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?

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!!

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