menu: Feb 28th-Mar 2nd

I know I haven't posted a couple of recipes up yet, but just haven't had the time recently. Hopefully I'll get some posted this week! I made this new menu up quickly, so I'm not trying out any new recipes for me. I'm going to be gone for over a week in a couple of weeks too, so I had to find meals that DH would be willing to cook for himself. Banquet frozen meals just won't cut it for me. Poor guy. ;) I thought about making some meals and freezing them, but I realized that I'll be lucky to make a lasagna to freeze for when I get back. Working longer hours and gotta get ready for my trip (going home to see family, friends, and a wedding!). Expect some new recipes next months though - my grandmother sent me 5 new cookbooks recently along with some old written recipes from her and her mother! Can't wait to read through them and decide what to make next! :D

28^th Saturday (shop for the week)

28^th Saturday Diner: steak, roasted red potatoes, frozen corn, artisan bread

1^st Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: applesauce pancakes

1^st Sunday Dinner: cheese stuffed shells, artisan bread, bake Amish bread for later in week

2^nd – 6^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. Sesame chicken, frozen meal
2. Asian beef noodle bowl
3. Grilled cheese and tomato soup
4. Chicken helper with extra veggies added
5. Sausage, tomato, and cream pasta

7^th Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: breakfast wraps (go shopping for rest of menu)

7^th Saturday Dinner: Baked Chicken Spaghetti (or pineapple pork chops)

8^th Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: homemade biscuits

8^th Sunday Dinner: Calzones (use leftover sausage)
***Make and freeze lasagna***

9^th – 13^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. chicken parmesan
2. Taco bake
3. Beef wraps
4. Chicken and pasta in white cream sauce
5. Out to eat

3/14 – 3/22 Jackie gone; Chris Meals:

1. Frozen pizza
2. Sandwiches
3. Quesadillas
4. Can Soup
5. Hot dogs with mac and cheese
6. Salad
7. Hamburgers
8. Leftovers
9. Eat Out/ Order In

23^rd – 27^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. Lasagna (frozen)
2. Leftover lasagna
3. Hamburger Helper cheesy hashbrowns, veggie side
4. Spicy chicken stir-fry
5. Out to eat

Recipes leading up to V-Day

Went commissary shopping Sunday. I didn't have many coupons this time around, but I managed to only spend $112. I will have to go back out for spinach and Ramona cheese - they were out! When we get back from being out of town, we'll have to pick up milk and some fruit for the week. Otherwise, we're set for 3 weeks! Yay! lol.

 Sunday night we grilled out kabobs with chicken, onion, green bell pepper, and red bell pepper. I marinated it all in zesty Italian dressing, and it was the yummiest ever! I also baked homemade fries in the oven. Also easy, and extremely tasty. 

We had chicken taco salads tonight. I threw two large chicken breasts in the crockpot along with a can of diced tomatoes (no salt added), homemade taco seasoning, and a can of diced chilies. Very yummy and spicy! There was enough for two large salads and two more lunch sized helpings. 

Tomato and Spinach Pasta Toss

Cheesy One-Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Just a note. While I post kraftfoods.com recipes, I often just loosely follow it. A lot of their recipes are easy and basic. It doesn't take much to make it healthier or to change it a bit. I don't really have my own adapted recipes of many of these such recipes cause I tend to do something slightly different each time depending on what I have available. 

Baked Fudge - I'm hoping this will satisfy my chocolate craving. :D I'm also debating picking up some strawberries to dip in chocolate - they're on sale at my local grocery! 

To Die For Fettuccine Alfredo - using this for the sauce. One of our favorites, though we rarely eat it. I love making my own pasta when I have the time, so I'll be making spinach pasta! Yummy!

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

·      1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

·      ½ teaspoon salt

·      1 cup milk

·      2 eggs, beaten

·      ½ cup applesauce

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      vanilla yogurt, for topping 

Directions

      Preheat oven to 325*F. In a large bowl combine the oatmeal, baking powder, and salt. Mix in milk, eggs, applesauce, and brown sugar. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake at 325* for 45 minutes. Serve warm or hot, topping each with vanilla yogurt.

