Meal Plan Monday 5-24-21

 Things have been busy around here!  

Easter
First Communion
Baseball
Picking up oldest from college
End of the school year activities

This is the last week of school.  Of course, the 8 year old is home sick the last Monday of the school year.  How very Monday-ish. 

So we or may not have baseball this week depending on how he's feeling.  He was supposed to play tonight, but that is not going to happen.  Poor kid has had the worst time of it lately.  At the end of April he got hit in the face with a bat (trip to ER, broken tooth, no stitches), last Wednesday he fell off the swings at school and had a slight concussion, and now today he's sick.  He needs a break!

Since this is the last week of school, you would think that I would have some things planned for this summer.  You would be wrong on that front.  The older I get, the more of a slacker I become in this area.  We do have vacation planned.  But that's about it.   We belong to a swim club so I'm guessing that is where we will be spending most of our time since I'm already paying for it.  I'd also like to get to the zoo.  And on rainy days I want to take him to the history museum, the art museum, and possibly the science museum.  And he's requested bowling.  The older two will be working so they can join us on days off.

I should probably put a "summer meal plan" together, but I'm not there yet.  I did get a membership at Costco, so I plan to stock up on snacks and meat.  My downstairs fridge is already loaded with chicken sausage and smoked sausages for nights we set up the fire pit.

Last week of school meal plan:

Friday:  Fish Tacos

Saturday:  Chicken kabobs and mushroom and potato kabobs on the grill

Sunday:  Roasted chicken (I roasted two for left overs for lunch), watermelon, and mixed veg

Monday:  Tater Tot casserole

Tuesday:  Pressure Cooker Salsa Chicken with Cream Cheese

Wednesday:  Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup

Thursday:  Last Day of School Pizza Celebration


So this is it for the 2020-2021 school year.  It has been better than 2019-2020 that's for sure!  But I'm hoping that 2021-2022 is even more back to normal.  The 21-22 school year will bring us a college sophomore, a 3rd grader, and a high school senior.  When I started my first blog, the senior child was 2 years old.  How is this even possible?  I remember my mother telling me that the older you get, the faster time goes by.  At the time, I didn't understand (I was a teen).  But now I get it.  I really do.

But bring on Summer 2021!  We are ready for you.  And I, for one, am looking forward to lazy days and family time.  

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Freezer Meals for Busy Baseball Moms

 Like I said in my previous post, baseball season makes it really hard to plan meals when things are a moving target.  Once practices are done and they are only playing games, it should get a bit easier.  But until then, I really needed to up my meal planning game.  It took me from 11 am until 2 pm yesterday, but I was able to get several meal options in the freezer. 

The first thing I did was to make two 2 pound batches of venison taco meat.  My guys could eat tacos every day so this one was a no brainer.  I browned up the ground venison, added taco seasoning and once it was cooled, I divided it up between to freezer bags.

The next item up was to make hamburger patties to freeze individually.  The grocery store had ground beef and ground turkey on sale (not a fabulous sale but a sale nonetheless). So I bought 6 pounds of ground beef (80/20) and some lean ground turkey.  I managed to get 36 beef burger patties and 4 turkey burger patties (should have been 8 patties but one of my packages of turkey smelled TERRIBLE so I tossed it).  I froze the burgers on a sheet pan with a layer of wax paper between them.  Once frozen, I put them in freezer bags.

 

 Next up was two servings of  Slow Cooker Broccoli Beef and two servings of Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

So all together, that should give me 12-14 meals that I can pull out and use in a hurry.

I also had some bananas going bad, so I decided to make some THM Chocolate Banana Muffins for the Hubby and the Little Guy to have for breakfast this week.

There are many great recipes on Pinterest for freezer cooking.  I happen to be partial to Jamerill Stewart at Large Family Table and even though my family isn't as large as hers, I can modify portion sizes to fit our family of five.

I wanted to make this Keto Meatball Recipe but ran out of meat and time.

I have made this Twice Baked Potato freezer side dish in the past and they are fantastic.  I hope to be able to make them again some time after the Easter holiday.  

Do you have any favorite freezer meal recipes that you use?  Leave a comment below and let me know.  I'm always looking for new ideas.

The Best of 2020: Recipe Addition

Of all the things 2020 gave us, we seemed to get a renewed interest in cooking, gardening, and apparently making sourdough bread.  While I didn't personally make sourdough bread, I did do a lot of cooking.  The following are some of my favorite NEW recipes from 2020.

1.  Mississippi Chicken by Plain Chicken
It's just got a good flavor and is so juicy.  

2.  Sticky, Sweet, and Spicy Meatballs from Our Happy Mess
I call these sriracha meatballs.  I use gluten free panko crumbs and skip the egg to make these allergy friendly for our family.  I like to serve them over brown rice with steamed broccoli on the side.
  
3.  Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet from Budget Bytes
This is a good "bulk" meal to feed my hungry men.  It can be done cost effective and fills up their bellies.  The olives and the feta give it great flavor.  

4.  Easy Taco Mac from Maebell's Simply Easy Recipes.
Another good bulk meal.  My people love all things "taco".  This more than fits the bill and again, can be done economically.  

5.  Triple Decker Club Sandwich from Oh Sweet Basil
I'm not sure why I don't think of sandwiches for dinner more often, but I don't.  I make these to everyone's taste.  One is allergic to mayo so I leave that off for him.  Two don't like avocados so I leave those off for them and give extra avocado to the child obsessed with them.  Sandwiches can be quick and are great in the summer when it's hot out and you don't feel like cooking.

6. Fast and Easy Pesto Lasagna from Food & Wine
I used a nut free jarred Pesto sauce, gluten free lasagna noodles, and skipped the egg.  Easy and allergy friendly.

7.  Smothered Philly Cheese Cube Steak from Melissa's  Southern Style Kitchen
We bought a quarter cow last year and it came with cube steaks.  I never used cube steaks before and didn't have a clue what to do with them.  This recipe was a real crowd pleaser.  I used gluten free buns for the child with food allergies.  Just be careful if you put buns under the broiler.  They go FAST and I incinerated the first batch.

Some Extras:

8.  Pressure Cooker Beans from A Mindfull Mom
I ALWAYS forget to soak the beans.  With this recipe, you don't have to.  

9.  Teriyaki Sauce from The Genuine Table
I have a hard time finding allergy friendly teriyaki sauce.  Now I can just make my own.

10.  Sweet and Spicy Asian Coleslaw
We did garden this year.  And I got several giant cabbage.  Two children refuse to eat cabbage and one of those children has the food allergies.  I made the recipe as is, but if he liked cabbage, I would have subbed the mayo with a vegan version.  

You can find photos of most of these over on The Prayer, Grace, and Tea Instagram

I would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to all the workers of Giant Eagle Curbside and Delivery, Instacart Pick Up and Delivery, and Walmart Store Pick Up for all their hard work keeping us in food this year.  I am so grateful to you for all your hard work when I either couldn't get into the store or didn't feel safe going into the store.  My son works in the meat department of Giant Eagle so I know exactly how hard you all worked and what you had to go through.  THANK YOU!