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Weekly Prep!

Feb22

This week is a short week with the Holiday and it is just an off week for us. Trying to prep for that is not always easy and sometimes makes me want to just order pizza! This week we will have to eat at least one meal out, but that is ok.

It is almost March and our apple supply is getting lower. We grow some of the fruit that we eat, but most of it comes from Lewis’ Orchard in Cavestown Maryland. http://www.lewisorchards.com/. We buy in bulk from them all year, strawberries, peaches, pears, apples and plums. At the end of the apple season, right before Thanksgiving, we purchase 5 bushels of apples. Some of these apples are storage apples and they last longer into the winter, than some of the others. We have a refrigerator dedicated to just apples for about 4 months of the year. The rest of the year, the refrigerator is the overflow of everything I need to process, milk, fruit, veggies, eggs and even cheese. We are so blessed.

As the apples start to go soft, I need to process them faster. I can do it all at once as apple sauce and can it for later, but instead we make it in smaller batches in the Insta-pot. This allows some whole apples to be made into pies as late in the season as possible. Mrs. Lewis will tell you the best pies comes from whatever mixture of apples your have left in the fridge. This week we made a large Insta-pot full of apple sauce and an apple pie. The apple pie will not last long, but the apple sauce will be for lunches all week.

With Wednesday, February 23 being National Banana Bread Day, I needed to make my banana bread ahead of time in honor of the holiday. We will have this for breakfast this week with our eggs. Having breakfast breads made ahead of time, makes mornings much easier for the kids.

I have made chicken salad the last few weeks and my son honestly prefers turkey. We raise 12 turkeys a year so that we can have one turkey a month for lunch meat. When we butcher the turkeys 9 of them are cut into quarters. This makes them easier to cook for just a weekend meal and then leftovers for lunch. Our meal tonight was turkey and the leftovers made two weeks worth of sliced turkey for lunches. I froze one weeks worth, pre-sliced and ready to go. Cooking a turkey also gave me a quart of wonderful bone broth. This will be used for Turkey Pot Pie on Friday and I will use it for my lunches of homemade ramen. Every time we roast meat, we also save the stock. It is so much better than store bought stock and can be used in so many ways. It freezes great in ice cube trays for small batch cooking later.

What went into the instapot to make the turkey.

Our snacks for the week will be homemade Chex mix and popcorn. The popcorn we make in small batches as needed. Half the family prefers salt and butter, the other half prefer kettle. We will make both through out the week to change it up. This is part of our slow effort to replace processed snack foods with ones made at home. It has been a slow process, I love chips, but we are working on it. Chex mix is a great way to clean some of the “stale” nuts and seeds out of the pantry. I had pumpkin seeds that the lid did not get put back on, after roasting them for an hour with the Chex mix, they were perfect.

Enlarged to show texture, lol!

This week is going to be a quick dinner week because we are so busy, with one dinner out. I hope that when you read my weekly prep you are encouraged to prep your own week. Maybe not to the level we do, I am crazy, but whatever works for your family. Learning how to cook at home and plan ahead, saves so much money and keeps me from being hangry. I hope that what I write blesses you and your family in some way. Please feel free to leave me a message or pass it on to someone who could be blessed by it. Have a great week and try to enjoy National Banana Bread Day!

Lunch prep for the week

Feb7

Sunday afternoon and evening is my time to prep for the week. We are doing a pantry challenge as a family so we are not going to the store. We are blessed to have a full root cellar and freezers from our years harvest. On Sundays, I turn those ingredients into lunch ready meals. This week I am prepping homemade apple sauce, chicken salad, hard boiled eggs, sausage kale soup and lemon blueberry muffins.

The apples from the orchard are starting to get soft. We are entering apple sauce, pie and cake season. We will be having an apple something for lunch every week till they are gone. Very rarely do I end up canning apple sauce. We normally eat them right up till strawberry season. Then we eat the fruit that is in season till apple season again. I mentioned that we limited our kitchen gadgets, however the instapot makes all this prepping possible. 8-10 apples, peeled and cored in the instapot. Warning stay below the fill line or it will squirt out when you release the pressure. Put in 1/4 cup of water to cover the bottom so it will not scald. I set the to 5 minutes. Most of the time I dont even need to puree, it is ready for jars straight from the instapot.

