Menu Plan Monday 5/31

 

 

Pasta with Sausage Sauce and bread with olive oil

Grilled Caesar Chicken with Rice (Crispy Pepperoni)

Salsa Sloppy Joes with tater tots (Chicken Fries)

Tacos Mac and Cheese (Pasta)

Homemade Pizza

Spicy Honey Mustard Chicken and Potato Skins (Hash Browns and Bacon)

Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and Homemade French Fries

 

Last week went mostly according plan until Saturday when we did a quick menu change to make a Buffalo Chicken Pizza with the leftover dough from the night before and then made Hamburgers and tater tots for the adults and Hash browns and Bacon for my son. We had company at dinner time and had to adjust to feed everyone so it was a little thrown together but still tasty and already in the house.  

I made up this weeks menu to be easy since we are in the home stretch of a lot of school projects and the pool is open. We might have to do school work or want to go to the pool for a little bit before dinner on a few nights. I think that some of the meals might change a little. Plus with all the school work and pool time, I think that I am putting off the monthly shopping trip for a little bit so using up what is left in the house. Although we are out of a bunch of things, there is still a lot left to make it through for awhile so maybe I will be able to put it off for a bit but I have some free time on Thursday so who knows. We still have egg, butter and milk so plenty of yummy things can be made for sure. I am planning on pumpkin bread, chocolate chip bars and soft pretzels.  We started making soft pretzels every weekend and have really mastered the process.  Super yummy and tasty and way easier then I ever thought that they would be. Fingers crossed for a yummy week. How are you adjusting to summer weather and summer schedule??

Menu Plan Monday 5/24

 

 

Pasta with Sausage Sauce and garlic bread

Grilled Caesar Chicken with Rice (Crispy Pepperoni)

Chicken Paninis and mac and cheese (Chicken Fries)

Ground Beef Tacos (Pasta)

Homemade Pizza

House Autry Fried Chicken and Tortilla Crusted Chicken with mashed potatoes or Spicy Brown Stir Fry with rice (Hash Browns and Bacon)

Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and Homemade French Fries

 

Last week was a long week and we were done with the meal plan by Thursday. I decided to make Hash Browns and Bacon which I was planning for my son and we both had it.  My husband had hamburger on the grill and I used the leftover grilled chicken and mac and cheese to make him chicken buffalo mac and cheese. Friday we did  Pizza Hut take out which we normally do once a month but this was a perfect week for it because I was exhausted. Saturday was busy and we pulled all the leftovers out of the fridge and we had everything in the fridge which I can't even remember what it was that we ate. Sunday we had our normal chicken wraps and homemade fries but I was barely hungry because it was a tasty day.  I had made homemade soft pretzels earlier in the day so we had already all eaten lots of things before dinner but we will still ate one of the favorite meals of the week. 

I had a lot of work to make up for on Sunday to get ready for the coming week. I made the soft pretzels which we saved a few but ate most of them. I made rolls for my husband's lunch. I made a loaf of bread for garlic bread and toast and things through the week. I made a loaf of lemon pound cake and cut up strawberries to make strawberry shortcake on the pound cake. YUM!  Nothing says summer like strawberry shortcake. I still have to cut up chicken that I bought at the store to prepare for the coming months and a few more things.  I hope that I everything one the meal plan made this week but only time will tell!!

The Bounty Book Review

I went through the list of the new releases at the library and was excited to see the next installment of the Fox and O'Hare series which I have really enjoyed.  I reserved it and waited a long time while it went through all of the people that were way more on top of things and reserved it earlier. I was so excited when The Bounty: A Novel (7) (A Fox and O'Hare Novel) by Janet Evanovich finally came on to my reserve shelf so that I would get to read this fun book.  It has all the fun of the Castle television series with the drama of FBI versus criminal.

