Menu Plan Monday--April 13

Starting March 2nd, We're going to give this a shot. I used to be so good at planning meals and something happened--and then I found out by way of a food journal, my system doesn't tolerate MSG--so I'm making thing from scratch to avoid the nasty stuff!

And since we're moving soon, I also would like to need to empty out the abundance from my freezer and pantry. I'm going to try to GOING to spend less than $15 a week for my grocery budget in April and probably the first two weeks of May. WISH ME LUCK! LOL

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Update on the $15 food budget: Last week was awesome! However, it was looking pretty bare in the way of fresh veggies so I splurged a little Saturday. Plus, I went to Gordon Food Services with my mom and bought some cheese for cheap. $7.00 for a 2lb block of sharp cheddar and $9.50 for 5lbs (160 slices) of American. I had to make extra cheesy au gratin potatoes (serves 30) for Easter so I used a pound of the cheddar and about 10 American slices for that. The rest of the American I'll break up to fit in sandwich size Ziplocs and freeze it. The cheddar will appear on the menu plan!

I also bought a bunch of Polish sausage and brats that the meat dept. assured me was MSG free, but I got home, studied the ingredients and realized it said it had 2% MSG. I don't know the technicalities of eating that much. I don't know if I should even risk it. I opened two packages of the Polish to make for Easter before I realized, so I'm stuck with those. I can take the other two packs back. So that's $8 down the tube.

But I did find (no lies!) Chorizo with no MSG! That was $6 but will last awhile. We love to fry chorizo with our scrambled eggs and eat them on tortilla with salsa. Mmmm!!

So while I'm technically over budget starting this week off, I'm not upset because I think the cheese was a rocking deal and we needed makings for salads. The whole time I've been trying this $15 food budget, I've not even been listing breakfasts and lunches and it seems this week I've run out of options and had to spend a little bit more to get us through another couple of weeks.

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Monday--leftover tuna noodle casserole.

Tuesday--leftover Easter food, ham and extra cheesy au gratin potatoes (family gathering size recipe below)

Wednesday--leftover round steak with gravy and mashed potatoes.

Thursday--Grilled steak, potatoes, Brussels sprouts

Friday--ham and beans and cornbread from the freezer

Saturday--steak Quesadillas (leftover from Thursday), chips and salsa

Sunday--Chicken stir fry



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Michelle's Extra Cheesy Au Gratin Potatoes (Large recipe, could be used for Once a Month Cooking groups)

It was 10lbs of potatoes diced
8 cups of milk
4 sticks butter
1lb sharp cheddar
1/2 block velveeta
2 onions
1 cup of my homemade blue cheese dressing**
10 slices American cheese
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 350.

Dice potatoes and partially cook them in the milk, after the milk is hot add in the blue cheese** dressing. Grease a full-size food service foil pan (like this) I put the onions in my food processor and gave them a zap then sauteed them in a stick and a half of butter.

Put half of the potatoes and milk in. Chunk up half the Velveeta and disperse. Same with the butter. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Break the American slices in half and lay them over the top. Add in the rest of the potatoes and milk and repeat with the remaining Velveeta and butter, salt and pepper.

Bake for 45 minutes. Stir everything up. Bake for another 25 minutes. Take out and add shredded cheddar to top. Bake 30 more minutes.

This should feed 30-40 people.



**If you don't like blue cheese you don't have to use it, but I suggest it highly. My sister hates, hates, hates blue cheese but she loved the potatoes because there aren't chunks of blue cheese, they melt. But if you don't trust me...well then you suck. LOL


Homemade blue cheese

1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of 1/2 lemon squeezed in
salt and pepper to taste

Mix and refridgerate.

Menu Plan Monday--March 30

Starting March 2nd, We're going to give this a shot. I used to be so good at planning meals and something happened--and then I found out by way of a food journal, my system doesn't tolerate MSG--so I'm making thing from scratch to avoid the nasty stuff!

