Weekly Menu...With a Twist

First I want to address a question posed to me by KellyJo.  She wrote:  I envy your organization in the kitchen. I really need to get more organized - do you always stick to your menu? One of my biggest struggles is lack of good planning.

Well for her benefit I'm going to do something a little different.  I'm going to copy and paste last week's menus here and then I'm going to tell you what we really ate!

Breakfasts: 
1. Bagels and cream cheese, Pop-tarts, Coffee
2. Sausage and Hash-brown Casserole, Blueberry Streusel Muffins, Orange juice
3. Bacon and Egg English Muffins, Clementines
4. Goat Cheese and Chives Omelet, Sliced Tomatoes, Buttered Toast, Orange Juice
5. Apple Pancakes, Smoked Beef Sausage, Maple Syrup, Orange Juice
6. Fried Eggs, Grits, Biscuits, Grape Juice
7. French Toast with Nectarine Topping, Turkey Bacon, Orange Juice

Dinners: 
1. Stuffed Bell Peppers, Coleslaw, Lima Beans, Corn bread
2. Cubed Steak Sandwiches with Lettuce and Tomato, Sweet Potato Fries
3. Turkey Polska Kielbasa, Steamed Cabbage, Pierogi (homemade from wonton wrappers and leftover mashed potatoes)
4.  Red Beans and Rice, Tossed Salad, Corn bread
5.  Almond Chicken, Rice, Steamed Broccoli, Clementines
6.  Vegetable Soup, Toasted Pimento and Cheese Sandwiches, Baked Apples
7.   Tuna Noodle Casserole, Lettuce and Tomato Salad, Green Beans 

These were the meals I'd planned.  Breakfast #1 was exactly what we ate....Now for the rest of the story...
Breakfasts:
2. I never made the Hashbrown casserole but we did have blueberry muffins, minus the streusel.  Instead I 
made the same Oatmeal muffins I'd made last week, skipped the apricots and added in blueberries and chopped walnuts.  I served the muffins with scrambled eggs that had cooked sausage and cheese added in.
3. No.  I never made the English muffins I'd planned to make.  I don't remember what we had...
4.  No.  Fried eggs, buttered toast and orange marmalade.
5.  Apple WAFFLES instead of pancakes, and the Turkey bacon I'd planned to  have on day 3.
6.  We had cereal and toast.  Needless to say I didn't bother making biscuits.
7. French Toast with the last of the bulk turkey sausage formed into patties and pan fried.

I never mixed up the orange juice, never made English muffins nor biscuits.  I was either busy or sleepy and that's my only excuse.  I should have prepped ahead in the afternoon or early evening but didn't.  So much for thinking I'm organized, KellyJo....sorry, lol.

Dinners:
1.  Obviously not a memorable meal.  I've actually been writing down this month what we really eat...and I had no clue when I came to the end of that day, no clue later in the week and no clue now.  John started painting our bathroom that day.  Perhaps the shock shook it out of my mind?
2. The stuffed pepper menu from above menus exactly as written with lacy corn cakes as a bread.
3.went out to dinner with Mama and brought home leftovers for John's meal.  My entree was a chicken and pasta dish with a supposed Alfredo sauce that was made up of some American processed cheese.  Decent but nothing to try to mimic at home.
4. I decided to fry the cubed steak (there were just 2 pieces) and served it with potato pancakes, sliced tomatoes and Italian Flat Beans.
5. Made Cashew Chicken instead of Almond chicken.Rest of menu stands.
6. Macaroni and Cheese, Creole Green Beans, carrot and raisin salad, five grain bread, and Pineapple Upside down cake.
7.  Roast beef with a wine reduction, Mashed potatoes, Green Peas, five grain bread, Pineapple Upside down cake.

So you can see how my menus do give me something of a starting point for thinking but they change.  I made potato pancakes to use up leftover mashed potatoes which we must have had on Monday with our meal because I've no clue why I had leftovers otherwise and they were still fresh leftovers.

Now I'll attempt to plan out menus for this week, starting with what we had today.

Polska Kielbasa Casserole, Fruit Cocktail, Sour Dough bread
Not a very well rounded meal at first appearance but more than you may imagine: the casserole had green peas and potatoes and onions in it.  It was a recipe a co-worker made up years ago and I waited almost 15 years to try.  It's actually very tasty, a sort of Augratin potato dish with green peas added in and a Kielbasa sausage laid on top and the whole thing cooked as a one dish meal.  So in actuality we got three servings of vegetable and fruit in this menu.  

Fried Chicken, Coleslaw, Corn on the Cob, Pineapple Upside down Cake
I'll run out tomorrow to pick up whole chickens on sale at Publix(last day) and to pay our bills and do the banking and will  pick up fried chicken for our dinner either at the grocery, KFC or the local place. John considers the chicken a treat.  I will make slaw tonight and the corn on the cob is frozen. This will be the end of the Upside down Cake which was just a small cake, not a bit huge one.

Pizza and Salad
I plan to make a pizza crust ahead then top it in the morning to bake as we unload groceries.  That's the plan...I may end up buying a pizza at Aldi's if that plan goes bust.  Either way the cost will be around the same price.

Beef Pot Pies, Baked Potatoes, Sliced Tomato Salad
Leftover roast beef from our Sunday dinner be will made up into filling for the pot pies.

Vegetable Beef Soup, Cornbread, Apple Pie
I've started my soup container in the freezer and it's got a good base of beef broth, beef bits and vegetables in it.  I'll add a few cans from the pantry of various vegetables and some onion to make up a rich thick soup.  I'll make the Apple Pie the day I make the beef pot pies, all the pastry made up at once, then bake the pie this day.

Hot Italian Sub Sandwich, Chips, Pickles
I have an idea for a sandwich I'd like to attempt...No clue how it will turn out but it's a stretch of the imagination to try to recreate a childhood favorite from an authentic Italian Pizza/Sub shop.  I can make the sandwich up on Friday and then heat on Saturday.

Turkey and Dressing, Brussels Sprouts, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Apple Pie ala Mode
I don't have a whole turkey, just a wee little turkey breast roast.  Leftover cornbread and chopped onions and celery will go in the crock pot with the turkey breast roast on top.  I don't know why but come early autumn I want a turkey dinner and it just seems a Sunday sort of meal doesn't it?