This week's menu

Firmly into summer, are you surprised to see bbq and salads? Frankly, the only reason we're not doing it more is because of my wonky work schedule. When I'm done with night shifts, (I think next week should be the end) I'm going to be relying heavily on the grill to avoid heating up the house with the darn oven. Good thing I've got a trusty little toaster oven that can get most jobs done just fine.

Monday- Grilled deer sausage, beans, broccoli (per hubs request)
Tuesday- Mini Chicken Pot Pies
Wednesday- Artichoke and Chickpea Salads
Thursday- Chris has dinner with family but I'm working late, so leftovers!
Friday- Fish baked with olives and lemon with glazed carrots

Patriotic dipped strawberries

July 4th is not complete without patriotic food. America likes to celebrate with food and explosives. No surprise there.

This year is no exception. I've seen this idea for Red White and Blue Strawberries on Pinterest before, and it's really easy. The hardest part is the prep. If everything is prepped right, the process goes pretty smooth.

Patriotic Dipped Strawberries

Step 1: Wash the strawberries and lay them out to dry.

Step 2: Create an assembly line:
-Put a pot of water on the stove to simmer and place a bowl over it. Add in white chocolate chips so they melt while you prepare the other equipment. (Double-check to make sure the GF status. Some may be manufactured on shared gluteny lines.)
-Prepare a cutting board or other portable flat surface by placing a sheet of waxed paper on it.
-Fill a bowl with blue sugar. Make your own by adding blue food coloring to sugar and shaking in a jar or plastic bag.

Step 3: Dip. Dip.
-Dip the dried strawberries into the chocolate. If they're a little damp, dry with a paper towel before dipping or the chocolate won't stick. Leave a little red showing at the top.
-Dip the end of the strawberry into the sugar to make a blue "stripe."
-Lay on the waxed paper to set.
-Repeat.

Step 4: Place the cutting board/wax paper in the refrigerator to let the chocolate harden, and serve!

Step 5: Optional- Take advantage of the fact that you have melted chocolate and dip anything else you can find. Other fruit, GF pretzels, etc.  No sense in wasting it!

While you celebrate today, eating your patriotic strawberries and trying not to get sunburned, remember, always:

This week's menu

More night shift days this week, although not quite as late. Good thing, too, because I'm not used to that. Makes planning dinner really hard, and last week we had to forego a few meals in favor of sandwiches [and a rotisserie chicken with instant mashed potatoes] because I ran out of time. What-- I put avocado on the sandwiches so they're gourmet. Lunchmeat saves the day a lot around here. The rotisserie chicken was just a genius random idea.

This week focuses on meals that are a little more leftover-friendly, because I learned that reheated shrimp stir fry is a little funky. Ya herrd?

Monday- Meatball Stroganoff with peas
Tuesday- Crock pot BBQ chicken with zucchini salad
Wednesday- Vegetable quinoa soup
Thursday- Turkey meatloaf with cheesy zucchini rice
Friday- Fish baked with olives and lemon with glazed carrots


Also it's so hot lately that I don't want to cook or eat much, so honestly I've been happy some nights with a popsicle or some watermelon. Watermelon is surprisingly filling. For like an hour.
Here's to enjoying this hot, muggy summer weekend. My neighbor gave me some aloe vera babies that I'm hoping to plant them in a place where they'll thrive. I think I already killed the Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow she gave me. Bummer.

Sloppy Joes

The thing about sloppy joes is that they're super easy and are a great way to use up ground beef, even leftover ground beef or burgers. I grew up eating Mamwich out of a can that my mom would doctor up with a few extras. These taste a lot like I remember. Nostalgia plays a big factor in these!

Sweet and tangy and meaty and on a sandwich. What more could you want?

Sloppy Joes
1 pound ground beef
1/2 chopped onion
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. water
2 tsp worchestershire sauce
2 tsp mustard
1/2 c. bbq sauce
1/4 c pickle relish

Cook the beef and onions in a large saucepan over medium heat until the meat is cooked and no longer pink. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until the consistency is still sloppy but not soupy.

 Serve on GF bread (I like Udi's) or buns with sliced pickles. Cheese is optional, and this is one of the rare occasions that I choose not to add it.

This week's menu

This week I'm working evenings M-W and my regular schedule R-F. I've never worked evenings before so I'm not sure how this dinner thing is going to work.

I guess instead of following the usual process of making dinner and packing lunch leftovers, I'll switch to making lunch and packing dinner leftovers.

I'll be repeating that schedule for a couple of weeks, so I hope it works!

Mon- Sloppy Joes + green beans
Tuesday- Shrimp stir fry
Wednesday- Chicken tortilla soup
Thursday- Turkey meatloaf + cheesy zucchini rice
Friday- Fish baked with olives and lemon + glazed carrots

This week's menu

Sometimes everything hits at once and you just can't bring yourself to plan a menu or care about food.

These past couple of weeks have consisted of lots of eating out, chicken soup, casseroles from the sweet neighbor, cereal for dinner, or (in my case) cheese and fruit for dinner, and lunches purchased from the cafeteria at work.

However, hubs actually asked me the other day when I was going to start feeding him home-cooked meals again. I suppose things are getting back to normal and it would be the right thing to do. Not to mention much friendlier on our bellies, waistlines, and wallets.

So here we have it. Still feeling uninspired, so a wide text message net came back with some great suggestions:

Monday- Pork Chops + rice and green beans
Tuesday- Sauteed balsamic veggies with goat cheese
Wednesday- Grilled sausage with beans and broccoli
Thursday- Baked chicken with veggie mac and cheese
Friday- Artisan Bistro Miso glazed salmon


Notes:
Monday- Converted to crock pot. Extra sauce.
Tuesday- Submitted by Suzy. Fulfills our one vegetarian meal per week quota
Wednesday- Requested by hubs
Thursday- Shout out to chicken bought already seasoned at the store
Friday- Mom found these in the store and picked one up for us to try!

Next week I already have a bunch of suggestions from Ash, who texted me after I had the menu done. So I don't get a text message asking why meatball stroganoff, tacos, or chow mein is not on the menu--- YET.

This week's menu

Monday- Spaghetti and salads
Tuesday- Vegetable soup and cornbread
Wednesday- Pork chops and green beans with baked beans
Thursday- Shrimp + grits with glazed carrots
Friday- BBQ sandwiches