HJ Waxing Moon

You know how I said we'd already planned half our menu for this week? Yeah. Guess what we forgot? Incidentally, this week was not difficult for menu planning at all, so I'm just going to save those ideas for next week. And it's an easy one too, I guess we just weren't feeling too complicated today. What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Steak & eggs, Breakfast hash, english muffins, oatmeal. Lunches:  Mini pizzas, leftover soup (tortellini and Tuesday's chicken), burritos, sandwiches. Snacks:  Applesauce, fruit (oranges, grapefruit, apples & nut butter). Dinners: Monday:  Mr. Moon's hosting again so we're taking advantage of his meal being free! I'm kind of hoping they have a nice wine-free special because I'm getting a little worn out on ravioli.  [Out] Tuesday:  Thai Chicken Soup  [chicken; soup; Thai; rice cooker] Wednesday:  Spaghetti, with fresh mozzarella and homemade sauce  [vegetarian; pasta; Italian] Thursday: ...

Why was menu planning so hard this week? We were struggling to come up with something suitable for Saturday night, but kept coming up with things that were not too difficult but a higher difficulty than we wanted for a late night dinner. Which now that I say that, I'm thinking of making some sort of difficulty level for menu items. Fridays & Saturdays have the potential to be a late night, so we like to have dinner in the crockpot or at least fully prepped so all we have to do is heat it or even just walk in the door and eat. Monday & Tuesday nights we have to work around whatever Mr. Moon's evening schedule is, plus knowing there's an early morning ahead so we don't want to risk dinner being too late. On-Call shifts we basically treat as if he's working, as far as dinner prep goes. So besides just working with a "Weeknight vs. Weekend" kind of difficulty level, it's "I don't want this to take more than ten minutes" and "...

Happy Halloween! My favorite day of the year, tied with my birthday. Traditionally in my family we always had chili and hot dogs in the crockpot for Halloween. When I moved out here, I missed a year doing it. I didn't need to feed a family of people at different times, or have something ready to warm us up when we got back from trick or treating. But still, I found I was kind of sad about it. So the next year, I introduced Mr. Moon to my longstanding family tradition of chili & hot dogs as Halloween dinner. And I've done it ever since. Somehow we ended up with an easy week ahead of us, though still with plenty of home cooked meals in store. We're getting used to the new schedule, albeit with a few reservations on my part. I'm keenly aware that we're over stocked with food, and we're working together to eat through it instead of buying more, so this menu focuses a lot on Eating the Larder as it were.  What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Oatmeal in the ...

With Mr. Moon's new promotion, there's a little bit of shuffling our lives are doing. One of those shuffles is getting a little deeper into food prep & menu planning, since our week is even more structured than it has been. He has a few hours before his actual shift where he's on-call for emergencies, so he can get up early to make breakfast but we also need to be prepared to run out the door with little notice. That's where something like oatmeal comes in! We can set it up the night before in the rice cooker then just have him wake up, pour in some liquid (if we don't soak the grains overnight) and turn it on. Hot breakfast right when I wake up, even if he had to take a cab to work. Maybe soon we will even try making our own instant oatmeal packets! What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Oatmeal, egg sandwiches, cottage cheese & pineapple, leftover rice & beans w/ egg on top. Lunches:  Tortilla soup, turkey wraps, quesadillas. Snacks:  Power balls...

What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Smoothies, eggs on toast, Turkey "benedict" (I don't like hollandaise on the turkey version, instead using garlic & mayo on the english muffin & adding a tomato slice, but this isn't some Pinterest renaming crap, it's just an aphasia slip-up that stuck). Lunches:  Turkey & roast beef wraps/sandwiches, leftovers. Snacks:  Really not doing great on these. Dinners: Monday:  Tacos/Nachos!  [using up leftovers] Tuesday:  Steak & Broccoli  [beef, freezer cooking] Wednesday:  Shrimp (I don't know what kind of shrimp, we'll find out what we're in the mood for that day.) ETA, we ended up with a giant creole-shrimp caesar salad! Bottled dressing, but homemade croutons. Thursday:  Pita Pizza  [freezer cooking] Friday:  Rice & beans  [pantry cooking] Saturday:  Chili dogs Sunday:  Noodle bowl --------------------- How are we doing on the Eat The Larder Ch...

