Dinners these days has got to be fast and easy. For this bi-weekly menu I’m using my crock-pot at least 3 times a week!

Mondays: Crock-Pot Roasted Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, Carrots and Onions, Broccoli

Tuesdays: Beef Vegetable Soup, Artisan Bread

Wednesdays: Chicken Nuggets, French Fries, Mixed Vegetables

Thursdays: Chicken Noodle Soup, Artisan Bread

Fridays: Nachos, Salad

Saturdays: Homemade Pizza, Salad

Sundays: Leftovers, “Fend for Yourself” Meal

This recipe makes one large tupperware cereal box full of granola, or about 10-12 cups. Here’s what you’ll need:

PEANUT BUTTER HONEY GRANOLA

1 cup honey

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter, (or any other nut butter)

½ cup oil, butter, or margarine

10-12 cups uncooked oats

Slowly heat up everything except the oats in a saucepan.

Meanwhile, measure out 10 cups of oats into an extra large mixing bowl. When the peanut butter, honey, butter and sugar is completely heated through, stir and pour the mixture into the bowl with the oats.

Stir until the oats are completely coated. If the granola looks too wet, add in a little more oats. Scoop the granola into large casserole dishes or rectangular pans and bake in the oven at 375 degrees until the top gets slightly brown. (Watch it carefully!) Stir once and bake again until the top gets slightly brown once more.

Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool. Once it is cool, the granola should be crunchy. I put my granola in one of these containers:

Mondays: Steak, Broccoli, Roasted Potatoes

Tuesdays: Chili, Corn Chips, Salad

Wednesdays: Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, Garlic Green Beans

Thursdays: Cheddar Cheese and Broccoli Soup, Artisan Bread

Fridays: Hamburgers, Fries

Saturdays: Homemade Pizza, Salad

Sundays: Leftovers

Hurrican “Sandy” is due to make landfall later today…I’m not really afraid of the storms themselves but we have lots of tall mature trees in our backyard that are close enough to fall on the house should they break…we are having homeschool in the basement like usual today and then we might be staying down there if the wind gets bad. I’m anticipating losing power so cooking meals should be interesting should that happen. I’m praying hard for the safety of all my family and friends!

We’ll eat this weekly menu for two weeks, and both Saturdays we’ll be out of town.

MONDAYS: Beans and Rice Burritos, Salad

TUESDAYS: Beef and Vegetable Stew, Artisan Bread, Salad

WEDNESDAYS: Beef Roast, Carrots, Cabbage, Potatoes, Artisan Bread

THURSDAYS: Cold-Killer Soup, Bread, Salad

FRIDAYS: Homemade Pizza, Salad

SUNDAYS: Leftovers

It’s time for me to revisit how I grocery shop! I was going to an average of 3 stores for shopping, and I’m tired of doing that. I’m looking to buy everything at one place to cut down on traveling and to conserve my energy. Unfortunately, I fear that buying everything at one store will mean a higher grocery bill. At this point and season in life, I’m willing to accept that and my husband approved a bump in our grocery budget to help. I buy a lot from Costco every two weeks, and these things are staples, so I may cut it down to one trip a month. I was also shopping at a Super-Walmart near me, but it is a small store and they often don’t have all the grocery items I need, therefore necessitating another trip to another grocery store.  So, no more. I’ve got to find a way to consolidate it all, since our weekends are very busy! So, over the next few grocery shopping cycles, I’ll be experimenting with shopping at different stores, trying to find the right one that has most of everything I need so I can cut down on using up all of my time and energy grocery shopping for our family of 7!

Mondays: Baked Chicken Legs, Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables

Tuesdays: “Cold Killer Soup”, Salad, Artisan Bread

Wednesdays: Chinese Green Beans, Fried Rice, Won-Tons

Thursdays: Taco Soup with Tortilla Chips, Salad

Fridays: Homemade Pizza, Salad

Saturdays: Bratwurst Sandwiches with Sauerkraut

Sundays: Leftovers, French Fries, Chicken Nuggets

Last week we got knocked out by our first cold of the season….time to put “Cold Killer Soup” back in the rotation! It’s regular name is Chicken Noodle Soup but I make sure to add 3 ingredients that help kill the colds. First I make sure I use homemade chicken stock. It’s not even worth it to make the soup if you don’t have the homemade stock on hand! Secondly, I put in lots and lots of chopped garlic, and lastly, chopped onions. The 1-2-3 punch seems to help us when we are under the weather! For vegetables I add carrots and celery or frozen mixed vegetables. I’m looking forward to the colder weather (but not the colds) so we can add more yummy soups to our menu!

