Early Menu Plan – 7/23 to 8/1

My mother, MIL and nephew will be here tomorrow bringing my DD home. They will be here for a week visiting! Not only does this mean larger meals, but it also means vegetarian options. My MIL is a vegetarian but luckily is not too picky. So, here is my menu plan for the next week and a half so that I do not have to worry about it later!

Thursday - Meat Loaf, Au Gratin Potatoes, French Green Beans (hubby's fave!)

Friday - Taco Pie w/ Crescent Roll Crust (vegetarian)

Saturday - Couscous salad with baked pork chops or veggie meat option for MIL

Sunday - Country Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Corn, Country Gravy with vegetarian meat substitute for MIL (by DD's request!)

Monday – Pizza (either homemade or at hubby's pizzeria)

Tuesday - Spinach and Mushroom Manicotti (vegetarian)

Wednesday - Thai Chicken Fettuccine with green beans (chicken cooked on the side)

Thursday - Parmesan Cheese Risotto with Mushrooms, Shrimp (Mom loves it!) and Pork Chops (hubby won't eat seafood!) and meat substitute for MIL

Friday – Leftovers

Saturday - Cowboy Beans with Corn Bread

So, that's it for now. Breakfasts will consist of waffles, pancakes, muffins, cereal, grits or oatmeal. All of these options are available. One morning I will be making french toast I know. Lunches will consist of leftovers, or whatever I think of at the time. There are plenty of options in the house!

If you are looking for other great menus to check out, head over to orgjunkie for Menu Planning Monday!

MPM 11/3 - 11/9

I never got a chance to make my beans this weekend. Mostly because I realized I was out of beans and just never made it to the store. HOPEFULLY the bean making will happen sometime this week or next weekend. We'll see.... NOW, on to bigger and better things! LOL Menu Planning Monday over at Organizing Junkie has some great links to menus with fabulous recipes. Don't believe me? Go check it out!

Here is my menu for this week.... not very inspiring but at least fairly inexpensive and all from scratch!

Monday - Hamburger Gravy and Rice
Tuesday - Homemade Pizza!
Wednesday - Fajitas OR Pasta with red sauce and meatballs
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Baked Chicken with scalloped Potatoes and a veg
Saturday - Vegetable soup and grilled cheese
Sunday - Black Rice with Thai Chicken Curry

That's it, folks!

Beans and Rice, Rice and Beans

I love homemade bean soup and white beans with ham. I also love baked beans. But how many ways can you eat beans? Beans and rice, rice and beans.... it gets boring after a while, right? The cheapness of beans makes them very desirable as far as stretching your budget. However, coming up with new ideas has stretched my imagination.

I found this post from Biblical Womanhood that really made me think..... beans are so versatile. You just have to find new ways of utilizing them.

I will be making a huge pot of beans this weekend. Probably more than one. Red beans, black beans and kidney beans. Maybe even black eyed peas. Once they are cooked, I will portion them into zip locks in meal sized amounts and freeze them. Way cheaper and better than buying canned beans. Especially since I get the dried beans from WIC right now.

You can also add lentils or beans to a vegetable soup to add the protein that you need. Or, make bean burritos, add them to a Mexican casserole, make a bean soup, use them in place of almost any meat in a casserole dish and even just have them as a side dish. All of this in addition to the basic rice and beans.

Why not give it a try? Post any ideas for using beans here and I will give them a shot! I want to cut back on my meat by AT LEAST 25% over the next month or so. The cost of meat is making it prohibitively expensive to eat every night... especially as a main course!

I will post recipes or ideas as I try them and let you know how this bean menu is coming along!