And since we're moving soon, I also would like to need to empty out the abundance from my freezer and pantry. I'm going to try to GOING to spend less than $15 a week for my grocery budget in April and probably the first two weeks of May. WISH ME LUCK! LOL

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Monday--Leftover (frozen) Chicken and Dumplings, biscuits

Tuesday--Leftover (frozen) Broccoli Cauliflower soup, grilled cheese sandwiches

Wednesday--Stuffed Peppers (Large--Once a Month Cooking-type Recipe), mashed potatoes, green beans

Thursday--Round Steak with Gravy, mashed potatoes, corn (See recipe below)

Friday--Grilled pork loin

Saturday--My belated lunch/dinner at mom's. :)

Sunday--Phil's day to grill. Most likely steaks from the quarter cow we bought.

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Dessert? Blueberry Crisp (with blueberries from last summer's picking!)

Snacks? Homemade Yogurt!


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Grocery list? Looks like I only need milk, bread, ice cream, butter and a yogurt starter.

Round Steak with Gravy

1 Round Steak cut in pieces (about the size of your palm)
1 stick butter
Salt & pepper

Melt butter in frying pan on low.
Add in round steak pieces. Salt and pepper to your liking.
Cover and cook on low for about 2.5 hours, flipping meat occasionally. If it looks dry, add a little bit of water.

Make either 2 packets of gravy (make sure it's MSG-free!) or mix your MSG-free beef soup base with water and a bit of flour to make your own gravy. Pour on top of round steak and cover, cook on low another hour.

Serve over noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.

Menu Plan Monday--March 9

Starting March 2nd, We're going to give this a shot. I used to be so good at planning meals and something happened.

And since we're moving soon, I also would like to need to empty out the abundance from my freezer and pantry. I'm going to try to GOING to spend less than $15 a week for my grocery budget in March (and possibly April.)

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Last week I was supposed to spend $15, I spent $30--we were out of toilet paper and something else. Oh well. This week, I told myself I'd try to spend $30 or less, I spent $50. I was out of stuff for Phil's lunches and breakfasts so--there goes my plan! I'm not going to complain though, I usually spend around $100. So at least we're half of normal. Hopefully next week I'll do better.

And. Because the power went out for 5 hours last night WHILE dinner was cooking, we had to eat out. A couple of the recipes from last week are getting moved to this week. We didn't eat at home Saturday, either, because my brother and sister-in-law invited us at the last minute to see Blue Man Group. The couple they were going to go with had to back out. I need to give a shout out to Cesar's on Clark in Chicago. KillerMargaritas.com If you know me, you know I HATE margaritas. At Cesar's? I had 3 frozen strawberry margaritas and could have had 3 more!

Monday--hoisin and honey pork (homemade hoisin sauce) with Crash Hot Potatoes.

Tuesday--Crockpot great northern beans and smoked sausage

Wednesday--Italian Beef (Portillo's recipe) from our freezer stash. If you're doing an MSG-free diet, make sure your packet of Italian dressing doesn't have MSG in the ingredients--or--even better, use this recipe to make your own Italian dressing mix.

Thursday--Easy Baked Manicotti

(Dessert with leftover Ricotta cheese also using up frozen blueberries that we picked over the summer--Blueberry Ricotta Squares.) OR Fried ricotta cheese balls.

Friday--Leftovers

Saturday--Beef Stroganoff--Make sure your bullion doesn't contain MSG. You can get organic bullion at some grocery stores and most health food stores.

Sunday--We're going to Grill something from the freezer, steaks probably.



Grocery list:

Egg noodles
Manacotti shells
Spaghetti Sauce
Eggs
Paper Towel
Sugar
Sour Cream
Mayo
Velveeta
Ricotta Cheese

The extras I bought?

Pistachios for Zane
Little Smokies for Zane
Hot dogs for Zane
Tortilla chips for Phil's lunch (to go with the Salsa I have)
Smoked Sausage (found out Aldi's carries MSG free!)
Butter
Economy sized yogurt
Cottage Cheese for Sunday

Zane doesn't like a lot of what we eat. This week it's the beans, manicotti, Italian beef, and Beef Stroganoff, so I had to have some choices for him. We don't force food issues. I make enough of what he likes to have leftovers (normally) and have hot dogs or Little Smokies or some other protien availave if he tries our and doesn't like it.