Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Menu Plan for the Week

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I hope you’ve had a great day honoring the important men in your life. I had a nice phone chat with my dad this afternoon. (I caught him before his Sunday afternoon snooze. Aren’t I such a nice daughter?!)  The boys and I have been trying to spoil Matt today, and based on his reaction at lunch, I’d say we’ve been successful.

Before church, I started marinating some chicken legs in barbecue sauce so that they were ready to grill when we got home. While they were grilling, Justus picked lettuce from our garden for a salad, and I made some sweet corn (the last of what we froze last summer) and some okra (also frozen from last summer). Matt loved the feast, but then I reminded him to save room for his dessert… :)

I typically make Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie about once a year – on Father’s Day. Wowza, this is a rich treat only to be had on rare occasions! But hey, it sure was fun to honor Matt and you know…participate in sharing in his Father’s Day treat with him. And here Matt thought I made the pie especially for him. ;)

I’ll post both this pie recipe and our Grilled Barbecue Chicken recipe later this week. 

Here’s what our menu looks like for this week:

Sunday, June 17
Apple crisp
Grilled barbecue chicken, fried okra, sweet corn, tossed salad, chocolate peanut butter pie
Pasta alfredo, steamed broccoli and carrots

Monday, June 18
Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, creamy orange cooler
Corn dog muffins, carrot sticks with ranch, fruit-kefir smoothies
Popcorn chicken, tossed salad, green beans

Tuesday, June 19
Cream cheese pastry, bananas
Salmon patties, smoothies, peas
Taco corn fritters, watermelon, carrots

Wednesday, June 20
Orange muffins, applesauce
Easy noodle stir fry
Italian pasta bake, tossed salad, asparagus

Thursday, June 21
Banana bread, apple slices
Tuna casserole, peas
Teriyaki chicken and veggies

Friday, June 22
Giant breakfast cookies, grapes
Meat and cheese burritos, watermelon, raw veggies
Grilled burgers, cantaloupe, fried zucchini

Saturday, June 23
Granola, dried fruit
Leftovers
Turkey/cheese melts, grapes, strawberries

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Menu Plan for the Week

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We’ve been blessed to be able to spend time with many of our extended family this weekend and are looking forward to more time tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend!

Here’s our menu plan for the week:

Sunday, May 27
Oatmeal, fruit
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy, green beans
Pizza

Monday, May 28
Pancakes, cantaloupe
Family get together – Cook-out with homemade ice cream
Leftovers

Tuesday, May 29
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, applesauce
Homemade calzones, tossed salad, smoothies
Chicken pasta alfredo, steamed broccoli and carrots

Wednesday, May 30
Honey whole wheat bagels, fruit salad
Bean and cheese burritos, peaches
Bbq brisket, baked potatoes, asparagus

Thursday, May 31
Creamy orange cooler, toast
Cheeseburger macaroni, peas
Italian cream cheese pasta, tossed salad

Friday, June 1
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Corn dog muffins, mock frozen yogurt
Hamburgers, homemade fries, carrot sticks

Saturday, June 2
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, fruit
Leftovers
Beefy enchilada bake, tossed salad

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Menu Plan for the Week – {and a little bit of Mother’s Day mysterious dessert making play-by-play}

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1:25 pm Well, I am currently shut into my office right now, and I don’t have permission to come out until the mysterious dessert my boys are working on has come out of the oven. I can hear the beaters running and if my family knows me at all, I expect to smell something chocolatey any minute now… ;)

Matt and the boys have been doing a great job spoiling me today, making Mother’s Day super special. Check out the lunch I just feasted on:

1:46 pm Matt just snuck in with a smirk to say, “Apparently the eggs were supposed to be beat separately before adding the other ingredients. Therefore, they have a bowl with 1 cup of flour, mixed with some baking powder and two eggs. Can you figure out something to do with that tomorrow so we don’t have to waste it?” I have two things to say:  I am both excited and afraid to see my kitchen after today. And, I think I’ll be making pancakes tomorrow from that flour/egg/baking powder mixture. It just makes sense. :)

And now, back to the menu plan for this week:

Sunday, May 13
Cereal
Grilled steak, spinach and mushroom rice florentine, cream cheese corn, mystery dessert  ;)
Nachos and a movie

Monday, May 14
Whole wheat pancakes (apparently)
Chicken nuggets, peas, baby carrots
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Tuesday, May 15
Fried eggs on toast, strawberry coconut smoothies
Creamy mac and cheese, steamed broccoli
Lasagna, tossed salad

2:01 pm I hear beaters again. I can not wait to find out what those boys are making. And I also really hope that I taught everyone well enough not to pick up the beaters before turning them off first!!

