Meal Plan for August 9-22

 Did a big grocery shopping run so made up a 2 week meal plan based on what I bought plus what is growing in the garden. It’s hot again so almost all of this will be made in the instant pot or grilled.

Meal Plan for 8/9-8/15

• Pasta with homemade meat sauce
• Greek Harvest Grain casserole (Harvest grain blend from Trader Joe’s, onions, spinach, feta and ground chicken) with cucumber & tomato salad
• Sauteed cabbage, potatoes and ham

Meal Plan for 8/16-8/22

• Sweet & Spicy chicken stir fry over rice
• Pork Chops with cauli-tator mash and veg
• Sloppy joes plus with veg

Also (for me) cold lunches of salad, crackers and cheese, and/or bean dip & veggies. I like a nice light lunch when it’s hot outside, and it keeps my meat consumption down.

Meal plan for 8/1-8/7

 It’s a cool (well, for the end of July) and rainy day, so I’ve been planning and prepping and cooking today. These are my favorite days to be in the kitchen. The garden is producing well and we have a ton of cucumbers, plus some peppers and tomatoes.

Meal plan for 8/1-8/7

Tonight - pizza with the leftover taco meat from the burrito boats as topping, along with some jalapeno and cheddar sausage. Taco pizza! Yum.
Rest of the week:
-Beef Fajitas
-Eye of the Goat beans cooked with smoked turkey leg, cucumber salad
-Rice mixed with the rest of the jalapeno sausage and some of the beans, corn, tomatoes and peppers.
-Grilled chicken drumsticks and Greek barley salad

Hooks: Summer 2020

My friend Lauren commissioned 3 of my HollyBearies bears.  

 Delphinium (Della)

Iris

Camellia

Books: Summer 2020

I've been reading quite a bit in quarantine! 

My sister had sent me a book called Matched, a YA dystopian romance by Ally Condie.  It sounded like a fun beach read so I grabbed it for my beach day.  I ordered the rest of the trilogy on Paperback Swap and read those too.  Not bad, but the last book was a slow starter.  I liked the ending well enough though.  

I was doing a 10 book challenge on Facebook and looked through my bookshelves for inspiration, and saw Alanna, the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.  I LOVED these books, the Song of the Lioness series, when I was a kid.  I had the first book, which I had found randomly at a used book sale.  I read it in a day or 2 and tried to find the rest.  No luck at the library. New set would cost over $40 on Amazon.  Luckily for me someone posted them on Paperback Swap soon after and I got them.  Yay! So I plowed through the other 3 in less than a week.  Such a fun series.  I have another set of books (only 2 in that set) by the same author about Alanna's daughter, so that's been put on my to read list.  

Yesterday I started another YA book, Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez.  It hasn't really grabbed me so far but I'll give it more time before I decide to give up.  

Meal Plan for July 26-Aug 1

Breakfasts: banana granola pancakes, cereal or overnight oats

Lunches/Dinners: 

-kebabs - citrus aleppo marinated chicken & veggies, cooked on the grill

-caprese pasta salad (vegetarian)

-taco zucchini boats 

-venison roast in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, carrots. 

-orange chicken - (marinade of citrus, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes) and broccoli stir fry over brown rice ramen noodles (used this recipe as a basis)

Another hot week.  Tried to minimize the oven.  Taco zucchini boats were new recipe and they were really good.  Basically just basic taco filling plus black beans and corn.  I meal prepped in advance by making the filling and scooped out the zucchini (don't forget to cook the zucchini you scooped out with the filling!).  Then my husband filled up the zucchini, covered them with cheese and baked it on 350 for 20 minutes.  Came out great. We have leftover filling which is perfect over chips for nachos. 

Meal Plan July 8-15

 Well in true Greek fashion we made entirely too much food for the 4th. So we have been eating leftovers from that all week. But it’s finally run out and it’s a cool and rainy day, so time for some meal prep.

• Fish tacos and calabacitas

• Cheesy Taco Mac - can’t say turkey as I don’t have any so I’m using ground beef. I’ll have to tweak it a bit but it looked so good.

• Rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes, broccoli

• Chicken stir fry over rice

Meal Plan for June 22-28

 Well summer has arrived! School is out and it’s hot, so less cooking for me.

Meal Plan for June 22-28

Breakfasts: Muffins pulled from the freezer, cereal

Lunches/Dinners:

• Fish sticks, mac & cheese, veg (air fryer and Instant Pot FTW!)

• Grilled pork chops, polenta w/ spinach

• Sloppy joes plus and salad

• Rotisserie chicken from Costco, baby carrots, “baked” aka microwaved potatoes

• Maybe takeout to celebrate the end of the school year in lieu of our traditional dinner out

Meal Plan for June 14-21

 Well our first (and probably last) Misfits Market box was a bust…literally. They gave us a lot of very heavy root vegetables (4 lbs of sweet potatoes, plus beats and onions) and a butternut squash. Then FedEx I’m sure slammed it around several times and the cooler bag broke. So things were smashed up and covered in goo from the bag. I am now tasked with figuring out how to use up these things I don’t generally eat in June. Thank God it’s fairly cool this week, so I can tolerate having the oven on, at least in the morning.

