Monday, August 25, 2014

Menu Plan: Week of August 25

We went on a family vacation last weekend to New Orleans.  It was hot and awesome.  It was also Sonny D's week off between summer camp and the fall semester at his preschool.  Since we had been away for a few days, for Me & D night we went to Trader Joe's to buy groceries.  I had brought only 3 reusable bags and told myself I could only buy that much, but I still ended up with more stuff than bags.

Our weekend was really busy.  On Saturday we went our for brunch with our friends at Willalby's Cafe (excellent!), to a car show, and then to a four-year-old's birthday party.  I was so stuffed from our breakfast that I only had a little bit of their fabulous creamy buffalo chicken dip... ok, maybe a lot, it was so good!  Then on Sunday we hit the farmers' market, then Ride the Drive, and then Curdfest.  It felt like we were running all over but it all turned out great. 

I spent a lot of money at the farmers' market this week, I think around $33.  We bought morning snacks for Sonny D and I (spring roll, orange-carrot juice, and kettle corn), veggies for the week, and veggies to can.  I'm going to make pickled eggplant cubes and pickled jalapenos.  Luckily the weather this week is going to cool down so I won't feel guilty filling the house with loads of steam from the canning process.  

This Week

Our friends Brian and Kristen had a baby last week and we haven't been able to meet there new little guy Will yet, so it would be nice to see if we can stop by sometime this week.  Monday or Thursday might be the only options since we've got just enough going on otherwise to keep us pretty busy.

I'm also going to try to cut Sonny D's hair this week.  I was thinking Wednesday night before his bath, but maybe I'll wait until after Saturday's big birthday party so my fresh, not-quite-professional haircut isn't caught on film for perpetuity.  I do a decent job cutting his hair, but sometimes I would prefer people didn't look too close since it could definitely be better. 
  • Monday - egg and cheese sandwiches on toast, purple beans from the farmers' market, salads, and maybe zucchini fritters if we have good zucchini out in the garden.  Haven't looked out there recently to even know how it's doing. 
  • Tuesday - Possibly Italian zucchini boats (stuffed with seasoned ground beef), Trader Joe's sweet potato tater tots, and salads.  I also was thinking about making chocolate zucchini bread but I've also got Zumba class so I might need to wait on the bread. 
  • Wednesday - stuffed buns (filled with bacon, white beans, caramelized onions, and cheese), Trader Joe's spanakopita (spinach pie), and trying delicata squash I found at the farmers' market.  Planning to do some canning because the high for the day is in the low 70s.  
  • Thursday - I declared that we were going to have a nacho night, so we'll load up tortilla chips with taco meat, black olives, avocado, salsa, cheese, beans, etc.  I'll do some more canning if I didn't get everything done on Wednesday. 
  • Friday - We're having a family dinner since Husband Jeff's brother Scott and wife Stacy and kids are in town. We were talking about going out to a restaurant but we might be grilling instead.
  • Saturday - If I can manage, I'm going to head to Zumba class in the morning.  Later in the day Husband Jeff's entire family is coming over to our house for Scott's 40th birthday party.  We're ordering shredded pork from That BBQ Joint and we're going to make or buy the rest of the food.  I think we're getting a cake from Coldstone Creamery but I'm worried about how we'll get it home without it melting everywhere since the nearest location is kind of far away from our house. 
  • Sunday - We'll head to the farmers' market like every Sunday.  I love it!  Maybe I'll buy more things to can/preserve.  Labor Day weekend is the Taste of Madison, which is my favorite "food holiday", so we'll head downtown for that.  I love being able to sample a variety of tasty things.  I'm sure we won't need any sort of dinner after all of the chowing we'll do there. 
  • Monday - Since it's a holiday weekend, I'm including Monday here.  The only thing I've planned is that we'll have a bag of Trader Joe's frozen rigatoni alla Siciliana. We'll probably have tons of leftovers from Saturday's birthday party, so we'll also be eating that. 

Wanna Chat?

I turned off the 'leave a comment' feature, so if you want to share what you're thinking about this or anything else, drop me an email at jhk1013 (at) gmail.com. It's so much more cozy than a comment, plus we can have a real conversation!