Happy Memorial Day! I love three day weekends! It seems that there is enough time to get all the work AND play accomplished! It has been a couple of busy weeks with all the kids' year end school activities. Add in the yard work that needs to be completed, and there have not been enough hours for my blogging hobby.
I awoke before the kids this morning, however, and was able to sit down and plan out a few new entries. I'm not sure what my blogging schedule will look like for the summer. I know that I'll keep menu planning and cooking because those tasks bring me joy. I'm just not sure how many of those recipes will be photographed and documented as those tasts sometimes frustrate me because they are not as perfect as I want them to look. At the very least, I will be compiling all my family favorite recipes in one place on the computer and hope to make blog posts as often as I can.
It's the last week of school, but our evening activities have pretty much slowed down for the school year. That means that some of my nightly themes can be adjusted for this week and will definitely change for the summer. The theme nights help with menu planning, so I hope to come up with a summer theme weekly menu once we get into the groove of our summer routine. I spent time today charting out the summer and our commitments, and it doesn't seem too bad. I have tried to build in quiet moments for the girls to "just be" at home. They're growing up so quickly, and I don't want them to feel like we're always running from one thing to the next. We seem to eat differently in the summer; I'm sure you do, too. We like more grill meals and more main dish salads/sandwiches and less oven one dish meals. I also have learned to rely on my crock pot to make meals while we spend the afternoon at the pool. I try to be more flexible in my planning, too, as opportunities for extras (sleepovers, BBQs, day trips, etc) seem to be pop up more often. The last thing I want is to be stressed out over what we'll have for dinner or what we'll pack for snacks/picnics.
It was a great week at the grocery to stock up on meat for the freezer, so I did! We have lots of ground beef and turkey, chicken, and sausages in the freezer. I made up patties ready for the grill, browned and seasoned several batches of ground beef, and made a triple batch of taco meat for the freezer. I love having these meal starters on hand. The littlest one and I also went strawberry picking this past week and added some strawberries to our frozen fruit inventory. It's more of a challenge to grocery shop when all 3 kids are home, so I'm grateful for our full freezer and have a long term menu plan to make use of what we have. Hopefully my weekly grocery store visits can just fill in our menu with some fresh items and great sale price items.
In addition to fresh fruit and salad, here's what we're having around our table this week:
MONDAY - grilled salmon, potato packets on the grill, Caesar Salad, Backyard S'mores
TUESDAY - Ham, fried potatoes, mixed veggies, peaches and raspberries (from freezer)
WEDNESDAY - Smoked Chicken Salad, beer bread
THURSDAY - Baked Potatoes with Ham, Broccoli, & Cheese, Salad, Chocolate Cupcakes (from freezer)
FRIDAY - Burrito Bowls, Chips & Salsa, Fresh Pineapple (only $1 this week @ Kroger!)
SATURDAY LUNCH - Hawaiian Pizza (use leftover ham and pineapple; make extra cheese pizza for freezer for lunches next week)
SATURDAY DINNER- Greek Pitas, Greek Salad, Blueberry Sundaes
SUNDAY BRUNCH - Egg Casserole, Cinnamon Rolls (from freezer)
SUNDAY DINNER - U-Pick Buffet
BREAKFAST CHOICES
Cereal/Toast
Yogurt/Granola
Waffles with Bananas and Nutella
Hard Boiled Eggs
Banana Bread/Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Butter (frozen individually)
Ham/Egg/Cheese Quesadillas (frozen individually)
SNACK CHOICES
Trail Mix, Snack Mix
Granola Bars
Frozen Gogurt
Fruit/Veggies with Ranch Dip
Cereal
Ritz or Triscuit Crackers with Peanut Butter or Cheese
What's on your menu for the week? Are you starting into your summer mode of cooking and menu planning?
Need some inspiration? Check out Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie.com and see what other bloggers are making for dinner around the country.
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