The chicken also goes into an instapot. I take the whole chickens from the freezer with the oldest date on them. Add chopped onion, chopped carrots and whatever other veggie scraps I have. These help favor the chicken a little, but they really are for the broth. Every week during the winter we have soup for dinner at least one night. This week will be potato soup. I will make extra and freeze it for lunches the week after that!

One of the things I love about our life is everything is connected. There is very little waste. The veggie trimmings and bones become stock. The stock becomes soup. The apple peels become pig feed or apple cider vinegar. Lemon peels become lemon zest for muffins. This connection challenges my creativity and makes me appreciate everything we have been given.

Weekly Menu August 16-22

Aug17

KIMG1118What’s coming out of the garden?  Cucumbers, corn, peppers, okra, tomatoes, squash, basil, lettuce, potatoes, oregano, thyme, and cilantro from our farm. From Lewis fruit farm apples, peaches and pears.

My daughter is helping me with the menu planning and she wants to make each day have a theme.  It is important to keep the kids involved.  We are slowing building up to the kids cooking two meals a week.  If my husband cooks a meal I get three days off!!!  Wahoo!  As long as the meal incorporate the harvest from the garden I am flexible.

Monday:  Roasted chicken, tomato basil salad, sliced cucumbers and corn. I messed up making butter and had to make butter cream frosting.  So we will have cake for dessert because when life gives you frosting… you obviously have to make a cake.

Taco Tuesday:  With fresh pico de gallo, rice, corn mixed with onions and black beans.

Waffle Wednesday:  We do not have a waffle maker, we are keeping our eyes out for a good cast iron one!  So we will stick with the theme and have pancake Wednesday.  Apple compote with cinnamon.  Shredded zucchini in the pancakes. Pepper and tomato omelets.  Quick, easy and the kids help.  Winner all the way around.

Thursday: Steak on the grill with hobo packet potatoes, roasted okra and cole slaw.  Grilled peaches with fresh whip cream for dessert.

Fry  Friday:  This is a kid favorite, so we will have two beef meals in a row!  Burgers, fries with potatoes from the garden and cucumbers. We will have some fresh pears for dessert.

Saturday:  Calzones.  This week I will be making fresh mozzarella from our goats milk.  I will use the whey to make a dough.  They cheese melts beautify in these calzones.  I will stash some of the ground beef before it is seasoned from the tacos, perfect!  This will have all kinds of veggies from the garden in it and fresh tomato sauce that I have been cooking in the crock pot all week.  Cucumbers and tomatoes on the side!  We are keeping our fingers crossed for a surprise watermelon to be ready from the garden!

I hope this gives you some dinner ideas!  Keep growing, eat local, eat fresh!

 

Menu Plan April 19-25

Apr19

Back to the menu planning!  Right now the whole world is cooking at home and working with what they have in the freezer or pantry.  The same thing happens on the farm, our freezer and pantry just look different.  We have a cold cellar in the basement.  This allows us to store all of our food from the garden for winter.  We also raise our meat and have 6 months to a year of meat in the freezer.  For our pantry items that we can not raise ourselves, we buy in bulk.   Sometimes buying in bulk means buying a month or two worth of a food at Aldi. There are some items where it is cheaper to buy the smaller packages at Aldi, than it is to buy at BJ’s or other bulk supplier.  I also shop at Aldi for our processed foods, I love chips. I am a salty food lover.  So we do have some processed foods in the house.  I would say we raise about 60-70% of what we eat.  I would love to see it higher, but I need a cheese curl every once and a while!  What can I say I’m human.  The kids also prefer store ketchup.

Something you can do for your family right now is to menu plan.  Keep it simple.  Below is our menu plan for the week.