Breakfast: Denver omelette egg bake with toast

Lunches/Dinners:

• Sausage, onion & butternut squash with farro
• Quick chili over rice
• Sweet potato & bean enchiladas (vegetarian) - normally I’d make these with black beans but I’m going to use the same beans that I’m using for the chili, which are Good Mother Stallards from Rancho Gordo.
• Pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad and coleslaw.

Meal plan for week of June 7

 The freezer list of meals I made weeks ago is almost done! We get our first Misfits Market box this week, so then I’ll get to be more creative with what we get.

Meal plan for week of June 7

• Pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw
• Greek harvest blend casserole (IP)
• Ravioli (vegetarian) with salad
• Grilled chicken, potato salad, veg

Meal Plan for the week of May 31-June 6

 Quarantine Freezer cleanout continues. This week’s special: A giant bag of party meatballs that we never used and seeing as how we won’t be having any parties for a while, will be repurposed into meals for us. Today is gorgeous outside and relatively cool for the end of May, so I’m torn between spending time outside or inside cooking to take advantage of that.

Meal Plan for the week of May 31-June 6

• Baked rigatoni with meatballs

• Sweet & sour meatballs over rice

• Cheesy, Spicy Black Bean Bake though I’ll probably make some alterations, w/ tortillas or chips

• Multigrain & veggie blend (from Trader Joe’s) with diced smoked turkey

• Takeout if needed.

Meal plan for the week of May 24

 Last week, refried beans were indeed made, as were the banana muffins. 4 dozen to be exact, most of which are in the freezer for when it’s too hot to bake. Which shall be very soon I’ll wager.

This weekend is of course Memorial Day weekend which means the grill will be going!

Meal plan for the week of May 24

• Grilled hot dogs & hamburgers, corn on the cob, green salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
• Chicken thighs, probably with some kind of rub?, veg
• Leftover refried beans, homemade guac, tortillas & salad
• Greek pasta salad (pasta, spinach, feta, tomato, onion w/ lemony dressing)
• Still never got that takeout so maybe this week….

Meal plan for May 17-23

 Meal plan for May 17-23

• Homemade pizza
• Sheet pan fajitas
• Beef & barley stew
• London broil, cauli-tator mash, whatever veg I can find in the freezer
• Never did get that takeout last week so we probably will this week.

I also made some beans, we had a little last night with the fajitas but I’m thinking I might turn them into refried beans.
Will probably also make some muffins this week as we have a bunch of bananas getting brown.

Meal Plan for May 10-16

 Freezer/Pantry Quarantine cleanout continues:

Breakfasts: Muesli muffins or banana oat muffins

Dinners/Lunches:

• Instant Pot Mac & Cheese w/ mixed veggies mixed in (Made with the Cajun cheese from Trader Joes, yum)

• Shrimp Creole over rice

• Sausage & potatoes w/ peppers sheet pan meal

• Takeout, probably from the Columbian restaurant up the street.

Meal Plan for May 3-9

 Freezer/pantry cleanout continues:

Breakfasts: Muesli bread, banana muffins

Lunches/dinners:
-Grilled or baked chicken (depends on if we can get the grill ready) with potato salad & veg
-Fish tacos w/ salad
-Chili
-Takeout for Cinco de Mayo!

What we ate in April

April was our first full month in "stay at home" mode against COVID-19.  Stores were running low on things and it was terrifying to go to the grocery store.  So we were mostly using up what we had in the house.  Thank god we are somewhat of hoarders and had plenty of stuff in the pantry - lots of rice, pasta, beans, canned tomatoes and all that, plus we had not only a freezer but a deep freezer full of meat.  So we mostly just went to small stores to pick up produce as it was also impossible to get signed up for any of those produce delivery boxes. We also tried to get take out once a week from different local restaurants and got to try several we had never had before.  

Week 1

• Teriyaki beef noodle bowls
• Turkey and wild rice soup
• Korean Beef tacos (using the same ingredients we used for the noodle bowls, just mixing it up a bit)
• “Unstuffed” cabbage/ aka cabbage roll casserole

Week 2

• Leftovers - Korean tacos and whatever we get for takeout tonight
• Chicken pot pie ** Changed to Greek lemon chicken orzo, after MIL dropped off 17(!) lemons, along with a few tomatoes and a head of broccoli**
• Ham and bean soup
• Meatloaf, mashed potatoes & broccoli

Week 3

• Chicken pot pie (with biscuity topping, as I have no pie crust and I’m terrible at making it from scratch)
• Pizza beans with Italian sausage in it as we like it, and probably zucchini cooked in some form so my husband will eat it
• Ham, sweet potatoes, green beans

Week 4

• Our takeout this week was pizza from a local place, we still have leftovers
• Tomato tortellini soup (vegetarian)
• Green chili & cheddar sausage with rice, beans and peppers (instant pot)
• Turkey and multigrain blend w/ veggies

Quarantine begins & What we ate in March

March was a bit crazy.  It started out pretty normal - My annual event of Read Across America at work went well and I was getting ready for book fair #2.  I took a day off to go to the doctors and get my hair done and run some errands.  Then the next week, all hell broke loose.  

