September Meal Plan – Week 3

Guess what I did this week?

You guys would be SO proud of me!

I FROZE BEANS!

Aw yeah baby!!

I took some of ya’lls wonderful (and insightful and wise) advice and used silicone cupcake liners to freeze the kidney beans I made last week with the chicken stock.  I placed the liners in a muffin tin (so they wouldn’t fall over), scooped 1/3 cup into each cup and put the entire pan in the freezer.  The next morning I popped them out of the liners (without a problem, by the way) and put them in a freezer bag.  Those liners weren’t all beany-dirty either and clean up was a breeze!   A BIG THANK YOU for the idea!

Remember that sneaky suspicion that last week’s menu would go awry with with Mr. Crumbs’ last-minute departure?  Well the gut was right.  Meals got switched and ditched, but all in all, I think we came out ahead.

Sunday and Monday went as planned, Tuesday was tacos (moved up from Saturday) and Wednesday was leftovers.  I don’t know how some weeks come out with no leftovers and others with a ton, but there were LOTS of leftovers in the fridge this past week.  All delicious – don’t get me wrong – but there’s no cookin’ in my kitchen if there’s enough prepared food in the fridge for more than one meal.  Since we were short one mouth to help take out the yumminess, we had leftovers on Thursday and Saturday as well.  The kids and I still splurged on Friday’s pizza.

Other highlights include the broccoli salad that turned out UH-mazing, plus an Italian-style pasta salad that was so good, Mr. Crumbs had four helpings the first night and ate directly out of the leftover container the next day.  Too good for a plate I guess!  He said to me, “This is too good – take it away or I’m going to eat it all.”  Sounds like another winner!  I’m sharing the recipe this week so you can add it to your stash as well.

Homemade naan was really good and a fun alternative to sandwich bread.  It was so good that The Boy requested more “special bread” even after they demolished the entire batch.  The bean and cheese part wasn’t received well, so we converted to peanut butter and bananas.  With a bag of beans safely stashed in the freezer, there will be a future round 2 with those puppies.

Momma-bear stepped in and ended up nixing the BLT’S.  Nitrates are still fresh on my mind and since there was bacon last weekend, lunchmeat at the fellowship luncheon and hot dogs on Labor Day, I felt the need to push back another round of bacon just a bit.  We may have it after Mr. Crumbs comes home (especially with the freshly baked buttermilk potato bread on the counter), but at least a full week will have passed.

See, just a few change-ups.   Mediterranean beans and rice and a night of BLT’s simply get put back on the drawing board for another week.

Breakfast

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (the healthy version with flax and oat flour)

Lunches

Peanut butter & homemade jelly/bananas/apple/raisins on that buttermilk bread.  It’s fun to let the kids decide what the other half will be, plus they’re more apt to finish their sandwiches.  They finished off the last batch of granola bars so the soaked granola may be in store.

Dinner

(S) Family Dinner
(M) Orange Peel Beef x2 (white rice, broccoli stars, carrots)
(T) Pesto Ravioli with Side Salad
(W) Leftovers
(T) Gourmet Grilled Cheese (maybe bacon and pepper jack, granny smith & provolone, or pesto, tomato & mozzarella) with a Side Salad
(F) Dinner with Friends
(S) Whole Chicken Rotisserie on the Grill (salad, vegetable, potatoes)

You may notice a few more swapping of meals since the original plan.  Good Mrs. Crumbs simply cannot allow her husband to come home from a very long day of traveling to a dinner of leftovers.

What’s on your menu this week?