I survived the big shopping trip!! I loved all the guesses you made about what my “exciting purchase” was going to be…and NO it wasn’t maternity clothes. :) Guess I set myself up for that one!! As a matter of fact, none of you got it right. No, what I’ve been needing for a while and finally found the chance to buy…was SOCKS. I know, how pitiful am I? Are you feeling terribly let down and disappointed? They are very nice socks. In a variety of colors. It made me very happy. Really, rejoice with me over my socks. I did get a few other fun things too for Christmas presents.
Here’s what’s on the menu this week:
Sunday, Nov. 16
Oatmeal, apples
Beef stew with carrots, potatoes and gravy (This almost turned out to be a disaster this morning…wanna hear about it?) (Okay, maybe later this week, if you’re good.)
*Help with Sunday Night Suppers! See question below. :)
Monday, Nov. 17
Whole wheat waffles
Hamburger patties, stir fried rice and veggies
Chicken noodle soup, carrot sticks
Tuesday, Nov. 18
Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, oranges
Homemade pizza pockets, peaches
Veggie soup, cornbread muffins
Wednesday, Nov. 19
Homemade granola, fruit and kefir smoothies
Spanish rice with meat, pineapple-orange slushies
Chicken enchiladas, tossed salad
Thursday, Nov. 20
Peanut butter honey toast, applesauce
Baked potatoes, cottage cheese and peaches
Beans and rice with salsa and kreme fresh
Friday, Nov. 21
Cream cheese pastries, apples
Homemade mac and cheese, lima beans
Homemade pizza
Saturday, Nov. 22
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls
Bean dip with chips, pears
Spaghetti squash with chicken in cream sauce
On the blogging menu this week: I’ll answer some of your questions about rapadura…share more about our schedule (specifically homeschooling)…and I am planning to share a new recipe with you (I just have to figure out which one first!!).
*Okay, so here’s what I need your help with. I never feel like cooking on Sunday nights (yes, this from the girl who loves to cook). We need something quick so that we can rush out the door to our small group fellowship time. What do you feed your families on Sunday nights? Have some good ideas for me? Matt and the boys would really appreciate it. :)
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Visit Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas.
I never like to cook on Sunday either. It is supposed to be a day of rest, after all! This one is super easy and we have it on Sundays all the time. We call it Torts and Brodo (my Hubby lived in Italian and this is the Italian name. It basically is tortellini and broth)
Boil together some chicken broth and tortellini (you can either use the frozen kind or the dry kind. I buy big bags of the cheese filled dry kind at Costco so I always have them)
When the tortellini are tender DON’T DRAIN! Serve it in bowls like soup. Put broth and torts in each bowl then pass a plate/bowl of grated mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the hot soup. The cheese melts and gets stringy and yummy and you spoon up the torts, broth and cheese all together. I serve applesauce or cut up fruit, or veggies with ranch dip to round it out. It is really good with warm bread to dip in the soup.
It is quick (however long it takes to boil the tortellini) and kid-friendly.
We also do nachos occasionally. Just throw a bunch of chips on a jelly-roll pan, top with grated cheese, drained beans, taco meat (if you have it). Pop it under the broiler for a few minutes and serve tomatoes, olives, avacado, salsa, sour cream, etc on the side. We don’t do this all that often because the chips are spendy and not all that healthy. But every once and awhile, it’s an easy, treat for everyone.
Jill
The meal Trent and I make when we are in a hurry is one of my most favorite meals ever.
Rice Casserole. It takes about 20 minutes.
You brown a pound or 2 of meat, whichever is best for you. At the same time I boil 2 bags of boil in a bag rice b/c it just has the perfect timing for everything being cooked at once.
Then you take all of it and put it in a casserole dish with sour cream and a can of rotel. Then cover it with shredded cheddar cheese. Put it in the oven at 350 until the cheese is melted, and voila…my favorite meal.
My Mom got it out of the Fort Worth Star Telegram when she was 14. I’ve never met a person that didn’t like it.
Tyler
Not really a meal suggestion, but sometimes we have a really late lunch/early dinner at about 3 or so in the afternoon. SO, sometimes I only make two meals on Sunday, a really early breakfast and mid afternoon meal. If we are hungry later, we just heat up the leftovers. Like today, I made the Salisbury Steak early around 3, it was quick because the patties were premade, it took about 15 mins total. Enjoy your menu!
We like English Muffin pizzas for Sunday night. Quesadillas are good too.
I cook almost every meal all week long too. Here is what I do (without guilt). We always have frozen pizzas on Sunday nights. I used to make homemade pizzas all the time, but when school is on, it is too much. Hope this helps.
