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Posts Tagged ‘Menu Planning’

Hello and good morning to all my wonderful readers!  Please join me and so many other bloggers over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.  I am hopeful that this week’s plan goes a little better than last week’s.  Whew, last week was a blur for me.  Between multiple court days and over 600 new juror questionnaires being sent out at work to doing some home improvement planning, I am just about worn out.  It all works out in the end though because I am officially on vacation this week. Woo hoo!

It will mostly be a home-based vacation with a very short getaway sometime during the week and I am so ready for the time off.  Last week’s plan went pretty well considering how wild it was, but a couple of things had to be dropped off the list, namely the pork loin and brownie recipes.  I probably need to drop the sweets way back because I have had way too much of a sweet tooth lately and I am starting to feel it.  Here is this week’s list and it is a little short since I am not sure how much we will be home.  I hope everyone has an awesome and blessed week!

Famous pork chops with oven fries & scalloped pineapple

Tacos & fresh fruit

Chili

Honey butter pork loin (I am going to try this one more time.) with butter roasted potatoes

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Welcome to Fall, Y’all!  The temperatures sure have cooled off here in Central Kentucky and we had our first real frost possibility last night.  Cooler temperatures always make me want to cook more if that’s possible.  Before we get to what went on around here over the weekend and this week’s menu plan, I have a little weather predicting to do for you.

A co-worker of C’s uses Edmodo which is an online community for educators.  C uses this, too, and follows this particular co-worker on there.  He found this link to a Louisville television station and its report on the Old Farmer’s Almanac folklore of predicting winter weather using a persimmon seed on her feed.  Since we have an abundances of persimmons behind our house, C & I decided to give it a try.  Here is the premise:  slice a persimmon seed in half (not an easy thing to do…watch those fingers) and look at the membrane inside.  If it is shaped like a spoon there will be a lot of snow this winter.  If it is shaped like a knife, the winter will be very cold and windy.  A fork is what you want because it means a nice and mild winter.  Guess which one we got on all 3 seeds we checked?

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Yep, they are all spoons!  The one on the top right MIGHT be a fork, but I think it is a spoon.  I am not the biggest fan of winter weather so this really was not what I wanted to see.  In a few months, we will see how accurate those seeds are.

Now back to our regular programming.  Not much cooking went on around here this weekend.  Saturday I spent most of the day with my co-workers shopping on the Roller Coaster Yard Sale.  I found a few bargains like a wooden china cabinet/hutch that is in really good shape and only needs sanding and either staining or painting.  It was a steal at only $60 and will look great in our upstairs hallway.  I also found some random 8×10” photo frames that I am going to paint to use upstairs as well.  I bought 8 frames for a total of $7.50.   The design of the frame was not all that important since I will make them cohesive by painting them the same color, white for the green bedroom and black or silver for the purple one. 

The one thing I did not accomplish last week was grocery shopping.  Oh, well.  We are still in good shape so I think I will postpone that until next week.  One more thing, the honey butter pork loin did not get made in favor of shredded pork bbq made with cherry barbecue sauce I got at Huber’s Orchard & Winery.  That story will be coming soon.

Leftover shredded bbq with oven fries

Grilled hamburgers with oven fries

Sausage bake with fresh fruit

Honey Butter Pork Loin Meatloaf (had a change of taste) with fries

Pizza night

Oreo truffle brownies (ran out of time) (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Happy October, everyone! It is Monday again, so please join me and other menu planners over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.  I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is looking forward to another one.  C & I attended my dad’s family reunion yesterday and a good time was had by all.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and I am very thankful for that since it was an outdoor reunion. 

This Thursday I am planning on taking my Nanny and Aunt Mona to Huber’s Orchard and Joe Huber’s Family Farm and Restaurant in Starlight, Indiana.  It will be the first trip for us there and it was all Nanny’s idea when she saw a commercial on television.  It should be a lot of fun!  Then Saturday, I am planning to go treasure hunting with my co-workers on the Roller Coaster Yard Sale.  There are a few pieces of furniture such as occasional tables and maybe a wooden chair or two that I would like for our house, but I am too cheap to pay retail. I would also LOVE to find an old trunk to use as an end table.  Hopefully there will be a few diamonds in the rough out there that I can refinish on the cheap.

This week is also grocery shopping week.  Yay…not.  Because of that, this week’s menu may be a little short.

Deep Dish Pizza

Grilled pork chops with oven fries

Chili

Honey butter pork tenderloin (new)

Grocery shopping-eat out night

Pizza night

Apple dumplings (if I have time)

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Menu Plan Monday!  Please join me and many other planners over at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday where you can see what other people are cooking this week, too.

C & I have enjoyed this beautiful weekend which heralded in the first days of Autumn.  The sun shone and the sky was so very blue.  We celebrated this glorious weather by pressure washing the house.  Yay! (Sarcasm, there.)  At least it is pretty much done for the year and I am so thankful for that.  There are a few little outside cleanup projects that we want to do this fall, but the washing was the big one.

This week’s plan includes a couple of dinners that I had planned for earlier in the month, but they didn’t get made for one reason or another.  Also, my dad’s side of the family is having their annual reunion next Sunday and we are planning to attend.  It is potluck with the meat provided so I will probably take homemade cookies and chips of some kind. 

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven fries (2 nights)

Bubble-up enchilada bake (2 nights)

Shredded pork bbq with curly fries

Pizza night

Mississippi mud cookies (reunion)

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What does menu planning mean to you?  For me, it means knowing in the back of my mind that I know what I am making for supper when I get home from work and that I have the ingredients to do it.  The time it takes to sit down and make out a weekly or monthly plan is so worth it for the peace of mind and stress reduction that I get out of it. 