 

FBI agent Kate O’Hare and charming criminal Nick Fox race against time to uncover a buried train filled with Nazi gold in this thrilling adventure in the “romantic and gripping” (Good Housekeeping) Fox and O’Hare series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich. Straight as an arrow special agent Kate O’Hare and international criminal Nick Fox have brought down some of the biggest bad guys out there. But now they face their most dangerous foe yet—a vast, shadowy international organization known only as the Brotherhood. Directly descended from the Vatican Bank priests who served Hitler during World War II, the Brotherhood is on a frantic search for a lost train loaded with $30 billion in Nazi gold, untouched for over seventy-five years somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Europe.

Kate and Nick know that there is only one man who can find the fortune and bring down the Brotherhood—the same man who taught Nick everything he knows—his father, Quentin. As the stakes get higher, they must also rely on Kate’s own father, Jake, who shares his daughter’s grit and stubbornness. Too bad they can never agree on anything. From a remote monastery in the Swiss Alps to the lawless desert of the Western Sahara, Kate, Nick, and the two men who made them who they are today must crisscross the world in a desperate scramble to stop their deadliest foe in the biggest adventure of their lives.

The book was off to a fast start with Kate and Nick on loan to the Vatican to try to help them increase their security and find the flaws.  However they didn't believe that they were going to be broken into so they didn't take the advice very seriously.  When they were broken into and it just so happened to be Nick's father that was the robber, they immediately decided that it was an inside job.  Although they ere surprised when he stole a map instead of the highest priced item the ring they were expecting.  Nick froze when he saw who was breaking in and then decided that he and Kate were on the job to find his father.  It was a fun story from there because there was so much action and adventure.  Every time I read these books I think about how great they would be as a TV show or movie because there is so much going on.  It reminded me of a Indiana Jones movie where they were hunting for buried Nazi gold and they needed all of the other people to help them find it.  Nick and Kate followed the clues with the help of their fathers.  It was a great story and made it hard to put down because you wanted to find out what was going to happen next. I hope that you check out this book and the rest of this great series.  I am amazed that there are 7 books in this series already.  I hope that you start at the beginning and follow the great journey through Kate and Nick's relationship to see how they got to where they are in this book!  I know I enjoyed all of them and I hope that you will too.

The Vineyard at Painted Moon

 I reserved this book because I saw it on the new release section and I love this author.  The Vineyard at Painted Moon: A Novel by Susan Mallery seemed like an interesting book even though I knew nothing about it.  From the cover, it looked like it was going to be a book about some foreign country but I was pleased to find out that it was set in Washington State and talking about local wine making in the US.  I hope that you check out this book for yourself because you will immediately be taken on a vacation to wine country.

 

Step into the vineyard with Susan Mallery’s most irresistible novel yet, as one woman searches for the perfect blend of love, family and wine.

Mackenzie Dienes seems to have it all—a beautiful home, close friends and a successful career as an elite winemaker with the family winery. There’s just one problem—it’s not her family, it’s her husband’s. In fact, everything in her life is tied to him—his mother is the closest thing to a mom that she’s ever had, their home is on the family compound, his sister is her best friend. So when she and her husband admit their marriage is over, her pain goes beyond heartbreak. She’s on the brink of losing everything. Her job, her home, her friends and, worst of all, her family.

Staying is an option. She can continue to work at the winery, be friends with her mother-in-law, hug her nieces and nephews—but as an employee, nothing more. Or she can surrender every piece of her heart in order to build a legacy of her own. If she can dare to let go of the life she thought she wanted, she might discover something even more beautiful waiting for her beneath a painted moon.

I was very happy to get this book and get a chance to read it.  Mackenzie Dienes is working in a career she loves as a winemaker at a family winery.  She loves taking care of the grapes and working with her husband's family to make the best wine that she can.  The winery has won many awards because of all of Mackenzie's hard work.  She has no family of her own and was immediately taken in by her husband's family with his mom taking over as her motherly figure.  She is also best friends with his sisters and they all live on the family property in separate houses. They find out that they are no longer happy in their marriage and decide to get divorced.  In the divorce, she is set to loose everything including her husband, her friends, her job and her home.  It is a hard blow to her that she figures out that she needs to make a new life for herself to be happy on her own but you have to pick up the book to find out what happens. It is amazing to watch the entire transformation and see how Mackenzie changes her life.  You will love this book as much as I did when you read the great story of overcoming what is many huge obstacles to make her own life. I was even more happy when I realized that I knew Bruno from another series which I didn't realize until he revealed his past. I hope that you check out this fun book and enjoy it for yourself.

