Monday, December 7, 2009

Meal Planning & Slowing Down

I am joining Organizing Junkie for another Menu Plan Monday but mine is going to be a bit different this week. I have got lots of main dish ingredients that I can build multiple menu's around. So I am just going to list the entrees and fill in with whatever side dishes appeal to me that day. Right now, I have the majority of ingredients for 18 entrees. Here are the entree's
Spiral Sliced Ham
Split Pea Soup
Sloppy Joes
Red Beans & Rice (with sausage or chicken)
Grilled Hamburgers
Lasagna
Taco's
Pizza
Chicken & Dumplings
Ham & Potato Casserole
Chicken Pot Pie
Loaded Baked Potatoes
Smoked Ham
Spaghetti
Pork Chops & Rice
Barbeque Chicken
**Baked Hamburgers
Macaroni & Cheese

The baked hamburgers are an easy peasy recipe. I got this from my mom...maybe you could think of it as flat meatloaf. Take a couple of pounds of ground beef and press it into a Pyrex rectangular baking dish. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Then bake (could it get any easier?). I usually bake at 350 degrees for about 20 or so minutes. Then I remove it from the oven and spoon off the grease and put it back in the oven for 10 or 15 minutes. Then cut into squares and serve. Greg's favorite sides for this meal are mashed potatoes, country gravy & green beans. Any leftovers can be for lunch the next day or you can put the square burgers on buns, top with mustard & ketchup and eat that way. Katie is my expert gravy maker & Amy is my expert mashed potato chef. My girls are turning into excellent cooks!

Now for the slowing down part! One of our very favorite Christmas traditions is "No School December" & watching all our Christmas movies (I really like the no commercials). With our churchs choral program over...we can slow down. We are going to take time the rest of this month to bake some goodies, work on crafts, listen to music, read books, watch videos, play games, gift shop, and enjoy each other. We also have 3 sons with birthdays this month, James will be 26 and Andy & Rob will be 22. I love this time of year!

During the busy holidays take time to enjoy your family. Make some memories.



1 comment:

  1. I would love to know the recipe for ham and potato casserole. My mom used to make a ham and potato dish with english peas and a creamy sauce that reminds me of a pot pie. I am curious to know if yours is anything like hers.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to the farm ~ we are a blended family with 7 children (3 are married), 4 grandsons, 5 dogs, 3 rabbits, and 15 chickens living on 3 acres in Georgia. I love crafting, sewing, cooking & canning, recipes of all kinds, reading, playing with my little buddies, family time, travel, pinterest and most of all the Lord.