Tag Archives: menu plan

Menu Plan for November 2-12

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I’ve been doing some thinking about my menu planning.  While I do love the monthly planning concept, I found that I usually didn’t make at least one meal from the plan per week.  That resulted in a lot of leftover ingredients.  Also, I didn’t feel like I was utilizing the ingredients I have on hand (or in pantry), or using coupons, since I was planning so far in advance, and with such specific recipes.  Since I’m menu planning to save money, this was kind of a fail.

So this month I’m going to do it a little bit differently.  How, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

Plan in smaller increments

I’m going to try to plan one week at a time.  This way I can assess what’s in my pantry, freezer, etc., and utilize what I have already.  Also, I’ll look for coupons and try to plan my meals around what I can get for less.

Include at least one freezer meal per week

Not only does this make dinnertime prep easier, but if I have unexpected leftovers, I’m not out any fresh ingredients.  That soup/chili/whatever can probably stay in the freezer another week.

Double up

This is kind of in line with the whole freezing thing.  It makes it easier in the future.  It’s not hard to double a kugel or a soup, so why not do it?  Exactly.  Also, I’m going to make a BIG NOTE on the recipes I plan on doubling, since last time I kept forgetting which ones I meant to double, and that got pretty frustrating.

Be more flexible

Instead of planning around the yummy, delicious recipes that I have been, I’m going to try to leave a little more wiggle room for whatever may arise that week.  The downside of being more vague is that I’m worried that I won’t pick up all the items I need at the store, but I’ll try to find a solution to that.  Probably I’ll just have to put more thought into the shopping list.

And now…

The Menu Plan for the rest of this week

  • Wednesday, the 2nd~ Black Bean Chili  (from the freezer – oh yeah), cornbread, salad
  • Thursday, the 3rd~ Date night!!
  • Friday, the 4th~ Tuna Croquettes (from Kosher by Design Short on Time); Salad; Chicken Soup (from freezer); Curry Chicken (Kosher by Design Lightens Up); Broccoli Kugel (from freezer); Apple-Blueberry Cake (KBDLU).
  • Shabbos, the 5th~ all of that, minus the soup and the chicken, plus cholent

and for the 6th-12th

  • Sunday, the 6th~ leftovers
  • Monday, the 7th~ Cauliflower Soup, salad, potatoes
  • Tuesday, the 8th~ Meat lasagne with veggies
  • Wednesday, the 9th~ Salmon Burgers (from freezer); sweet potato fries
  • Thursday, the 10th~ Homemade Pizza
  • Friday, the 11th~ Gefilte fish; Salad; Chicken soup (from freezer); potato kugel (make double); Duck Sauce Chicken (Quick and Kosher); Fudge Brownie Torte (KBDLU)
  • Shabbos, the 12th ~ ditto what I said about last Shabbos day meal

There are always the staples for lunch, namely, the cheese and bread for sandwiches and the nosh.  Also breakfast food, which I sometimes forget to think about (oops).

I also want to make these carrot kugel muffins from Miriyummy, since I would like my boys to ingest some vegetables, and coating them in carbs seems the most promising strategy.

And there you have it.

Does a long or short plan work best for you?  Why?

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Menu Ideas for the Nine Days

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Illustration of various salmon

fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads

It’s hard to believe that the Nine Days are already upon us.   They just snuck right up.  In case you’re not familiar with the rules for food during Nine Days, meat and wine are off the menu.  Last year I posted some menu ideas, but they were a little light on the protein.  This year, I’m going for a more balanced menu.

It’s not a real menu plan per se, since my husband is working some crazy shifts and won’t always be home exactly for dinner.  I don’t know about you, but when my husband isn’t around for dinner, I am totally cool with eating cereal.  Or chips and salsa.  Or a cheese sandwich.  My kids eat roughly the same selection of food for dinner every night, so they’re good.  I just don’t have the motivation to get things dirty in order to feed myself.  Not the healthiest choice, but, hey, dishes.