Menu Plan Monday 5/10

 

 

Pasta with Sausage Sauce and Pan Fried Zucchini and Garlic Knots and garlic bread

Grilled Caesar Chicken with Rice (Crispy Pepperoni)

Chicken Paninis and mac and cheese (Chicken Fries)

Ground Beef Mexican Rice Enchiladas (Hash Browns and Bacon)

Homemade Pizza

House Autry Fried Chicken and Tortilla Crusted Chicken with mashed potatoes (Pasta)

Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and Homemade French Fries

 

Last week was a little different then the menu but still went pretty well. I got all of the beginning of the week done but by Friday I was exhausted and the fridge was full of a bunch of different leftovers.  I made leftovers for the adults and individual pizza from the frozen crust for my son's dinner.  Saturday was also exhausting and we had a bigger lunch with more creative leftovers and we ate later in the day.  I decided on Pancakes, Eggs, Hash browns and bacon and we all enjoyed it.  It was a good week and we used up lots in the fridge which made it extra good. 

I have a few things on the menu to use up things this week.  We have a little of the House Autry breader still left after last month so I thought I would do what I could out of that and make the rest of the chicken into Tortilla Crusted chicken which will use up the chips that we aren't as interested in eating. I put some enchilada sauce in the freezer and I know that I will need to make more but I want to make sure that I use up what we already have and maybe make a full batch for the freezer.  At the same time, I might need to make a full batch of spaghetti sauce because I just started the last jar of my homemade sauce so I might open a big can of tomatoes to use or pull the smaller ones out of the pantry to clear out some of the other ones. I know there are a few more things I need to use up but working through the plan that I currently have for the month.  I think that we have plenty of groceries but I might need to get some lettuce and some more ground beef this month with the rest of the budget. 

Can't wait to see where the inventory leaves us for the June when I take it next week. I think that we will still have tons of food left in the freezer, fridge and pantry to start off the summer on the right foot. I hope that having a plan will make it easier at the end of the long and busy day leading up the end of school.  How are you doing with meal planning??

Menu Plan Monday 5/3

 

 

Pasta with Sausage Sauce and Fried Zucchini and Garlic Knots and garlic bread

Grilled Spiedies Chicken with Rice and Corn on the Cob (Crispy Pepperoni)

Ground Beef Salsa Sloppy Joes with tater tots (Chicken fries)

Spicy Honey Mustard Chicken and mac and cheese

Homemade Pizza

Fried Rice with egg rolls, pot stickers, and edamame (Hash browns and Bacon)

Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and Homemade French Fries

 

Last week we enjoyed a yummy week with most of the meals going according to plan.  Saturday we decided on Skillet Lemon Chicken because I had lemon in the fridge and chicken went on sale so that I could buy it to use.  I got to use up the rest of the orzo in the cupboard to make the rice which was super tasty.  I also used up half of a spice jar of Italian seasoning that I hadn't used previously.

I have done a great job of planning and using up the things that are already in the house in the meal plan for the month. I still have lots of things in the cupboard to use but it still costs a lot to fill in the holes to make sure that we have everything we need to make it through the month.  I was previously using a $160 budget for groceries and $40 for eating out.  When we first went through the lock down, we used all of the $200 towards groceries and did no eating out.  We have started to get pizza once a month which was a little over $10 per month so I was using the $190 for groceries.  The price of groceries continues to go up and the price of pizza has started to go up too so we tried to figure out what would work as a better budget and we have decided to try $200 for groceries and $20 for eating out.  I am hoping that this will give us a little more flexibility in the monthly shopping.