On the Menu

I know it's been less than a week since our last menu planning, but since the farmer's market is on Fridays, I really do my planning on Thursday evening or Friday morning.

Last week, we didn't do a great job of sticking to our menu. We were a little bit ambitious with our plans, and many of our menu items required last minute cooking. Our slow cooker barley was also a complete fail, so we ended up going out to dinner.

We did learn a few interesting things last week though. First, a whole chicken can be salted, peppered and shoved in the slow cooker. The skin doesn't get browned, but it ends up falling off the bone tender. Second, the leftover bones from said chicken can be thrown in the slow cooker with some water overnight to make chicken stock. Third, the leftover chicken and stock can be used to make chicken tortilla soup in the slow cooker. Result: a happy husband.

This week, we've included a few more slow cooker recipes, and items that can be prepped in the mornings and just thrown together. Things like soups and our savory oatmeal will be eaten on busy days.

Next weekend is likely to be very busy, so I've planned enough meals to get us through next Sunday. We have a fair amount left over from this week, so we don't need to buy much to fill out this menu.

Here is our menu for the coming week:

Friday: Baked potatoes with sauteed green beans

Saturday: Roasted winter squash with shallot cream sauce over brown rice

Sunday: Hash browns with brussel sprouts and eggs (Note: this is our lunch plan; dinner is corn chowder with my parents.)

Monday: Tortilla soup

Tuesday: Savory oatmeal with frozen spinach and peas, topped with cheese

Wednesday: Stirfry with napa cabbage, chinese greens, red cabbage and rice

Thursday: Salad with carrots, and homegrown kumquats and radishes, with a lemon-honey dressing

Friday: Thai curry red lentil soup

Saturday: Red cabbage slaw with lime-paprika dressing on tortillas with cheese, black beans, corn and homemade salsa verde

Sunday: Roasted broccoli with chickpeas over pasta

Snacks for the week include:

- homemade whole wheat bread

- homemade bagels with cream cheese

- homemade granola over yogurt

- homemade applesauce

- crackers with cheese

- olives

- carrots and hummus

- apples/bananas with peanut butter

- orange wedges

- kiwis and grapes

- fried egg on an english muffin

- homemade granola bars

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment or emailing me at piquantprose [at] gmail [dot] com.

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