Anyways, here are some ideas for dinner plans during these next nine days:

  • Jeff Nathan’s Pan Roasted Salmon with Summer Vegetables – this is from the Summer 5771 Joy of Kosher magazine.  I just got this, and I’m enjoying it so far.  This dish has protein (fish), veggies and I would probably serve it with rice (Near East rice, my favorite).
  • Smoked Salmon Salad – also from the Summer 5771 Joy of Kosher.  This salad also has bagel chips, so it can really fill you up.  I love a salad as a meal.
  • Mediterranean Tuna Burger – again, Summer 5771 Joy of Kosher.  I would include some fries with this burger, but not the deep-fried fries (ewww).  I made the Vegetable Fries from the same magazine, and they were DE-licious.  Sweet potato, parsnip and beet sprinkled with olive oil and baked, then sprinkled with a little kosher salt.  Everyone loved them, even the baby!
  • Vegetable and Cheese Filled Pasta Shells, from CookKosher.com.  This meal is an all-in-one.  You have the starch, the protein and the veggies.  Easy Peasy.
  • This Quinoa and Smoked Tofu Salad from JoyofKosher.com  looks amazing.  I might actually consider making this one for myself..
  • Ilana-Davita shares an Egg Curry recipe, which would be good to make, especially since I have four cans of coconut milk sitting in my pantry.
  • This Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Soup from Midwest Mama in Israel sounds delicious, and would help me use up the remainder of the butternut squash I have sitting in my fridge.

We’ll see which of these meals I actually make, and which I’ll save for a future menu plan.

What about the meal before the fast?  What is everyone making for that?  Is there a specific dish that you always prepare?  I’d love to know! 

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image via Wikipedia

Menu Plan, week of July 17th

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Shortly after I moved, one of my friends asked me when I was going to make a menu plan again.  “After I finish unpacking,”  was my reply.  However, wandering the aisles of my new grocery store (I love you, Seven Mile!) with considerably less focus than usual was not super pleasant, or productive.

Cue heroic music, enter the menu planning. 

I’m not quite organized enough to plan for the whole month, but I will share my plan for this week (I was also going to share my plan for last week, but I used the back of it for my shopping list and it is now MIA.  Sorry).

Three fortuitous incidents helped shape my food choices:

Cover of "Kosher by Design Lightens Up: F...

thanks, Honey!

One, my husband bought me a new cookbook for my birthday (awww, isn’t he great?).  He got me Susie Fishbein’s Kosher By Design Lightens Up.  I had wanted a kosher cookbook that was on the healthier side (read:  no onion soup mix in the recipes, no deep-fried Chinese food recipes which I would wistfully ignore).  So far, I really like it.

Two, until very recently (like, Motzei Shabbos), all my books were packed.  The only reading material I had access to were my friend’s old copies of Binah (thank, E!) and my two years’ worth of Bon Appetit magazine.  So, I’ve been poring over many scrumptious and sumptuous recipes as well as educating myself on various foodie facts (did you know that this is the peak season for pluots?  Me neither.  I don’t even know where to get one, or what it is exactly!).  Jesting aside, I do love that every month, Bon Appetit picks a food at its seasonal peak and provides several delicious ways to prepare said food.  Also, the recipes for each month are appropriate for the season, which is something that I do want to become more familiar with.

Three, my mother is in town (yay!), so I am actually able to potchke around in the kitchen as she enjoys her grandmotherly privileges.

And now, the menu:

Sunday, July 17th

  • Ultimate Veggie Burgers ~ Kosher by Design Lightens Up (KBDLU); Oil and Vinegar Potato Salad ~Bon Appetit, July 2009 (BA 7/09) – it was sooo yummy, and I was able to pop the leftovers in the freezer for next week!

Monday, July 18th (A Pre-Fast Meal)

  • Eggplant Gazpacho (BA 7/09); Flounder with Fresh Dill and Lemon ~ from my brain (fmb); Kasha Pilaf (KBDLU)

Tuesday, July 19th (Shiva Asar b’Tammuz, ain’t no dinner tonight)

  • Break the fast with leftovers from Monday.  I tend to go on baking frenzies on fast days, so we’ll see if there’s anything else to eat)

Wednesday, July 20th

  • Spicy Chicken Peperonata with Lime and Mint Dressing (BA 7/09), served with warm tortillas, pareve sour cream, avocados and Near East Spanish Rice

Thursday, July 21st

  • Huevos Rancheros (KBDLU).

Shabbos night, July 22nd

  • Gefilte Fish, baked with Marinara sauce (fmb); Bok Choy Slaw (KBDLU); Chicken Soup (from freezer); Wheat Germ Crusted Chicken Cutlets (KBDLU); Lokshen Kugel ~ Spice and Spirit; Blueberry Crumb Bars (BA 7/09)

Shabbos day, July 23rd

  • Everything from the night, minus the fish and soup, and add cholent and liver (store bought, that).  Yum!

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And there you have it.

