February menu

This month will be crazy. Every Monday and Wednesday, I'll be at class while Jay stuffs food in the girls' mouths and shuffles them to dance/4-H or religious education. Despite that crazy schedule, we are determined as ever to minimize our eating out and see how-low-can-we-go with our food budget. I need food to take with me for lunch and supper on MWs, and we need to cook things that are either crockpot or are fast and easy. The nice balance is there are three big events this month that require some food fun: Valentine's Day, Natalie's birthday, and the start of Lent. With that in mind, here is our very simplistic, cheap, and quick February 2010 menu:

1

Scrambled eggs and bacon

Fried rice and Beef-n-broccoli stir fry

Leftovers

2

Oatmeal

Mac-N-Cheese

Pizza Rolls

3

Toaster strudel

Frozen lunch

Chicken and pasta

4

Toast and cereal

Leftovers

Confetti ham and potatoes

5

Toaster strudel

Frozen lunch

Au gratin ham

6

Pancakes

Cheese crescent rolls

Leftovers

7

Waffles (make extra and freeze)

OUT

S&S meatballs and rice

8

Egg sandwich

Frozen meal

Tacos

9

Cereal

Cheesy tacos and fruit

Breakfast supper

10

Waffles

Frozen lunch

Chili and cinnamon rolls

11

Waffles

Mac-n-cheese and hot dogs

Meat loaf and baked potatoes

12

Donut Day

Leftover meatloaf and potatoes

Frito pie

13

Biscuits and gravy

Grilled cheese and soup

Heart-shaped homemade pizza

14

Pink pancakes

Parmesean chicken

Leftovers

15

Egg burrito

Frozen meal

Pork stir fry

16

Cereal/oatmeal

Leftovers

Broccoli-sausage puff

17-Lent starts

PB sandwiches

Leftovers

Tuna casserole

18

Cereal

Frozen meal

Tacos

19

Donut Day

Frozen meal

Fetuccine alfredo and French bread

20

Waffles

Natalie’s first

birthday party

21

Pancakes

Tomato-basil soup

Meatballs and rice

22

Toast and apple pie jam

Leftovers

Leftovers

23-Natalie Bday!

Oatmeal/cereal

Mac-n-Cheese and hot dogs

Chicken nuggets and baked fries

24

Egg sandwich

Frozen lunch

Crockpot roast

25

Waffles

Roast beef sandwiches

Enchiladas

26

Donut Day

Leftovers

Potato soup

27

Omelets

Fried rice

Meatloaf and butternut squash

28
Waffles
Leftovers
Hawaiian pork patties

W is for White Chili

Lunch today rocked, simply stated. We've been trying our best to not eat out, with Chinese food being the biggest temptation. We all love Chinese buffets, but it costs us about $30 to go, now that there are 5 paying to eat. So, today, Jay watched the girls and I prepared some good, fried, authentic-ish, homemade Chicken Lo Mein, Fried Wontons, and Crab Rangoon. YUM!

Here's hoping supper's White Chili (adapted from here) will meet or exceed lunch's yummy-ness!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 boneless chicken breasts, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 anaheim peppers, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained
• 1 can red beans, undrained (just because I didn't have two cans of white beans)
  
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook chicken until cooked through. Remove from saucepan.
2. Add another tablespoon of olive oil Add the onions and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes, or until onions are tender.
   
3. Add the chicken, chicken broth, green chile peppers, cilntro, oregano and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the beans. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until heated thoroughly.
   
5. Add sour cream and stir until mixed thoroughly.
6. Ladle into individual bowls and top with the cheese. Serve with tortilla chips.

(Post supper report: Not too spicy for the girls, good flavor for us adults. Definite repeat.)

Upside Down Pizza

Continuing with our Alphabet January, we've made it to 'U'. Upside-down something...and since it's girls only tonight, Upside Down Pizza it is! I like this recipe because it uses pantry items and doesn't require Bisquik (that stuff is expensive!) I set aside some spaghetti sauce from earlier in the week, which saved me a dollar on a can of tomato sauce.

