October Menu Plan

I know that I say this just about every month, but... how is it OCTOBER already? I thought that time picked up speed when I had the Munchkin, but being pregnant with Baby #2 just makes it go even faster.

ANYway...

It's a new month, which means time for a new menu plan! We ended up not fixing all the meals I had planned for September, so you'll see a few repeats in October. You may also see a few themes running through this month's meals... We have TONS of apples that we just picked, so a lot of our treats this month will be apple-themed. And I am also trying to use up most of the venison we have leftover from last year to make room in the freezer (Lord willing!) for this year's hunting season. We shall see.

October Menu Plan

Main Meals

Venison Tips & Gravy over Mashed Potatoes*
Hamburger (Turkey) Stroganoff*
Homemade Pizza (bread machine dough)
BBQ Chicken (crock pot)
Mexican Stuffed Shells
Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheese Soup*
Venison Fajitas
Overnight Slow-Cooker Venison Roast*
Lasagna (Stauffer's frozen... I had a coupon!)
*See this page for printables!

Sides & Treats

Yellow Squash Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Butter Dip Biscuits

Peasant Bread

Easy Garlic Knots

Pumpkin Snicker-doodles

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Apple Butter

Easy Apple Dumplings

Apple and/or Pear Crisp

So there you have it -- this is what our household will be munching on in the coming weeks. Lots of yummy fall-inspired goodness to get us through the month of October. If you have questions or comments, please share!

Making the Most of Leftovers

Today let's talk about a controversial topic in households across the country... Leftovers!

Most people are not fence-riders when it comes to leftovers. They either love them or hate them. I recently watched an episode of Chopped in which the mystery baskets all had leftover food in them. I was not shocked to see the chef who said, "I hate leftovers!," chopped in the first or second round.

You can spend all the time in the world making a fancy meal plan, budgeting your groceries and clipping coupons, and slaving away in the kitchen to make tasty dinners, BUT if you end up throwing away uneaten food, you are WASTING YOUR TIME.

I have to admit, we do throw away our share of leftovers now and then. But I have some super-top-secret tips to share with you to help maximize your meals before they spoil.

Labels

What's my big secret for tackling leftovers? Label absolutely all leftovers before they go into the fridge or freezer. All I use is a roll of cheap masking tape and a Sharpie. I tear off a piece of tape, stick it to the lid, and mark it with the contents and the date. This helps eliminate the "When did I make such-and-such casserole?" question later on. Doubting whether or not something is still fit to eat seems to be a big problem when eating leftovers. A good rule to live by is "When in doubt, throw it out." Well, by taking the doubt out of the equation you'll know if things are still good to use. I also mark opened cans of spaghetti sauce, salad dressing and other condiments with the date (on the lid) so I know when to use them by.

Note: Speaking as one who has fallen off of the labeling bandwagon now and again, I can say with 100% certainty we eat up our leftovers better when they are clearly labeled. Keep the masking tape and marker handy so you aren't tempted to slack off!

Portion Control

Another big issue with leftovers is portion control. Many recipes make way more food than my family can possibly eat at one meal. If it's something that we eat well leftover, it's not an issue. If it's something that doesn't reheat well (like stir fry), any extra portions are essentially wasted (and money down the drain!). If you find yourself constantly throwing away leftovers from specific meals, cut the recipe in half the next time you make it to eliminate leftovers. Or, save yourself some time later on down the road and put half of the meal in a Ziploc bag and pop it in the freezer (cooked or uncooked, depending on the ingredients). For example, I made chili earlier this month and doubled the recipe, leaving us with three quart-sized Ziploc bags for later this fall. 

Note: Make sure to LABEL your frozen leftovers just as clearly as the ones that go in the fridge. Place them within easy access in the freezer, otherwise you'll end up forgetting they are in there!

Lead By Example

To change how your household handles leftovers, lead by example! If you want your husband or your children to be better leftover-eaters, then you need to do it yourself. Leftovers make great (and easy!) lunches during the week. Most are probably healthier than that Hot Pocket or boxed pasta, too. If you are the one planning dinners in your household, you have the power to work leftovers into your meal plan. You can serve it up buffet style and let everyone choose what they want. Or you can put a new spin on a leftover dish by adding fresh-baked bread or rolls and a vegetable side dish. Either way, you'll save yourself time making a whole new dinner, and money by not having to throw away the leftovers. 

I hope this post has been helpful! Nothing earth-shattering, but it is amazing how small, simple steps can help us live better, more organized lives.

