Meal Planning - Nov. 21 - 30, 2020

I was able to eek two more meals out of the kitchen and pantry before having to go to the store and do actually grocery shopping. The good news is that my freezer now has enough room (I hope) for the side of beef I'll be picking up on Saturday. Shopping was also kind of important since there is that major food holiday happening on Thursday. My biggest problem with a holiday requiring much cooking is that every seems to think they should also eat other meals during the week and not just the big one. I find it a little challenging to plan meals that are A) not expensive and B) easy enough that they can be fixed while making all the other parts of the big meal. Figuring out all those other meals always feels more like an accomplishment than planning the big meal, which is usually pretty much set. 

Saturday, Nov. 21

Pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese
     We love this dish. I had penne in the pantry and sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese in the freezer
Salad
French bread
     From scratch

Sunday, Nov. 22

Chili 
     I had frozen ground beef and two kinds of beans in the freezer. We kind of make our own chili up these days, so it's never quite the same two times in a row.
Biscuits
     From scratch

Monday, Nov. 23

Chicken gyros on pita bread
     Sadly, I'm now out of chicken in the freezer. I hate paying non-sale prices for chicken, but sometimes you just have to do it.
Cucumbers and tomatoes
Garlic-dill yogurt sauce
Rice

Tuesday, Nov. 24

Garlic broccoli penne
     Today was Day 1 of Thanksgiving dinner prep. Today was cranberry-orange relish

and dinner rolls

Don't worry, there's more than this... I made 3 dozen

The garlic broccoli penne is a family favorite which goes together in the time it takes to heat a large pot of water.
Garlic bread

Wednesday, Nov. 25

Chicken mole
     This is made in the crock pot, so it is the perfect dish for a day spent making pies... though in truth it will be W. making the pies and not me.
Refried beans
     These I cooked today and will mash and reheat tomorrow at dinner time.
Rice
Guacamole and chips
     Since everyone (but P.) will be here by this time, and because I found avocados on a really good sale, we'll add in a fun item for dinner.

Thursday, Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving)

Turkey (2)
     One will be cooked the day before and another will be cooked in the afternoon before we eat. I use a turkey roaster, so it only takes a couple of hours. The reason for two turkeys even though we will only be 13 at the table is that we are firm believers in turkey sandwiches with cranberry-orange relish the next day. The extra turkey is to be sure we have enough leftovers.
Stuffing
     From scratch
Creamed onions
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
     If I can, I'll make this the day before.
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Rolls
     Done!
Cranberry-orange relish
     Done!
Cranberry sauce
     From a can. I was going to make my own, but decided I'd rather use the last of the fresh cranberries for cranberry bread.
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Pecan pie
Cranberry pie

Friday, Nov. 27

Ham
     From the freezer. It was helpful to get it out to make room for the beef
Sweet potatoes
Applesauce
     Some that I canned earlier in the fall

Saturday, Nov. 28

Turkey soup
     I'll be cooking the turkey bones down since Friday in order to make turkey stock which I'll can. But, it also makes sense to use a little of it to make soup for dinner.
French bread

Sunday, Nov. 29

Sweet and sour meatballs
     This is an easy meal which uses frozen meatballs. Because J. and I will be doing a Q&A this afternoon for the documentary, it made sense to plan something that didn't require a lot of work.
Egg noodles
Edamame

Monday, Nov. 30

Split pea soup
     Back to regular life, I'm going to make it easy on myself and use that ham bone from earlier to make soup
Biscuits

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