Eventually, I’d like to separate out my sandwiches and salads into seasonal considerations as I get produce from the garden. Right now, I’ve got nothing, so there are no limits.

What are your lunch go-tos?

May 1st:

Garden Turkey Sandwich with Lemon Mayo
lemon peel | mayonnaise | bread | spinach | turkey breast | tomato

May 2nd:

Martha’s Favorite Tuna Salad Sandwich
tuna | celery | apple | light mayonnaise | basil | lemon juice | salt and pepper | sourdough bread

May 3rd:

Hum Yum (Hummus & Veggies on a Bagel)
chick peas | garlic | roasted red peppers | tahini | lemon | salt | bagels | Muenster cheese | veggies (cukes, tomato, sprouts)

May 4th:

Bacon, Turkey, Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato Sandwich
sourdough bread | mayonnaise | lettuce | cilantro | turkey meat | bacon | tomato | avocado | salt and pepper

May 5th:

Egg Salad Sandwich
eggs | celery | mayonnaise | Dijon mustard | scallion greens | ground pepper | bread

May 6th:

White Bean and Mozzarella Sandwich
cannellini beans | red bell pepper | balsamic vinegar | extra virgin olive oil | ciabatta bread | arugula | basil | mozzarella | salt and pepper

May 7th:

Greek Salad Pita Pocket
Romaine lettuce | Feta cheese | cucumbers | red peppers | green peppers | red onion | parsley | lemon juice | extra virgin olive oil | oregano | salt and pepper | pitas

May 8th:

Broiled Tomatoes with Farro Salad
salt | farro grain | tomatoes | extra virgin olive oil | garlic | pepper | lemon juice | feta | kalamata olives | thyme

May 9th:

Chickpea and Tuna Salad
chickpeas | yellow onion | red bell pepper | cilantro | olive oil | white wine vinegar | salt | ground black pepper | Ahi tuna steak

May 10th:

Gazpacho Pasta Salad with Tomato-Lime Dressing
tomato juice | olive oil | lime juice | salt | pepper | garlic | rotini pasta | tomato | cucumber | bell pepper | green onions | Anaheim chili | ripe olives | cilantro

May 11th:

Sweet Pear and Gorgonzola Salad
unsalted butter | pears | Dijon mustard | lemon juice | maple syrup | olive oil | salt and pepper | arugula | romaine | domestic blue cheese | pecans | red onion

May 12th:

Avocado, Cheddar, and Sprouts Pockets with Tangy Lime Mayo
sprouts | red onion | lime zest | lime juice | salt and pepper | mayonnaise | olive oil | avocados | pitas | white cheddar cheese

May 13th:

The Pilgrim
cream cheese | dried sage | pumpernickel bread | smoked/roast turkey breast | Fresh Cranberry Compote | lettuce leaves

Fresh Cranberry Compote
whole fresh cranberries | orange | pecans | sugar

May 14th:

Peanut Butter, Apple Butter, Banana Sandwich
bread | peanut butter | apple butter | bananas

We’ve planned our menus weekly for years and I’ve begun posting them (again). I’m gathering inspiration from I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday.

Aaron planned our menu this week while I worked on gardening projects for Mount Vernon’s push to be a Blue Zones Community.

Monday

My favorite part of this meal was probably the sauce on the chicken. It was incredibly tasty and the chicken itself was very juicy. Delicious.

Tuesday

Wednesday

This was pretty good, but it was probably my least favorite of all the meals we had this week.

Thursday

You can see that I was busy working (see the hint of “Blue Zones Project” on the notepad?), but I can always take a break for something this delicious. The fish was flaky and moist, the sauce was amazing. Aaron also made some rice with peas and dished up some mandarin oranges. The only way it could have been better is if it was served with a crisp white wine. But, you know, I was working.

Friday

Saturday

When I found this delicious meal (really, it was better than we expected – it was AMAZING), I had hurriedly said, “Aaron, check out this hearty pork recipe!” He looked at me puzzled. A few days later, I figured out the problem when he told the kids what he was making.

“Whatcha cooking?” the toddler boy asked.
“Party pork,” Aaron answered.

Oops.

Sunday

Talk With Me

Is there anything on this menu that you think is delicious? What are you planning on eating this next week? What do you think we should eat next week?

We’ve planned our menus weekly for years and I’ve begun posting them (again) on a weekly basis. I’m gathering inspiration from I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday.

Aaron planned our menu this week while I worked on gardening projects for Mount Vernon’s push to be a Blue Zones Community.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Talk To Me

Is there anything on this menu that you think is delicious? What are you planning on eating this next week? What do you think we should eat next week?

In 2010 I completed my first-ever event which also happened to be my first-ever Olympic triathlon.

 

In 2011, I completed my first-ever half-marathon.

This year, I knew I wanted to complete both an Olympic triathlon and a half-marathon, but also that I wanted to do more than just one each. So, I’ve planned and I’ve plotted and right now I’ve narrowed it down to about ten possible events. I’ve registered for four of those.

