Skip to main content

Monday Menu Recap: Week of March 5th

I tried out more recipes from Chef Tess this week, and after getting the "thumbs-up" from my family, I've assembled some of those meals in jars.  My goal is to have at least a three-month supply of ready-to-cook meals. 

I used to think, "I've got my food storage; I can whip together a meal."  That's true, but in times of sickness, stress, or tight schedules, having meals already assembled is a great help.  The meals tend toward mass-marketed convenience foods (which I generally avoid), but when I put them together, I know exactly how to pronounce the ingredients.  They are mild enough to be easy on sick tummies, too.  And honestly, it's embarrassing to remember how many times I have run to the store to buy mac and cheese, chicken noodle soup, and applesauce when someone in the family caught a bug.  Not that I plan on 3 months of sickness, but at least I'll be prepared. 

(I even canned 18 pints of applesauce on Saturday, and I have more to can this week.  I've been fortunate to find very inexpensive apples.  Canning in March is so much more enjoyable than canning in the heat of the summer!)

Without further ado, here's the recap:

Monday: Turkey Noodle Skillet Meal (scroll down for the recipe)



Tuesday:  Soft Tacos

Wednesday:  Chicken Noodle Soup and Spinach, Carrot, and "Pineapple" Zucchini Salad  (Remember this post about canning zucchini?  I had a burst of inspiration to use a pint of canned zucchini in the salad--no dressing required!)


Thursday:  I ate dinner at the celebration of Relief Society's 170th birthday. 

Friday:  Our second attempt at Broccoli, Cheese, and Rice Casserole was met with better results. (Again, scroll down--many of Chef Tess' recipes are on that link.) 


The key to its success was, indeed, a new can of freeze-dried broccoli.  If your broccoli looks like this:


Do your family a favor, and buy a new can!


Saturday:  Salmon burgers and rutabaga oven-baked fries.  Tasty enough, but rutabaga has too much water content to make crisp fries.  Probably won't attempt that again.

Sunday:  Baked chicken breasts, baked potatoes, and artichokes.  The artichokes were 100% an impulse purchase at the store, but I don't regret it one bit!

Thankful thought:  Thanks for the peace that comes from a well-stocked pantry!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago.  I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon.  (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall  Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...

Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon, part 2

stock photo of old computer monitor When I was 10 or 11, I remember sitting next to my dad in our living room and reading computer code to him as he entered it into an Apple computer. We would finish the exercise and he would hit enter (or was it "run"?) and wait expectantly for the green type to appear on the screen. If we were lucky, the whole conversation would occur. Most often, there would be an error either in my dictation of the code, or in the typing of the code. We would then go painstakingly back through the lines, character by character, to find and correct the error. After what seemed like hours (and might have been), we would succeed and the computer would finally run the entire program. It was magical! My dad designed and built an earth-sheltered, passive solar home decades before solar panels were commonplace. He also was on a 9-month waiting list for a Prius, when hybrids were not seen on every street.  While my dad is definitely on the cutting edge of technol...

Ten Things of Thankful: Oregon Edition, Part 3

  A western bluebird, sitting at the base of a house window, looks inside Thanks (1) to those who have sent well-wishes for my mom's recovery. Her wrist is healing up nicely. I met a friend from high school for lunch this past week. It was so nice to have a chance to visit with her for a couple of hours. She is one of those friends who it doesn't matter how much time has passed, we can pick right back up into meaningful conversations. Lunch ended all too soon, but I'm so thankful (2) for her, and I'm thankful (3) that she reminded me of the importance of reaching out to others.  Being in my parents' home this week, visiting with a long-time (I'm not saying old!) friend, and with Mother's Day tomorrow, my mind naturally reflects upon the women in my life. I'm thankful (4) for an incredible mom--a gentle woman who taught and loved and guided us (and still does.) I'm thankful (5) for grandmas who were different in their personalities but united in their...