Here the 16th edition of the monthly menu musings.
The food is in BOLD below if you don’t want to read the personal.
September shot by, and it was really hard to get into the groovy groove for me. And here we are suddenly in October. I finally feel like I am starting to getting into a rhythm, figuring when I am going to do my ironing, cooking and cleaning, exercising and meeting with people, schooling and teaching, blogging, etc…all while trying to maintain my spiritual and emotional health and balancing time with family and friends…and staying happy while doing it. That might be one of my biggest challenges these days, staying happy through it all and not letting myself get overwhelmed.
The family had been all abuzz the last few weeks thinking about grandma and papa coming into town. When we have people in our home, I tend to really plan the food, making a daily menu. If you read here normally, you’ll know my menus are pretty general. So I am sharing my menu for when they were here, and then my general menu. I actually had this typed out before they got here last week and just didn’t finish the rest of my general menu. Life happens, you know?!? So here it is.
Day 1 Dinner: Crock-pot Chicken Burrito Bowl
Day 1 Dessert: Banana Ice Cream
Day 2 Breakfast: Overnight Crock-pot Egg Casserole
Day 2 Lunch: Tuna Lettuce Wraps
Day 2 Dinner: Quinoa with Spicy Ginger Sauce and Veggies
Day 2 Dessert: Banana Ice Cream again-a favorite! Sometimes I make this as a family afternoon snack.
Day 3 Morning: Sourdough Pancakes with Crock-pot Blackberry Jam and Sorbet
Day 3 Lunch: Crisy Chimichangas with Salsa
Day 3 Dinner: Grilled Salmon and Cucumber Salad
Day 3 Dessert: Crock-pot Zapple Crisp (but I used zucchini instead of apples or blackberries)-My father-in-law couldn’t get over the fact that I used zucchinis instead of apples. Love it!!
Day 4 Breakfast: Overnight Steel Cut Oats
And here are some ideas for the rest of the month.
Breakfast:
- Chocolate Chip Coconut Zucchini Breakfast Cookies-We just inherited a few more big zucchinis so my kids won’t mind at all the breakfast cookies, you think?? Cookies for breakfast, oh no…what a shame.
- Overnight Steel Cut Oats in the Crock-pot-made weekly lasting about 2 mornings
- Sourdough Waffles
- Sourdough Pancakes
- Oatless (Low Carb) PB Granola
- Crock-pot Spiced Apple Cider-I will make a hot version of it, and then we will drink it cold with breakfasts.
Lunch:
- Since the organic drumsticks at our Costco are $1.79/lb. (I can get 3 packages for about $10-11-each of the packages carrying about 6 drumsticks each), I find that I am crock-potting all three packages for the week, and sticking them in Jonathan’s lunch often. That way he is getting some quick protein that’s easy to put together for me.
- Homemade Tomato Blender Soup-inspired by Serena’s Tomato Basil Soup but made in the blender. I am making some today. Doesn’t her soup looking scrumptious?
- Crock-pot Yogurt
- Nachos with Cucumber Peach Salsa, Fresh Salsa, and/or Crock-pot Salsa-With all of the garden fresh vegetables it’s been awesome to have homemade salsa the last couple of month. I was able to make a couple of more batches yesterday in the crock-pot (recipe to come) which I was SOOO excited to make-thanks Cheryl!
- Tuna Lettuce Boats
Dinner:
- Tortilla Soup
- Salmon and Cucumber Boat Salad-I am trying to branch out of the conventional salad with greens. The other day I was inspired by a picture from my Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free Pinterest Board of 15 no bread sandwiches to make a cucumber sub. I made it dairy-free by using cashews and almonds and blending them with some water, salt, and Italian seasonings to make a sauce and put a little meat in it with a lot of diced veggies. So good! The kids wanted more, too.
- Crock-pot Pork Spare Ribs
- Baked Sweet Potato Fries, G-F, V
- Crock-Pot Chicken Recipe one day so I can have leftovers and make an…
- Applebee’s-Inspired Oriental Chicken Salad
- Fresh Cabbage Slaw from A Couple of Cooks looks amazing! I am also trying to incorporate more cabbage as an alternative to green salads.
- Crock-pot White Bean Chicken Chili-We had our first frost last night, so it’s time for some chili!
- Crock-pot Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich-And look at my friend, Kim’s Crock-pot Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich. Yum!
Dessert & Snacks:
- Almond Butter Bread-With a few gluten-free friends, I wanted to make some. It’s so moist, and there is no flour in it!
- Granola Bars-Time to make another triple batch of 4 ingredient granola bars, both Almond Butter and Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars.
- Homemade KIND Inspired Bars-Such a good treat, and much more frugal than buying them. They come together very quickly!
- No Bake Oatmeal Cookie Bars (Vegan)-I don’t like to run out of these, as these are my absolute favorite dessert! I want to try them with almond butter instead of pb this time. Actually I’ll have my 8 year old make them :).
- Brownies–I haven’t made any (No Flour Secret black bean) brownies for awhile, so it’s time to break them out (and update the pictures)! The secret is out with my kids. They LOVE these, and they don’t care at all that they are made from beans!!!
Do you know what’s on your menu this month, this week, or today?
Hope you all have a great October!
Go here for the complete list of recipes.