• May 5, 2012 – Prairie du Chien (half)
• May 19, 2012 - Marion Arts Festival (half)
• June 3, 2012 – Pigman Sprint Triathlon
• August 19, 2012 Pigman Olympic Triathlon

If you live in the Mount Vernon area, I am looking for training partners for the occasional long run and if you live anywhere else, I am looking for emotional support (giving and receiving).  I’m very excited for the upcoming events and hopeful that I can get PRs!

I hope that we all can meet our goals this year (regardless of if they are athletics-related or not). On a lighter note – I also hope that I never again have to do an athletic event with glasses. That stunk.

I love food. It’s no secret. I love making AND eating food. Even more, though, I love giving away food. (How many times can I say food in a single paragraph? Food, food, food, food, food, food.)

Back in 2009, we were struggling financially so I decided that I was going to make a bunch of homemade gifts for people for less money and more effort. The end result was documented on our website here. More important than just homemade gifts, though, I made FOOD gifts!

I compiled a list back then for the website with different recipes, ideas, and the ones that we tested out, but I am embarrassed to say that I’ve found even more at the Better Homes and Gardens website. I’ll surely be sharing a list with pictures after the holidays of which ones I picked out!

This year, I even asked my relatives WHICH food items they’d like in advance. I think I’m going to have to pass around a “menu” of items next year for them to “order” from. I always try to include a special non-food for each person, but I also like to shower them with different edible items! No one has complained yet, but if they did, I might just have to give them lumps of coal…

We’ve planned our menus weekly for years and I’ve begun posting them (again) on a weekly basis. I’m gathering inspiration from I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday.

This week, I allowed the boys to pick out all our meals. As such, we are heavily loading up with meat and taters. We’ll go back to a better balance soon.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Talk To Me

Is there anything on this menu that you think is delicious? What are you planning on eating this next week? What do you think we should eat next week?

I wrote the below for a website forum that I belong with and then thought, duh, I should post that on EmSun! So, with a few modifications, here’s what we had for Thanksgiving dinner:

This was my first Thanksgiving making all the food and it was awesome. I planned the meal at noon on Thanksgiving day, had everything on hand (which is why I picked what I did), started cooking at 1 pm and served dinner at 6:30 pm. No stress. I even took a couple hour-long breaks to play Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and/or cuddle with the kids and watch Thanksgiving programming!

The turkey turned out perfect – herby, delicious, and incredibly moist. Here’s what we did.

Psst. By the way I only followed a recipe where denoted below. Everything else I just made up on my own. Because I’m a rebel like that.

1. Herb-rubbed roasted turkey. I took a defrosted 16 pound turkey and cleaned it out. I took a bowl and poured in olive oil. I put in equal parts sage, thyme, rosemary, lemongrass, garlic powder, and parsley. I added in salt and pepper. The olive oil was chock full of herbs. Mixed it all up.

I pulled up the skin all over the turkey (drumsticks, breast, everywhere) and split it from the meat except in a couple attachment places. I then rubbed my olive oil herb mix all over the meat under the skin. We put the skin back down and held it in place with toothpicks where necessary. Then I rubbed the olive oil mix all over the top of the skin.

I placed the turkey breast down on a broiling pan. I did not stuff it or tent it or do anything else. I cooked it for three hours and fifteen minutes (which is when it got hot enough by meat thermometer) at 350 degrees or something.

2. Apple mashed potatoes. We had red potatoes with skins, peeled Idaho potatoes, and apples. Cooked ‘em. Added in butter, milk, sour cream, parsley, salt, and pepper.

3. Green bean casserole. Can of mushroom soup, green beans, milk, fried onions. Redneck Midwestern casserole which I LOVE.

4. Dinner rolls. I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens(I have 12th edition) cookbook and selected some normal white dinner rolls. I made them in a three-leaf clover pattern and then brushed half with egg and sage, thyme, and parsley. The other half got brushed in egg and mont jack cheese. The toppings were only on the last few minutes of cook time.

5. Blackberry-cherry-blueberry tart. This had my crumble crust and then frozen blackberries, frozen blueberries, and a can of cherry pie filling which I needed to use up. I added some lemon and mint. The crust was flour, butter, egg, and walnuts.

6. Turkey gravy. This was a packet that came with the turkey. I added milk, parsley, pepper, and flour. We needed more. It turned out kind of like a biscuit and gravy type gravy.

7. Frozen corn. I just reheated.

8. Apple-Acorn Squash. I slowly stovetop cooked peeled chunked acorn squash and apples in about an inch of water (the oven was busy). Eventually I smushed up the acorn squash and tossed both into a pan. Added some butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Mixed it all together into a gloppy delicious mess.

9. Pumpkin Pie. I instructed my brother to make a pumpkin pie. He used the pie crust recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Then he had a can of pumpkin and he added spices, half and half, and other goodies to make the filling. It was very good.

Our guests brought pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie with whipped cream (which is good because we had none).

Served nine and had leftovers!

Album with more photos on Facebook

Talk to Me

What did you have for Thanksgiving dinner?