Wednesday, May 16
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, apples
Crunch ranch chicken, stir fried rice and veggies
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy

Thursday, May 17
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, oranges
Pigs in a blanket, green beans
Creamy crockpot chicken and rice, carrots

Friday, May 18
Mini apple pies, turkey bacon
Easy noodle stir fry, milkshakes
Homemade pizza, fried okra

2:07 pm The beaters are still going! What are they making in there????

Saturday, May 19
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, bananas
Leftovers
Chicken alfredo, steamed veggies, asparagus

2:12 pm Seriously, the beaters…still. How long can beaters run without burning out the motor?

2:13 pm If they don’t hurry up, I’m going to have to sneak out because um…I need to potty.

2:14 pm Ah, the beaters are off! Can I come out yet?

Apparently not.

While I’m still here in the office, I’ll show you a picture of Carrie Vitt’s (from Deliciously Organic) amazing Loaded Baked Potato Soup that we made yesterday.


Wow, that soup was good! Matt added some dehydrated red peppers in his bowl and loved the kick. The rest of us loved it with sour cream and cheese. It was easy to make, and everyone in the family devoured it. I liked that it called for chicken broth, giving me a meatless meal and a new option for stretching a chicken for six meals. If you haven’t yet, be sure to look into the deal Carrie put together for all Heavenly Homemakers readers. Get her amazing cookbook along with some healthy and family friendly meal plans at a great price!

2:18 pm Elias just came in to ask, “I can’t tell you pacifically, but if you were making frosting, would you use brown sugar or sucanat?”

I told him, “Brown sugar, and there’s organic brown sugar in the pantry”, but are you sure it doesn’t call for powdered sugar?”

And ‘pacifically’? Be still my heart. The cuteness abounds.

2:20 pm Elias came back in to say, “If you smell that burned smell, don’t worry.”

Okay, I’ll try. ;)

2:28 pm Beaters again. What in the world???

I’d say this post is “to be continued…” I’ll be back later with an update on what the boys made for my Mother’s Day dessert.

Hope you’re having a blessed day. There’s no doubt that I am. Even if I do have to ignore that burned smell coming from the kitchen. ;)

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Menu Plan for the Week

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This is our last week to host High School Huddle for this school year. :(  We’ll pick back up in the fall again. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed feeding these kids and having them in our home each week for fellowship and Bible study time. What a great group.

In an effort to treat these kids right on our final huddle night, I thought Cheesecake Brownies were in order (along with a big pasta bar). I made three batches of the brownies to make sure there would be enough.

I have noooo idea what happened to that brownie in the bottom right corner.
Weird things like that happen in my kitchen sometimes. ;)

Speaking of brownies, this weekend was apparently the weekend of the brownie. I went through a lot of cocoa in two days! In addition to Huddle, there was a graduation party, and a ministry meeting we needed to go to. I decided to take brownies to those events, and actually made one batch of brownies from a box so I could time myself to see which took longer – homemade brownies or boxed brownies. I’ll share the results of that experiment later this week. :)

Here’s what our menu looks like this week:

Sunday, May 6
Oatmeal, fruit
Ministry meeting – taco bar, brownies
High School Huddle – Pasta Bar with a variety of noodles, alfredo sauce, spaghetti sauce, chicken, tossed salad, bread, and cheesecake brownies

Monday, May 7
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Corndog muffins, fruit-kefir smoothies
Italian cream cheese chicken, tossed salad, green beans

Tuesday, May 8
Crepes with jelly, applesauce
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad
Sweet pepper fritata, strawberry bread, oranges

Wednesday, May 9
Whole wheat biscuits, turkey sausage gravy, fruit
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, peas
Shepherd’s pie, tossed salad

Thursday,  May 10
Coconut flour muffins, smoothies
Tuna salad on crackers, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, pickles
One dish meat and potato meal

Friday, May 11
Chewy granola bars, apples
Nachos
Homemade pizza, fruit

Saturday, May 12
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Leftovers
Taco potatoes

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Soccer season has started up this spring for our boys. I even have a slight sunburn to prove it. Justus had his first games this weekend, and although we lost both games, it sure was great to be back out at the field again. (This is easy for me to say since the weather was gorgeous!)

Last week, I spent some time filling our freezers with some healthy convenience foods to help keep me sane during soccer season. I’ll share more about my experiences in a few days. Ah, but I love a full freezer!

