What We ate last week

Last week we decided to go camping Monday morning. There is a post coming about that soon, something always seems to happen when we go camping...this one was eventful and cold. So, here is what we ate:

Monday- Sloppy joes
Tuesday- Hibachi style steak, zucchini and rice
Wednesday Italian Sausage, potatoes and peppers (This was a new one, I will make it again)
Thursday Leftovers
Friday Sandwiches ( I worked)
Saturday Leftovers or clam chowder (I worked again)
Sunday Baked Ziti

I was planning to be out of town for family dinner so we cancelled but, I wound up coming home on Saturday night so I called everyone and uncancelled. Since I wouldn't have time to go to the store I just looked through my pantry to see what I have on hand to throw together. I decided on Baked Ziti, a family favorite. I didn't have any ground beef or Italian sausage so I pulled out a pound of pork sausage from the pig that we butchered. I have used it before in this recipe and it was very good. While I was browning the sausage I called my husband over to ask him if he thought the meat had an off smell to it. I thought it did, but we decided that it was just the pork itself and we were just used to the smell of beef. So, I was satisfied and went on cooking.

When It was all done I pulled it out of the oven and it looked so good with the cheese starting to brown on top. I dished it up with a side of buttered bread and took a bite.  It was horrible! The pork gave it a greasy "off" taste. I couldn't even swallow the bite I took. So, we had carrot cake for dinner. That was good and we could all stomach it! I don't know what the problem was with the sausage. I hope it was just with that package because I have several more of it. We didn't even feed it to our dogs we just tossed it in the trash.

It's been a while since I have had a dinner fail like this!

What We Ate....Brisket Edition

I think I’ve mentioned in a recent post that since we have been home from our trip, I have been trying not to go to the grocery store and just use what we have on hand  in our pantry and freezer. I have not meal planned and gone on a big shopping trip but, I have gone to the store several times to pick up some necessities like bread and milk and then some extra things that we wanted for a movie night and maybe a few impulse buys like pumpkin spice bagels. They are so tasty. Then we decided to go camping so that did require a shopping trip with a list. More on that later.

So, What have we been eating? Every Sunday my family has “family dinner.” My mom, brother and sister and their families come over and we eat and play cards (well the moms do). Last Sunday my mom made Beef Stew, it’s my grandma’s recipe and it’s one of the bests out there. I made some Roads Rolls, my new fave, to dip in the juice. So good! We ate that for two nights and then I had it for a few lunches as well. On Tuesday we went to Tucson to visit some of the best people in the world and they fed us and sent us home with a half of a smoked brisket. They smoked it themselves with a killer dry rub and it has the best bark on it! So we ate that for dinner for three nights. I know, but its that good. I made different sides to go with it like, mashed potatoes, rice and vegetables.  Saturday night we had frozen ravioli, that was an impulse buy, it was by the Roads Rolls in the freezer section and it just sounded good, and easy. We all need some easy, right? Then it was Sunday again....More on that later

Sunday- Beef stew and rolls
Monday-Beef stew and rolls
Tuesday-Brisket and broccoli salad (the one with grapes, bacon and bow tie pasta)
Wed- Brisket on tortillas
Thursday-Brisket with mashed potatoes and corn
 Friday- Brisket with rice and green beans
Saturday- Cheese ravioli and bread

Breakfasts were  Chorizo (Mexican style) and eggs, oatmeal or bagels.
Lunches were beef stew, PB&J or brisket

Menu Plan?

I don't have a monthly or a weekly menu plan! Since we just got back from an awfully expensive trip I am trying to hold out going to the store as long as I can. We got home October 24th, so it will be two weeks tomorrow. I have gone to the store twice to get some basics, milk, bread, eggs and fruit. I went today to get snacks for movie night and eggs and a few other household items like a furnace filter only to come home and find out we had 28 eggs outside in the coop! The chickens have either been laying double time or our daughter has been forgetting to get them. I will let you guess which. We were able to bless someone with two dozen eggs so it worked out wonderfully.

What have we been eating you ask?

