Menu Monday - A Shopping Freeze

Chance and I were just discussing grocery shopping.  I sat down this morning and made out a list, looked at sales ads online and gathered coupons, but it's raining.  So we decided to postpone until tomorrow what I'd planned to do today.  Then we looked over the weather report.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow then too, and Wednesday is already booked and then Thursday is just four days away from the next pay period and five days from Big Shop...Well ultimately the shopping list will be held, the sales scrapped and we'll go into town to the local store and pick up the basics of eggs, bread, milk, produce and I'll just wait.  It wasn't planned that we'd not shop for four weeks at all, it's just worked out that way and it happened to coincide with my Pantry Freezer challenge which is still going strong.  I'll have about 2/3 of this pay period's grocery budget to carry over for stocking up on good sales over the next month or so.  And come next Tuesday, I'll go out and do a proper grocery shopping.

So planning meals this afternoon, starting with the meal I prepared for our main meal at dinnertime today, and while I plan I"m thinking ahead to the next post about how I plan meals.  Doing two things at once...Gee we wives know all about that don't we?

Monday:  Chicken and Rice Casserole, Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Waldorf Salad, Iced Brownies
Leftovers combined into a casserole and frozen early in December were topped with crushed cracker crumbs and baked this morning.  I washed and trimmed Brussels Sprouts, sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with olive oil and cooked them alongside that casserole dish.  Apples and walnuts from our pantry made up a nice crisp salad and leftover brownies from the weekend baking made dessert.  Chance made coffee to go along with our dessert.  I think we both felt we'd had a Sunday dinner right here on Monday.

Tuesday:  Tamale Pie, Corn with Cumin and Lime, Green Salad
Chili and corn muffin mix are combined in a cast iron skillet to make a tamale pie.  Frozen whole kernel corn heated with butter, lime juice and cumin makes a tasty side dish.  A green salad finishes off the meal.  If I've enough time I'll make some homemade butterscotch pudding, using the evaporated milk I opened last week when we had oatmeal for breakfast.

Wednesday:  Loaded Baked Potatoes, Sliced Tomatoes and Cucumber salad, Rolls
I think a baked potato is an excellent meal for winter days.  I've plenty of cheese, sour cream, and chives.  I plan to pick up some turkey bacon while out shopping Tuesday at the local grocer, and check their broccoli as well.  If it looks good, we'll have steamed broccoli to dress up the potatos a bit more.  We can get cucumbers and tomatoes from Florida this time of year and this week both are on sale at our local store, so a salad of these two vegetables will be welcome.

Thursday:  Chicken Pot Pie , Coleslaw, Green Beans
I have a bit of leftover cooked chicken and it will be no trouble at all to make up two small pot pies from scratch.  I may add a bit of chopped apple or segments of clementine to the coleslaw and I've a choice of both frozen and canned green beans.

Friday:  Red Beans and Rice, Coleslaw and Corn Muffins
An easy meal to prepare, the beans are seasoned with about 4 ounces of beef summer sausage (or if I had it on hand, bulk turkey sausage), green bell pepper, onion and red pepper flakes.  It's really an easy meal to prepare but so tasty no one ever guesses that it took just a little while to make.  I serve over top of rice and I'll make extra rice because a rice pudding for dessert this weekend will hit the spot.  I always have too much coleslaw.  I'm sure there will be enough leftover from Thursday's meal to go with this meal.  And by serving it two days in a row, I'll be sure to use it up and not let it go to waste.

Saturday:  Braised ShortRibs, Mashed Potatoes, Green Peas, Crusty Bread
A meal left cooking in the crockpot for after synagogue served with homemade mashed potatoes (I'll cook the potatoes before I leave, then come home and reheat before mashing).

Sunday:  Oven Fried Chicken,  Creamed Corn, Fried Okra, Biscuits, Rice Pudding
I have the option of using a whole chicken, which I'll cut up myself or boneless breasts...I think I'll use the boneless breasts because two of those may be used easily and a whole chicken would generate lots of leftovers.  The corn and okra are in my freezer, stored there since the last of the fresh vegetables were in the market.  I make my own biscuits from scracth and when I lack shortening, as I do at present, I use either oil or butter.  I shall use oil I think, since it is far less expensive than butter at present.  The extra cooked rice from earlier in the week is combined with a can of condensed milk, an equal amount of milk and two egg yolks and reheated together until thickened.  I use lemon zest to flavor the pudding.