Weekly Menu Plan

I know my photo is askew...frankly at the moment it is about how I feel, slightly not right.  Here's hoping whatever it is passes quickly, but as I've said a half dozen times or so: Neither hail nor sleet nor rain nor snow...Nope that's not it!  But it does fit in with that idea as well.  "The world may end and someone will still want  a meal, the dishes must be done."  That's it.  Does sort of fit in with that stalwart postal carrier's slogan doesn't it?  And isn't it a shame that today the postal service (not just picking on them, mind you, but lots of folks) can't see their way clear to keep to that old fashioned statement of duty?  Call me old fashioned, but I do believe that a woman's place in the home is head cheerleader, bottle washer, bed maker and in my instance this morning, turtle saver. 

Does it sound as though I'm rambling weirdly about?  Not at all, not at all.  Went out this morning to feed the pets and Maddie was barking and pouncing in the front flower bed, ripping it apart.  Sigh.  No clue why these things can't take place in the over-packed bed full of weeds in the back yard, but nope it had to be the front flower bed.  John said it was a frog.  Not a frog, but a big old snapping turtle well tucked in to keep away from Miss Barky Dog.  It wasn't until Maddie started to pick up the shell and flipped it over and Trudy decided to get in on the fun of torture that I decided intervention had to occur.  I rescued turtle and put him under my shed.  Maddie was distracted by the butterflies by the time I'd made it across the yard and couldn't have cared less. She is an ADHD doggy, truly, and I'm surprised she stuck with barking at the turtle as long as she did.  Trudy was already napping off her breakfast.  She's too old to get overly excited for long.  I imagine the turtle, hearing peace and quiet about him. poked out his head and feet once more and trekked his way out the other end of the shed and into the briars and trees and grasses of the wild land well away from noisy snippy dogs.

Back indoors once more, I finished off my Bible study and waited upon dinner to finish cooking.  It wasn't a hard meal today.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce,  Peach Cobbler
(This menu pulled forward from last week).  I told you it was simple.  My sauce may have had meat in it but it also had loads of vegetables in it as well: a whole carrot, a whole onion, a whole zucchini, half a bell pepper, lots of tomatoes.  I felt perfectly justified in serving it as a one dish, no salad required sort of meal.  Besides there was fruit for dessert, John's request as I spied the lovely ripe peaches getting every so slightly wrinkled this morning.  I pointed out that the peaches had gotten ripe.  "I'll just put them in the freezer," I said.  "Or make cobbler..." he said helpfully, lol.  I had enough peaches to do both.  The link above is the recipe I made a couple of weeks ago and it's very, very good.  Do try it!  This is my new 'go to' recipe.

Chicken Tacos, Green Tomato Salsa, Corn with Cumin Butter
I bought flour tortilla this week especially to use as taco shells (I fry my own) and to use in making wrap sandwiches.  I get good mileage from a stack of flour tortilla.  One day soon, I mean to try my hand at making my own.  In the meantime, I will try my hand at a new to me recipe of  Green Tomato Salsa.

Cowboy Beans, Peach and Pepper Slaw, Cornbread
I will be cooking my own pinto beans.  While I hardly expect to use the entire 2 pound bag at one meal, I thought I'd cook them and freeze in meal sized packets for easy future meals.  I was asked by Lena to let her know how the peach and jalapeno slaw was.  A big hit!  I was surprised, honestly I was, when John told me how tasty he found it.  I didn't have jalapeno, but I do have a baggie of hot little peppers given to us by a co-worker of John's and I used half of one of those, seeded, and finely minced (it was still 'warm').  The slaw was fresh and the peaches were a little tart/a little sweet so it made for a nice combination.  Do try it!

Caprese Roasted Chicken Breast, Roasted Asparagus, Salad, Garlic Bread
Another new to me recipe this week.  I'll share later if we like it.  I picked up tiny stems of asparagus at Aldi this week.  I'll have to watch carefully when roasting these as they will burn quickly!  I'm surprised to be able to continue to buy fresh asparagus this late in the season, but then again, it's not exactly been the usual season has it?  Mild weather, lots of rain, a colder spring than usual...hence the late run on strawberries and asparagus.

Calzone, Green Salad
I had some cottage cheese that was a couple of days ahead of expiration date so I popped it in the freezer.  This always makes the thawed cottage cheese a little drier but it works beautifully for lasagna and calzone to have it just so.  I'll mix with leftover meat sauce from our spaghetti meal and wrap in homemade pizza dough.  I should manage a few extra to freeze for future meals.

Roast Beef, Armenian Potatoes, Steamed fresh Green Beans, Wedge Salads
If weather remains pleasant I'll make this as a full oven meal.  If it warms up enough to be unpleasant, I'll probably cook potatoes and beef in the crock pot.  I have two crock pots, but I find that I can make a nice heavy foil 'dish' and cook two items at once in the larger crock pot.  It saves on clean up as well.   Here's hoping I can find fresh green beans. Haven't seen any in the market yet.  If I don't, I'll use canned.

Hash, Steamed Snap Peas, Salad, Popovers
I'll use leftovers from the beef and potato dishes to make our second meal.  I've done this combination before and while it's not the conventional hash it's still very tasty and good.