Most of the time, I can also plan for lunches this way, too.  Since I am usually cooking for just C & I, a lot of the main dishes will produce enough leftovers for at least one lunch.  This saves us from running to the local fast food joint and, over time, saves us time, money and calories.  I highly recommend it!

That’s not to say my plans never change because it happens a lot.  I just save the meals that don’t get made for another time.  This week is a pretty easy week with one new main dish and one new dessert.  I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed week. Happy menu planning!

Salsa sloppy Joes (new) with oven fries

Baked ham slices with butter roasted potatoes

Taco ring (2 nights)

Pizza night

Basic meatloaf with curly fries

White chocolate raspberry cake (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Wow, another week has rushed right past me and it is time for another menu plan.  I know I sometimes read like a broken record, but really, where does time go?  It seems like if you blink twice, another week has passed.  Last week was busy, but good for both C & I.  We had a nice cool, rainy weekend so we took the opportunity to catch up on our rest a little, but we still managed to get a few chores accomplished. 

I am hoping to get a little outside clean-up work done this week.  I want to sow some lettuce seed for a fall harvest and my flower pots need refreshing desperately!  You know, flowers don’t grow very well if you forget to water them.  Oops!  Oh, well, I think it is time to stick a few mums in there anyway.

I have one new dish planned for this week, plus I hope to try my hand at homemade salsa next weekend.  I love salsa and I have been planning to try Pioneer Woman’s recipe for quite a while so next weekend is the time!

Meatball Sub Casserole (new)

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven fries (2 nights)

Sausage bake (a request from my dad)

Pizza night

Tacos

Oreo pie (a request from C)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Menu Plan Monday

Happy Labor Day to my American readers!  I hope you have a wonderful holiday today.  We are experiencing the remnants of hurricane Isaac in our area, but the weather has not been too bad, just some much needed rain showers.  This week’s menu is a little short because, since it is the first of the month, it is grocery shopping time again.  Wow, it is hard to believe that another month has passed and September is going strong.

If you haven’t already, please check out my Book Beginnings post from Friday and leave a comment to enter my first ever giveaway to have a chance to win a copy of the book I reviewed.  It is an amazing book and I have the opportunity to give away three copies.  Hope to see your name listed!

Sausage bake with fresh fruit

Cheeseburger bundles with oven fries (2 nights)

Pioneer Woman’s fried round steak (new) with curly fries

Tomato soup & grilled cheese

Pizza night

Peanut butter chocolate chip bundt cake (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Menu Plan Monday

Good Monday morning!  Please join me and many other wonderful bloggers for Menu Plan Monday hosted by I’m An Organizing Junkie.  There are always many menus to peruse and new recipes to find.  I have to confess that the desserts I had planned for last week did not get made because C & I decided to attend the Kentucky State Fair and we had so much fun!  Neither of us had been since we were kids and I think we were like kids again while we were there.  We loved seeing the animals and displays and I am ready to go back next year.  Check back on Wednesday for the first of multiple Almost Wordless Wednesday posts with lots of pics from the fair.

Also, this Friday’s Book Beginnings post will be a special one because it will contain my first ever giveaway!  You have to comment to win so if you are interested, please check back on Friday and leave a comment for the chance to win an awesome new book.

Bubble-up enchilada bake

Grilled pork chops with oven fries

Bacon cheeseburger bundles with fresh veggies & fruit

Pizza

Grilled pork loin with curly fries

Coca-cola cake with orange fluff salad (This is a birthday cake for my chocolate loving aunt.)

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Welcome to another Monday, everyone!  I hope all my readers had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to a good week.  C & I had a nice quiet couple of days off and enjoyed it by getting outside with the dogs and taking a few long walks with a little yard and housework thrown in.  It just went by way too fast!

I am keeping it pretty simple this week with a couple of new sweet treats planned for the weekend so I hope to have plenty of time to enjoy this beautiful fall-like weather.  Have a great and blessed week!

Walking taco casserole (new)

Grilled hamburgers with oven fries

Basic buttermilk pancakes with bacon

Baked rotini

Pizza night

Homemade sloppy Joes with curly fries

Chocolate frosted sponge cake with frozen cranberry salad (new)

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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Welcome to Menu Plan Monday!  It is hard to believe that another week has already gone by, but it has.  We finally had a cool down here in the Bluegrass and this past weekend’s weather was just perfect.  The sun shone, there was a awesome breeze and the temperatures were in the 80s.  I spent a couple of evenings just lounging on the deck reading a book.  Aah , the good life!

I also completed my first furniture refinishing project on Saturday.  There was a dresser and chiffarobe left in my late great-grandparents’ house that my grandmother very generously gave to me and I have painted them to use in our upstairs purple bedroom.  I put the finishing touches on them and packed all of the drawers upstairs.  Now, we just have to get the big pieces up there and then there will be a great reveal and how-to on here.  This project has been a lot of fun and if I had more free time, I would love to do more furniture like this.  It is especially sweet that these are pieces that have been in my family for generations.

Anyway, back to food…I also made homemade tomato sauce for the first time Saturday morning and it is delicious, BUT, after spending hours of time and using over four pounds of tomatoes, I only ended up with 3 CUPS of sauce.  Not 3 pints or 3 quarts…3 CUPS!!!  It is really good, but I’m not sure if it is worth the time investment or not.  Opinions?

Here is what I plan to cook this week:

Grilled pork chops with oven baked fries

Cheesy steak sandwiches with oven baked fries (2 nights)

Pizza (2 nights)

Cheesy meatloaf minis (new) with butter roasted potatoes

Please join me at I’m An Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

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