More on menu planning: lunch
Annie Deighnaugh
last year
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Annie Deighnaugh
last yearRelated Discussions
Menu planning help pls...Lunch
Comments (15)Glad to hear it went well. I love those kind of summer, salady meals! And I am a huge fan of anitpasta platters, where folks can pick and choose their own perfect little plates! As for lentils, like I said, I love lentil salad too and I always have to struggle getting the lentils just right--not too mushy, not to hard. I now special order French green lentil and also have tried the black beluga ones. They are both rounder and seem to be better for salads. But anyway, glad to hear the dinner went well. I knew it would! But I still love it when folks report back. What can I say, I am so busy and devoid of a social life I have to live vicariously through others, lol! So thanks for sharing the fun!...See MoreMenu Planning
Comments (15)I'm a very big menu planner. I'm a WOHM to 3 boys with 136 acre ranch with 12 horses to keep up with. 40+ hours of volunteering a week, every week, minimum. I literally plan everything. I plan for a month at a time and try to buy for as much of that at a time as I can, usually I can afford about 3 weeks of it, sometimes more. I shop every two weeks. We're in the boonies and I don't like to drive an hour to the major stores. I try to plan for one new recipe every week and at least one crock pot recipe every week, sometimes two. Love the Slow Cooker bags. My biggest goal is to stay below our grocery budget. I don't necessarily cook for the month, but do things to help me out for the month. I'll buy the family pack of ground beef and cook the whole thing. Then strain it, cool in and freeze it 2 cups at a time (about 1 lb) in freezer bags for taco's, sloppy joes, or cowboy beans. I'll slice my round steaks for my stroganoff and other dishes. I cook my italian sausage, slice it and store it in freezer bags in the right amount for my red beans and rice and spaghetti sauce. The amount of time it saves me is incredible. When you come in the door from work and have laundry and a house to clean, 4 hours of homework, dogs and horses to feed and still have dinner to cook it's nice to know you can throw a bag of precooked ground beef in the micro for 1 1/2 min , grate some cheese, chop tomatoes, onions, lettuce and cook some shells and you have homemade taco's. In less than 15 min. When I cut veggies for my roast (crockpot)I just keep on cutting. I set up 5 bags and 1 container. The container is for the morning and the bags go in the freezer. It only takes a couple extra mins to chop those veggies and saves a ton of time when running out the door in the morning. The kids also like knowing that they can look at the menu on the fridge in the morning and know what's for dinner that night or the rest of the week. Something to look forward to if their favorite food is coming up....See MoreLunch menu ideas
Comments (30)Local (and Lars) - I made small mushroom tarts from this recipe. this one by Michael Chiarello and they were excellent! I will definitely make them again. SueB, Love the pasta salad. I made it the night before (left some ingred out so they would not get soggy). I think if I were to do it in advance again, id make extra vinaigrette ... the pasta always soaks it up. Great dish. And i loved the fruit salad with cake croutons! Just the right degree of sinful. Not from this lunch, but thought id post it here...I had this dish at a restaurant recently and it was excellent. They used more blue cheese (just crumbled), cand ut the asparagus into bite size pieces. But, yum. CALIFORNIA ASPARAGUS WITH BLUE CHEESE AND PINE NUTS 15MINDURATION 10MINCOOK TIME 5MINPREP TIME 6 SERVINGSSERVINGS INGREDIENTS 1-1/2 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar 1-1/2 teaspoon finely chopped shallot salt as needed 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1-1/2 lb. California asparagus, trimmed 3 oz. firm blue cheese, chilled 3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted PREPARATION PREPARATION 1 To make vinaigrette, mix vinegar, shallot, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Whisk in oil; reserve. 2 Blanch asparagus in a frying pan large enough to hold asparagus in one layer. 3 Bring approximately 3 inches of water to a boil. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt. Add asparagus. Cook at a medium boil until fork tender, about 3 minutes, depending on thickness. Drain on paper towel; cool. 4 Recipe can be made ahead to this point. Refrigerate vinaigrette and cooled asparagus, tightly sealed, if serving more than 2 hours later. Return to room temperature before continuing. 5 To assemble, arrange asparagus on a platter; drizzle with vinaigrette. Roll spears to coat with vinaigrette. Shred cheese onto a piece of wax paper, using the small holes of a shredder. 6 Evenly sprinkle shredded cheese over asparagus; scatter pine nuts over cheese....See MoreFestive Floof! Christmas Plans/Menu!
Comments (45)I'm with Judi! I need a pre-hug because I am SOOO dreading the whole thing. Hubs is going out east to spend the holiday with his kid and grandkids. I am totally FINE with that, there's not really room for me in the house, and I don't want to take the risk of covid exposure for me and my 90 year old Dad. I don't usually enjoy long visits there anyway, it's a chaotic household so really best if we keep visits short and sweet. Hubs wants to spend a lot of time there, so he'll be happy and I'll be happy. I really can't be away from my Dad for a long, long time anyway, particularly far away. So I would really love and enjoy a quiet holiday ALONE. But on the downside, I will have to be around my Dad, who takes every opportunity to be miserable and remind everyone why they should be miserable, and make issues about things that aren't issues. He'll spend the whole time lamenting that we are "alone" on the holiday, because I guess I am just chopped liver. He'll revisit every death and estrangement and person who ever spent the holidays with us and isn't there. He'll claim he has no appetite and doesn't feel like eating whatever I make, complain that I made too much, and the only thing worse would be if I didn't do anything. He's clinically depressed and refuses any treatment for it. Which is fine, but he needs to make everyone around him miserable too. Oh, and he has a lovely invitation to spend Christmas with his godson, but insists that I have to come too. I don't want to go due to covid exposure and besides I don't even want to go, it's a long drive. They are lovely people but I would prefer seeing them at a time that is less pandemic complicated. But if my Dad wanted the whole Hallmark Christmas scene he could have it there. But he insists on me going, even though I really really don't want to. Frankly having him gone would give me some much needed rest, but he refuses to take that easy route. So now he's off in search of some public party and gathering at Christmas, Lord knows why he feels like he has to do that. I guess a little covid or flu risk is the way to go. We live in a very high transmission area. So I'm just dreading the whole affair because no matter what I do, it will be wrong/bad,/problematic. Hubs and I are having vegetarian lasagna for our Christmas dinner before he leaves. Not sure what else I will make. Probably just a salad and maybe some cranberry pistachio biscotti and tea if I can get the darn things made in time . . . Dad and I will be having cornish hens, sweet potatoes and wild rice pilaf, with an apple bundt cake for dessert. If I don't feel like fussing I might just make a small apple coffee cake in a square pan instead. I love my apple bundt cake but it takes five thinly sliced apples in layers so it's a lot of work. Or I might make cranberry cherry cobbler, that's always easy peasy but also impressive....See MoreAnnie Deighnaugh
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