Menu Plan

Okay, so flying without a menu plan is not exactly working for me.   If I compare last week to the two weeks previous, there is a definite difference in how we ate (including pizza one night and take out another) and the 5 o'clock panic I felt most evenings.  With the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when I had a plan, things didn't go very smoothly.

This week I'm making a plan.  Lesson learned.

I'm taking a bit of inspiration from Lisa Leake's blog 100 Days of Real Food and her menu plans. I've also decided to plan out breakfasts, lunches, and snacks because that helps me when I'm making my grocery list and when I'm placing our Green BEAN order for the week.

Monday - so far today we've been enjoying the leftover ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls from our Christmas dinner yesterday.  We'll polish off the leftovers tonight, except for the ham.

Tuesday -

• Breakfast: oatmeal w/ honey, cinnamon, raisins
• Lunch: peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat, banana, apple slices (we're switching to an all fruit spread instead of our usual jelly, which has sugar in it.  Not sure what the kids will think, but we're going to make the change just the same.)
• Snacks: popcorn, cheese and crackers
• Dinner: quesadillas w/ leftover ham (cubed) and veggies, sour cream, salsa

Wednesday -

• Breakfast: granola w/ milk and blueberries,
• Lunch: fruit smoothies (bananas and fruit from freezer), peanut butter on celery, cheese and crackers
• Snacks: popcorn, Clif kids z-bar
• Dinner: crockpot bbq chicken, baked sweet potatoes, green beans

Thursday -

• Breakfast: fruit smoothie and whole wheat toast w/ almond butter
• Lunch: leftover chicken, shredded, w/ lettuce in a tortilla to make a wrap, sliced pears, leftover sweet potato mash
• Snacks: cheese and crackers, peanut butter and apple slices
• Dinner: Easy Jambalaya (omit oysters)

Friday -

• Breakfast: banana pancakes, orange smoothies
• Lunch: leftover jambalaya
• Snacks: popcorn, Clif kids z-bar
• Dinner: pizza night / Friday Night Nest family movie night

Saturday - New Year's Eve

• Breakfast: eggs, bacon, cottage cheese, cantaloupe
• Lunch & Snacks: leftovers from the past week, popcorn
• Dinner: shrimp cocktail, cheese, summer sausage, crackers, veggies and dip, cubed melon and cream cheese fruit dip

Of course, if these holiday colds keep progressing, any or all of these days might get scrapped in favor of chicken and garlic soup (hold the cognac) and green tea popsicles (brew the tea at double strength and freeze in popsicle molds).