Now, I do make a different thing every night, and my good friend, E, mentioned that she likes to make double and serve the same thing two nights in a row.  It sounds like a good plan to me, and since my children aren’t old enough to protest, and my husband is okay with leftovers, I may adopt this plan.  What I’ve done in the past is freeze the double portion and bring it back out a different week.  I have to decide which plan I prefer, I guess.

For those of you who menu plan, how do you factor in your leftovers?

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image via Amazon

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June Menu Plan

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Israeli Salad

Image by lynn.gardner via Flickr

Since we’re moving in less than a month (Aaaaahhhhhh!), my June menu plan’s focus is on using up everything that I have in my house.  In the fridge, the freezer, the cupboards (I found a ridiculous amount of corn meal.  Go figure).  I was not looking forward to this inventory of items.  At all.  I put it off for many hours today (thank you, Facebook, for the constant diversions), but in the end it wasn’t nearly as painful as I expected.  Yay!

I had to get a little creative at times with the hodgepodge of items (3 cans coconut milk, 2 jars of taco sauce, 1/2 pack of egg noodles, some wasabi powder, etc.), but the overall menu is actually fairly normal-seeming.  It was actually kind of fun to find new recipes to use some of the items that didn’t immediately bring to mind a favorite recipe.

Without further ado . . . the menu.

Dinners

“Week” One

  • Shabbos, the 3rd ~ Dinner:  Tuna croquettes (Kosher by Design, Short on Time), Israeli salad, Chicken Soup, Walnut Maple Chicken with Sweet Potato Aioli (KBD, SOT), Noodle Kugel, Zebra Cookies (KBD, SOT).  We’re going out for lunch.

Week Two

  • Sunday, the 5th ~ Leftovers from Shabbos, Toasted Barley and Mushrooms (Spice & Spirit).
  • Monday, the 6th ~ Lasagna & Coleslaw.
  • Shavuous!  the 7th through 9th ~  First Night: Savory Baked Chickpeas (S&S), Avocado Salad (S&S), Curried Pepper Steak (S&S), Cornbread, Berry Pie (recipe from a friend).  We’re going out for the rest of the meals.  Don’t hate.
  • Shabbos, the 10th & 11th ~ We’re going out both meals.  Hey, we’re moving and want to socialize while we still can.

Week Three

  • Sunday, the 12th ~ Tacos with Cornbread.
  • Monday, the 13th ~ Black Bean and Salsa Salmon (Quick & Kosher) with Pea Salad.
  • Tuesday, the 14th ~ Thai Chicken and Coconut Rice Salad (KBD, SOT).
  • Wednesday, the 15th ~ Kidney Bean Omelette with Spelt Rolls.
  • Thursday, the 16th ~ Noodles with Cheese, Salad.
  • Shabbos, the 17th & 18th ~ Dinner:  Sweet & Sour Salmon (S&S), Salad, Chicken Soup (from freezer), Honey Chicken (Q&K), Potato Kugel (S&S).  We’re out for lunch, B”H.

Week Four

  • Sunday, the 19th ~ Leftovers from Shabbos.
  • Monday, the 20th ~ Lasagne and Salad.
  • Tuesday, the 21st ~ Chicken Pot Pie (from freezer) with Cornbread.
  • Wednesday, the 22nd ~ Salmon (this was a big hit with my husband last month), Couscous.
  • Thursday, the 23rd ~ Noodles with Cheese, Salad.  Classic.
  • Shabbos, the 24th & 25th – We’ll be out for both meals.  Our last Shabbos in Cleveland.  :(

“Week” Five

  • Sunday, the 26th ~ Meatballs (from freezer) and Cornbread.
  • Monday, the 27th ~ Moving Day!!!!!!!
  • Tuesday the 28th through Thursday the 30th ~ we’ll be in Baltimore, and at some point, in our new apartment.  I’m not sure what we’ll be eating, but it will either be extremely simple (think noodles and cheese) or take-out.  We’ll see.

Lunches and Snacks:

I have a lot of flour-type ingredient in my pantry (did you see all the cornbread in that menu plan?  It’s out of control!), so I’m hoping to make many batches of muffins, breads, etc.  These should be good for my toddler to snack on, and good traveling food as the time approaches.

As always, we snack on plenty of fruit and yogurt.  I will continue to try to feed my toddler more than just carbohydrates, so I’ll try some eggs, soups and fruits.  He ate a mango today AND some grapes, so that was pretty exciting for me (it doesn’t take much).  I usually eat whatever is left over, though I’ve been thinking about paying more attention to my diet.  Well, probably after the move (my new mantra).

And that’s it for June’s menu planning.  Have a great Shabbos!

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