I hope you get lots of wonderful answers on this one…because I need help too! We go to church in the a.m., then come home and eat a quick lunch before we take a family nap ( I so love family nap day!!). By the time we all wake up it is almost time to head back to church, and I never want to cook, but they all still want to eat! LOL! I usually give in and cook, but on really off nights we will have toast, cereal and hot chocolate!
I’m a big fan of pizza on Sunday nights… I bet you could even come up with a way to make your own frozen pizzas to save yourself from having to actually MAKE them on Sundays. :D
hi laura! i actually have a question you could possibly help me out with. i remember reading your entry from when your school books came and how excited you were about that. i am not a home school teacher, but i am responsible for teaching two little german boys to speak english well and, as you can imagine, reading is a very important part of that. i have trouble finding books that interest them, however, because i’m a girl with two sisters and all girl cousins. i just have no idea what they are into but i have a feeling YOU definitely would. little boys seems to be your demographic, heh. i remember you said you bought the phantom tollbooth for one of your children and that book had worked out the best so far. they absolutely loved it. so i was wondering if there any books that really stood out, and your boys absolutely loved. the only caveat i have is that they can’t really be religious in theme as that isn’t really my place in this household (though something like the chronicles of narnia, that level of abstraction, would be fine). So, yes, maybe you could help me out…
Hope you’ll share that recipe for the chicken in cream sauce over spaghetti squash. I love sp. sq. !!!
Church nights:
Sometimes I place a chicken in to roast with potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots.
Make extra homemade buns or bread and make sandwiches on buns.
Easy taco salad. Taco meat can be made in advance and put in frig or freezer. Shred lettuce, slice tomatoes, sprinkle with cheese.
Salmon loaf and salmon patties?
Baked fish! (bakes in 20 mins or less!)
Take full advantage of your crockpot! If I’m not completely feather brained the night before (this happens rarely!) I like to arrange everything the night before, that way all I have to do is wake up, plop the bowl into the warmer and turn my crockpot on in the morning! There are quite a lot of delicious soups you can make using a crockpot, and if you happen to have bread on hand, you have a ready made meal!
We always had subs and chips on Sundays..homemade of course.
I like to do pot roast (not to be confused with roast beef).
In your crockpot, pour in one batch of homemade cream of mushroom soup (recipe online). Pour out liquid from home canned carrots, and home canned new potatoes. Place in some whole mushrooms (raw), and some garlic. Place one whole sliced onion in the pot also, and whisk until blended. Turn heat on high.
Season chuck roast well, and sear in olive oil in a skillet. Once crock is hot, turn to low and place in meat. Cover and go to bed…
Oh, did I mention that you should do this on saturday night?
When you wake up Sunday morning, go through your regular routine, and before you leave, check the liquid in your crock. If needed, add some water.
Turn to medium. Go to church. Come home, turn on high and cook for just a couple of hours.
Meat should be falling apart, potatoes and carrots should be VERY soft. Cook some rice. Gravy in crock will be very rich. Pour over rice.
This is by far one of my favorite meals…it is so good.
Also:
Crockpot BBQ chicken and biscuits
Mix in a HOT crock tomato sauce, acv, brown sugar, chopped onion, garlic, worchestershire sauce. Place whole cut up chicken into crock with this and stir around.Cover tightly and cook on high while at church. When you get home check the liquid and add water as needed. Make homemade biscuits and break open on a plate. Pull chicken off the bone, and ladle over biscuits.
Also, Roasted chicken:
Place a seasoned chicken in crockpot, cavity downwards. Make sure that crock is hot before adding. PLace on high, go to church, when you get home it should be fully cooked. make your sides.
Fried chicken:
This is going to sound weird, but is very good.
Boil chicken pieces in just enough water to cover. Season very heavily. Pull out when cooked fully. If skin is curling up, pull it off (usually all I dont have to remove is the thigh). Do not drain. Place directly into seasoned flour. place into hot oil and fry until crust is perfect, turning as needed. Drain.
You now have perfectly cooked chicken, that is very moist inside.
Tostadas:
Fry corn tortillas, and drain. Smear on refried beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and green onion.
Ta-Da!
Nachos:
Place natural corn chips on a plate. Cook up one decently sized steak, seasoned with taco seasoning in a skillet. When done to liking, slice very thinly. Place over chips. Slice or grate natural monterey jack cheese. Place pickled jalepenos onto chips. Top with cheese. Place in microwave and serve immediately.
This is my night off, so my hubby is in charge. He usually chooses fast food or sometimes popcorn.
Neither is very healthy, but this is the only time we “regularly” eat out.