Menu: Feb 7 - 28

8^th Sunday Dinner: chicken kabobs, also grill hamburgers for Monday night

9^th – 13^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1.  Chicken taco salads
2. Beef wraps
3. Tomato and Spinach pasta toss
4. Cheesy one-pot chicken cacciatore
5.  (Mon) Hamburgers, au gratin potatoes, veggies

14^th Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: leftovers

14^th Saturday Dinner: homemade shrimp and spinach alfrado, baked fudge for dessert

15^th Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: Baked Oatmeal

15^th Sunday Dinner: leftovers

16^th Monday Breakfast/Lunch: Scrambled eggs and homemade biscuits

16^th Monday Dinner: out to eat

17^th-19^th: Tuesday - Thursday Meals:

1. Apple chicken quesadillas
2. Red beans and rice with smoked sausage
3. Frozen meal 1

Out of town 20^th, 21^st, and returning 22^nd.

22^nd Sunday Dinner: frozen pizzas

23^rd Monday Dinner: Creamy Chicken and Noodles

24^th – 27^th Tuesday – Friday Meals:

1. Baked fish, steamed rice, and veggie
2. Frozen ravioli
3. Spicy chicken stir-fry
4. Frozen meal 2

Grocery money and recipes...

A post on a military wives' group online got me thinking. Apparently DH and I do a great job of spending money wisely on food. I thought we did okay, but that we could be doing a lot better. After multiple posts the past few weeks on grocery budgets, I feel better about our food costs. We went to the commissary Saturday and spent $112.42 on food. A couple of items will not be completely used up this menu, or I bought it for next menu cause I had coupons that were about to expire. If I only bought exactly what we had to have, it would have been $10 cheaper. 

Anyways, some recipes...

Stove Top Chicken - found this in my last Southern Living magazine. Made for some very yummy chicken and some very flavorful broth! I changed the recipe they gave slightly - cause a couple of parts didn't make any sense at all. Basically I washed the chicken (4.5 lbs) and dug out the icky parts. I rubbed the chicken with a mixture of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Heated up a dutch oven. Put the chicken in breast side down with 1/4 cup blush wine (white is used, but I didn't have any of that already open) and 1/4 cup water. Brought to a boil, then covered. Cooked for one full hour (till 180*). YUMMY. I saved the broth to use for later. While I do occasionally buy carton and canned broth, I'll use my own if I have it. Now what they said to do was drop butter in the dutch oven while heating, brown the breast side of the chicken for 5 minutes. Then flip and add the wine and water mixture. Well, that's just stupid cause as soon as you put the lid on, condensation happens and the browned part just creates a brown mush skin. After all, I don't care about the skin - I care about the yummy meat! The meat was very good, and once I took all the meat off we had enough chicken to make two meals. :D

Meatloaf

Tonight we had MIL spaghetti. Remember awhile back when DH decided that he was going to cook his mother's spaghetti sauce? Well, we ate half of it for a dinner that night. I froze the other half and we had it tonight. There's still some leftover too - that'll become DHs lunch later in the week. 

I can't find one of the items that I need to make the cheesy chicken and potatoes, so I think I'm just going to invent something for that instead. lol. Yep, invent something with what I do have for that meal. Who knows what we'll end up with, but I'm sure it'll be edible!

I've never attempted a Jambalaya before. I've never had true NO style Jambalaya before either. But the 14th edition of BH&G's Cookbook has a recipe, and I'm going to try it! It has sausage and shrimp and rice....and well,  I love sausage, shrimp, and rice. I'll post it after I try it and type it up. 

Menu: Jan 24 - Feb 7

Weekend Baking: Apple Crisp

24^th Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: Egg in a Hole

24^th Saturday Diner: Stove Top Chicken, homemade mac and cheese, and veggie

25^th Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: Applesauce pancakes

25^th Sunday Dinner: Meatloaf, leftover mac and cheese, and veggie

26^th – 30^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. Cheesy Chicken and Potatoes
2. Leftover MILs spaghetti
3. Chicken Parmesan
4. Jambalaya
5. leftovers

Weekend Baking: none

31^st Saturday Breakfast/Lunch: oatmeal and apples

31^st Saturday Dinner: Beer Batter Fish and fries

1^st Sunday Breakfast/Lunch: scrambled eggs and biscuits

1^st Sunday Dinner: Superbowl Sunday Party somewhere – spicy bean salsa

2^nd-6^th: Monday – Friday Meals:

1. Beef Noodle Bowl
2. Frozen pizzas
3. Grilled cheese and frozen veggies
4. Cheesy chicken and rice casserole
5.  Out to eat (cheap Chinese)