Meal Planning: Jan. 2 - Jan. 11

I was in the process of switching my grocery shopping day from Thursday to Monday this past week, which explains why the weekly menu seems a bit longer than usual. When you are offered a chance to learn to drive (a horse and cart), you don't pass it up, but it did require some tweaking of the schedule.

Thursday

Green Chili chicken soup
     - Well, that's what I called it for the menu. Really, it should have been called leftover and clean out the freezer soup. I threw in the rest of the green chili-chicken tamale filling, the rest of the chicken stock from the tamales, 2 quarts of turkey stock from the freezer (where I have gallons that we made with the three Thanksgiving turkeys), some frozen black beans, some frozen corn, an onion, and some small pasta from the pantry. It was good; we will never have it again.
Homemade corn tortillas
     - I think I have finally become proficient at making these. No swearing was involved.

Friday

Coconut beef curry
     - A family staple. It was particularly good with the sirloin from our side of beef that my brother raised.
Jasmine Rice
Mini Jiaozi
     -Aldi called them pot stickers, buy my crew will eat any kind of dumplings put in front of them.

Saturday

Meatballs with garlic and mint
     - I decided to get out my Silk Road cookbook because I knew it had lamb recipes and I also have a bit of lamb in the freezer. These were good.
Saffron rice
     - I love the fact I used saffron that I bought in Urumiqi, which also happens to be on the Silk Road. I'm running very low on it and won't have it for much longer.
Yogurt with garlic and mint

Sunday

Sunchoke hash
     - I've been growing sunchokes in the garden for two years, but this is the first time we have dug up any tubers from them. Want to see what they look like after the first layer of mud is washed of?

They are very knobbly, and J. thought they looked rather alien.

But back to the hash. I chose this meal because Christmas, while rather modest, still did a number on the checkbook, and I've been looking for meals that are frugal. So with the free food from the garden, we chopped up a bunch of leftovers from the refrigerator. It was good, but once again, we'll never have it exactly this way again.
Garlic bread
     - Store bought

Monday
(We're finally going to have a Hanukkah celebration)

Jelly donuts
Latkes

Tuesday

Stir-fried chicken with lemon grass and chilies
     - When I was at a store buying tamale supplies, I noticed they also had lemongrass, which is difficult to find around here. With lemongrass I can make this yummy Vietnamese dish.
Jasmine rice
Cucumber salad
     - Also a Vietnamese favorite

Wednesday

Sloppy Joes
     - In the slow cooker
Cooked carrots

Thursday

Beef and cabbage turnovers
     - My children love these, and when I'm feeling up to it, usually make the biscuits that from the turnovers from scratch. I just have a feeling I won't feel up to it, so am making it easy on myself and buying biscuits in a can. My children will be thrilled as they are fascinated by these, but I always feel as though they are not quite actual food.
Salad

Friday

Spaghetti pie
     - A new recipe for us. It sounds a bit like a spaghetti omelet, but with more tomatoes.
Garlic bread

Saturday

Chicken tagine with apricots and olives
     - Last time I was at the store, dried apricots were really on sale, so I bought some. Now I can make this chicken dish with them.
Couscous
     - I try to always have couscous in the pantry

Sunday

Greens, beans, and fried bread
     - Another new dish for us. It is yet another variation on soupy beans with wilted greens. This time I'll use spinach and white beans and make some French bread earlier in the day to turn into the croutons which go in it.