We spent more on groceries last week than I think I have ever spent at once. Our refrigerator is full to bursting and I've no excuses for myself. We weren't even shopping while hungry! On the up side, quite a bit of it was just dry staples that happened to run out at the same time as we had money and good deals, so most of it wasn't perishable. However, it was and is important that we properly store it all so that we CAN use it, DO use it, and DON'T go out shopping for oh, the rest of the month except for milk & coffee cream & maybe some fresh veggies such as they are. I'm quite proud of us though: We managed to make a menu for this week that doesn't require a single purchase, utilizes some prepped leftovers, gets us out of a rut, brings back some old favorites, tests a new recipe, AND utilizes our new rice cooker to make it more than s ingle-use item. To top it off, as I write this, we've already prepped what we can for the week, and it's a ...

What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Bagels & cream cheese, bagel sandwiches, english muffins w/ peanut butter & honey. Lunches:  Leftover chinese food, turkey sandwiches, grilled cheese & tomato soup. Snacks:  . Dinners: Monday:  Spaghetti & Meatballs Marinara  [simple, beef, pasta, Italian; leftovers] Using the leftover meatballs from my party on Friday! Tuesday:  Buffalo Chicken Wings & Garlic Broccoli  [chicken, freezer] Wednesday:  Mushroom Stroganof  [pasta, vegetarian] Using the leftover mushroom gravy from my party, and adding sour cream. Thursday:  French Onion Soup  [soup, vegetarian, ] Friday:  Pickle Plate  [simple, snack] We have plans with friends at a brewery an hour away, helping with wedding planning; the likelihood of us wanting a full dinner when we get home are pretty slim. But at least we have a snack plan in case we want it! Saturday:  Thai Curry Chicken ...

What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Bagels & cream cheese; breakfast sandwiches Lunches:  Chinese/Indian leftovers; chicken pasta salad; burritos Snacks:  . Dinners: Monday:  Curry (using leftover pumpkin-squash soup, paneer, and tofu; ginger honey rice in the rice cooker).   [vegetarian; leftovers; curry; rice] Tuesday:  Nachos (we're actually going out with friends hours before our usual dinner time, so we planned something that will entice us to eat at home, but won't be wasteful if we decide not to.  [beef] Wednesday:  Stromboli (capers, banana peppers, pepperoni, ricotta)  [vegetarian; Italian] Thursday:  I... have no idea.  [ ] Friday:  Creamy Penne Bake (with fresh mozzarella, ricotta, artichoke jalapeño dip that's too salty to eat straight, chicken)  [chicken, pasta] Saturday:  Out  [ ] Sunday:  No clue. Gonna wing it. Ooh, maybe chicken wings.  [ ] -------------...

Mr. Moon has a busy week ahead, only one day off work and it's for a metal concert. I had to pull him back from saying we'd just eat out at least three different days this week, not just because our budget is a little uncertain at the moment, but also because we did agree to reduce those temptations a bit and get back to good, home cooking now that our wedding is over and done with. Still, with my health, there's no way we will ever get away from convenience foods completely, and since we have been selective about which ones we keep around for just these occasions we might as well utilize them. What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  . Lunches:  . Snacks:  . Dinners: Monday:  Chicken & Rice  [chicken, rice, leftovers, fast] We just got a new rice cooker, and wanted to try one of the recipes in it. Originally this was going to be a rice cooker meal, but the fact is that we have leftover rice we decided not to use today. So I think instead it's going to...

What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  English muffins, apples & peanut butter. Lunches:  Pita Pizzas, Quesadilla, Chippy Dippy. Snacks:  . Dinners: Monday:  Chicken wings & mac  [ ] Tuesday:  Lasagna  [ ] Wednesday:  Hamburger gravy - mashers if we get to them  [ ] Thursday:  Dinner out for a friend's Birthday  [ ] Friday:  Happy Halloween! Chili & hot dogs  [ ] Saturday:  Sesame Noodle Bowl  [ ] Sunday:   Cheesesteaks  [ ] --------------------- What's on your menu this week? Need planning ideas? I'll be linking up at  orgjunkie.com , if you need other ideas!

