Meal Plan Monday.....August 17th Edition...Garden Explosion

I've been asked a couple of times, how do I meal plan?
When it's the height of the summer growing season and you have a garden with an abundant harvest, meal planning is pretty easy. You plan your menus around what is ripe in your garden. Once you have your vegetables set for the meal, then you go to your freezer/fridge and see what you have on hand for your protein(meat/beans/cheeses).

Here's my thought process.....
This week I have 2 kinds of Summer Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Salad Greens, Green Bell Peppers & a handfull of Purple String Beans.
I have Ground Beef in the freezer and leftover London Broil in the fridge.
I see that Shrimp & Chicken Breast is on sale at my local market.

Using these items and stockpile/pantry items here's what I'll plan on....

MONDAY-Tonight I'll be picking up some mushrooms(store) and I'll make Beef Stroganoff from the leftover London Broil(fridge) in the crockpot. Add rice instead of noodles(in pantry) and grill squash(garden) outside and Monday's meal is complete.
TUESDAY-Marinate Chicken Breast(store-on sale this week)in Italian Dressing(from stockpile)& grill outside, Salad with greens & cukes(garden), baked biscuits from tube(fridge)on grill too
WEDNESDAY-Squash & Bell Peppers(garden) stuffed with Seasoned Ground Beef(freezer)using onions & crushed tomatoes(stockpile), Kraft Mac&Cheese(stockpile)
THURSDAY-Shrimp(store-on sale)& Grits(stockpile)using bacon & butter(freezer), Stir-fried green beans(garden)with a bag of mixed veggies(freezer)
FRIDAY-Tacos(beef from freezer or leftover chicken as well as cheese from freezer, shells from stockpile & lettuce from garden) I may purchase REAL tomatoes from farm for this dish.
SATURDAY-Chicken Parmesan(using breaded chicken cutlets & mozzarella cheese from freezer, sauce from stockpile), whatever veggies we have fresh from the garden(probably more squash-sauteed or in fritters)
SUNDAY-Dinner out or Cook-Out with the family...To be determined


My shopping list for this week's meals consists of....chicken, mushrooms, shrimp and some fruit. I also need onions and those green beans I want to freeze so I need to get to the farm too. Since it's on sale, I'll buy double the shrimp & chicken I need and put half in the freezer for later meals. I'll buy the in season cheaper fruit and the type of mushrooms that are the least expensive. The only items I might stock up on at the local grocery store are Fruit Chillers($1 after sale & $1/1 coupon) & BC Fruit Snacks, since with coupons & $2.50 Catalina OYNO Coupon the store will be paying me $1.70 for every 4 boxes I take home.lol

Food Waste Report.....I had to dump a container of leftover cabbage & potatoes this past week. It had "turned" and had corned beef bits so I couldn't compost it....oh well.

Before I go, here is a great recipe for Summer Yellow Squash HERE. I promised to post this on my last week's Meal Plan Monday. I've linked it to there as well as on this post. I hope someone can try it and enjoy it.

Check out Organizing Junkie's Website Here to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week!


Sluggy

My Family's Favorite Summer Squash Recipe

So what do you cook for dinner when you have 10 pounds of Squash sitting on your kitchen table?

You get creative and come up with Squash Recipes of course!
We've had Squash deep fried slices, fritters, grilled & sauteed with onions so far. Next on the list is Summer Squash Casserole. This is a family favorite. If you have an abundance of squash and a family member who doesn't like squash, but they love cheese, this is the recipe to make to get them to eat their squash.

First you will need squash(about a lb., sliced into rounds-about 3cups worth) & 1 onion(any type-I just happened to have a red onion)

Then you need to gather these items....
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 cup Mayo
1 cup grated Cheese(I use various Cheddars)
Salt
Pepper
Bread Crumbs or Cracker Crumbs(optional)*not pictured*
Butter/Margarine(optional)*not pictured*

Put your squash slices and chopped onion in a sauce pan with a small amount of water. Boil until soft.(about 20-30 min.)
**You can do this step in a crockpot if you work and won't be home until right before dinner time. Just fill and turn on your crockpot in the morning on low. It should be ready to finish preparing when you are ready to start dinner.**

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Get out a casserole baking dish. A 2 quart dish or a brownie pan would work. I've also used a glass pie pan in a pinch. Glass or Corningware is best.


Crack your egg into the baking dish. Beat it a bit.

Add your Mayo.


Then the Sugar.
Then Pepper & Salt. I use about 1/4 teaspoon of each.
Stir.
Be Careful with the salt, as the Cheese has salt in it too. You can always add salt to taste when it's on your plate and not add any salt into the dish before baking.


Then grate your cheese and add 1/2 cup of it to the mixture and stir.