I may be out of a beef source, currently, but I’ve still got the lamb hook-up from Susan Jutz of ZJ Farms. I sent Susan an e-mail a few months back, telling her I’d like to get some lamb in September-ish. She let me know a few days ago that my lamb was at the locker and would I be so nice as to give them a call?

Sure thing! I called them Tuesday, they took care of business, and I picked up the meat the next day – today.

I’m a happy camper.

I ended up with 51.82 pounds of wrapped goodies at about a cost of $4.83 per pound. Here’s the breakdown for those of you interested:

• 6 packages of lamb chops for a total of 9.79 lbs: 1.24 lbs, 1.93 lbs, 1.62 lbs, 1.7 lbs, 1.7 lbs, 1.6 lbs
• 4 packages of lamb shoulder steak for a total of 7.9 lbs: 2.08 lbs, 2.23 lbs, 2.03 lbs, 1.56 lbs
• 4 packages of lamb burger for a total of 7.01 lbs: 1.93 lbs, 1.87 lbs, 1.14 lbs, 2.07 lbs
• 3 packages of lamb soup bones for a total of 4.20 lbs: 1.54 lbs, 1.33 lbs, 1.33 lbs
• 2 packages of lamb leg for a total of 13.49 lbs: 7.18 lbs, 6.31 lbs
• 2 packages of lamb shanks for a total of 2.89 lbs: 1.48 lbs, 1.41 lbs
• 2 packages of lamb ribs for a total of 4.05 lbs: 2.09 lbs, 1.96 lbs
• 2 packages of lamb liver for a total of 1.44 lbs: 0.72 lbs, 0.72 lbs
• 1 package of lamb kidney for a total of 0.40 lbs: 0.40 lbs
• 1 package of lamb heart for a total of 0.39 lbs: 0.39 lbs
• 1 package of lamb tongue for a total of 0.26 lbs

Talk To Me

I’ve never actually cooked with lamb before although I have a great cookbook on Arabic food and Greek food handy. Do you have any favorite recipes with lamb?

Tomato Fritters (p. 124)

I had the most fun with the tomato fritters. I’ve never actually made fritters of any sort before, although I have made falafel. I gathered up tomatoes from our garden, mint from our yard, and the rest of the ingredients and had at it. I found the recipe extremely easy and very good. I had to remember to sprinkle salt on the top before eating as it was rather plain without it. Still very incredibly tasty.

I invited some friends over and we chowed down the fritters along with a delicious tuna-feta-mint-tomato spaghetti sauce over spaghetti noodles. I would definitely make this again.

Baked Fish with Tomato (p. 232) and Grape Juice Pudding (p. 313)

This is where I made a mistake and didn’t follow the directions on the grape pudding. I salvaged it, though, but pouring the grape juice (which didn’t set) into popsicle molds. They were a huge hit and the kids loved it. The fish was very moist and tender.

Disclaimer and Affiliate Links

• [Amazon] Food from Many Greek Kitchens
• [IndieBound] Food From Many Greek Kitchens

]]> http://emsun.org/food-health/review-of-food-from-many-greek-kitchens-by-tessa-kiros-andrews-mcmeel-publishing/feed/ 2 http://emsun.org/food-health/recipes/menu-plan-monday/menu-plan-monday-weekly-menu-sep-12-18/ http://emsun.org/food-health/recipes/menu-plan-monday/menu-plan-monday-weekly-menu-sep-12-18/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0000 Jen Rothmeyer http://emeraldsunshine.org/?p=3729

We’ve planned our menus weekly for years and I’ve begun posting them (again) on a weekly basis. I’m gathering inspiration from I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday.

Monday

Breakfast	Cereal of person’s choice with almond or cow’s milk.
Lunch	Choice of: salad or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on whole wheat with cottage cheese and homemade cinnamon applesauce.
Snack	Graham crackers and juice.
Dinner	Rishta bi Betingan (Pasta with Eggplants) with homemade tagliatelle pasta. The recipe comes from page 388 of The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. As a side, Soupa Avgolemono will also be served (egg and lemon soup). This recipe is from page 145 of the same cookbook.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Breakfast	Cranberry Orange Pancakes with Pure Maple Syrup. I just make the pancakes from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (I have the 12th Edition) and add in some orange cranberries that I bought in Wisconsin.
Lunch	Choice of: salad or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on whole wheat with cottage cheese and homemade applesauce.
Snack	Confetti Yogurt Pops
Dinner	Pepperoni and venison pizza made with the enriched pizza crust from Vegan Planet. Baked potato wedges + homemade ketchup for sides.

Friday

Breakfast	Cereal of person’s choice with almond or cow’s milk.
Lunch	Choice of: salad or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches on whole wheat with yogurt and pretzels.
Snack	Cottage cheese and fresh fruit.
Dinner	Colcannon (page 204 of Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook) with a side of parsnip and apple soup.

Saturday

Sunday

Talk To Me

Is there anything on this menu that you think is delicious? What are you planning on eating this next week? What do you think we should eat next week?