We are making so much progress on our home. It's really starting to come together, and I'm really excited about it! Hoping to get some new pictures taken here, soon. One thing we are finding is that, for whatever reason, our apartment gets VERY warm without any assistance from us. Even if we leave the door open with a nice cool breeze coming in during the evening, it warms right back up again when we close it. All I can think is that the neighbors must have their heat on full force! But at least it means I don't expect much in the way of a heating bill this winter. I notice we've got quite a bit of extra traffic coming in this week. Come join the conversation in the comments! We'd love to know what projects you're working on around the house, and what's on your meal plan for dinner. How did you hear about the blog? Wednesday: Chippy Dippy! We have a super busy day of unpacking and organizing today, so a nice, easy dinner is called for. It is really...

Half-week menus rock! Sunday: French Onion Soup Bumped from last week due to Life. Mr. Moon works the evening shift, and having meals ready to eat or easy to make when he gets home has really helped curb the urge to eat out. Also having to buy four new tires instead of the two we'd budgeted helped motivate sticking to the meal plan... Monday: Leftovers! French Dip Sandwiches What do you get when you have leftover "prime rib" roast, leftover french bread, and leftover french onion soup? Well if you scoop the onions out of the soup for the sandwich, you can add some flavoring to the soup broth and voila! Mr. Moon works, so at least it should be a quick "reheat" kind of dinner. After a day of unpacking and working, I'm sure he will appreciate an easy dinner. Tuesday:  Slumgullion Mr. Moon works. Fall gives me a craving for my mom's recipes, which are typically one-pot meals. I've worked out how to make this one from scratch, though ...

Funny garden update: We have a grey squirrel that invaded my sage today, and I scared Mr. Moon by opening the door and yelling, "EXCUSE YOU!" at it (he thought someone was invading the house!). I had seen some digging marks before, but hadn't had the motivation or time to deal with it whenever I noticed on my way in or out the door. I mixed up a little sriracha and garlic and water, dumped that around the plants, and am hoping that will keep the little bugger from digging up my sage again. There is plenty of dirt around here, he doesn't need to go digging in mine! We are so far REALLY enjoying this twice a week menu planning. Much easier to account for perishable foods this way! Wednesday Stuffed Peppers w/ gorgonzola & bacon Sides: Sautéed summer squash, steamed green beans Day off, lots of unpacking today! We kept pushing off the stuffed peppers because when we were thinking about dinner it was too late to take two hours to make it. So we roasted ...

Yes, only three days. We're trying out a new Thing were we do our menu plans twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays. We are hoping it will lead to less food waste if we keep up on our perishables a little better. Of course, that means I need a new fun banner for menu days, but we'll get there eventually! Sunday: Crockpot Chili Mr. Moon is working a double, and we haven't been great about dealing with the late-night dinners lately. Late night take-out on a tight budget leads to bad choices for the tummies and the wallet. Kicking off fall with a pot of chili sounded like just the right remedy for getting some wholesome food into us at the end of a busy day. Monday: Stuffed Peppers Mr. Moon is on call that evening, so it could be a late night dinner or sudden extra time to unpack boxes. Having something we can prep ahead is good! I'm not really a fan of the tomato-and-rice stuffed peppers, but I saw a recipe for some with chicken that looked good. It had c...

With all the leftover food from the wedding on Saturday, and specifically the veggies we forgot to take for the salad and veggie trays, we have a LOT of produce. Produce purchased in plastic packages (oh dear, way that 5 times fast!). It has struck me how these packages involve so many chemicals that I can smell and taste them. It has been so long since I used pre-packaged broccoli and carrots that I forgot what that tasted like. It gave me a headache. But I can't bring myself just to throw it away! And it isn't as obvious when you don't eat them raw. Still, in the future I think it is worth the effort to chop up some broccoli and romaine! We had a bit of a mishap right before we left on vacation. An impulse buy of ice cream bars got shoved haphazardly into the big freezer, and kept the door from sealing properly. Mr. Moon found the issue the next morning, but not before we lost quite a bit of our stores. Mostly vegetables, bread products, and our homemade food items. We ...