Here’s what we’ll be eating this week:

Sunday, March 25
Oatmeal, fruit
Roast, carrots, potatoes, gravy
High School Huddle – Creamy chicken and rice casserole, green beans, dinner rolls, trail mix

Monday, March 26
Whole wheat pancakes, turkey sausage
Bison brats, fruit salad, carrots with ranch
Baked three cheese chicken pasta, tossed salad, steamed broccoli

Tuesday, March 27
Honey whole wheat bagels, apples
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, peas
Italian roast wraps with venison roast, steamed carrots

Wednesday, March 28
Creamy orange coolers, scrambled eggs
Chicken chef salad, toast
Pasta with alfredo sauce, tossed salad

Thursday, March 29
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Nacho dip with chips, fruit
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Friday, March 30
Giant breakfast cookies, bananas
Pigs in a blanket, carrot sticks with ranch, strawberry-orange smoothies
Hamburgers, homemade fries

Saturday, March 31
Whole wheat donuts
Leftovers
Swiss steak with rice

Have anything fun planned to eat this week?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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We actually had a calm, stay-at-home weekend. I’m not sure the last time that’s happened. Well, I guess I should interject here that our boys are preparing for Leadership Training for Christ (LTC) in April, so there’s always a lot of running back and forth to practices on Sunday afternoons. Therefore, I’m sure if Matt or the boys read that statement, they’d think I was nuts to call this weekend a calm one. I just mean that we didn’t travel anywhere. We were home more than we were away. We got a little laundry caught up. We had friends over. Busy is relative, right?! :)

bananamuffins2sm

Here’s what our menu looks like for this week:

Sunday, March 11
Oatmeal, fruit
Italian stew with potatoes and green beans
High School Huddle – Chicken enchiladas, tossed salad, spanish rice, chips and salsa, cookie tray

Monday, March 12
Whole wheat pancakes, applesauce
Baked potatoes with butter, cheese, and sour cream, fruit salad
Tuna casserole, peas

Tuesday, March 13
Cheesy scrambled eggs, clementines
Homemade pizza pockets, tossed salad
Bbq chicken, fried potatoes, okra

Wednesday, March 14
Banana bread, apples
Corndog  muffins, peas, carrot sticks
Chicken alfredo, steamed broccoli and carrots

Thursday, March 15
Breakfast burritos, oranges
Sloppy joes, ranch potato wedges, carrots with ranch
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn

Friday, March 16
Peanut butter honey toast, bananas and apples
Tuna salad on crackers, fruit/yogurt smoothies
Hamburgers with homemade onion rings

Saturday, March 17
Breakfast cake, applesauce
Leftovers
Homemade pizza

If you’re interested in knowing more about my menu planning method, I encourage you to read:  Why My Whole Foods Menu Plan Might Be Overwhelming.

What’s on your menu this week?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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We got a bunch of snow dumped on us this weekend. I see lots of snow forts in our future. We’ll definitely be making Snow Ice Cream this week as well.

I’ve been doing more figuring and calculating for our Real Food – Low Cost Challenge over the weekend, the results of which I will share in the next few days. I have really enjoyed learning how much our meals cost! I wanted to let you know that Kacie at Sense to Save has a handy Recipe Cost Calculator that may help you as you calculate the costs of your real food recipes.

Here’s what our menu looks like for this week:

Sunday, February 5
Oatmeal, fruit
Hamburgers, spicy avocado dip, fruit salad, green beans
Healthier cheese dip, corn chips, apples

Monday, February 6
Simple soaked pancakes, applesauce
Salmon patties, creamy mac and cheese, peas
Lasagna, tossed salad, corn, honey whole wheat bread

Tuesday, February 7
Fried eggs on toast, oranges
Homemade beef balogna, crispy cheese crackers, cheddar cheese, apples
Crunchy ranch chicken, rice and veggie stir fry

Wednesday, February 8
Honey whole wheat bagels, clementines
Cheesy rice, steamed carrots and broccoli
Roasted chicken, potatoes, carrots, gravy

Thursday, February 9
Easy breakfast casserole, creamy orange cooler
Veggie soup, homemade soft pretzels
Italian pasta bake, green beans

Friday, February 10
Peanut butter honey toast, bananas
Beef and cheese burritos, applesauce, carrot sticks
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, peas

Saturday, February 11
Whole wheat donuts
Leftovers
Lamb chops, baked potatoes, fried okra, green beans

Did you get any snow at your house this weekend?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Here’s our menu plan for the week. If you’re interested in knowing more about how I plan our menus, I’d love for you to read this post!

Sunday, January 22
Oatmeal, fruit
Pasta alfredo, steamed broccoli and carrots, tossed salad
High School Huddle – Nacho Bar with chips, taco meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, sour cream, and salsa; chocolate chip brownies

Monday, January 23
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Pigs in a blanket, carrots with ranch, apples
Beef and veggie soup, cornbread

Tuesday, January 24
Coconut flour banana muffins, applesauce
Tuna salad on crackers, pears, carrots
Creamy chicken and rice casserole, tossed salad

Wednesday, January 25
Zucchini bread, bananas
Spicy avocado dip with chips, fruit salad
Teriyaki chicken and veggies with rice

Thursday, January 26
Easy breakfast casserole, clementines
Meat and cheese burritos, pineapple
Taco salad

Friday, January 27
Peanut butter honey toast, fruit
Creamy mac and cheese, carrots, apples
Lamb-burgers, homemade fries, green beans

Saturday, January 28
Cereal
Leftovers
Cheesy beef and rice, steamed veggies, tossed salad

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Why My Whole Foods Menu Plan Might Be Overwhelming

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menuplanner1webI love planning a menu for my family. Without a menu plan, it takes me way too long to figure out what we’re eating each day. I also like sharing my menu plan with all of you each week. Many of you have mentioned how helpful you find my plan and have told me that you often “steal” many of my meal ideas. I love that!

