Monday, July 22, 2013

Menu Plan Monday

Ok so I did a mini inventory of the freezer and we indeed will not starve this week, lol

Our menu for the week will be

Tonight: Italian Sausages, Brats and sauteed onions over rice with green beans on the side

The rest of the week in no particular order will be:

Grilled Burgers on Hm Hamburger Buns,  fresh tomatoes and cukes from the garden, garlic roasted potatoes

Baked Chicken Pieces, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn

Stromboli/pepperoni rolls

 Alfredo over Penne Pasta, Grilled or Sauteed Cajun Shrimp for those who like it and leftover baked chicken for those who don't!! and probably broccolli    

Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without

That's my mantra this week!! We are a week away from payday and that means funds are extremely low, and there will be no unnessassary spending. What we have moneywise will be needed to make sure the hubs can get back and forth to work and with gas prices...well you get the idea. So what we have on hand is what we have and that's that. The only thing I can imagine we would need is sugar, eggs and TP.

So its treasure hunt day, lol I need to get in my freezer and see what we have and then come up with a menu plan based on whats in there.

Am I worried?? Nah, not really. We might not have exactly what everyone wants for meal times but we won't starve by any stretch of the imagination and its good to use up what you have on hand so as not to let anything fall by the wayside and get freezer burnt and become unedible.

So it might be Menu Monday but I can't form a menu till I know what I've got on hand and come up with a plan on what to do with it!! So I'll be back!!!

Enjoy your day!!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Burritos???

Ok so here's the deal.... I love mexican food. Notice I said I, and there is no I in team which as you guessed means I am the only one in my family that loves, loves, LOVES mexican food. Sad isn't it?? Oh well, you gotta work with what you got and well I need to find a way to get my foodie fix without it causing disturbance in the family force!! And it would help if it didn't cost me an arm and a leg too ya know??

What I normally do is shamefully buy those .89 frozen burritos and stash them in the freezer till it get the itch for mexican food and then devour them!! I know they're bad for me, I know they are loaded with umpteeen grams of fat and gazoodles of chemicals and such but a girls gotta get her foodie fix right??

So I've had this idea...ya know the one where I just whip them up myself and well I'm gonna jump in feet first and give it a whirl.

I've looked all over the web for recipes and ideas and decided it is time!!!

And in true nature of myself I am going about this adventured as cheap as possible and will be using some leftovers and hoping that it turns out fantastic.

So here is what I did:

Last week I bought some super thin sliced beef steaks and cooked them up to make Steak and cheese subs the other day. My kids were happy just to eat the steak as is with a side of fries thank you very much. The hubs and I went all in and had steak and cheese subs with all the fixings- Lettuce tomato and onion on his, Lettuce tomato, onion, grilled mushrooms and grilled onions on mine- both with a side of fries- SUPER YUM!!! We'd never bought this kind of steak before and took a gamble on it working well as steak subs. Definately something we will do again. It will be added to the menu list!!

But I've got leftover cooked thin sliced steaks!! Not enough for a whole meal for all 5 of us, not even enough for lunch for the 3 kids and myself but too much to just forget about so I saved it till I could come up with a way to use it up.

Also last week the kids asked for tacos/nachos- not normal mexican fare but Americanized Box Kit kind of tacos- which is essentially the only "mexican" type food they will eat.  I hurridly picked up a couple boxes of taco shells while I was out shopping with the littles and then booked it home to get dinner on the table. Turns out those boxes of taco shells that I thought were a bit pricier than when I bought them the last time we had tacos at home like 8 months ago- see told you mexican was a not a fave here. Well it turns out they were pricier for a reason and the reason is I bought a whole dinner kit not just a box of taco shells. So yep I've got the dinner kit stuff leftover ( the seasoning and the salsa pack)

Enter: My idea for some DIY Beef and bean burritos

So today I've got 1/2 pound of pinto beans cooking in a semi big pot, I've also cut up the leftover steak into smallish pieces and threw it into the pot as well. I added a bit of salt and a good couple of grinds of the pepper shaker and I'm going to let it cook until the beans are good and soft, the beef is shredded and the water is all but gone, once the water level drops to just about nothingness I'll add a finely chopped onion and some finely chopped garlic and let it simmer and cook all together till everthing is done then I'll remove from the heat, add some of the taco seasoning and some of the salsa which is leftover from the kit and then I'll assemble me some beef, bean and cheese burritos. I can hardly wait!! And since I am the only one in this house who will eat such a thing I know I'll be adding some of these yummy burritos to the freezer for future lunches.

How awesome is that??? Leftovers used up, convience foods made for the freezer, and I'll be able to get my foodie fix!!

WIN, WIN, WIN!!! Or should that be YUM, YUM, YUM!!! ??

Probably a little of both!!!