In the Storm

May 2016 Menu Plan.

A busy and event-filled month ahead juggling our lives, maybe by the skin of our teeth and added to the mix a ton of new recipes because I JUST CAN"T NOT add new recipes to our family's lives and taste buds and repertoire. An anniversary celebration getaway, a boys-only camping trip, family delightfully invading our small, humble abode for the graduation celebration slash pary of the last of my Mom's grand children, John and Jarrod - finally! Besides the new recipes as I continue my tour of 50 States 50 Recipes hosting Kentucky, Florida, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, I have three new recipes just because they sound good and different.

I love spending the time hunting down Pinterest and researching new recipes from food blogs or cookbooks. So often, I nudge the recipes to make them just my own, for our tastes, our likes and dislikes, expanding our palettes with things like Bacon and Eggs Fried Rice (with peas) with Chinese Chicken and Sausages or Bacon and Smoked Gouda Cauliflower Mash, both I believe, will be winners.

Gradually, I am filling my own recipe album, which as I type this I realize I need to have copies made for my kids' recipes books, full of delightful family favorites with main dishes, breakfasts, sandwiches, soups, appetizers, side dishes, and desserts, many of which I'm serving up in the month of May 2016.

april menu planning.

After 5+ years taking a couple hours of time at the end of every month, sometimes over a couple days in 15-30 minute stretches, creating the next months menu has been a lifesaver. The menu solves the "What's for dinner? question that inevitably arises in the late afternoon after work when time has flown. The menu solves the "What needs to go on the grocery list?" question. Without a list shopping would be wasteful and costly. Meal-making would be frustrating and cumbersome. A monthly menu plan works!

The Color-coded key and how I prepare a monthly menu:

Color-coded key 

I've changed the colors over the years for aesthetic reasons but currently I have Date Night, Sunday Dessert, Special, NEW Recipe, Dinner, Elevate Breakfast, and NEW State Recipes:

Date Nights are just that, Jeff and I are on a date and Joan, John, and Jarrod fend for themselves. Date nights are imperative for our relational health. I put it on the 'menu' because, in the beginning when we first began date nights they were only once a month and it was the best way to put them in to our schedule. The boys have been pro-supporters of our date nights as it usually means for them frozen pizzas and binge television.

Sunday Dessert. Jeff and I host a small group at our home and I've been making Sunday dessert to share with our small group. If someone offers to bring a dessert I just ditch that Sunday's dessert, or make it the next week. I pull ideas from my wealth of dessert recipes, scour Pinterest for new dessert ideas, or consult recipe books as I have quite a few. While I have 'scheduled' Sunday dessert this month (April 2016) I am going to offer our group a sign-up sheet for bringing a snack or dessert. After reading Mark Ingmire's book, Small Groups that Work I realized I was doing our group a disservice by not 'allowing' them to participate in this.

Special. I probably should just call it what it is. Out to eat. Over the last couple months and beyond, we have been going out to eat after church on Sunday's. Here's why. Sometimes we get up early to fix breakfast for children's ministry volunteers, we attend church service, then we service with children's ministry the next service. Add to that we host a small group on Sunday. Then there is my pain levels which are sometimes non-existent, sometimes 1-4 pain level, and sometimes 5-8. I just don't know what I'm going to be facing. While I'm working full time, the cost sacrifice has been worth it. So we go out to eat if possible. If we aren't having small group that day for some reason or we're having a small group dinner then, of course, we don't go out to eat.

NEW Recipe. This is the fun part. I scour the internet, mostly Pinterest, which takes me to food bloggers who've created tons of fabulous recipes. Some of these new recipes have been "keepers" as my family calls them, and I incorporate them into our monthly, bi-monthly, or tri-monthly rotations. This month, an Angel Hair pasta with Shrimp recipe is sure to be a winner. I am looking forward to this Stir-Fry Chicken in a Chinese Garlic Sauce. Sometimes it is only one new recipe over the course of a month of great meals but other months it is one new recipe a week. After all, variety is spice...as they say.

Dinner. With year's worth of planning menu's, and a created recipe book that I continue to add to regularly, I fill each day with a dinner recipe. Favorites that we rotate each month, breakfasts for dinner, obscure meals we haven't had in months, sometimes years, our Family pizza night, our Homemade Taco night. Soups, pasta dishes, grill meats, crockpot meals, it's all up for grabs.

Elevate Breakfast. As I indicated above, Jeff and I prepare, twice a month breakfast for our church's children's ministry volunteers. Because everyone loves the food, and because some volunteers serve all morning at church, the children's ministry has recruited volunteers to cook for their - volunteers. Because we are also volunteers we reap the rewards of our service, too. I have found quite a few favorites and just rotate them the 2nd and 4th Sunday morning of each month unless we're out of town.