Add the squash/onion to the mixture.


Stir it up and it should look like this. Doesn't look very yummy yet.....just wait!


Take the rest of your grated cheese and spread it on top of the mixture.


If you like a cracker/breading crust crumble up some Ritz type crackers or spread some bread crumbs on top.
Dot with butter/margarine.
**Sometimes I put the cracker crumbs on top if I am feeling the need for more carbs. I never dot with butter/margarine however. The Ritz type crackers are buttery enough for me.


Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and browning on top. (Approximately 30 mins.)
And it should look like this.....
Without the big chunk taken out of course! I never get finished dishes pictures before the family attacks the food.lol

You can also double or triple this recipe, just use a bigger baking dish. I'll double it often and we have it as the main dish for a No Meat Meal. It is hardy and filling.
One of these days I'll get around to trying Zucchini in this Casserole too.

If you try this, let me know what you think and how it comes out.

Sluggy

How does Your Garden Grow?

HELP!
We are overrun with Veggies!!!


Ok, so this really isn't a BAD problem, is it?lol
This is what hubby & I picked on Sunday. If this heat keeps up, we'll have to pick again in two days.

We planted 2 types of Summer Squash this year-the Straightneck and the Crooked Neck. I figured, since some years we can't grow ONE SINGLE summer squash, I'd cover all the bases and plant both types and hope one of them thrives.
Well, boy!....they both survived and flourished....and then some!!lolol

We only put in 2 zuke plants this year because, usually we plant 6 plants and are overrun with zucchinis, picking 10-15 zukes every week for 6 weeks or so. I figured 2 plants would cut down the zuke harvest by 2/3rds.
So of course, we plant 2 plants and we just last week harvested our first zuke. Sunday we picked 2 more and I think there is one single zuke left on a plant and no more flowers forming. 4 zukes total this season=2 zukes per plant. Did I buy the underachiever zucchini plants this year or what?LOL

The salad greens are still going strong, though I suspect the heat predicted for this week will do them in finally before the week is out. Then I can plow them under and reseed there with greens and spinach for a fall crop.

I need to get out to the garden soon and cut some more greens and take some of this bounty up to the people I have promised the overflow to.

What have you picked from your garden this past weekend or today?

Sluggy

The Summer of Peace & Quiet is Over

Yes, it's true.
The summer of '09 is over.....well, at least MY Summer is over.

Yesterday was the last day of Band Camp for #2 son. 2 Weeks of peace & quiet while he was at Band Camp has come to an end.
And tomorrow.......**sigh**.....tomorrow #1 son & daughter return from their jobs at the Camp on Lake Erie.

And the house will be filled with THREE TEENAGERS again.
And 3 dogs.
And hubby & I.

So I am spending today trying to get all the rest of the stockpile moved into the new organizational schematic out in the garage and all the new acquisitions from Acme-MANIA posted about HERE incorporated into said Stockpile.

I just sent #2 son's friend home with 2 shopping bags loaded down with Powerade and Vitamin Water since we have so much I know it won't all get used while it's still tasty.

I have also started a pile of duplicates to give to the Food Bank. Moving stuff around has uncovered more than I thought I had out there so some of it will be leaving here & spread some Food Love to those who can use it in my town.

In other news....

I just found a wonderful photo online. My daughter does NOT enjoy having her picture taken. I don't know how she snuck into this family of photo hogs!lol

Last year when she was in Counselor Training at Camp, the camp directors instituted an online Photo Album. The camp has someone wandering around every day taking candid photos of the kids at camp that week. The parents of the kids can go online and view these photos every day. Now, they take a bazillion photos a day for this online album. How many photos of my daughter do you think they took in 3 WEEKS at camp?

Exactly TWO.

She was very good at avoiding the photographer.
And she is very good at avoiding them again this year while she is working there.

But I found her Facebook page and she has NOT been able to avoid the photographer totally this year!
Daughter posted a couple of photos on her page.
And I saved those photos.
Here is one....


Daughter is second from the right in the black shorts.
And she has this STRANGE THING on her face!
No, wait!
I know what that is......
it's....it's....
called......
a SMILE!!

I almost didn't recognize it, as Daughter hasn't worn one in a very VERY long time!

Ok, so I admit it.
I do miss them all.
But if you say I said that, I'll deny it.
Especially after about 2 days home, when they start to get on my Last Nerve again.....
Cause that's how long it will take for them to wear out their welcome home.
Two days...tops!

Back to the garage....land of Cereal and Pop-Tarts.
Have I mentioned you really CAN have TOO MANY POP-TARTS!?!?

So what is everyone else doing this weekend?


Sluggy

The Mother of All Shopping Trips....in the last few Months at least

I got wind a couple of weeks ago, of a great Shopportunity coming up at the Acme chain of Grocery Stores.