Whew! Almost 100 pounds of plums came off that tree! I'll post about the canning process later this week, but suffice it to say, the first day of preserving went very well. Not perfect, but I didn't expect it to be. I'm proud of all we accomplished. This week we have more plums to get processed, and start working toward getting ready for a trip we are taking to Seattle for a week. I have no expectations that we will accomplish anything beyond finishing these plums, but it's a hope! Pops has his first round of chemo therapy on Monday, so we wanted to make sure he had food available that would be appealing but easy to manage for the first few days. The fact that these menu items require little cooking helps since we will be doing lots of canning this week and don't have time for a lot of food prep. Oh! I wanted to share how last week's Salad Menu worked out! I have to call it a raving success. Pops was a bit hesitant about the idea of taco salad (I've ne...

I know I promised y'all a garden update last week, but I unapologetically spent my week having fun outside, and recovering from my cold. I'm feeling much better now, thanks for asking! (And I know you did! Because my readers are pretty awesome and caring like that.) The heat last week was murder. Cooking in that heat was even worse. So this week we made a point of creating a menu that is all salad, all the time! But rather than getting stuck with the same dinner every day for a week, we still switched it up a bit. During our meeting I made the joke, "How many ways can we make pasta salad?" It's not quite that bad, but let me show you what I mean. What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Yogurt and honey sprinkles (AKA bee pollen, great for allergies and really seems to help); yogurt and granola; eggs. Lunches:  Leftovers; pizzadilla; cold cut sandwiches. Snacks:  Yogurt; hard boiled eggs; fruit. Dinners: Monday:  Sunny, 92 degrees! Mr. Moon works the e...

Mr. Moon's party was a blast! The cheesesteak sloppy joes were a real hit, we got to meet some new friends, and had a nice evening around the campfire. His new job is going well, too. Everyone seems to love him there; bosses, coworkers, and guests alike. Not paying income tax is a nice little pay raise too. I'm working on a garden update for later this week. Sadly, there isn't much good news in it. But we will get to that. Getting back to menu planning has definitely been met with relief from both of us, but some kinks need to be worked out on our to-do list system being separate from the menu board. Food isn't getting thawed in appropriate timing and it then either requires running water (wasteful) or using the microwave (which I don't like) to keep to our plans. These two evening shifts each week are clearly going to be a source of temptation for us to scrap our cooking plans and go out to eat, or end up eating junk food whether we plan to or not, so some ne...

The 'Rents come back from their vacation today, so it's back to the usual routine, hopefully with some improvements. We took a week off of menu planning, then the next week ended up being a completely moot point as it was scrapped almost as soon as we'd finished it. Oops. But this week, well, this week we will do better. Clean slate! The last two weeks of focusing on using up and doing without have been good for us and a nice change of pace, but it's hell to plan a menu that way. This week we are back to planning ahead, with perfect timing since Mr. Moon's new job just gave him his set schedule. It's nice to be able to plan things a little further than 5 days out! What's on the menu? Breakfasts:  Eggs & Toast; Polenta & Eggs; Yogurt & Granola; Smoothies. Lunches:  Bagel Pizza; Bacon, Cucumber, Tomato sandwiches/wraps; Leftover greek dinner. Snacks:  HB Eggs, yogurt, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit. Dinners: Monday:  Mr. Moon works...

The wedding we went to last week was lovely. Just my luck, lack of sleep and allergies combined to make me absolutely miserable, and we almost didn't stay past the grand entrance. But by the time we'd said our goodbyes, the toasts were starting so we stuck around for that and the first dance. But we made it home safe and sound, no sleeping on the freeway, and got home to rest. With our new lounge area up and running, we've had to set some ground rules. Such as "no video games after 10pm," or else we just end up staying up all night. We may need to set a rule of "no screen time" after 10pm, instead, but we will see how this goes for now. As counterintuitive as it sounds, and contrary to our meal plan, we've been eating through some of our junk food last week so that this week we can focus again on better eating habits. The problem with me driving Mr. Moon around on his job hunt is that even if the job hunting takes only as much time as any job he co...