Monday the 9th we had a regular PD day.  But before our PD we had another PD about "just in case, here's what would happen if we need to close due to coronavirus".  We didn't think much of it.  Tuesday was pretty normal, they were testing in the library (again) so I had to travel around but otherwise like pretty much every Tuesday.  Wednesday the first grade was going on a field trip.  I asked if I could go, seeing as I teach 3 first grades on Wednesdays so most of my schedule would be out the window.  Instead I got assigned to stay with the kids that got left behind.  We heard that afternoon that the parent teacher conferences for the next week were cancelled.  This was surprising.  I popped my head into the principal's office in the morning to find a bunch of bigwigs in there, along with a very stressed looking principal.  I told her I was going to call to attempt to cancel the book fair, which was supposed to arrive the next day.  That afternoon we specials teachers were babysitting - the kids watched movies in the gym or cafeteria or played outside while the classroom teachers frantically made up packets for the kids for 2 weeks of potential no school.  That was our last day in the building of the 19-20 school year.  The next day we had a "snow" day and the week after the governor closed schools everywhere in the state and the stay at home orders began.  That Friday we had off I did a fearful early morning grocery run. It was pouring rain but shoprite was full and I had to go to the less popular & more expensive store, but I didn't care.  I bought 2 weeks worth of groceries and we stayed home. Thankfully we had plenty of food in the pantry.  

Week 1 

-Cilantro Lime chicken sausage burrito bowls
-Turkey & white bean soup with salad

I also cooked some chicken thighs in the instant pot Thursday and they have been eaten in various ways - chopped up in a green salad, on pita pizzas, and topped with some BBQ sauce and had with potatoes and veg. There’s still quite a few left so I’m going to make a casserole. I’m finding it can be pretty successful to make a protein and a pot of beans, have a side dish or two and then just have salad and steamed veg if I want to meal prep but have some variety during the week.

Week 2

-Chicken and broccoli quinoa casserole
-Chili
-Pork cubes with island salsa (from TJs) over rice plus veg or salad
-Fish tacos and a mexican veggie side dish

Week 3 (St. Patrick's week)

-Pizza
-Shepherd’s Pie
-Irish lamb & barley stew
-Fish tacos (bumped from last week)

Week 4

-Use up leftovers from last week
-New England style baked beans, hot dogs (I feel like I should sneak a veggie in there somewhere…)
-Bubble & Squeak (aka sauteed cabbage, potato, onion & ham)
-Takeout from new BBQ place in town

What we ate in February

 Week 1

-Wings and other assorted junk foods for Super Bowl
-Grilled pork chops w/ sweet potato & some green veggie to be determined later
-Meatloaf w/ corn and carrots
-Mac & Cheese w/ broccoli (MM)

Week 2 

-Homemade naan pizza for national pizza day w/ salad
-Meatloaf with cauli-tater mash and carrots
-Chicken apple sausage with wild rice blend & veg (probably broccoli? Whatever I find in the freezer)
-Baked beans, cornbread & salad (vegetarian)

Week 3

-Sloppy Joes Plus (aka sloppy joes made with a combo of beef and lentils) and salad
-Gumbo (I’m using a premade mix with a little extra veggies and a tweak here and there) over rice
-Greek marinated chicken drumsticks and Trader Joe’s Harvest blend with veggies added

Week 4

-BBQ chicken drumsticks with cheesy cauliflower & potato bake and green beans
-Shrimp & veggie alfredo pasta
-Christmas limas with onion and bacon over barley (or farro, or wild rice blend, haven’t decided)

What we ate in January

 Week 1

-Smoked turkey, kale and bean soup - made like the picture, omitting the tomatoes and adding potatoes, possibly cream.
-Korean BBQ beef tacos, salad. (No recipe, just using a jarred sauce over shredded beef made in the instant pot.)
-Finishing leftover curry and black eyed pea stew from last week.

Week 2

-Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup and green salad
-Ground lamb, kale and Trader Joe’s Harvest Grain Blend cooked in the instant pot (Got the idea from this recipe for salad but this will be tweaked a bit to add the lamb and served warm.) I may have some extra veggie on the side.
-Rotisserie chicken, green beans and potatoes (cause I’m too tired to cook tonight!)

Week 3

-Beef and barley soup
-Black bean sweet potato enchiladas and calabacitas (Mexican squash & corn casserole)
-Baked ziti with salad

Week 4 (week before Super Bowl)

-Clam chowder and salad with sourdough bread (for the 49ers)
-Pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw (for Kansas City)
-Finish leftover enchiladas
-I might need something else, so possibilities are meat & lentil loaf with mashed potatoes and carrots, mac and cheese or chili mac soup. I’ll see what we are in the mood for.