Menu Plan Monday

Lots of menu plans at orgjunkie.com!

It's a short menu this week because we're not hosting Thanksgiving, we'll be visiting instead.  I used up enough things in my freezer to have room for the turkey I bought on Saturday.  Here's what we're eating (part of) this week:

Sunday--Beef and Bean Taco Casserole
Monday--Leftovers as we're going to be going in too many different directions to eat together
Tuesday--Round steak in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, vegetable
Wednesday--Something with chicken
Thursday through Saturday--Someone else is cooking!  Well, I guess we will be home Saturday evening, but we'll keep it simple, maybe frozen pizza or stopping somewhere on our way home

Last week I had Stir Fry Chicken on the menu, but I had been eating leftovers with peppers so I wanted to try something different.  I found this Sesame Chicken that we ate instead.

Ultimate Potato Soup

 

1 pound bacon, chopped (I didn't use a whole pound, only about 1/2 pound)

2 stalks celery, diced

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 cups chicken stock, or enough to cover potatoes

3 T. butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half)

1 tsp. dried tarragon

3 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro (I did not use cilantro)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until done. Remove bacon from pan, and set aside. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease.
2. In the bacon grease remaining in the pan, saute the celery and onion until onion begins to turn clear. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes, and toss to coat. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan (I didn't add the bacon to she soup, I added on top of the soup at serving time), and add enough chicken stock to just cover the potatoes. Cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender.
3. In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Cook stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream, tarragon and cilantro. Bring the cream mixture to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir the cream mixture into the potato mixture. Puree about 1/2 the soup, and return to the pan. Adjust seasonings to taste.
4. I also sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top.

Menu Plan Monday

More menu plans at orgjunkie.com!

My mission this week is to use up items in my freezer to make room for a turkey.  We'll be going out of town for Thanksgiving, but I'm still buying a turkey because they're so cheap this time of year, and we'll make it for our own family another day.  I made brownies over the weekend and used up the pail of ice cream that was taking up a lot of room.  We'll have smoothies for snack or breakfast a couple times this week to use up some frozen fruit.  Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday--I used the sweet Italian sausage in the freezer and the spaghetti squash on the counter and also sauteed some garlic/onions/bell peppers/diced Italian tomatoes.  Added the sausage to the veggies and served it over the spaghetti squash.

Pile of peppers

Monday--Roast from the freezer, trying the new Green Giant Seasoned Steamers, and a veggie

Tuesday--Chicken stir fry with brown rice, using chicken and peppers from the freezer

Wednesday--Turkey meatloaf using ground turkey from the freezer, sweet potatoes, veggie

Thursday--Hot ham and cheese sandwiches and sweet potato fries (from the freezer, of course!) with fruit

Friday--Homemade pizza, will use pepperoni, peppers, cheese from the freezer

Saturday--Homemade vegetable soup that is in jars in the freezer, just thawed and heated in the crock pot, with homemade bread

I won't be grocery shopping until Saturday or Sunday, so I think I'll be able to make room for the turkey!

For bread last week, I made Caraway Swirl Rye Bread from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Menu Plan Monday

Lots of menu plans at orgjunkie.com!

I'm glad to have less things going on this week--last week was so busy!  But it was great to have a menu plan in place to give me one less thing to think about.  Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday--Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, acorn squash rings
Monday--Beef stew
Tuesday--I'm going to try Swai fish for the first time
Wednesday--Parent/Teacher conferences right around supper time, so I'll get taco fixings ready earlier in the day so it will be easy to put together when we get home
Thursday--Spaghetti made with spaghetti squash
Friday--Pizza
Saturday--Soup/homemade bread

I made Olive Bread last week:

I'll be putting up recipes for Ultimate Potato Soup and the Acorn Squash Rings soon!