Saturday, June 9, 2012

Weekly Menu Plus

Welcome to June :-)  This past week was great - it was in the 70's with a great breeze and no humidity.  It made cooking dinners, making Strawberry Jam and baking easy.  The forecast is showing some hot humid days coming though so this weeks meals are going to be grill friendly, stove top friendly or crock-pot friendly!  I've mentioned in the past that our microwave was starting to die.  Sometimes it ran when it was off . . when you opened the door but I love my microwave so I made it work.  Well, I was eating up some corn for dinner one night and noticed that after cooking for 5 minutes it was still cold.  So I threw it for 2 more minutes and it was hot.  Then we tried to make popcorn later that night and it won't even turn on BOO!!!  Our microwave is also our oven hood so it is a little pricey . I think we are going to pick up an inexpensive counter top Microwave to get by with until we can save for a nice new, stainless steel hood/micro combo.  I'll loose counter space but I'll have my microwave.  Yes, I know there are people who think microwaves are bad but I'm not one of them! HA 

This weekend we have some busyness going on - on Saturday we are going to cross one item off of my (expired) 40x40 list - we are going to the Cereal Festival to eat Breakfast at the longest breakfast table :-)  I'm excited and am looking forward to just being able to say that I went!!  Then, my mother-in-law is hosting a big summer gathering for family so we are heading to her house for the rest of the day . . .or at least for a few hours.  We have quite a few things to get done this weekend; we also want to get back to making Sundays a relaxed day.  The kind that we grew up with - where all of the work is done by Saturday night so that you can get up, go to church, come home and do whatever you want for the day - watch TV, take a nap, work on a hobby, go for a family walk. So with that said, we may skip out on the party a little early to come home and finish up the last of our chores so we can enjoy Sunday.  Even on the Sunday's my husband has to work, we are going to aim for him to be home earlier enough in the day that he can still enjoy a day of "rest". 

Here's our menu:
Saturday:  Dinner at the in-laws (maybe).  I'm supposed to bring something but I don't know what yet.  I'm kinda floundering on it since I'm not sure if we will be there for dinner.  I may "cheat" and just buy some Amish Macaroni Salad from walmart so I can leave it there if we leave early :-) If we do, I'm sure we will grab a pizza on our way in to town.

Sunday: The plan is Hamburgers, potato salad, and chips with dip.  It is supposed to hit 90 with high humidity though so it is possible that we will get something out instead.

Monday: Brats, leftover salad, Baked Beans (I'm going to try my baked beans in the crock pot and see how they turn out), and a relish tray - pickles and olives.

Tuesday: Swedish Meatballs in the Crockpot (something new), with pasta, left over relish tray, left over sides from the beginning of the week

Wednesday: Breakfast Casserole (this is something new too - I love breakfast casseroles and this one is very different!) with a fruit salad

Thursday: Meatball Subs with Italian Pasta Salad

Friday: Chicken on the grill, corn on the cob and sweet potatoes (in the crock pot)

This is really a less than exciting menu but . .. when the summer heats up I am less than excited about cooking.  I really try to look ahead when planning - the simple truth is if the temps are going to hit those 90's with humidity, my husband and I agree that cooking in our house just isn't fun so then, I need to plan for eating out and not buy something we don't need!   I haven't even decided on cookies for the week yet . . .I'll do some sort of cookie bar so they will be done quickly!!