Menu Mondays: The Back to School Edition

I'm headed out the door in ten minutes to bring Stella to school (she goes every morning this year!), I'm applauding myself for getting Alice to the bus stop in time and I'm typing one-handed because I have a cranky, teething 13 month old on my lap. But Menu Mondays are back, after a summer hiatus!

My menus lately reflect the changes that we've made in our family over the past month. You see, Henry and I have some serious financial goals that we need to tackle, so we've cut every aspect of our budget including the grocery budget. Remember my post on buying in bulk? That is one strategy I've employed in grocery budgeting. The other is planning meals that are inexpensive but nutritious and filling. Whole chicken was on sale at Whole Foods last month, so I've got a bunch of birds in my freezer. Besides roasted chicken, I've made stock with the bones. This week, I'm boiling up a chicken to use in my stir fry. I keep my eyes peeled for other deals that I can use without coupons, because I'm just not a clipper...

Here are some links for this week's menu:

The "meatballs" are actually lentils! Don't tell the kids. I want to see if they'll be able to tell the difference. http://www.goop.com/recipes/dinner/lentil_meatballs

Spanish tortillas have become a mainstay in the house. All the kids will eat it and it packs well in lunches the next day.  http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/09/tortilla-de-patatas/

I think everything else is self-explanatory. If it isn't, ask me in the comments!

And don't forget, the MO+M carrier discount code is good until the end of the month! Get the discount code from this post: http://realnani.blogspot.com/2014/09/babycarrierdiscount.html

Menu Mondays: Overbooked Edition

1. I looked at my calendar last night to see what I had on tap for the week, and I suffered a small surge of panic when I saw that I failed to take into account my daughter's THREE half-days this week. Add in softball practice that ends at dinnertime, three meetings, a classroom birthday celebration, soccer and a playdate, and my anxiety levels were creeping upwards. 
2. Honestly, I have no idea if my kids will eat the shepard's pie but I will and Henry will, and I have potatoes to use up. 
3. The aforementioned softball practice is on Friday, so I'll be using a pizza crust from the store, then loading it up and popping it in the oven when we get home. Takes 12 minutes, tops! 
4. Crockpot Mexican Chicken: Chopped onions at the bottom of the crockpot, fresh or frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts on top, cover with black beans, corn, a jar of salsa, and a little water or stock. Remove chicken from crockpot at end of cooking, shred it up and stir it back in. Serve with tortillas or tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese and avocado.  
5. Next week, I'll be participating in a blogger meme called The Writing Process. I was tagged by Tamara, who published hers this morning. Take a look! http://tamaracamerablog.com/2014/04/my-writing-process.html/

In other news, how happy are we that winter has been shown the door? The girls and I got out for a hike yesterday afternoon, while the boys chilled at home. Here's us, post-hike. 

Menu Mondays: Alice Edition

1. Alice made the menu this week. She even wrote it all down. Kindergarten is incredible. Also, she is making the perogies, probably. She made them last week and did a great job. 

2. The Chickn' Nuggets are from Quorn, a brand that I really like because it doesn't use soy-based protein like most vegetarian products. 

3. Friday, it'll actually just be me, Stella and Micah up to Albany because my mom's photograph is being exhibited at the 36th Annual Photography Regional at the Albany Center Gallery. Go, mom!! Alice and Henry will be staying home so she can attend her school's science fair Saturday morning. She's already requested to have a dinner date at Redding Roadhouse. 

Menu Mondays: Meat on Special Edition

1. Meat on Special? It just means that a local supermarket, a very fine one, was having a sale on ground chuck (yes, I'm aware of the recall! We were not affected by the recall, no worries) and Bell and Evans chicken. So, I bought more than I usually would and threw it in the freezer. 
2. What is a crepesdilla? I'm still in love with those masa crepes from Deborah Madison and I've decided to make quesadillas with them, instead of buying tortillas. Cheddar cheese was on sale, so I bought two blocks--one for mac and cheese (for lunches) and the other for the quesadillas. 
3. Pasta was also on sale, so I bought a few different kinds. I already made spaghetti and meatballs last night. I bought pork sausage for the meatballs and I have some left, so I'm thinking penne with sausage and broccoli. 
4. The little dude is starting to eat some food, so I've been roasting up sweet potato sticks for him, and he's had some of my oatmeal a few times. Very exciting times! 
5. My girls love granola bars and so do use grown-ups, so granola bars tend to be a pricey purchase, since a box doesn't go far. I found a recipe for Nature Valley-style granola bars and it's pretty good! The website is ugly but don't let that scare you. Mine actually didn't come out that crunchy, I think, because I made my own brown sugar, and I was out of butter so I used oil instead. I also added flax seeds and cinnamon. http://www.budget101.com/scratch-recipes-storebought-items/honey-crunch-granola-bars-3421.html

