Weekly Menus: March 7 – 13

I’m going to try to do a little experimenting this week…a few items on my menu that I’ve never tried before.  I’m going to use some recipes I’ve found on the web and see what fits with what is in my pantry…just to keep things a little more interesting!

Monday - Hamburgers, French Fries, carrot sticks and ranch

- Ok. So this is not interesting…nor unique…but it is going to be a rock star kind of day and I’m looking for simple and fast.  Venison from our freezer, french fries from the massive stock up sale price I found several months ago.  I will need to buy some carrot sticks and hamburger buns.

Tuesday - Make Ahead Spinach Manacotti, broccoli, mixed fruit salad.

- I won’t even be home for dinner on Tuesday so I thought I would make it as simple as possible for my husband.  I have this in the freezer.  I will need to buy some spaghetti sauce but will pull it out of the freezer on Monday and pour the sauce on…he will just need to pop it in the oven.  Green Giant Steamers vegetables are on sale at Dillon’s this week and next: with a coupon you can get them from about $0.28/bag. I have a bag of frozen fruit salad I got at Aldi about a month ago.

Wednesday - Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and Homemade Dinner Rolls

- I found this recipe this past summer and made it with salmon on the grill.  (I’m desperately looking for the link to this and will post it as soon as I locate it!)We were so pleased with the flavor, it really is amazing!  The ingredients, when purchased all at once, can be quite costly.  I happen to have them all on hand…I’ve purchased them over time for various recipes.  You can often find these ingredients at an Asian Market for a much cheaper price than your local grocer.  My kids LOVE green beans…I do to.  In fact, I can’t wait until we get fresh from the garden green beans this summer.  In the meantime…I’m bored.  Plain green beans are getting old.  I found this great recipe at Savor The Thyme and will definitely give it a try! If they look good, I’ll buy fresh green beans this week…if not I will use the Green Giant Steamers.  Potatoes I bought last week for a dish and have enough remaining to make mashed potatoes this week.  I ran out of flour and sugar last week so I purchased some on Saturday night.

Thursday - Mexican Casserole

- A meal all in itself!  This is my biggest experiment this week.  I found this reciepe at Succeeding As Mom and it sounds really good to me!  It actually includes three separate recipes, one for Rice Wheatberrie Bake, one for Meatless Taco Filling, and then the Mexican Casserole recipe.  I will need to hit up the bulk section at the Merc for some wheatberrie and TVP … although I may use Bocca Crumbles instead as I have a coupon for one bag FREE.  I believe I actually have everything else on hand!

Friday - Sticky Chicken, Roasted Cauliflower, Rice/Carrots/Peas, Left Over Homemade Dinner Rolls

Saturday - Brinner! Eggs, Biscuits and Gravy, Fruit Salad

- An all time favorite fun dinner at our house.  The kids (and by kids I mean Eric and I) really like this.  We get our eggs from a farm in Topeka (someone at Eric’s office) so we always have those around….I will make biscuits and I will need to buy a packet of Country Gravy mix… I don’t do gravy very well.

So what does my “essentials” grocery list look like for the week?

Hamburger Buns

OrrowWheat Sandwhich Thins

Ground Black Pepper

Fresh Green Beans

Fresh Cauliflower

1 each Red/Green/Banana Pepper

Onion

Spaghetti Sauce

Bananas

Strawberries

Vanilla Yogurt

Orange Juice

Fat-Free Milk

When I figure out what I have spent I will be using the remainder to stock up on frozen vegetables.  The sale at Dillon’s is amazing and I can use them and use them and use them until our garden is ready this summer.

What is on your menu this week?