CHRISTEPHI

Monday : Beef stir fry with radishes, fresh greens, bell peppers, onions and carrots (all from CSA) Tuesday : Potato soup and fresh breadsticks Wednesday : Baked chicken, green salad, rice Thursday : Meatless spaghetti Friday : Butternut squash parmesan Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Chicken fried rice with more CSA veggies

Monday : Pork chops, fried eggs, green beans, rice Tuesday : Baked chicken breast, baby butternut squash, rice Wednesday : Potato soup Thursday : Southwest chicken w/ homemade salsa, corn chips Friday : Stuffed acorn squash Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Bean burritos

I used part of this week's grocery budget last week to buy scrumptious peaches and plums on sale ($0.99 per pound is probably the cheapest we'll see till next year!) and put up 12 jars of sliced peaches, some peach jelly, and plum butter.  I also bought cantaloupes at $0.99 each that I sliced up and put in the freezer.  So my menu will be based on a slightly smaller budget this week.  About $55 instead of $75. Monday : Runzas Tuesday : Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green salad Wednesday : Corned beef, fried eggs, Brussels sprouts, rice = Hubby's favorite meal! Thursday : Chickpea curry and rice Friday : Black bean burgers with sweet corn Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Ham and potato casserole

Monday : Asian corn cakes, sweet potato casserole, rice Tuesday : Hot roast beef sandwiches Wednesday : Pancakes for supper! Thursday : Oriental chicken in the crockpot, broccoli, rice Friday : Chili Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Chicken curry, rice

I had my meal plan ready, just forgot to schedule it for Monday! :-) Monday : Labor Day meal with family, supper is popcorn, sliced cheese, fruit Tuesday : Personal pepperoni pizzas Wednesday : Grilled chicken with acorn squash and rice Thursday : Potato soup with fresh sourdough bread Friday : Chicken enchiladas Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Grilled cheese and fresh tomato soup

Last week's meals got juggled around a bit and we ate out a couple days, so there are some repeat meals on this week's menu! Monday : Creamed tuna on toast, cantaloupe Tuesday : Asian beef and noodles with stir fry veggies Wednesday : Spaghetti, garlic toast, carrot and celery sticks Thursday : Black bean burgers Friday : Ham and eggs with potatoes Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Personal pizzas

Our CSA got hit by a terrible hail storm the end of last week.  Our week's share was completely destroyed.  Thankfully, none of the farmers' main buildings or animals were harmed! Monday : Eggs, homemade hashbrowns, sausage Tuesday : Chicken parmesan, salad, french bread Wednesday : Black bean burgers, mozzarella, lettuce, salsa Thursday : Meatballs, broccoli, rice Friday : Chicken stir fry Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Creamed tuna on toast Despite needing several higher priced items all at once, I did well staying within my budget this week!

To keep myself from wandering aimlessly around the grocery store, spending twice as much as planned, and coming home without half the things I needed, I decided to get myself back into the habit of planning meals for the week before I go shopping! We have a budget of $75 per week for the four of us.  Hubby's lunches are very dull...he prefers the same thing day after day.  I typically eat leftovers for my lunch while the kids eat simple sandwiches, bits of cheese, and animal crackers for dessert.  That leaves just suppers to be planned. Monday : Spaghetti, garlic toast, carrot and celery sticks Tuesday : Pot roast, potatoes, corn Wednesday : Nachos Thursday : Asian beef and noodles Friday : Meatballs, mashed potatoes, broccoli Saturday : Leftovers Sunday : Italian chicken tenders, rice, green beans This week I have most of what I need on hand, so I plan to use the remainder of the budgeted amount to lay in a supply of canned goods that are on sale.

My grandma, my father's mother, has a tradition.  Whenever she shares a recipe, she intentionally leaves out an ingredient.  This is a tradition passed down from her mother and  her mother's mother.  Still, sharing her runza recipe with her preteen granddaughter must fall under a slightly different category, because I'm quite certain I got it in its entirety when I copied it down years ago. Runza's are very simply meat and cabbage wrapped up in bread dough and baked, but to many who have lived in Nebraska they are the stuff of legend.  The ultimate comfort food.  I hear the practice has been discontinued, but when I was a kid growing up, the local Runza restaurants had a deal going in the winter that whatever the temperature was at 6 am, that's how much runzas were that day.  (Of course, you had to buy a drink to get the deal).  So if it was 20 degrees out, runzas sold for $0.20.  If it was zero or below, runzas were free! With...

I'm happy to announce that the nilaga turned out quite well...sufficiently like my mother-in-law's to pass the critical "Hubby Test." It makes enough to feed an entire clan, so we'll be having it again a few more times this week. I based mine off of this recipe .  I added one seeded jalapeño from the garden 'cause I know my mother-in-law does.  It only stayed in while the meat cooked (which took way longer than the 1 hour the recipe says!); I took it out before adding the other vegetables.  Miss M only ate rice and broth, no veggies or meat; hubby ate a plate of rice with veggies and meat, but no broth; and what you see above is my bowl before I added rice. When I woke up this morning, the weather forecast said 90% chance of rain and while it didn't rain very hard, we did get a bit of a shower. Since there wasn't any thunder, I let Miss M play outside with her "bra-lella." She's wearing her "Wendy" dress.  Wh...

Today's the first day of our no-spend week. I did what I could this weekend to plan and prepare, so we'll see how it all goes! But first...  We went to a parade Saturday!  Miss M has been begging to see a parade (and, in fact, "seeing" them in the most unlikely places), so when I heard there was to be a parade at the Parkville Days celebration, we decided we just had to go. There were two marching bands, clowns, a carnival, pony rides, and one very happy toddler!  You couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. We got hungry, but opted to buy a small snack rather than spend an arm and a leg for carnival food that most likely would have been less than satisfactory portion-wise.  That saw us through the rest of our errands and we ate at home. I made my meal menu that night. I doubt anyone plans meals quite like I do, but who knows, maybe my way could be helpful to someone else at some point.  Instead of planning specifically what I'll cook on ...

Yesterday afternoon Miss M was asking for sweets  (nothing new there!), since I was in the mood to bake something, I pulled out a cookbook and handed it to her. "Find some cookies and I'll see if we have the ingredients to make them." She picked Frosted Fudge Brownies from the Taste of Home's Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2005 . (By the way, it's a pretty good cookbook, if you're in the market for one). I'm not a huge brownie fan or even much of a chocoholic, but I had (almost) all the ingredients and was willing to give it a try. I was short an egg, but it didn't seem to matter too much. I was also out of powdered sugar, but since we were doing our fortnightly grocery shopping last night, I figured I'd just pick up some then and frost the brownies afterwards. Miss M loves running the electric hand mixer and she did well this time -- meaning she didn't fling batter all over the walls. She was very excited to announce that "we're...

I don't know how people with kids eat vegan. I really don't. We're not vegan or vegetarian or anything, but I am having such a hard time getting Miss M to eat healthy. She won't touch vegetables or fruit. She eats bread (especially crackers and pasta) well. She loves cheese. She does moderately well with chicken and beef.  And she takes a daily multiple vitamin. But she has a serious sweet tooth (thanks to her father!) and is constantly asking for sweets instead of eating her real food. Asking for sweets, not getting sweets, mind you. Here's how the morning went.  She had a bite of my "midnight snack" last night -- a bowl of oatmeal -- and liked it. So she asks for some this morning. She stirs it, nibbles a bit, and asks for juice. Okay, so I give her apple juice. She's allowed to have 2 half-glasses a day (any more than that and she gets the runs).  Next thing you know she's asking for chocolate (as if I ever give her chocolate for breakfast)!  T...