The Homemaker Plans Meals: It's HOT Again

 


Mid-week we're soaring back into the upper 90's in temperatures.  I'm not keen on it but it's August and I can expect nothing less.  But boy am I longing for the homier comforting sorts of foods.  I'm this way every single year about this time.  I want soups and stews and casseroles, but it is absolutely salad weather. Ho Hum.  That's how I feel.  

However, planning meals makes my life a lot easier so I'll plan meals, no matter how uninspired I might feel at this moment...I do love to cook, I do love to cook, I do, I do, I do...


I don't have any leftovers or Gathered Fragments to worry about using this week.  The only two expired items I know I'll be using this week are cans of tomato soup.  

I went into the grocery on Saturday, but I only bought potatoes.  I definitely will need to go this week to another store and pick up lettuce, eggs, and cheese.  I'll probably go to the next town over and visit the discount store.  Perhaps I'll find some good buys in the marked down produce section.

Steak, Baked Potato, Onion Rings, Sliced Tomato. 

Tuna Salad Plates, Croissants, Tomato Soup. I have a LOT of tuna.  I need to start using it more routinely.  I like a good Salad plate with Tuna salad on it.  John always thinks he wants salad dressing.  I'm just going to make a small jar of Thousand Island and let him 'dress' that salad plate all he likes.  If there's any extra, we'll use the remaining dressing at the end of the week on burgers.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Kebabs, Easy Seasoned Chicken, Steamed Broccoli, Rice.  I don't know if I have any chicken breast in the freezer.  If not, this will change to something that will use thighs, which I know I have.  No breasts, so I'll opt instead to do that easy chicken recipe that uses yellow mustard, salt and pepper.  It will be just as good!

Breakfast Casserole, Hash Browns, Fruit Salad.  I've got a whole bag of bread cubes in the freezer and I'd like to use some to make a smaller sized breakfast casserole.  

Ham, Potato Salad, Greens, Fruit Gelatin.  Greens will be from a can...but I'm pretty sure I have a few in the freezer in a container that I may pull out and add to the smaller can.

Cottage Pie, Salad, Applesauce, Grahams.  I love this recipe from an Old Pillsbury Cookbook that is sweet and simple: Drained Green Beans with a tomato soup sauced ground beef mixture layered over those and topped with mashed potatoes.

Burgers, Oven Fries, Orange Julius Drinks. I try to keep our Friday evening meals simple.  This menu will work just fine.



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5 comments:

Karla said...

I am already in that mood of cold-weather foods too but it's also super hot here so I guess we continue to wait. I have several portions of soups in my freezer - some homemade minestrone and some cajun chicken soup from a recent grocery subscription. I have a recipe for sweet potato chowder I'm going to try this week. I have a huge can of sweet potatoes and a small can of carrots I bought for my dental surgery and didn't use so I found a yummy looking recipe I'll try. I'll take some for lunch this week and freeze the rest. I'm hoping it's delicious. We had chili mac last week. It was a new to me recipe that I didn't really care for but hubby liked alot. We ate on that twice and I put 2 more portions in the freezer for later.

mikemax said...

Thanks for mentioning ham! I am going to take one out of the freezer tonight and cook it tomorrow...and potato salad with it sounds divine!

Tammy said...

I had a partial ham in the freezer and made scalloped potatoes and ham for supper last night. Greg went back for seconds, something he rarely does just because he watches his carbs, especially at supper. He loves when I make those "old" meals. I'm not a ham fan, but that dish was pretty tasty.
Tonight is pork loin that's been cooking all day in the crockpot. I thought to slice it for our sandwiches tonight, but it fell apart when I tried to lift it out of the crock with the tongs. It's now shredded. Sweet corn and coleslaw to go with the pork sandwiches.
Layla will be here for supper tomorrow night and she asked for Alfredo. I had to deny the request because I don't have all the ingredients I need, and I don't want to go to the store tomorrow. She told me she'd think about other options. Lol. I canned some tomato garlic basil sauce yesterday and had an extra quart leftover that went into the frig, so I'm thinking we'll be having pasta with red sauce.
Today was hot again, but there's a cold front moving in tomorrow and our overnight lows will be in the 50's for the near future. Daytime temps will be 80s, but it's definitely going to be autumnal. I'm wanting to make chili this weekend as I've been craving it, just waiting for temps to not feel like 106°.

terricheney said...

Soup is something I can eat all year long, Karla! I have ham broth in the fridge and I want to make a pot of 15-bean soup...So I can put some in the freezer for later and have some for now. But it's 100 outdoors...do I really want soup?

Max, it was delicious to have the ham with the potato salad.

Tammy, I want to make the au gratin potatoes and ham. Like Greg I tend to avoid it as an evening meal, but I might make it in the slow cooker for lunch one day.

My grandkids will 'order' food ahead when they are coming over too but like you I make a point to let them know if I don't have ingredients needed to make something...and then offer them options that I do have.

Oh how I envy you the cooling down! My weather app tells me I cannot expect anything but high 90's for weeks ahead, sigh.

Karla said...

Terri - me too on the soup. But like you said, it's over 100 degrees so not sure I really need the extra heat. LOL

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