cake.  My aunt brought a fruit salad.  It was probably the BEST I had EVER tasted.  I plan on making it many times around here and probably for our next church dinner.

Here is the recipe she passed on to me:

AMAZING FRUIT SALAD 

(This isn't the "official" title, just the lasting impression it gave me...)

• 2 cans of pineapple chunks
• 2 cans of mandarin oranges
• 1 bag of frozen strawberries (can use fresh, if in season)
• 4 or 5 bananas, sliced
• 1 can of peach pie filling

This is really delicious!!  When I make it, I probably will add chunks of apples, as well.  Especially since they are in season now.

My mom's recipe for carrot cake is from Nestle Very Best Baking.

Here is the link: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=32510

I am not a fan of carrot cake, so I didn't taste it.  (Yeah, I know, my mom has already given me a hard time about it...)  But, everyone else was raving over it.  So, I am passing it on to you.  I had to get the recipe from Mom so I can make it for Rob.  (Gotta keep the Hubby happy!)  I will probably make this for a church dinner soon.  Maybe our Thanksgiving dinner at church.  (Is it that time of year already?)

Hope you have the opportunity to try these recipes.  Enjoy!!

Ice Cream!

Yes, Levi loves ice cream, just like his mommy!!

Levi has a truck book that has a picture of an ice cream truck in it.  Well, his Daddy decided to teach him the name of that truck.  He calls it "Mommy's truck".  Funny, Rob.  Real funny...

Menu Plan for September

Here is my plan for the month.  I've already moved a couple things around, but I'm still sticking with it.  I like to look at other menus to get ideas.  Maybe you can get an idea from mine.

1 - Taco Soup (Tried this a couple months ago, and we LOVE it!  It's on the menu twice a month...)

2 - Homemade Pizza

3 - Bruschetta and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

4 - Fried Chicken Tenders

5 - Hamburgers

6 - Lasagna

7 - Pizza Burgers (Having some family over for a Labor Day cook-out!)

8 - Taco Casserole (Also, I have to make several dishes for a Preacher's Meeting at our church for lunch...)

9 - Pulled Pork BBQ (I slow-roast a pork roast at 250 degrees all night, fork shred, and add BBQ sauce ~ YUMMY!)

10 - Chicken and Dumplings

11 - Baked Sandwiches (I used frozen bread dough; thaw it, roll it out, add lunch meat and cheese, then bake... another family favorite!)

12 - Burritos

13 - Baked Chicken and Rice

14 - Chicken Manhattan (I use shredded chicken and chicken broth that I have frozen from when I boil a whole chicken.  I make a simple gravy, add the chicken, and serve over mashed potatoes.  I don't use bread like traditional manhattans, though.)

15 - Egg, Ham, and Cheese Tortillas

16 - Chicken Pot Pie

17 - Ham Macaroni and Cheese

18 - Chicken Parmesan

19 - Chicken Fried Rice

20 - Steak?  (This depends if I can find a good sale on it before this date.  If not, grab something out of the freezer or use left-overs.)

21 - Pancakes or French Toast

22 - Mozzarella Chicken

23 - Spaghetti

24 - Turkey Burgers

25 - Roast

26 - Cook-out for the College class at church (Probably hamburgers...)

27 - Baked Ziti

28 - Chicken Shepherd's Pie (I make a typical Shepherd's pie recipe, but I use chicken instead of hamburger.)

29 - Pork Chops with Homemade Stuffing

30 - Beans and Rice in the Crock Pot

*As you can see, we use a lot of chicken.  We like red meat, but chicken tends to be cheaper and more versatile.  Well, we haven't got tired of it yet...

Menu Plan

     When reading through other blogs, I always enjoy the ones that include ideas about COOKING.  Many of them include their menu plans for the month.  So, I thought about including mine here.  I've been planning out our dinner menus for just over a year now, and it has helped in so many ways.  

     By planning ahead, I've been able to be more FRUGAL.  For example, I can use a whole chicken for three different meals, so I plan accordingly.  (Since there are only 2 1/2 mouths to feed here, this works for us!)  I also can use or freeze the broth from the chicken, which means no more buying canned broth.  We try to have breakfast for dinner once a week.  (Breakfast foods seem to be much cheaper, and, since we always have cereal for breakfast, this is a treat for us!)  Since we've actually been budgeting our money, I've been able to keep a little more focused on planning meals.

     Even though I am a stay-at-home mom, I seem to be just as busy, if not more, than when I worked full-time.  So, planning ahead what we will be having for dinner allows more TIME in my daily schedule.  I hate to admit how many times I've struggled with getting dinner figured out.  I can't decide what to make; I don't have the ingredients for what I want to make (which means an extra trip to the store); I run out of time to fix dinner, therefore, we would run for fast food and regret it! These are just a few of the EXCUSES I had come up with before.  Now, I look at the schedule and go with it.

     Now, this doesn't mean that I can't be FleXibLe.  Many times, I've changed up the days of the week for various reasons.  But, I still stick with the main schedule as much as I can.  On Fridays, I make my shopping list.  I just look at the schedule and figure out what ingredients I need for the week.  

     I have found menu planning to be a very helpful tool in our household.  Do you have a plan like this?  Is there anything that you do differently that might be of help to me?  Just curious what other people do...

     My next post will be my menu plan for the month of September.  Hope you had a wonderful Lord's day!

Thank you, Lord, for our freedom here in the United States.  Help me not take that for granted!

DENISE