Sunday, September 26, 2010

Weekly Menu Retrospective #9

 Welcome to my weekly roundup of the past week's eats. I prefer to report what we ate in the last week, rather than what we're planning to eat in the coming week. Why? The reason is pretty simple: although I usually have a general idea of what we're going to eat in the next week or so, life often unfolds a little differently than planned, and I adjust my menu plan on a near-daily basis to accommodate leftovers and other not-possible-to-plan-ahead circumstances. I find this is the easiest way to ensure that I minimize our family's food waste. I'm also willing to admit that I'm a rather spontaneous cook, given to preparing foods that strike me as the most appealing thing to eat right here and now!


Breakfasts: pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (subbed pumpkin puree for the bananas in this recipe), zucchini bran muffins, peanut butter toast, pancakes, cereal (I got a free box of Multi-Grain Cheerios - first bowl of cold cereal I've had in months, lol!), breakfast puffs (this is kind of a quiche-like topping on an English muffin, baked in the oven)
 
Lunches: tuna sandwiches, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, pizza, hamburgers (free community BBQ at dh's office)

Suppers:

Monday: Lentil soup

Tuesday: Chicken and vegetable coconut curry (recipe coming tomorrow!)

Wednesday: Chicken fried rice (leftover chicken stashed in the freezer from last week's roast chicken, leftover rice from the curry)

Thursday:  Leftover buffet (lentil soup, curry, chicken fried rice)

Friday: Nathan's (11 yo ds) birthday party with friends -  Sloppy Joes, sliced raw veggies, nachos with cheese sauce, chocolate cupcakes with seven minute frosting)

Saturday: Leftover burgers from dh's company barbecue (it was just me and my older son as hubby and younger son got free tickets to a football game)

Sunday: Extended family birthday dinner for my younger son - hamburgers and hotdogs, apple and carrot salad, potato salad, assorted (home canned) pickles, sliced raw veggies, chocolate cake with seven minute frosting, apple crisp

The apple and carrot salad was a spur-of-the-moment invention that turned out fabulously. I wanted a seasonal salad using produce we already had on hand for my son's family party. We had just stocked up on 10 lb bags of carrots on sale and purchased a half bushel of apples at a local farm. I cut about 8 or 10 carrots into matchsticks, then chopped three large apples, leaving the skin on two of them for colour and texture. I tossed the apple chunks with the juice of a lime to keep them from browning, then tossed the apples and carrots with the Lime & Cumin Vinaigrette I use for my barley salad (I didn't add additional lime juice to the vinaigrette as I'd already used the juice of a whole lime for the apples). This was the hit dish of the gathering, with everyone raving about how delicious it was. I love it when that happens :)

For more great meal ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com.

2 comments:

  1. Just stopping by from Org. Junkie. Your week looks great. Family Birthday parties are always so special.
    Thank you...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Helen. The party was lots of fun! My older son will be turning 13 in a few weeks, so there's another big party coming up soon :)

    ReplyDelete

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