Salisbury steaks, mashed potatoes and corn
Pizza-- twice
A ham steak and scalloped potato casserole-twice
Ranch chicken thighs with roasted potatoes and green beans (a new favorite!)
Spaghetti with meat sauce
Easy Red Enchiladas with beef and topped with an egg (YUM)
White turkey chili-twice
Rump Roast, mashed potatoes and green beans-twice
Sandwiches
Broccoli Soup

Breakfasts have been:
Instant Oatmeal
Chorizo and eggs
Pancakes

Lunches have been:
Left overs
Spam Sandwiches (Sam's favorite)
PB&J's
Pizza

I am using a lot of my pantry items and stuff form my freezer. I think I am going to see how long I can go before doing a big shopping trip....just for fun. Of course not sacrificing nutrition. I have a ton of pork left from when we butchered our pig, but I have to say I am not a fan of fresh ham steaks and I have a lot of them and fresh bacon and ham roasts. I don't know what to do with them, maybe smoke them?? 

What we Ate Last Week a little late..

I haven't had much time for blogging lately... lots going on. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.

This is what we ate last week

• Monday
•  Cereal
•  Really good deli style sandwiches
•   Spicy Chicken Curry over rice and a homemade coffee and praline cake... 
• Tuesday      
• Cereal
• sandwiches
•  Chicken thighs cooked in Marinara sauce over penne (really Yummy) 
• Wednesday  
• Pumpkin latte spiced bread
• sandwiches
• we had dinner at church, not my turn to cook. (breakfast for dinner)
• Thursday    
• Cereal
• leftover chicken thighs
•  leftover chicken curry
• Friday          
• Cereal
• Leftover chicken curry
• Sam ate a late lunch so I didn't need to make dinner, just snacked.
• Saturday       
• 
  
• Was a busy day and Sam had a big sandwich for lunch while I was at my sis-in-laws baby shower. I ate there. Chips, dips and cake. 
• We saw a movie that night and didn't eat dinner, we had popcorn.
• Sunday          
• Fried egg sandwiches
• Out for Chinese with friends
•  Chicken thighs cooked in Marinara sauce over penne, yes again. This was a pioneer women recipe from her blog it was so good I made it again for friends and served it with homemade italian bread and homegrown patty pan squash.

                                            With just two of us we have so many leftovers!

What We Ate Last Week and other stuff...

Monday we had Chicken Divan and Rice, our son came over and ate with us and then he and Sam headed over to the "other" house to work on the back porch. They are putting on a new roof.
Tuesday, Sam and I went out of town for the day and ate at Chick-Fil-A and just snacked that night.
Wednesday I made Salmon Patties, mac n cheese and green beans from the garden. Yum. Sam really liked the salmon patties, and even he was surprised. I love making things he wasn't fond of when he was a child and he likes them.
Thursday was the day I was putting up squash and got an overnight placement. I had planned on having leftovers but got the call for the kiddos, so I had to come up with something fast. I decided on BBQ chicken in the oven, mashed potatoes I so brilliantly made and froze and fried zucchini and yellow squash. The potatoes were almost thawed, the squash all but done and I check the chicken that I put in the electric roaster. Ok the roaster. I use the roaster whenever I can during the summer because it is SOO hot and the roaster doesn't heat up the house like the regular oven does and it used something like 71% less electricity. Anyway I open the lid and it was still frozen! The kids were hungry....I was hungry. I realized that the lid was letting some heat escape so I grabbed the random random blue towel of my dinning room table and draped it over the roaster.

It looked really bad but worked really well. I jacked up the heat and it was done in no time.
Friday we didn't got out on a date and I can't even remember what we ate so it wasn't anything spectacular!! I do remember there were cookies though =)
Saturday was church work day at church and the women got together to prepare the food that we are going to make for the Women's Conference in September. We are responsible for cooking for 200 women. Its gonna be fun. We are going with Argentinian food. Chicken with Chimi Churry, really yummy black beans, salad and homemade bread. So today we made the food so all the women (and men) can try it and see how it is prepared. So that was our big meal of the day. That evening I made zucchini fries coated in Italian breadcrumbs and panko. Very good. I also fried some green beans, I've always wanted to do that... and I'm not a fan. Black olives, yeah don't bread and fry them. Not so good.
After we were done eating I was doing dishes and Sam was working on tiling our bathroom counter (looks great by the way) and I got a call for another placement. Just one this time.
Sunday we had Ratatouille wraps again, per the request of my buddy Deanna. There that good.

Jen=)