Today’s Homemaker

Well, I fully meant to figure out my menu plan by yesterday, but because of hecticity¹ I’ve had to go with Plan B (Plan B being today). I’ve recently found out that the Bloom grocery store is farther away than I thought. WAY on the other end of “down the street”. Plus, I discovered that it’s owned by Food Lion. I don’t have anything against Food Lion except for the quality of their meat and produce. So I’m not as excited. But I’m still going to try and find time to go there to use my coupons! Just can’t beat $10 off.

TUESDAY:
Breakfast: Egg and bacon croissants
Lunch: Tuna salad sandwiches, baby carrots, apples
Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce², french bread
Dessert: Chocolate chip sour cream cake³

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast: Croissant french toast⁴
Lunch: Macaroni and cheese⁵
Dinner: Soup beans and cornbread⁶

THURSDAY:
Breakfast: Whole wheat pancakes⁷
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches, baby carrots, apples
Dinner: Panko fried shrimp⁸, glazed carrots⁹, collard greens¹⁰

FRIDAY:
Breakfast: Cinnamon brown sugar oatmeal with raisins
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwiches, baby carrots, bananas¹¹
Dinner: Grilled teriyaki chicken¹², french fries¹³, sauteed mushrooms¹⁴

SATURDAY:
Breakfast: Blueberry raspberry honey-butter glazed scones¹⁵
Lunch: Tortilla pizzas
Dinner: French lentil soup, crusty bread
Cookie recipe¹⁶: I am debating between cream cheese sugar cookies or orange lace cookies or…well, I don’t have many ideas yet. Do you?

SUNDAY:
Breakfast: Cinnamon toast, banana
Lunch: We’ve got plans with friends for lunch with a cookie exchange afterward…fun!
Dinner: Something leftover and light…we will be most likely stuffed!

1. oooh…I think I’ve made up a new favorite word! It’s pronounced hec*TI*city…meaning general hecticness. Wait — can you define a word by another made up word? I’ll have to look it up. [↩]
2. I’m giving myself permission to be lazy, since it’s one of John’s late days, and this is easy to keep warm until he gets home. I like Ragu chunky garden style. And yes, I actually LIKE it. And so does my husband. And we got it on sale last week for $1 for the huge jar. It’s a winner all around. [↩]
3. We ended up making german chocolate cupcakes last week instead, so I’m going to try this again. [↩]
4. My Farm Fresh is having a sale on croissants this week, so I thought I’d try them. [↩]
5. Yep, the Kraft kind. I’m going to be lazy and unhealthy tomorrow afternoon. [↩]
6. You can’t beat the economy and taste of Jiffy cornbread mix, I tell you. It’s barely worth it to try. [↩]
7. I’m trying Heidi’s Grainy Day Pancake Mix…I’ll let you know how it goes. [↩]
8. If you’ve never tried Japanese bread crumbs for coating fried fish, you have GOT to do it. At least once. The results are light, airy, and delicious. [↩]
9. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again in case you missed it. I can’t really find a recipe that does it like I do. It’s really simple…just put carrots in a pot with enough water to cover, add brown sugar and cinnamon, and boil until the water is gone. Add a dollop of butter at the end for extra creaminess. [↩]
10. I have never had collard greens before, but they are in season right now in Virginia Beach. In fact, there are several farms around that will let you come snip your own. [↩]
11. Lunch is my kid-pleasing meal, if you can’t tell. [↩]
12. I’ll be using my George Foreman for this. The secret to juicy chicken is always, always this: do not overcook the meat. Bring it to 165 degrees and take it off. It will rise 5 degrees after that, and everyone will be happy. The best friend you ever had is a working meat thermometer. [↩]
13. Alton Brown’s show on french fries saved my homemade french-fried life. I couldn’t find a link to his recipe, but Emeril does a pretty good job, too. [↩]
14. My trick is in the way I slice them. Instead of slicing them into a bunch of skinny do-nothing pieces, I only cut them once, in half, down the middle. Brown a little (or a lot…) of butter in a medium-hot pan, toss the mushrooms in, and let them sit until nice and caramelized on one side. Scramble them around a bit until they have released their moisture and have become juicy-looking. Season with salt and pepper however you like it, and that’s it. [↩]
15. I can’t wait to try these! [↩]
16. for tomorrow’s cookie exchange [↩]