Menu Mondays: Kid Edition

1. The kids chose this week's meals, with the exception of Friday. Pretend Soup, by Mollie Katzen is a great little cookbook for kids, even if some of the recipes are weird. Not the pizza, though. The pizza is totally normal and Alice even wanted to use zucchini, as directed in the recipe, so we'll see how that goes. 
2. On Saturday, we went to an International Festival at Alice's school. The Spain table was serving Spanish tortilla and Alice loved it so much, we decided to make it for dinner. 
3. Do you read The Poor Man's Feast? I read Elissa Altman's book, spun off from her blog, last Fall. Great book... I highly recommend. Anyway, she wrote a post this week about fish and since I have a cod fillet in the freezer, I decided to make it the way she describes it at the end of the post. 
4. The roast chicken will be from Whole Foods, as per Alice's request. Apparently, one time I made chicken, and it was dry. [insert eye roll here] But whatever, that chicken *is* good and it saves me some cooking. 
5. A funny story: At the supermarket yesterday, after hauling a ten pound bag of flour into my shopping cart, another woman, middle-aged, very attractive and kind of prim, also took a bag of flour and examined it, then decided to put it back. She eyed the bag in my cart and asked if I'd checked the expiration date. October 2014. No problem. But she didn't like the expiration date and I thought maybe in her head she was reading it as 2013 or something. Before I had a chance to say anything, she counted off the months on her fingers and asked me, "you'll use all that flour by October?" I had to laugh, so I did and said that I could use all that flour in A MONTH.  Her eyes went wide as she gave me an astonished "Really?!" Funny lady. I might've been exaggerating about how quickly the flour will get used but yes, I can definitely finish a ten pound bag of flour in less than seven months! 

{This post contains affiliate links.}

Menu Mondays

1. Of course, that is my recipe! http://realnani.blogspot.com/2013/11/skillet-chicken-pot-pie.html

2. This fish recipe is so good, and I've made it with halibut, mahi maui and cod. Delicious.
3. My recipe again, though I'm out of cheesecloth, so I will probably roast the chicken breast, pull off the meat and make a stock from the bones. http://realnani.blogspot.com/2013/11/balabusta-cred.html

Also, confession time: Last week, I had the menu down but not so much with the planning. I didn't buy enough cheese, and I didn't have any steak leftover for the tacos. So, I ended up winging it towards the end of the week. But winging it is pretty easy when you have beans, rice and random vegetables. Also, one night, my kids asked for frozen peas and toast. Weirdos.

Menu Mondays

{Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a free copy of The Good Mother Myth! See that post here: http://realnani.blogspot.com/2014/01/GoodMotherMyth.html}

1. I was inspired by my friend Sovina to put flank steak on my menu this week. She makes skirt steak but the flank was cheaper and looked better than the skirt that was available at my supermarket. 
2. The millet and falafel patties are so good, and come from Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook. There are a lot of great recipes in the book, and a whole kid-friendly section though there are a few recipes in the other sections that my kids like. 
3. In case you didn't notice, Wednesday's dinner is based on leftovers from Monday's dinner. See what I did there? 

Menu Mondays

Notes: 

1. We are not vegans but we do not eat a lot of meat, so I take a lot of inspiration from vegan and vegetarian cookbooks. We eat dairy and eggs, so I often use the real thing even in vegan recipes. 
2. Also on my list for the week: make greek yogurt (which can be made from regular yogurt by straining it through a cheesecloth), make breadcrumbs and make hummus. 
3. You can use any fillings you want for taco night. We always have tomato, avocado, and cheese. Some filling ideas: sweet potato and black beans, that old standby--ground meat, carnitas (which is what we had this week!)
4. Speaking of carnitas, here's an easy way to make it. Buy a pack of boneless country-style pork ribs (or however many pounds you need to feed your brood... I buy a little more for lunch leftovers). Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat a little canola oil in a dutch oven or other ovenproof pot, and sear the ribs on all sides. Remove to a plate. Deglaze with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Add sliced onions and carrots, along with some smashed garlic to the dutch oven. Stir until softened somewhat, then season with herbes de provence or your favorite spice mix, salt and pepper. Add the ribs back into the dutch oven, and cover with a can of peeled or crushed tomatoes. (You can even use ketchup...!) Add water to cover, and put the pot in the oven for 3-4 hours, depending on how many pounds of ribs you have. Check occasionally and add more liquid as necessary. Pork is done when it is falling apart. Remove to a plate and shred it. Put vegetables into a blender (or use immersion blender), then add back to the pot along with shredded pork. Serve warm. You can make this ahead and reheat when ready to serve. 

*BFD=Breakfast for Dinner