August Menu

We just got back from an 8 day vacation. You know what that means; scramble to get organized!!! I don't have anything insightful to share, just my menu. PS: I get people who comment to me in person about my blog, but I'd love to hear from those whom I don't know personally!! I hope you've found your niche in menu planning, please share you success stories with me!!

In case you're new to my blog, you can find my master plan here. I'll always tell you if I'm using a new recipe, all others are tried and true :)

August (New)
Chinese Lemon Chicken (crock pot)
Maple Dijon Chicken with Sweet Potatoes (crock pot)
Grilled Chicken Salad with Feta and Blueberries
Beef with Snow peas



Turkey Burgers, sweet potato fries, raw veggies
Country Pork Ribs, cornbread, salad
Mexican Stuffed Shells
Tortellini Pasta Salad (I omit tomatoes, add red pepper and spinach)
Chicken Caesar Sandwiches (crock pot)
Cheeseburger Salads
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
Honey Butter Pork
Meatball Sandwiches (crock pot)(I use ground turkey which is leaner so I use less breadcrumbs otherwise it would be really dry. This is also a huge recipe as-is, so either cut in half or freeze some meatballs for later. Bake for 6 min @ 375 on a cookie sheet, turn once then bake an additional 6 min. Add meatballs to a crockpot with jarred spaghetti sauce and simmer on low for a few hours). Serve on crusty rolls with cheese, black olives, red onions or whatever else you like)
Broiled Fish and Stuffed Zucchini
Artichoke Lasagna (I found that a pasta casserole is easier)
Pot Roast (crock pot)
French Dip (or leftover pot roast)
Breakfast for dinner
Thai Coconut Curry Noodles
Sweet Pork salads (crock pot)
Grilled Pizza
Ham and mashed potatoes (crock pot)(put your ham steak in the crock pot with a can of Dr Pepper and a small can of pineapple and cook on low for several hours)
Stir fry

...and the deed is done! Whoa, that was a rough one for me!!

Stuffed Pistolettes

Just to warn you, this is only "kinda" a recipe. The measurements don't matter TOO much. It just depends on what you like.

First, take some yummy kaiser rolls, cut the tops off (save 'em!) and hollow out the inside with a fork.



Then brown some lean ground turkey (I use the 16 oz Jenni-O pkg) with about 1/2 a md chopped onion. Add some cajun seasoning and some Velveeta cheese. I use about 1/2 a small block.

 Throw in some steamed broccoli, about 1 large head.

 Spoon into your buns...

Butter the tops and sprinkle with garlic powder.
Bake at 350 for 10 min. YUM!!! This is a family favorite!!

July menu and noteworthy sales

July is finally OUR month to travel. I feel like everyone but us has gone on vacation this summer!! But since we will be traveling I am keeping my menu very simple and will be focusing most of my big shopping trip on restocking my shelves and grabbing snacks for a long road trip. All of my menu items have been posted before, so feel free to look back at old menus for inspiration and links.

I do want to give you a quick review of the Peach Whiskey Barbeque Chicken. It was absolutley delish! The sauce was to die for and I wish I would have taken the advice to make mashed potatoes as a side so I could use more of the sauce. I did alter the recipe a bit; I used about half of the whiskey and about 2/3 of the peach preserves and added a bit more BBQ sauce.

Pesto Wraps
Crockpot Cordon Bleu
Artichoke Lasagna
Stuffed Pistolettes
Chinese Chicken salad and crab rangoons
Pork Sandwiches with spicy cilantro slaw
Funeral Potato casserole
Fajitas
Peach Whiskey BBQ Chicken
Grilled Pizzas
Rosemary Lemon Pork
Hawaiian Haystacks
Turkey Burgers
Round Steak in Mushroom Sauce
Chicken Salad Sandwiches

NOTEWORTHY SALES (AZ) For additional sales/coupon match ups check out www.thecentsableshoppin.com


Albertsons
Milk 1.57
Bulls Eye BBQ Sauce 1.00
KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce 2.00 (Sunday coupon)
Nestle Novelties, Dreyers Fruit Bars or Ice Cream 1.74 wyb 4
Cool Whip 1.00

Safeway
Goldfish crackers 1.00
Post Pebbles cereal 1.88 (Sunday coupon)
Honey Bunches 1.88 (facebook coupon)
Imperial .75

Fry's
Suave body wash 1.89 (coupons.com coupon)
Wholly Salsa 2.49 (Facebook coupon)
Reynolds Foil 3.19 wyb 10 (Sunday Coupon)
Lays chips incl Kettle cooked wyb 10 (commonkindness.com coupon)
Best Foods Mayo 2.69 wyb 10 (Sunday coup)
General Mills Treats 1.69 wyb 10 (Sunday coup)
General Mills Cereal 1.88 wyb 10
Crystal Light 2.14 wyb 10 (Frys ecoup)
Cheetos or Freetos 1.69 wyb 10
Capri Sun 1.88 wyb 10
Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks 1.69 wyb 10 (Sunday coup)
Banana Boat or Hawaiian Tropic B1G1 Free (Sunday coup both)
Colgate 1.00 (Sunday coup)
Dial handsoap 1.00 (Sunday Coup)
Huggie Little Swimmers 6.99 (Coup)
Dreyers Ice Cream cups .88
Popsicles .88
Lays Stax .88 (commonkindness.com coupon)
Nabisco Crackers 1.88
Ken's Dressing .88 (Sunday Coup)
Bar S Jumbo Franks .77
Jenni O Ground Turkey 3.99