I vote for the day of rest idea!
Popcorn and Apples is what I tell my kids. Or, anything the kids can do on their own with the minimal amount of prep time before hand on my part.
I usually end up cooking on Sunday nights because our life group shares a meal together on Sunday nights. Last night I didn’t have to cook because we ate out together and then did a service project. I told my kids it would be popcorn and apples for dinner. That didn’t fly. They began circling the kitchen around 5:30.
I bought an electic griddle a month or so ago so pancakes, eggs, tortilla and grilled cheese sandwiches could be made in quantity, quickly. It helps when you’re feeding the hungry masses. One of my boys enjoys cooking, so he drug out the griddle and began making ham and cheese quesadillas. Each child wanted to cook their own. I was semi-preoccupied with a project. My boys are older than yours 13, 11, 9, 7, cooking themselves may not be an option for you yet.
Great looking menu!
Sunday nights are fend for yourself. they usually grab some leftovers or make an egg sandwich or grilled cheese.
Spaghetti…potato soup…sloppy joes…hamburgers… :-)
I love the crockpot on Sundays. Peel and chop potatoes and carrots and throw in a roast or chicken…easy and smells fantastic all day!
(Aside: I laughed when I saw you had lima beans on the menu this week. I had a short post on lima beans a few days back, involving my 2 year old:
http://ourdailytreasures.blogspot.com/2008/11/lima-beans.html
Oh Laura, I think we could be friends in real life! When you said you got new socks and how that’s exciting, I thought “yup, I totally get that!” I get excited about little things like new socks, too. I, for one, am thrilled for you- enjoy your little splurge! :)
As for Sunday dinners, I usually make it a leftover/clean out the fridge night, and lately I’ve been planning to do make homemade mac and cheese if there aren’t enough leftovers. It’s quick and simple (I either bake it or keep it as a pasta and sauce depending on my mood and what time it is).
Another thing I like to do is plan a crockpot meal, so that I prepare it on Saturday, and turn it on Sunday morning. No thinking, no extra dishes. I love it. :)
Sunday nights are always leftover nights at our house. As long as we have some. If not it’s usually some fast food. I like to have my fridge cleaned out for the week, since Monday is grocery shopping day.
We usually do breakfast for supper on Sunday nights. Pancakes, french toast, or cereal. :) Everybody in my house loves breakfast, so it’s a quick pleaser.
I love new socks. I never buy them, but my grandma usually buys them for me for Christmas!! Now I’m hungry for all the stuff people listed. Sunday night is usually leftover night. Once in awhile we eat out.
I love crockpot meals on Sunday night … last week we had taco soup! This way we can eat whenever we’re hungry and it’s a quick clean up too!
Your menu sounds great. I am going to try the cinnamon rolls out, as well as the pretzels. Have you tried freezing the cinnamon rolls after they are made but before they have risen? I would love to make some up and then freeze to pull out say the night before we want them so I could just bake in the morning.
Saturday is our church day, and we don’t have an evening program to get to, BUT since we tend to eat a big, later than usual lunch/dinner on Sat, we generally have something light/easy on Sat. night. Popcorn, sandwich fixings, crackers & cheese, sometimes something like spinach dip, hummus, etc. Seems like that might fit the bill for your needs on Sun. night?
I just found you site, I love it. Anyway, lunch is our big Sunday meal. Usually get a crock pot of something good before we go to Church in the morning. Come home add the sides plus dessert. We’re so full that by the time “dinner” rolls around, all we can eat is maybe a bowl of cereal and some toast before night Church. Also my husband works 6pm to 6am, so big lunch works best for us.
WW crust pizza from Papa John’s.
I commented before but wanted to comment on two more things and let you know about a post on my blog http://adamandkrisi.blogspot.com, the post is about the cinnamon rolls and the pretzels that Laura gave the recipes for awhile ago.
Also about Sunday dinners, besides the fact we usually go to my m-i-l’s for lunner (lunch and dinner – around 2:30) if I did need to cook I would either do a crock pot thing that I put everything in the pot the night before and just had in the fridge so in the morning I would just take it out and put it in the cooking part of the crock pot (roast, chicken, pork ribs etc.).
Some other ideas are any frozen once a month cooking things – lasagna, pasta lasagna (uses smaller pasta peices instead of lasagna noodles — watch for a recipe post on this soon on my blog), minestrone casserole (again watch my blog in the next few weeks), chicken pot pie, anything that can be made ahead and frozen then just pull it out Saturday morning to defrost then throw in the oven.
I think I will add to my list of things I want to post on my blog a list of freezer cooking meals I like to have on hand.