Shopping Day ~Menu

I'm pleased t report that we did pretty well last time, but I hope to stick to the menu even better this time. I'm also hoping to get some chili made up to freeze to have on hand for back up dinners. :)

Breakfasts- Bagels and/or cereal

Snack- Animal crackers and or yogurt

Lunches- Sandwiches- pb&j or grilled cheese

Snack- "finger cookies", raisins etc.

Dinners-

Cheeseburgers and F.F.

Joseph's chicken, salad, rolls

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, vegies

Spaghetti w/ meat sauce, garlic bread, salad (brownies for desert)

Pizza and sundaes (family night)

Left overs or chili and cornbread (depending on left overs quantities)

Off to the store!

Speaking of Food...

This is a pizza I made last week. Just a simple pizza crust, covered with bbq chicken (I baked the breasts, then chopped them and tossed them with bbq sauce), zucchini, summer squash, tiny red onions and fiesta blend cheese. On the very top I added orange cherry tomatoes (my favorite!) and baked the whole thing. It was SO good! Very summer-time-y. :)

Menus

Inspired by Emily's post on menu planning, I thought I would start sharing our menus. They are nothing fancy, and I am always learning on this front, but I like seeing such things on other blogs, so I thought I'd share. :) I have a few things that I try to keep in mind when menu planning...

What do I already have?

What sorts of local produce will we be getting in our CSA share?

Add least two new recipes

The other important things to mention are that I plan for two weeks at a time, sometimes 10-12 different dinners, sometimes 5 or 6 that get rotated twice. I try to factor in snacks so that we keep everyone's blood sugar levels up and friendly, and try to balance frugality, healthiness and yumminess. :) We've just started doing family night on Saturday, and we try to fit in a date night or two over the two weeks. This is probably the lamest one we've had in a while, in terms of healthiness, but I felt the early stages of a fever/cold while making it and I needed simple things

Menu~ August 15-28

Breakfasts~ Bagels or oatmeal, OJ (coffee!!)

Snack~ pretzel sticks

Lunch~ pb&j/grilled cheese/turkey & cheese, milk, "finger cookies" maybe raisins etc.

Snack~ animal crackers & raisins

Dinners~

Spicy Spaghetti Pie

Cheeseburgers & french fries

Fried Rice

Stuffed Peppers, flavored rice

Chili & cornbread

Pizza (family night), Banana splits/Sundaes

Date night or leftover night (in a pinch we'll do eggs and pancakes)

Desert/Snack~ (mostly for grown ups after babies are in bed!) Ice cream/Oreos/Chips

So there it is! My new recipe this week is spaghetti sauce, I'm starting with whole tomatoes, so we'll see what happens! So how do you menu plan? What's on your menus right now?

Works in Progress...

The simple fact is that I have to many projects on my needles. So I'm picking two that I want to get done first and those are my priorities until they're done. I don't mind having multiple things going, but I think that 3 or 4 would suffice, all available needles might be a bit much. ;) Here's a peak at those two projects...

"Toast" for Eliza...

Ribbed scarf for Joseph

Oh, and for any readers who are on Ravelry (the very best resource for knitters and crocheters) you can look me up under MackenzieH.

Happy Birthday to Zelie....

My baby sister turned 3 yesterday! She's pretty convinced that she is Dora (the explorer) so I thought this would sort of capture her last year and be fun for the next one. :) I used an o.o.p. pattern that I really like. I took the pictures before I had sewn the ribbon on around the waist...

Coming Soon...

My first tutorial! I just have to pull together a few more pictures and then I'll show you how I made these fun not-so-little bibs...