Menu: Jan 6-13

Whew! What a whirlwind vacation! After taking a couple days to cycle through the returning jet lag, I found myself refreshed and ready to take life by the... horns. Yes, horns. Right! Looking at everything with a fresh set of eyes. Sadly, my computer immediately decided to be out of commission, which is why the menu is posted late, so while I remedy that situation I'm stuck with Mr. Moon's. Did I mention I'm not good with Windows? Well, suffice it to say, I'm unable to access my pictures for the moment. No picture-heavy posts for a little while. But that's ok! Because our menu plans don't really need pictures.

This week we took a complete inventory of the inside and outside freezers, and reorganized them into some semblance of order. The inside freezer, we removed a lot of stuff we wouldn't be using this week. Our goal is to use the inside freezer for snacks, breakfast and lunch foods, treats (some limited amount anyway) and the foods we have on the menu this week. This way we don't have as many trips back and forth to the outside freezer, and if something doesn't get thawed or I think about it while Mr. Moon is at work when I'm having a bad day, I can deal with it because it's all inside.
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What's to eat?

Breakfasts this week are bagels and cream cheese, smoothies, and eggs over polenta (if we ever get around to making the polenta).

Lunches are mostly leftovers, maybe a grilled cheese or two.

Dinners... ahhh, dinners. Not all the meals I'd prepared to be eaten during my vacation were eaten, but about half were. That made Mr. Moon's life a LOT easier while I was gone, and it's definitely how we intend to work in the future if one or both of us is leaving for an extended period of time.

I posted before about doing a monthly menu plan... I just don't think it will work for us. However, that being said, this week we almost exclusively picked meals from that monthly menu I'd already designed. So I'm going to see how this month goes before I write the idea off entirely.

Monday: Mushroom stroganoff over wheat mini shells; cauliflower and cheese was on the menu but the cauliflower was bad. We had game night and a friend brought over Chicago style pizza, too.

Tuesday: Chicken Tacos.

Wednesday: On Your Own for the 'Rents, they're going out to dinner; Date Night for Mr. Moon and me, we are having Greek Dinner. Beef, tzatziki, hummus, tabbouli, fresh veggies, pita bread, and a movie.

Thursday: Pan-Fried parmesan whitefish, wild rice, sauteed cabbage.

Friday: French Onion Soup

Saturday: Lasagna, using up a meatloaf from the vacation prep; Pops doesn't like it as meatloaf, so I'm finding ways to use the meat otherwise, and he requested lasagna with meat in it. Et Voila!

Sunday: On Your Own.
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How does that compare with our goals?
Our goals are still a little unclear for the meal planning. Patience is wearing thin on all fronts with the attempts at vegetarian meals. New weekly goals that I think we'll try for a while:
  • Max 1 Red meat meal: Check! Lasagna (which only barely counts! but there is beef in there with the TVP and turkey and veggies).
  • 1-2 Bird meals (2 if no red meat): Check! Chicken Tacos, and lasagna.
  • 1-2 Fish meals: Check! Whitefish and rice.
  • 2-3 Vegetarian meals: Check! Stroganoff and French Onion Soup.
  • 1-2 crockpot/prepped casserole meals: Check! Lasagna is really getting around this week.
  • 2 OYOnights: Check!
  • Date night: Check!
  • Use up/cycle through freezer stock: Check! chicken for tacos, fish, meatloaf and marinara for lasagna
  • Add to freezer stock: Not necessary this week; no space to go around. 
Monthly Menu Ideas:
Beef/Pork: Beef & Broccoli stir fry; corned beef

 Bird: Roast Turkey; Turkey Stew & Dumplings; Chicken Cordon Bleu; Orange Rosemary Chicken; White Bean Chicken Chili

 Fish: Pan Fried White; baked casserole with rice; salmon burgers; pesto shrimp Alfredo?

 Vegetarian: Tortilla soup; Split pea soup; Lasagna; Black Bean Burgers; Spaghetti; Lentil soup; Broccoli mac; Mushroom stroganoff; African peanut soup; french onion soup

 OYO ideas for me: Ribs; chicken wings; zucchini meatball sub; barbacoa tacos; chicken alfredo; thai curry chicken; stuffed peppers (with quinoa and barbacoa); gyros (with lots of leftovers for lunches). 
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Any changes to your menu planning routine, since it's a new year? What's for dinner at your house this week?

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