Sunday:  Chili, cornbread and kale salad. It is still cold outside, so it is still “Soup Sunday”.  My husband will be making chili in the crock  pot.  We have whole frozen tomatoes in the freezer from last years garden, homemade tomato paste, chopped onions, frozen celery, and dried beans from the cellar.  He will also add ground beef. Corn bread goes great with chili and corn meal is a pantry staple for us.  He likes the Pioneer Woman’s corn bread recipe. It is low sugar.  Kale is fresh from the garden, so I will make a salad out of any veggies we have in the crisper.

Monday: Chinese Chicken, stir-fried cabbage and quinoa. The chicken is a mock recipe from PF Chang’s spicy chicken.  Start the quinoa in the pressure cooker, rice cooker or on stove top. Cut chicken breast or thigh off the bone, toss in corn starch, cook in a tbsp of oil or lard. When the chicken is cooked, add 1/4 onion.  Once chicken and onions are done add 1 cup chicken stock.  We use frozen chicken stock cubes. The sauce is 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp honey, dash red pepper flakes.  Add this to the pan and let thicken.  Add water if it is too thick.  In another pan cook 1/2 cabbage chopped with red onion, and carrots.  I add about 1 tbsp of soy sauce or aminos.  Cook till cabbage is al dente.

Tuesday: Tacos.  Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday.  This is a day when one of the kids cook.  Then after dinner they fight of who has to do the dishes and who cooked most of the food. I go out and milk the goats!

Wednesday: Asparagus, in a butter garlic white sauce over pasta.  I just make the pasta al dente. Roast the Asparagus in the oven 350 for 10 mins or so with olive oil.  On the stove I melt a tablespoon of butter, minced garlic clove, table spoon of flour, a cup of milk and a cup or so of stock.  When the sauce thickens I add it to the pasta, slice the asparagus in bite size pieces and mix everything together.   Might serve a side salad if we have lettuce left after tacos.

Thursday: My daughter’s day to cook.  She has not decided on a menu yet, she likes to plan all week.  Right now she is thinking popcorn chicken bites with broccoli or green beans with baked potatoes.

Friday:  Hamburgers and sweet potato fries. I make gluten free hamburger buns, they are quick and taste great.  Bake sweet potatoes in the instapot, then fry in the fryer.  They are out of this world!

Satuday:  Calzones.  A simple no yeast pizza crust, add whatever left over meat from burgers, tacos onions, pepperoni, homemade sauce and homemade mozzarella.

Every week I try to bake a breakfast item. This week the item will have pumpkin in it.  I am thinking pumpkin oatmeal muffins.   I have not figured it out yet.  We freeze our extra pumpkin, ripe bananas, shredded carrots, shredded zucchini and berries. I use these to bake and it is cheaper than cereal.

Also we make a batch of goat’s milk yogurt for the week.  This is a great snack item or breakfast item.  There is a blog post on how to make yogurt https://shadesoflavender.wordpress.com/?s=yogurt

Let me know what your favorite go-to meals are!  Enjoy!

 

 

Weekly Meal Plan

Nov26

This evening I wrote out our meal plan for the week.  Something I do often.  I would love to say weekly, but there are weeks I just don’t have it all together.  My husband suggested I post our weekly meal plan, so here I am.

The method to my  madness is this; my husband chooses 6 different cuts of meat from the freezer.  I have a list of what is growing in the garden or what is in the fridge or freezer that has to be used.  I take the meat and the veggies with the help of http://www.pintest.com, I come up with recipes for the week.  You might not have a garden to do this, but you can do this with a sale flyer from your favorite grocery story  or what is available at the local farmers market.

This Weeks Menu

Monday

Pan-Seared Pork Chops with Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic-Maple Glaze, Apple Sauce and Baked Potatoes.