This was a joint Unilever/General Mills Promotional deal that ran for 2 weeks at the SuperValu owned chains of grocery stores(Acme, Albertson's, etc.), from Aug.2-Aug. 13th. When you bought $30 in select Unilever &/or General Mills items, you received $15 in Catalina Coupons at the register. That $30 was based on REGULAR SHELF PRICE. Many of the items that qualified during the 1st week of the Promotion were ON SALE. Plus, many coupons were floating around both in the Sunday inserts & online printables to pair with the sale prices and the Catalina rewards.

I was able to scoot down to the "Land of Acmes" outside of Philly for 2 days during the 1st week of the sale.
You can check out my post HERE with the details of the Rewards for the Promotion and a list of what I bought the 1st day I shopped the sale.

I finally got 'most' of the food I bought(except for the refrigerated products)onto my dining room table(note-table with BOTH leaves in it!) and took a couple of pictures before it collapsed into a heap from the weight of all that stuff!lol
Here are 3 photos.

Pictured is all the food I bought--except for....
4x 12-packs of Snapple Tea
8x 1/2 Gallons of Milk
4x 4-packs of Yogurt
2 lbs. of grapes
1 loaf of bread
1 single serve cup of Ben & Jerry's(that never made it home!lol)
2x Milkbones boxes
1x Chex Mix
4 bags of Lay's Chips
2 Bags of Bugles


Here are 2 close-ups of everything from the 1st photo.



And here is a photo of all the Toiletries/Cleaning Supplies I got. Everything is here except for 3 large Dove Shampoos that I had already taken upstairs.


Here's the list of everything I bought.

8 BC Cake Mix
1 BC Warm Delights Snack Cake
15 boxes Nutri-Grain Bars
2 Nature Valley Nut Clusters
30 boxes Pop-Tarts
8 BC Brownie Mix
7 BC Frosting
32 Skippy Peanut Butter
19 Assorted GM Cereals(HN CHeerios, Kix, Honey Kix, Cookie Crisp, Cinnamon Toast Crunch)
4 boxes Lipton Tea
4 BC Cookie Mix
9 Wishbone Dressing
10 Hellman's Mayo
10 Lipton Dry Soup Mix
2 boxes of Chex Mix Bars
1 box of Fiber One Cereal Bars
4 boxes of Bisquick Mix
3 Chicken Helper
2 Macaroni Grill Dinner Kits
6 Ragu Pasta Sauces
5 Chex Mix
4 Bugles Snacks
1 Sobe Drink Bottle
2 6-pack of Soda
4 Cases of Snapple Tea
8 1/2 Gallons of Over the Moon Milk
4 4-packs of Yogurt
2 lbs. of grape
1 loaf of bread
1 single serve cup of Ben & Jerry's
2 boxes of Milkbones
12 Q-Tips
2 Suave Body Wash
3 Degree Deodorant
2 Degree Body Mist
4 Vaseline Lotion
10 Dove Ultimate Deodorant
2 Dove Body Mist
2 Degree Men's Deodorant
16 All Laundry Detergent
8 Dove Shampoo(large size)

That's 271 Items in 10 hours of shopping.
That's 11 Transactions that contained 26 orders of $30 or more.
The first order(a triple order) cost me OOP $58.81.
The total for all orders after that was $13.24OOP.
A Total OOP of $72.05 including tax for everything.

I earned $15 in Catalinas for each of the 26 $30 orders. 26x$15=$390.
I also earned an additional $12 in Cats for 4 of those orders(double dipping or overlapping deals). 4x$12=$48
And for every 2 Skippy Natural PBs purchased I received a $1 Cat. 32 jars divided by 2=16x$1=$16.
TOTAL Catalinas earned $454.

I spent $330 Cats over the course of the trips(most of them on items that were NOT part of the Promo like the Pop-Tarts, Milk, Nutri-Grain Bar, etc), so I have $124 Cats left to spend when I go back to Acme next week.
(Well I WILL have that much once I get the $15 from Catalina Marketing that didn't print due to an item not being programmed into the computer for this sale AND the $45 in Cats that were STOLEN from me by the Customer Service Person in the Horsham PA store.)

With Coupons and Catalinas spent I SAVED a Total of $942.86.
The Value of everything I purchased comes to....
$1014.91.
A savings of 93%.

Just imagine how much I could have carted home if I didn't live 2 hours away and I had a full week down there to hit the stores?
I would need to buy a second home to hold it all.lol

This haul should keep the kids in Junk Food around here at least through the end of the year and still leave me plenty to send to #1 son at college in care packages.

Let me just state for the record that YES!....there is such a thing as TOO MANY POP-TARTS!

Sluggy