Heavenly Homemakers

The family menu plans I usually share with you each Sunday will be put on hold for this week and next. I have plenty of prepared meals in the freezer that I’ll be pulling from during these busy few days, so instead of preparing and following a menu plan, I’ll simply feed my family whatever falls out of my freezer first. Muffins perhaps?!

This was our simple, but delicious lunch today of Chicken Salad, Whole Wheat Butterhorns, and lots of fruits and veggies. I love this time of year!

As is our well-loved tradition, our family will be feeding our Ladies’ York College soccer team several meals beginning at the end of this week. Matt is one of the coaches for this team, and we are blessed to be a part of the girls’ lives. One of my roles is to love on the team by serving them hearty meals during their pre-season days. The athletes come to campus several days before classes begin, and while the cafeteria is willing to feed them, the cost really gives the slim soccer budget a hit. I can purchase groceries and cook for less, plus, what college student wouldn’t prefer home-cooking to the cafeteria?

I’m working on serving yummy, low cost, and simple-to-put-together meals. Here are the plans I’ve made so far:

Thursday (meal for approximately 60)

I’ll be feeding the cross country team along with the ladies’ soccer team for this meal. I’ve reserved our church fellowship hall for this.

The meal plan:  Italian Pasta Bake (x6), tossed salad, French bread (from the store), fruit salad, butterscotch bars (x4)

Saturday

This and the rest of the meals will be for approximately 32 people (our family included). We will serve these meals in our own home, which makes preparing the food much easier than when I have to lug it all to the church kitchen. I have a large roaster, so when I say “crock pot,” I really mean “huge roaster plugged into my wall.”

The meal plan:  Crock pot barbecue chicken, cream cheese corn, green beans, baby carrots with homemade ranch dressing, chocolate chip cookie bars

Sunday

This was a team favorite last year. I’ve added homemade butterhorns to the mix though. I think they’ll love ’em!

The meal plan:  Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy, whole wheat butterhorns, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Monday

These enchiladas go together so easily, and freeze well so that I can be prepared in advance!

The meal plan:  Cheesy salsa enchiladas (x4), tossed salad, grapes, brownie fudge sundaes (these brownies, this hot fudge sauce, store-bought vanilla ice cream)

Tuesday

This is a new favorite of ours – chicken breasts marinated in my homemade Italian dressing. So easy and good!

The meal plan:  Italian chicken (in the oven), baked red potatoes (in the roaster), steamed broccoli and carrots, watermelon, crustless cheesecake cups

In preparation, I spent several hours Friday evening baking desserts. Here we have a double batch of brownies, a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and a quadruple batch of butterscotch bars. These are all cut, sealed in freezer bags, and put into the freezer to get out in time to thaw and serve for each meal. Easy!

Saturday morning, I browned meat, boiled noodles, and put together all the casseroles needed for two different meals. They are now in the freezer, ready to go.

Later on Saturday, the boys helped me make the cheesecake cups, which are now in the freezer. I also made a double batch of butterhorns so that all I have to do before baking time is let them thaw and rise. (Somehow I didn’t get a picture of the butterhorns.)

Now that so much of the food is prepped and frozen, the rest of the work will be much easier! And since I don’t begin serving the food until Thursday, the beginning of this week can now be focused on getting school work done with our boys. :)

Oh, and by the way. I need to admit that I now have added four more Pyrex 9×13 dishes to my collection. It had to be done. I edited my “how many Pyrex dishes do you really have” post, so you may need to go re-read it with my updated Pyrex numbers…