Bashas
Honeycomb, Raisin Bran, Pebbles cereal 1.99
Dreyers Ice Cream 1.88

June menu

Wow, the busy-ness of summer has already gotten to me!! We're halfway through the first week of June and I finally made my menu! I also have about 5 weeks of coupons to sort through. This slacker thing really catches up with a person ;) 

I'm trying several new recipes again this month. Some are repeats because they didn't get made last month. Whoops! I hope your planning has gone well! I'd love to get some feedback :)


Cobb salad sandwich
Mexican stuffed shells
Chicken Caesar sandwiches
Asian turkey meatballs
Caribbean pork chops with mango salsa
Peach-Whiskey BBQ Chicken
chicken tacos
Mediterranean Salmon on noodles

Crepes and eggs
Cheeseburger salads
Chicken salad sandwiches
Butternut Squash soup and Homemade croutons
Sausage and Rice casserole
Pork Ribs
Pesto Chicken Wraps
Thai Coconut curry noodles
Crockpot Cordon Bleu
Tortellini Pasta Salad (I omit tomatoes, add red pepper and spinach)
Pot Roast
Sausage Rice casserole
White Chicken and rice (mix until smooth: 1 blk cream cheese, 1 can cream mush soup, 1 pkt ranch dressing, splash of milk. Pour over 3-4 chicken breasts in the crockpot on low for several hours. Serve over cooked rice)

Recipe Review: Cheeseburger Salads

I made the Cheeseburger Salads tonight and they were super yummy!! Better yet, they were so EASY!! I used a package of Jenni-O gound turkey instead of hamburger. Next time I will make extra sauce as a little more "dressing" was needed, in my opinion. I will also melt the butter for the "croutons" (I only used 2/3 cube) and drizzle and toss in a bowl before toasting.

My thoughts on leftovers

Raise your hand if you're REALLY great about eating leftovers?? Yeah, I'm not raising mine either. Food that goes uneaten is money wasted in my mind, so unless I have enough for a freezer meal, I avoid making extra food whenever possible. Especially meat! So what i do, for example, is because I know that we will never eat a whole roast in one sitting, I buy a nice sized one and cut it in half. I have this handy little gadget that I actually got from a Groupon and I love it. It's called a Frisper by a company called Oliso. It works just like a Food Saver but it's way smaller and was way cheaper!! And using it keeps my frozen meats so much better! Anyway, today I was able to get roast on sale B1G1. So I got 2 for $20 and cut them both in half. That's $5 per meal! And I know that none of it will go to waste :) Win-win! If your family is really great at eating leftovers my hat's off to you because it just doesn't happen over here.

May 2012 Menu

Have I ever mention how GOOD it feels to crack out a dinner menu for an entire MONTH!!?? I've been doing this for a little over a year and the feeling never changes!! I'm assuming that because you read my blog you are at least aspiring to menu plan. If it's just an aspiration, at this point, I challenge you RIGHT NOW to sit down and fill out 1 week. JUST ONE! You can do it!! You will feel sooooo good, I promise.

So, really quick, I had a few newbies on my menu last month so I wanted to give a quick review.

The Bacon Wrapped Meat Loaf was fabulous! I used the hot sauce (option to use ketchup) and my kids thought it was too spicy to eat. Whoops. But my husband and I loved it! Also for next time I'll throw it under the broiler the last few minutes to crisp the bacon a bit more because I dont like chewy bacon.

The Chinese Chicken Salad was also very yummy! I loved the crispy won ton wrappers and I used a rotisserie chicken which made this a super easy and quick meal. I will be making again.

And I already gave you my review for the Artichoke Lasagna.

There were a few more that I actually didn't get to this month but I had a great excuse...Ever heard of the Ragnar?? Yeah, I ran that. So a few meals didn't get made ;)

So, on to May. I'm trying several new recipes this month. New recipes make me smile :) I LOVE the discovery and challenge of it. Here's what I'm trying...

Spicy Stewed Beef with Creamy Cheddar Grits
Cheeseburger Salad
Pork Sandwiches with Cilantro Jalapeno Slaw
Fancy Macaroni
Chicken Salad Snadwiches
Grilled Chicken with Broccoli Pasta Salad
Mediterranean Salmon and Noodles
Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad
Honey Butter Pork
Lasagna


And here's the rest, all tried and true recipes

Meatball Sandwiches (I use ground turkey which is leaner so I use less breadcrumbs otherwise it would be really dry. This is also a huge recipe as-is, so either cut in half or freeze some meatballs for later. Bake for 6 min on a cookie sheet, turn once then bake an additional 6 min. Add meatballs to a crockpot with jarred spaghetti sauce and simmer on low for a few hours). Serve on crusty rolls with cheese, black olives, red onions or whatever else you like.
Thai Coconut Curry Noodles
Tortellini Pasta Salad (I use red pepper instead of tomato and add baby spinach)
Honey Lime Enchiladas with Cilantro Lime Rice
Egg Salad Sandwiches
Crockpot Cordon Bleu
Fish Tacos
Funeral Potato Casserole
Turkey Breast and Sweet Potato Casserole
Grilled Homemade Pizzas
Round Steak in Mushroom sauce (Roast, 1 pkt dry onion soup, 2 cans cream mush soup in the crockpot)
Turkey Burgers
Rice soup (1 box Uncle Bens Wild Rice, water per instructions, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1 C sour cream, 1/4 C white cooking wine, 1 can canned chicken, drained. Simmer, covered, until rice is soft)
Sweet pork salads
Sweet and Salty Salad Wraps

I think that's it! Now I have to go sort through a months worth of coupons that I've been neglecting. *Sigh