So take out your potatoes, wash the skins, poke holes in the skin with a fork, place in a 400 degree oven.   Slice brussels sprouts in half and place on a cookie sheet, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper to taste. Place in the oven with the potatoes.  On the stove top reduce 4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp of maple syrup till you have a glaze then remove from heat. Pan-Seared Pork Chops:  With a little corn oil heat in an oven safe pan to a medium heat.  Brown the pork chops on both sides in a pan then transfer to the oven to finish cooking, goal is 145 degrees. When you put in the chops, turn the brussels sprouts so they can roast on both sides.   Chop up two gloves of garlic and three sprigs of thyme.  Remove the chops from oven, remove chops from pan and set aside, add two pats of butter to the pan, scraping the lovely bits off the bottom, once butter is melted add  garlic and thyme.  When garlic is soft, add back the chops.  Cover with foil and set aside.  Remove sprouts, top with glaze.  Remove potatoes, serve with a side of apple sauce and eat

Tuesday

Taco Night, Beef Taco Meat with Rice, Beans, Homemade Corn Chips, Lettuce, Salsa, Peppers and Onions.

This one is easy,  brown ground beef, (sometimes we use cube steak), drain and add Taco seasoning.  I cut up peppers and onions and saute in a very little oil, cook beans in the pressure cooker, chop up lettuce and fry corn shells.  This is a quick meal for us, the kids help cook and we all look forward to Tuesday!

Wednesday

Crock-pot Rotisserie Chicken, Pan Cooked Potatoes and Chard Au Gratin.

I cheat with this one too. I take a frozen chicken from the freezer and put it in the crock-pot, top with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and pepper.  To the crock pot I add a very small amount of water to the bottom, careful to not wash off my seasonings.  The potatoes are washed and peeled.  I pan fry them in butter and oil, not the healthiest but it is worth it for every once and a while.  I cook them till they turn golden brown. The secret is not to turn them too much.  The recipe for Chard Au Gratin is on my site already.

Thursday

Asia Garlic Sirloin, Noodles, Snowpeas, Carrots, and Peppers.

The sirloin has to come out of the freezer the day before.  Chop it into 1 inch cubes when it is thawed then marinade it in 6 garlic cloves, crushed, 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger, 2/3 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup oil and ground pepper.  Put on skews or pan cook it depending on weather.  Once cooked top with sesame seeds and serve over cooked noodles.  I will cook extra marinade for dipping sauce.  Stir fry the veggies and serve.
Love quick Chinese nights.

Friday

Crock-pot Brown Sugar Pork Roast, Rice, Corn, Salad and Roasted Radishes.

Also you have to take out the roast the night before. In the morning sear the roast on high heat on the stove.  Mix together crushed garlic, chopped sage, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp corn starch, and salt and pepper to taste.  Place roast in crock pot and pour sauce over top.  Cook for 4-6 hours depending on your crock pot. We cook rice in the rice cooker, pan sear some radishes in butter, garlic and pepper. Lastly heat up some corn.  The salad the kids pick and build from the garden.  Love fresh veggies.  This is a veggie heavy meal because not all of us eat all the veggies, and I want to make sure everyone has at least one veggie. Some of us eat them all!

Saturday

A special reward meal for a kid, so Tacos again!

Sunday

Crock-pot Beef Roast, potatoes, Carrots, and Celery with Gravy.

I take this roast out the night before too, sear it in the pan the next morning.  After searing the beef, clean veggies and rough chop.  Leaving them in large chunks.  I add onions and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce to the meat.  Again put 1/2 cup of water on the bottom, not washing away the sauce.  Cook for 4-6 hours depending on your crock pot.  I will sometimes add potatoes wrapped in foil for those kids that don’t want things to touch.  This is a great Sunday meal, left overs for lunches and my husband can pick at it through out the evening.  If I play my cards right it is done about 2 and I do not have to cook lunch or dinner, score!

This is a picture of our week. I am sorry my recipes are not great, but this was a quick post.  I will work on how to write better recipes.  The problem is I do not really follow recipes and I get ideas for meals from the titles and pictures on pintest.  My husband laughs at me because most of the time if I do read a recipe it is a guideline and I do not follow it anyway.  I made sure I copied the names the way the ideas were posted on pintest if you need to search for the exact recipe.   Meal planning reduces stress for me and helps me mid-week when I have lost brain function.  I hope that this helps you too.

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