But, I also really appreciate the perspective shared in a comment last week – the perspective that my menu plan may be overwhelming to some of you. The fact that I plan all three meals for each day of the week, and the fact that all three meals tend to be big meals – yep, I can definitely see how that could be overwhelming!

I decided to take the time to explain my menu plans just a little bit. I certainly don’t want to overwhelm anyone, nor do I think that planning all three meals for every day of the week is a necessity for everyone. It’s what works for me, but I know it doesn’t work that way for everyone. In fact, menu planning doesn’t work at all for some people. If you’re good at winging it at meal time – go for it! :)

I have found that planning all three meals each day for our family works well for me for the following reasons:

1. My family eats a boat load of food, for every meal. Having a plan for which boat load of food is going on the table really helps me keep my head above water. (Get it? Boat load? Head above water? Ha.)

2. Having a plan in place for each meal of the day helps me focus on other things so that I’m not constantly distracted by what I’m supposed to feed us next. Trust me, the boys ask all the time – “What are we eating for breakfast/lunch/dinner?”

3. Most of my boys wake up ready to eat my leg if I don’t have breakfast ready to offer them when they wake up. I need to know what I’m making for breakfast before I get out of bed. I like having two legs. It’s very handy.

So the question could still be then:  Why don’t I just feed my family cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch each day, and then focus on our evening meal plan?

Well…I do feed them cereal and sandwiches every once in a while. But wow, the cost of feeding us this type of meal really adds up for us. I did the math one time on how much it costs to feed my family sandwiches. You can read about that here, but add even more to that dollar amount because we now eat probably double what I added up for a meal since my boys are older. (Did I mention that my oldest son has jumped several shoe sizes during the last year?)  Therefore, I find that it really saves our family a lot of money if I cook heartier, more nutrition packed meals if possible.

Some tricks I use to make putting three big meals on the table each day just a little bit easier:

~ Just about every meal I make for my family is simple – especially our breakfast and lunchtime meals. I really don’t find that making a “bigger” lunch for the family takes a whole lot more time than making a bunch of sandwiches.

~ Sometimes we have leftovers to eat, so I don’t have to cook something new. But I don’t always know when we’ll have them, so it’s hard for me to plan those into my menus.

~ I try to have food made and in the freezer to pull out for quick lunches.

~ I have a list of “back up meals” and all ingredients on hand to throw them together if needed.

~ While I do have a detailed menu plan, I switch it up all over the place throughout the week depending on what’s going on and what sounds good. The plan is there, but it is flexible.

~ I give myself grace. If I really just can’t get a good meal on the table, the cereal is in the background waiting to be pulled out.

For a little bit more information on this subject, sure to read my Cooking Healthy Meals When the Menu Plan Fails post. Also, you’ll find a free downloadable page full of healthy, easy lunch ideas here.

Okay everyone. Jump in here with your ideas and thoughts about making menu planning simpler. What do you do about planning breakfast and lunchtime meals?

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Menu Plan for the Week

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Cheeseburger Macaroni – one of my favorite dishes

I hope you had a lovely Christmas with your family. I’m a little unsure of what we’ll be eating, since all routines are out the window this week. But here is my “best guess of a menu plan” for this week!

Monday, December 26
Simple soaked pancakes, fruit
Creamy mac and cheese, green beans
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Tuesday, December 27
Applesauce muffins, bananas
Chicken and noodles, veggies
Beef enchiladas, taco salad

Wednesday, December 28
Mini crustless quiches, clementines
Tuna melts, veggies, apple slices
Easy noodle stir-fry with broccoli and carrots

Thursday, December 29
Mini apple pies, cheese slices
Chicken burritos, fruit salad
Cheeseburger macaroni, steamed carrots

Friday, December 30
Coconut flour banana muffins, applesauce
Chicken-cheese melts, grape tomatoes, veggies with homemade ranch
Hamburgers, homemade onion rings

Saturday, December 31
Whole wheat cinnamon rolls, fruit
Leftovers
Snack foods at a get-together

Are you taking a “Christmas Break” this week? Would it be weird if we all just stay in our jammies all week? ;)

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