1 pound pork sausage
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, or tomato sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded mozerrella cheese

Brown pork sausage in a saucepan.
In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons flour, basil and oregano. Stir into cooked sausage.
Pour spaghetti sauce (or tomato sauce or pizza sauce) into sausage mixture. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together 1 cup flour, eggs, milk, oil, and salt. Whisk until smooth.
Spread sausage mixture into a sprayed 13x9 casserole dish.
Sprinkle cheese on top of meat.
Pour flour mixture over cheese.
Bake at 425 for 20-30 minutes, until top is golden.

Chicken picado

Delicious! Easy! And the kids even ate it!

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
salt & pepper
3/4 teaspoon minced garlic
4 ounces sour cream
1 diced tomato
5 green onions, chopped
8 ounces monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed in 1 teaspoon water
2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a saucepan, melt 1/2 stick butter. Add to that, milk, salt, pepper, garlic, and sour cream. Stir until smooth.
3. Add cornstarch/water mixture and juice from diced tomato to the saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile in a skillet, melt 2 T butter. Cook the chicken and green onions, until chicken is cooked through.
5. Pour chicken into a pie plate.
6. Pour sauce over chicken.
7. Sprinkle diced tomato and green onion over chicken.
8. Sprinkle cheese over chicken mixture.
9. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Serve with warm tortillas.

Nacho Soup

Nacho Soup, in honor of our N-day. I plan to make extra taco meat on Wednesday's M-day and use it in Thursday's soup, for an extra easy meal night.

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 1 can condensed nacho cheese soup (10 3/4 oz.)
• 1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained (10 oz)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• shredded Cheddar cheese
• tortilla chips
• sour cream

1. Brown ground beef in a medium saucepan. Drain. -OR- Reheat leftover taco meat in a saucepan.
2. Over medium heat, stir in remaining ingredients except shredded cheese and tortilla chips.
3. Cook 8 to 12 minutes or until heated through.
4. Ladle into bowls and serve with cheddar cheese, chips, and sour cream.

Italian Meatballs

We tried goat meat for the first time this month. In my meal-prep-research, I read that goat meat does well with lots of strong spice. I wanted to make something the girls would eat, and I know they like meatballs. So, goat meatballs it was!

1 pound ground goat meat, thawed
2 tablespoons italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1-2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 can pizza sauce (I use Best Choice brand)

Mix together all ingredients, except pizza sauce. Form into 1-inch meatballs and place in a 9x9 microwave safe dish. Pour pizza sauce over meatballs. Place dish in microwave; cover with wax paper. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Stir to flip meatballs. Microwave 5 more minutes.

I served this egg noodles cooked with a little butter, parsley, and mozzarella cheese, and toasted french bread.

Alphabet January

A little creativity makes building a monthly menu a lot easier, and gives the kids an incentive to eat whatever is put in front of them. So, for this month, we're going to eat a letter each day. New Years Day was pretty basic, since I had no motivation to do much of anything: Apple Pie Jam toast. Today, it's Breakfast Lunch: bacon and cheese omelets. I'm only planning out one meal for each of the days, since we'll have plenty of leftovers for lunches. Do you have any better suggestions, especially for the difficult V, U, and X days? If so, please share them!


January 2010

1
Apple Pie Jam & toast

2
Breakfast lunch

3
Cereal
Cheese Pizza
Chinese food

4
Deviled eggs
Dijon (honey) stir fry

5
Eggs, scrambled

6
Fettuccine and French bread

7
Goat meat pockets

8
Ham and cheesy potatoes

9
Italian meatballs

10
Jam-glazed pork chops

11
Kid-kebobs

12
Lime-marinated fajita

13
Mexican food: tacos

14
Nachos, super-style

15
Oven-baked fries and nuggets

16
Pork chops

17
Quiche Lorraine

18
Roast (beef, that is)

19
Spaghetti and spinach salad

20
Tomato-basil soup

21
Upside down pizza

22
Vegetable Soup

23
White chili
Wontons soup

24
X-tra Cheesy Potatoes

25
Yellow squash

26
Zucchini Stir-fry

27
Cheesy tacos and steamed veggies

28
Homemade pizza

29
Breadsticks and Spaghettis

30
Shrimp creole

31
Fried rice and egg rolls