NEW State Recipes. The month of April 2016 begins a new blog series, 50 States 50 Recipes. I am researching those iconic recipes by state, those foods that states are known for: Key Lime Pie (Florida), Gumbo (Louisiana) and will incorporate those foods into our dinner recipes and dessert recipes over the course of the next year or so. I begin with Pennsylvania and Alabama.

How I prepare a monthly menu:

These are some of the questions I ask myself when planning a monthly menu: What activities are on the schedule that will impact dinners? Some of these might include Boy Scout campouts, Weekend getaways, appointments that will require the boys to cook dinner, etc. Knowing what's in the next months schedule is imperative for preparing the menu.

What recipes go on each month? Or, what recipes haven't we eaten in a long time? As I mentioned previously there are a few recipes we repeat each month, such as homemade pizza for Family Pizza night, homemade Tacos (with Jalapeno Poppers and without), breakfast for dinner (such as Omelets and Hashbrowns, or Biscuits and Gravy with Scrambled Eggs, or Pancakes/Waffles with Sausage). I might pull a smoked Boston Butt out of the freezer (we normally have a couple stashed from the bi-annual Boy Scout Troop 7 Boston Butt cooks) every couple of months which provides us with three very different meals plus lunches. Then, I scour previous menus, my recipe book, and begin filling in days. Basic plug and chugging. 

I don't duplicate recipes over the course of the month. I used to. When we were eating tacos once a week I would fill in tacos every Tuesday, but that was a long time ago. Now, it's a different recipe every day of the month.

It is from this monthly menu plan that I prepare my weekly grocery shopping list... 

menu plan | february 2016

Not many new recipes this month. But, I did go back for months and tried to bring some oldie recipes, but goodies, into our menu plan. I've been creating monthly menu plans since 2011, but only began storing them since 2012. While the colors may change every few months or so, they have evolved only slightly from the beginning. My menu planning process is pretty simple but it still takes about 2-3 hours to put one together. That may seem like an enormous amount of time to put a 'simple' menu plan together but it is an entire month plan, not week by week. Monthly plans relieve me from having to spend the time throughout the month that I probably just won't have on a set day, where as I can, towards the end of each month begin preparing the next months in one sitting, or in bits and pieces. Here's what I do:

1) I plug in Taco Night, Family Pizza and a Movie Night, Date nights, and any Boy Scout campouts, or weekend activities that may impact meals. We eat Tacos once a month and homemade pizza once a month and both are on Saturday's now. Once upon a time my homemade Tacos were once a week - and on Tuesday's for Taco Tuesday. But, - life.

2) If there are any meals I absolutely want again, soon, I'll go ahead and add those somewhere, usually towards the end of the new monthly menu.

3) Recently, because of my health, mostly, being so poor, Sunday's, after church we go out to eat. This can only happen as long as I have a job. Before this Sunday's were for those meals that like Sunday dinners: homemade soups with homemade bread, homemade Salisbury steaks with onion gravy and mashed potatoes, you know, those comfort food kind of dinners.

3) Because Wednesday's we have church (we serve up in Elevate, the kid's ministry at our church); the meal has to be something that can travel well because I bring Jeff's meal to him at church. For instance, Wednesday's would not be a breakfast for dinner night. Scrambled eggs or omelets and hashbrowns don't travel well. A casserole is a good bet or spaghetti, etc.

4) I visit Pinterest and my Food Love board for NEW recipes I want to try. There is usually one or two a month that will be a new recipe.

5) Then, I go back through my previous published menus and search for some good meals and just start plugging those in. I try to add salads if the meal doesn't have vegetables in the dish but some dishes, like my Italian Chicken Skillet which is on the menu for this week is loaded with zucchini, roasted tomatoes, and mushrooms, so, with spaghetti it is a complete meal. But, if I'm serving my Spicy Sausage Bundt, for instance, I'll either steam broccoli or make a Caesar salad to serve with it.

6) There is always a 'sandwich' dinner or two. This month there is Hot Italian Subs, Turkey Bacon Melts, and Patty Melts scattered throughout the month. Sandwich-type meals can be easier, sometimes. 

7) I make dessert almost once a week - for our small group on Sunday evenings. This was another reason we began going out to eat on Sunday's. Between my poor health, two breakfasts a month for the Elevate volunteers, and small group desserts, Sunday's became too much for me to handle.

And that's my menu planning. 

I grocery shop once a week, for the week ahead (usually on a Friday afternoon after work, but sometimes Saturday morning). With the menu all planned out, making a grocery list is a cinch. We only stock up on things when they are on sale and ONLY if it is something we regularly use. Because our dinners are from scratch, the type of sales the stores carry don't benefit us often. One thing we are considering heavily this year is purchasing a whole cow from a local grass-feed farm. While the initial outlay of funds will be costly, our weekly grocery bills will reduce dramatically on those 'beef-heavy' weeks.