September Meal Plan

Welcome to September! Wow. It doesn't seem possible that we are entering the last third of this year. Fall will be in full swing before we know it, and then the holiday season... Yikes. How about for right now we just enjoy September? :-)

As I admitted in this post, I've been pretty bad at following through with meal planning the last few months. I'm 5 months pregnant and the truth is other things have taken priority over meal-planning. All my slacking has accomplished though is shooting myself in the foot, since without a plan it is a bazillion times harder to put dinner on the table *nearly* every night.

So, I took some time and kicked out a plan for September. The month promises to be a busy one, and I want to be ready!

September Meal Plan

Click here for a printable list or here for the Pinterest Board

Main Dishes

Tacos / Taco Salads (See this post for taco seasoning)
Chili & Cornbread
Hamburger Soup* & Butter Dip Biscuits
Crockpot BBQ Chicken
"Bourbon" Chicken & Rice
Homemade Pizza
Mexican Stuffed Shells
Venison Stir Fry & Rice
Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings
Poppy Seed Chicken
Venison & Gravy over Mashed Potatoes
Homemade Macaroni & Cheese*
Sausage & Potato Bake

Sides & Extras

Blueberry Muffins
Banana Bread
French Bread (bread machine)
Cornbread
Butter Dip Biscuits
Yellow Squash Casserole
Broccoli Casserole
Fresh Apple Cake

Labor Day Picnic

Tortellini & Pepperoni Salad 
Snickerdoodle Bars
Hot dogs, buns, drinks, chips

*These recipes can be found in this printable.

Note:
Not all main dishes or sides  have links. Sorry! The truth of the matter is that a lot of these things I either make from the BH&G cookbook, or I make them without a recipe. For example, broccoli or squash casserole is pretty much the veggies, chopped and half-cooked in the microwave, and then topped with cheese and buttered cracker crumbs and baked for however long it takes till they are tender. Stir fry is made with whatever meat and veggies I have, and I follow the instructions on the Kikkoman bottle. See? I wing it. But if you have ANY questions about a particular item there is no recipe for, please comment or contact me! :-)

The Updated Meal Planning Binder

Has this summer flown by as quickly for everyone else as it has for me? I have to admit that I haven't been writing out meal plans for a few months. *Hangs Head In Shame.* But now I'm ready for Fall and so is my meal plan! It seemed appropriate, since I've fallen off of the meal-planning wagon lately, to give my Meal Planning Binder a much-needed makeover. It's stuffed with printouts, old menus, and all kinds of random things. It's a MESS.

The first step was to take out EVERYTHING. And since I don't need a massive 2-inch binder, I'm going to transfer it all to this lovely 1-inch beauty:

Then, I put in a pocket for the monthly calendar on which I wrote my meal list. (Find a printable calendar here.) I usually choose between 10-15 main dishes, depending on what we have going on for that particular month.

Then, any printouts that I have for the recipes in this month's meal list go right after the calendar, in plastic sheet protectors. When I'm ready to use a recipe, I can just pop it out and use it without it getting *too* messy while cooking.

Now, what to do with the rest of all these print-outs? Sort through for those you want to save and those you want to toss. Make one section for "Tried & True" recipes, so you can use them when the mood suits you.

Also make a section for "To Try" recipes. (I try to cut back on printing, and only print out recipes from Pinterest when I'm ready to use them). This is the section I'll look through for inspiration when meal-planning, to remind myself of things I've wanted to try in the past.

Last but not least, I have a pocket with calendars already printed for the remaining months of the year, calling to me to make sure that I don't fall off the wagon again.

And there you have it! Your monthly meal list and all the recipes together in a neat little package, ready to use. And next month, simply shuffle the recipes you had in the first section back to "Tried & True" (or trash them if they are complete flops!), and start the process over again.

Notes on Meal Planning

I do my meal-planning at the end of the previous month, and ask the Hubby for suggestions. I'd ask the Munchkin, too, but then we'd just be eating "cheeeeese cackers!" for every meal. :-)

Overall, it does take a commitment of a few hours each month, but the payoff is well worth it. Once you get into it, you'll find a groove and likely start using about half of the recipes nearly each month. And it's so nice to have a go-to list of meals when you're doing that blank stare at the pantry an hour before dinnertime, feeling like you're in your own personal version of Chopped.

I hope this post has been helpful, and that you're able to find a method of meal-planning and organizing that works best for you and your family!

January Meal Plan: Venison & Homemade Spice Mixes

How is it 2013 already? And better yet, how is it already the FOURTH day of 2013? Yikes.

