Weekly Menu

Every Sunday is my cooking/weekly planning day. I usually take Saturdays to rest and renew from the week, so when Sunday rolls around it is time to start planning for how the next week will go. I have found that when cooking mostly everything from scratch, small weekly batches of crackers, granola bars, cookies, soy milk, or extra bread stuffs/treats should be made on Sunday to keep ahead of the game. I have found that putting together a weekly menu can help with this process greatly, because you know what you will need and you won't waste your time making random stuff and be caught without something you need. Having a once a week cooking can also help to free you up so that you aren't cooking constantly to keep up. It is a little like grocery shopping, except you don't have to leave home to get supplies. I only shop every 2 weeks for fresh stuff, and I get bulk dried goods, which I order online, from bulkfoods.com. I make my menu around what foods I have available. So here is my weekly menu with recipes, that way if you want to try my method, you can just copy it or mix and match with some of your families favorite foods. This can help get you started. DAY; BREAKFAST; LUNCH; DINNER Sunday: coffee cake egg/cheese sandwiches breaded Garlic dill fish citrus dressed asparagus quinoa pine nut pilaf Monday: cereal or oatmeal, turkey sandwiches, Cock pot chicken/ bulgar with savory greens /Tuscan limas with sage. Tuesday: waffles with apple butter with sliced strawberries, chicken noodle soup with corn bread ,Lentil sambar with tortillas Wednesday: eggs/biscuits/soy sausage , baked potatoes, quiche made with Kale,tomato,onion, Thursday:orange/cranberry breakfast bread, grilled cheese sandwich/carrot/celery sticks with peanut butter , Hamburgers oven fried potatoes. Friday: cereal or oatmeal, bean burritos, Baked ziti/ garlic bread/ Caesar salad. Saturday: pancakes with maple syrup, Reuben sandwiches, Cook-out at my sister's. I useually set this up on a grid format for easy reading, but the blog wouldn't post it that way.
So that is the menu, if its on there than I have to make it. So I set it up before hand, then I make most of it on Sunday and a few things throughout the week. If I need to make it the day before, then I put a note under the day space as to what preparations to make, and if it needs to be done that day, I put a note under the day what needs to be made before the meal. I also include the page number and what cookbook it came from. Here is an example: Sunday: soak soy beans, make tortillas (I usually make so or a double batch for the week), make bread, master bread mix for week, make cookies, crackers, and pick asparagus for dinner. Monday: make soy milk (I have a Soya Joy milk maker), make Brioche (I have too many eggs) Tuesday: make waffles Wednesday: Make sausage (I use vital wheat gluten) recipe I got off the Internet, great flavor Thursday: make ziti noodles ( I use a Pastamaster 1200, makes noodles in 10 minutes) Friday: nothing Saturday: nothing Snacks for the week consist of saltine crackers (which I buy) with peanut butter, apples and honey, popcorn (home-popped), muffins, or bread with butter or peanut butter, or carrots, fruit sesame sticks. I usually make granola bars and graham crackers on Sundays for early risers so they can have a little something before breakfast, but there are still some from last week. Some of the things I make on Sunday only have to be done every two weeks, for they keep well and I make big batches. You can also make large batches of your dinners and freeze them for later use. I get most of my recipes from The Joy of Cooking, The moosewood cookbook of low-fat meals, and The moosewood restraunt's simple suppers. I also use recipe.com if I have an abundance of a certain vegetable out of the garden and need new ideas for it. My family and I love variety, so learning new ways to cook the same old foods is a wonderful addition to our lives. Usually before purchasing a new cookbook, I will check it out at the library. Most libraries have a huge selection of cookbooks, from the mundane to the extraordinary. As a home school extra, we sometimes will get a cookbook about a region we are studying and incorporate some new things into our dinners, some stay, some don't. If there are any recipes from the menu you would like, let me know and I will post them. Have a great week and happy, healthy eating!