I can’t believe it’s already September! I did keep to a menu throughout the summer, but now I make sure my dinner meals are foods I can get to the table easily since we are in a school/sports season.

Mondays: Egg rolls, fried rice, Chinese garlic green beans

Tuesdays: Steak-Um sub sandwiches, salad

Wednesdays: Homemade pizza, salad

Thursdays: Tostados (topped with beans, cheese, tomatoes, and olives), salad

Fridays: Chicken tortilla soup, tortilla chips, salad

Saturdays: Steak strip salad, 5 minute artisan bread

Here’s a great recipe for Chinese garlic green beans! The recipe calls for fresh green beans but I use frozen ones and it works just as well!

For these yummy doughnuts, I only used four ingredients!

Canned Refrigerated biscuits

Cooking oil

Cinnamon and Sugar, mixed

Form your doughnuts by poking the holes out of the middle. Fry the doughnuts in hot oil, then toss them in your cinnamon sugar mixture. Eat them at soon as they are cool! We also fried and ate the doughnut holes:)

Find a more detailed recipe here, or try the baked version found here.

Mondays: BBQ Chicken Legs, Potato Salad, Baked Beans, Corn

Tuesdays: Chicken Caesar salad, 5 minute artisan bread

Wednesdays: Pizza, Salad

Thursdays: Black Beans and Rice, Salad

Fridays: Hamburgers/Hotdogs, French Fries, Salad

Saturdays: Grilled Chicken Tenderloins, Roasted Potatoes and Peppers

Sundays: Fried Rice, leftovers

I’ve found out that 2 key ingredients for fried rice are cold refrigerated rice, and using a really hot wok. I use peanut oil in the wok, a tsb of Knorr chicken bouillon powder, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a splash of Yoshida’s stir fry sauce. I add onions, peas and carrots, cooked chicken, and scrambled egg. Lastly I add a little sesame oil for extra flavor. We all like it and there are barely any leftovers! Because it’s quick to make, it works great for us to eat this on Sunday when I don’t feel like cooking after church!

Photo credit

We have several busy weeks ahead…we’ll rotate through these simple dinners for the rest of June!

Chicken Lo Mein with Bok Choy and Rice

Mexican Rice with Ground Beef and Corn, Tortillas, Salad

Hot Dogs/Hamburgers, French Fries, Veggie

Beans and Rice, Salad, Tortilla Chips

BBQ, Cole Slaw, Baked Beans

Grilled Chicken/Steak over Salad, 5 minute-Artisan bread

Sandwiches, snack plate, carrots, popcorn

Homemade Pizza, Salad

We have dessert every Friday night. In the summer we love to alternate between ice cream sundaes or waffle cones, popsicles, and strawberry shortcake!

I saw this super simple recipe somewhere on the web and decided to make my own version. I love eggs and omelets and this recipe is easy, fast, and makes lots to share with the kids. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 carton egg whites

1/2 chopped onion

A handful of red, green, yellow peppers (whatever suits your taste)

A couple of handfuls of fresh spinach

2 muffin pans

spray oil like Pam

Directions: Spray some oil into your muffin pans, coating the bottoms and sides. Chop up your veggies and put however much you want in the bottom of each muffin tin.

(in goes the spinach, then the peppers and onions)

Once you’ve put in your veggies, get your egg whites and pour into each muffin cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are puffy and the egg is set. Take them out and marvel at how pretty the little omelets are!

You should be able to pop them right out. I set mine on a cooling rack before putting them in sandwich bags to store in the fridge.

I did freeze some and they were okay, but they will release some water when defrosting because of the peppers, onions and spinach. Once heated, they still tasted good. A serving is 2 muffins. It’s a good way to get your vegetables and protein in the morning without a load of added fat and calories.