Menu Plan 10/21-10/27/22: Feeding the Family

 Happy Monday!  We spent this past weekend at Family Weekend at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  It was such a blessing to spend time with our two boys.  I miss them!  We had a really nice time.  They'll be home in a month for Thanksgiving and I can't wait. 

We stayed at the same place we stayed last year, Hueston Woods.  It's a state park and it isn't anything fancy, but the choices by the school are limited.  It's very nice and I highly recommend it.  It's a bit dated and has a 1970's vibe to it, but the boys describe it as "cozy" and I agree.  The restaurant there has decent food, and the best part is that they are able to cook for J and his food allergies.  We are hoping to stay there again next year.

This week's menu is bit thrown together, but we will still be feeding the family:

Friday:  Out at Hueston Woods (I shared fried pickle chips with M and M and had a Greek Flatbread)

Saturday:  Out at Hueston Woods (I ordered house made potato chips with pulled pork, but was still too full from tailgating so I ended up taking them to go and gave them to the hubby),

Sunday:  Dirty Rice

Monday:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Tuesday:  Turkey Tacos

Wednesday:  Cavatelli 

Thursday:  Clean up

Saturdays Tailgating Menu:

We have a Camp Stove (similar to Blackstone) and we made cheeseburgers, bacon wrapped footlongs, and loaded tater tots (which were the biggest hit).  I also made chili at home and brought it along with the slow cooker.  My car has a "plug" in it but we discovered that it only works when the car is ON and the car shuts itself off after a few minutes.  That part of the plan ended up being a bust.  We did heat the chili on top of the griddle, but I would skip the chili for future tailgating.  It was more of a pain that it was worth.

I brought the 5lb bag of tater tots and we cooked 1/2 a bag at a time.  Start cooking the tots first in a little oil.  While those are cooking, fry up the bacon (the tots will cook in some of the bacon grease, and it makes them even more delicious).  You have to keep flipping the tots to get them all crispy.  It also helps to smash them down a little bit once they are fairly cooked.  Add the bacon, cheese, and green onion to the top and cover to melt.  The boys have already requested these again for next year and I'll probably bring two 5 lb bags of tots.  

I bought all beef footlong hot dogs from Costco and wrapped those in bacon (1.5 slices per dog).  The boys LOVED these too.  And I made 16 quarter pound burgers using the easiest burger maker on the planet (will post that at a later date).  They boys were full when they left, and we sent them home with extra burgers and dogs.  

I hope you have a wonder week!!

Menu Plan for the week of 9/8-9/15

 Do you feel like you are losing inspiration on what to cook?  I do.  I feel like I make the same things over and over again, or I feel just uninspired.  But we have to eat.

The older boys are at college, so that means that I'm just cooking for the three of us.  Adjusting my cooking and my serving sizes has been interesting and a bit daunting.    We have had A LOT of leftovers.  The good thing with all this is that my grocery budget has gone down, and when I get the hang of cooking for three, it should go down even more (but I miss those guys and would take a heavier budget if it meant having them home).

I've also been cooking things that my middle son is allergic to.  With him away at college, I feel safe cooking wheat pasta and using flour.  Of course, I am still keeping my pans safe for when he comes home.  I have a limited set of pans that I used for non-allergy safe foods.

Thursday 9/8:  Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup
I based my soup off of this recipe but I made it my own.  I started by sautéing celery, carrots, and onion in butter.  Once those were softened and fragrant, I added in the other ingredients except for the cream of chicken soup.  I just didn't feel like making my own that morning, so I left it out. And I added in 32 ounces of chicken stock and a ham bone that I found in the freezer (that's why my soup will look beige in the photo, it was from a smoked ham. The ham bone added a really nice depth of flavor to the soup).  I also added a cup of heavy cream about an hour before the soup was done.  I dissolved a tablespoon of corn starch in the cream before added to help thicken the soup.  It turned out really well.

Friday 9/9:  Mrs. T's Pierogis
The Little One had a football night on Friday and I was pressed for time.  And honestly, I think I need to add in some convenience foods into my menu every so often.  Mama needs a break.  Fridays are meatless at our house, and this was a quick and easy dinner, and it ended up being a big hit.  I haven't made these in a long time.  I used to sauté or boil them.  But the directions said you could also put them in the oven, and I think that is now my favorite way to make them.  After they were cooked, I poured some melted butter over them and we really enjoyed that simple, cost-effective dinner. 

Saturday 9/10:  Homemade pizza
This will be my first time of making homemade pizza dough in almost 20 years.  J is deathly allergic to wheat, so I don't use wheat flour when he is around.  But I thought it would be nice for us to do that for pizza night.  It's also cost effective, and I like being able to control the ingredients that I use.  

Sunday 9/11:  Homemade Sauce, Meatballs, and Rigatoni
Sunday pasta dinner is always so good.  But I have an ulterior motive for doing this today.  Tuesday I'm doing a Meal Train meal for a family from our church, and I'm doing an Italian night for them. I've been doing this about once a month, and I try to do a different theme every time.  I'm making the sauce and meatballs on Sunday when I have more time.  I will be serving them on Tuesday and I'm using cheese ravioli since the mom needs to have soft foods.  

Monday 9/12: Beef Ramen Noodles

Tuesday 9/13:  This is the Meal Train Night. Homemade sauce, meatballs, cheese ravioli, salad, garlic bread, and cookies
We are having the same, but without the cookies.

Wednesday 9/14:  Grilled Mexican Chicken Thighs, rice, and vegetables

Thursday 9/15:  Clean up night

I'm really trying to get my grocery budget down.  I've been using Walmart more frequently since they have fairly good prices.  And I fill in at our local grocery with things that Walmart doesn't have.  We also Joined a CSA this summer and we pick up our produce box on 
Thursdays (this coming Thursday will be our last of the season, but we are surrounded by local farms, so I feel really blessed to be able to get fresh, local produce).  The price of everything has skyrocketed and I need to cut costs on what I can.  Food is the biggest way that I can have control over the budget.  I really am trying so you may see some different things on my menu plans.  I am still trying to eat cheaply but keep it as healthy as I can.  If you have any cost saving advice, please let it in comments.  

Have a blessed week ahead!!

Follow Me on Instagram for more feeding the family inspiration and for cute puppy pictures.

Weekly Meal Plan 1/7 thru 1/13

New Year, New Menu.  I had a menu plan for last week, but due to Covid, I really didn't adhere to it at all.  Lucky for us, New Year's Day menu was to smoke a ham and a pork butt.  That fed the boys while I was out of commission (but they are completely porked out!),

Friday 1/7 (meatless Friday):  Spicey GF Pasta with garlic and oil, rolls

Saturday 1/8:  Shake N Frank Chicken, mashed potatoes, and vegetable.  (I found Tastemade and Struggle Meals while recuperating).  I will use gluten free panko for this recipe and I'm looking forward to trying it because it already doesn't use eggs only the buttermilk.

Sunday 1/9:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Monday 1/10:  Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken from The Gunny Sack

Tuesday 1/11:  Turkey Tacos

Wednesday 1/12:  BLT Club Wraps with salad

Thursday 1/13:  Gluten free pasta with homemade sauce, rolls, salad