Since we weren't at home for more than a week at a time during most of November or December, I sorta-kinda slacked off on my meal planning.

I know, I know... *shakes head in shame*

But one of my goals for 2013 is to be more organized in an on-the-ball fashion, so let's get to it.

To start off your new meal-planning binder for the year, you'll need a free printable calendar, right? :) This great lady has several to choose from. I picked this one here: Free 2013 Calendar Printable 

For those who are new to my method of meal planning, here's a basic run-down:

• I make one list of meals to make for the month, using mostly things I have on hand but with a few things we need to shop for. For us this is about 10-15 meals, and we eat leftovers the other nights.
• Each night, I pick what I'll make for dinner the next day. In the morning I'll know what sort of prep I'll need to do for it, etc.
• I keep my meal list and a printed calendar in a binder along with recipes I have printed out. Keeping everything together saves time and fuss.
• Throughout the month, I cross off what I've made off of the list and jot it down on the calendar. It helps me keep track of how many "leftover" nights we get off of certain dishes.

This month I made sure to clean out my binder. It had become overrun with print-outs of new recipes I had tried, and then haphazardly shoved into a pocket somewhere. Not very OCD of me, eh? So I pitched all the recipes I never EVER wanted to try again, saved the "keepers," and thought really hard about what we would actually eat this month. I get tired of throwing out leftovers, so I came up with things that we would eat well the first/second/third time through. So, here goes:

Meals:

• Baked Macaroni & Cheese
• Tacos or Taco Salads
• Mexican Stuffed Shells
• Venison & Mushroom Gravy over Mashed Potatoes
• Venison Roast (Seasoned with Onion Soup Mix) & Scalloped Potatoes
• Venison Fajitas
• Venison Roast (Seasoned with Homemade Italian Seasoning) & Green Bean Casserole
• Homemade Pizza
• Hamburger Soup & Rolls (Rhode's Frozen Rolls)
• Breakfast Night - French Toast, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs

Extras:

• Easy Mint Fudge
• French Breakfast Muffins
• Banana  Bread

Now let's talk about a few things from this list. The first thing that probably caught your attention is the amount of VENISON on that list. The Hubby is a hunter. His family hunts. So this year we have been blessed with a freezer-full of roasts, steaks, tenderloin, and stew meat. I would never be able to pull the trigger myself, but deer meat is actually very delicious when cooked properly, and it is very good for you (very lean!). Plus, now I don't have to buy beef (or much chicken) for a good long while. :)

The second thing - anywhere you see "hamburger" or recipes that call for ground beef, you can automatically assume I'll be using ground turkey. Again, it's better for you, and it is SUPER CHEAP at Aldi. We don't have one in town, but whenever we drive through a place that has one, we bring our cooler and stock up.

Thirdly, I have three words for you... HOMEMADE SPICE MIXES. 

I have been using homemade Taco mix for a while now, and we like it much better than the store-bought packets. I've also found Italian Dressing and Fajita Seasoning mixes that we really like. Here are the recipes I've found online for a few homemade mixes:

Taco Seasoning

Use 2 T and 1 cup water per pound of ground meat

2 T chili powder

½ t garlic powder

½ t onion powder

½ t red pepper flakes

½ t oregano

1 t paprika

1 T cumin

2 ½ t salt

2 t pepper

Onion Soup Mix

Use ¼ cup instead of one packet

4 t beef bouillon

8 t onion flakes

1 t onion powder

¼ t pepper

½ t parsley

½ t salt

Fajita Seasoning

Use 2 T to replace one packet

1 T cornstarch

2 t chili powder

1 t salt

1 t paprika

1 t sugar

¾ t chicken bouillon

½ t onion powder

¼ t garlic powder

¼ t cayenne pepper

¼ t cumin

¼ t crushed pepper

Ranch Dressing Mix

Use 1 T per cup of sour cream

5 t onion flakes

7 t parsley

4 t salt

1 t garlic

Italian Seasoning Mix

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

1 T onion powder

2 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 T sugar

2 T salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp basil

¼ tsp thyme

½ tsp celery leaves (or ¼ tsp celery seed)

I made my sister a set of spice mixes for Christmas. Don't they look so much cuter than those paper packets from the store? I simply doubled or tripled the recipe and put them in half-pint canning jars. The labels were just printed on brown cardstock (in a free font I found online that looks like an old typewriter!), and cut out in an oval shape. A dab of hot glue, and voila! Adorable spice mix jars. :)

Well, that's all for today. Please leave comments or questions you have about anything!