October 2015 Menu.

Yes, it says September Menu 2015 but it really is October's menu. I forgot to change the month at the top. 

A bunch of new recipes to try this month: Pumpkin Bread (only because Elizabeth made this recipe while we were up visiting and I only had 1 piece of bread and I'm dreaming of this Pumpkin Bread), Bacon Onion Horseradish Mashed Potatoes (yum, horeseradish!), a couple of main dishes: Kielbasa, Peppers, Onions, and Potatoes Hash, Herb Roasted Cheesy Bacon Potatoes, and Chicken with Sundried Tomato Sauce, and then a couple more Small Group desserts: Country Apple Fritter Bread and Blueberry Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Coffeecake.

And a month chalk full of deliciousness!

august twenty-fifteen menu.

Typical month with several new recipes on tap, like White Castle Sliders, Garlic Parmesan Yellow Squash Chips, Barbacoa Tacos, and a couple others. Plus, some all-time favorites and new favorites, like Parmesan Meatballs with Spaghetti or Shrimp Scampi with Parmesan Garlic Mashed Potatoes- divine!

July was a month of very few date nights because we were so busy with summer activities - all good, but man, I miss our dates, which are back on the schedule for August.

july 2015 menu plan.

We have an interesting month headed our way with return trips home, short weekend trip, and a week long trip for Jeff and the boys. A couple of new recipes, all of which I am looking forward to making. I am making it easy on myself while the boys are gone to church camp and we are going out to eat a couple of times - unusual for us during the week - but I'm good with it. I'm also making super simple meals for Mom and I while Jeff and the boys are at Boy Scout camp.

We also have an 18th birthday to celebrate: Dinner out, maybe a cake (maybe not:), and Mission Essential shooting range!!! Really looking forward to that because Jeff bought me this sweet little shooter that even my rheumatoid arthritic hands can hold.

june 2015 menu plan

The boys are going to be at church camp the end of the month. We will have our Friday night dates, a couple nights we'll eat out - just because. And, I'm going to try a couple recipes. Now that I'm responsible for most of the cooking again, new recipes are no-brainers.

A Philly Cheesesteak Stromboli that I'm already eyeballing substitutions to the recipes (i.e. fresh mushrooms over canned/jarred)

Breakfast Bake with Hashbrown Crust for Elevate Sunday morning breakfast.

Farmstand One Pot Wonder - gotta love those One Pot dishes.

Lastly, a Knock Your Socks off Slow Cooker Chicken and Sausage

Now that I work dayshifts and get home in plenty of time to cook dinner, with maybe some prep work from John and Jarrod, I don't hesitate to put the more 'difficult' menu choices on during the week.

We have some old friends coming over in June for Tacos - their request! But, really looking forward to the time with them. And one of my meals in early June I'll double it to take to the a family in our small group since she is in the hospital. I'm really looking forward to the Tacos de Carnitas with Tomatilla salsa - yum!

 

May 2015 Menu Plan

 

One might think that I missed creating an April Menu but I just didn't get it put up here on the blog. I think these days there would be mutiny in my house if I stopped creating a menu. And I would be leading the rebellion. Having a monthly menu made is key to making our lives easier.

This month, or at least the last half of the month is a key time as it is when I move to the day shift at work and I will be able to come home a cook dinner. A change that John and Jarrod are looking forward to immensely.

So, I've added a couple of new recipes during the week since it will be me attempting the recipe first. I've even scheduled our monthly tacos during the week since they've been on weekends for the past two years.

While the boys can't wait for me to go to day shift I too am really looking forward to the change as well.

 

march 2015 menu.

For a couple months now we have only had computer access to government sites to include no save capabilities to anything but the hard drive so I have had to make our monthly menus in my not-so-free-time at home. This month, one of those longer months, it came down to the last day of the month before I finished the menu.

This month all of the new recipes I've included in our menu are for the weekend desserts for small group, or our weekend dinners, both of which I will be the chef. John and Jarrod are praying hard that my companies' bosses will approve of my shift change from the swing shift to the day shift because that will mean I can cook dinner every night instead of just weekends.

But, once again, thanks be to God, we are eating well. Oh, and Jarrod decided he wanted to make the Roasted Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper-Pesto Fettuccini dish that we know and love.

 

february 2015 menu.

Because life has been overwhelming I am just now posting our menu for the month of February. We have been using it even though the first week I had to keep referring back to the copy on the computer because I hadn't even had time to print a copy for the refrigerator. I think a mutiny was in the works by my sons; my menus have created little crazy monsters - they kept asking what are we having for dinner? what are we having for dinner? It was nuts.

So I finally got the menu printed and there is peace in the world.