Tammy's Recipes

One of my biggest struggles in the kitchen is with menu planning. Oh, I am great at planning extravagant menus for dinner guests (and we do try to have dinner guests weekly if possible!) but what really stumps me is the day-to-day dinner plans.

I want our dinners to be:

• healthy (Joshua and I are both still working towards losing a few more pounds!)

• balanced (protein, fiber, veggies, fruits, and carbs!)

• varied (serving pizza twice in one week is a no-no for me!)

• easy (60-90 min. of dinner prep time, max!)

• affordable

I usually plan the day's meals when I get up in the morning. Many days, nothing really sounds appealing to me and I'm still trying to decide what I should make, mid-day! Menu planning is the hardest part for me; I always say that I'd be glad to cook whatever's "on the menu", if only someone else would make up the menu. ;)

But. I want to do better. And I can, if I put more effort into it. So, here's this week's menu! :)

Monday

• Potato soup, bread, salad, green beans, oranges

Tuesday

• Seven-Layer Taco salad, peas, bananas

Wednesday

• Spaghetti and meatballs, Italian cheese bread, salad, corn, green beans

Thursday

• Beef and Barley Soup, leftover cheese bread, peas, salad

Friday

• Pizza, salad, fresh fruit

Saturday

• Two large pans of Italian cheese bread to church potluck;
  leftovers in the evening

Sunday

• Leftovers for lunch;
  oven-roasted chicken, salad, and green beans for dinner

There. Now that feels MUCH better!

I was excited to be able to take a meal to a friend who recently gave birth. I made a dish of Three-Cheese Baked Spaghetti (one of my favorites!) and included baking instructions on a sticky note on the lid.

This dish has a glass lid that fits on top. I got the dish at an estate sale. So fun! As much as I love stainless steel all-around, I also love glass -- particularly for things that will be sitting in the fridge. :)

A fresh loaf of homemade whole wheat bread, sliced right before I headed out the door. I figured buttered slices of bread could be eaten with the meal, with leftovers for sandwiches, toast, etc...

A container of (cold) baked apples. Apples were $0.99 for a 3-pound bag at Aldi's this week. We love apples and bought 5 bags!

I peeled and baked an entire bag (it fit into a 9x13 dish, minus the two apples that Eliyahu ate while I worked!) and had enough to give away plus a serving for Joshua's lunch the next day.

I was going to take along a bag of frozen veggies to complete the meal, but forgot. I did remember the baby's gift -- a super cute hand-knitted wool soaker (see the green one in this picture -- that's it!). No, I don't know how to knit... but my friend Ruth graciously allowed me to hire her services. ;)

What's your favorite meal to take to someone? I like to do a one-dish casserole of some sort (I have lots of yummy ones!), some kind of homemade bread, and whatever I have on hand as far as fruits or veggies. A jar of homemade tomato soup makes a great gift, too!

We were blessed yesterday and today with a visit from some friends who live in the Detroit area. My friend Emily brought her 4 little ones with her and let me just say that having 7 children 5-and-under all here at once was... interesting. ;) The four oldest were all boys -- very rowdy boys. ;) Things quieted down after bedtime and Emily and I actually got to talk and grind wheat (for fun!) and eat chips and salsa. :)

For breakfast we had Easy Whole Grain Pancakes, and Joshua made his Apple Spice Syrup for on top. Yummy! :)

The lunch menu was Grilled Chicken Pizza, fresh pineapple, and a salad.

And last night, we had Easy Cheeseburger Casserole.

Emily took this picture of us before she left:

It was such a blessing to get to spend time with Emily in person again! She's visited us twice before -- you can see pictures and read about one of Emily's earlier visits here -- back when we each had just 2 boys. :)

After receiving numerous comments saying that I come up with strange menu combinations, I decided to scrutinize our plates more closely as I was snapping my pictures.

And guess what? We do eat some pretty weird combinations of food. But it's not me! Seriously. I just heat up whatever's in the fridge.

Like today. Joshua volunteered to grill some chicken, smother it in BBQ sauce, and slow cook it. I love BBQ sauce, so I wasn't going to argue about that idea!

And then there was the cantaloupe -- the leftover half from a couple days ago. Corn on the cob that was a gift from our neighbor, and green beans from my mom's garden. I can't just let this food go bad!

It seems that people's eating styles vary as much as people themselves do -- which isn't surprising. ;) A long time ago I thought that everyone ate the way we did. Ha! We're pretty boring folks compared to some of you!

Those of you who eat much differently from us -- I'd love it if you described what your menus/food is like!

And is there anything I've posted that was a perfectly normal food to me but when you saw it you said "Yuck!!"?! I'm guessing this has happened and everyone was too kind to tell me that I was the only person who thought it looked yummy! ;)

You know how some foods really go together? Like lasagna and garlic bread. Or hot soup and homemade bread...

Well, this meal did not go together at all. I guess sometimes when you're just eating what's in the fridge, you come up with strange menus.

I had some cabbage from my mom, so I made fried cabbage. I sliced up some fresh tomatoes, and made a veggie omelet.

Oh, and we had leftover soup on the side. (Soup recipe coming this week... I hope!)

Joshua looked the food over and said, "I hope you don't put pictures of this on your blog. People will think you're pregnant or something."

Nope, not pregnant. And this was definitely not a menu I plan to repeat in the future! :)

What's your strangest food combination -- that you love? :)

I like ketchup on my fried potatoes, but that's not weird -- that's how I grew up eating them. As a child I also liked jam on my scrambled eggs. It's not too bad... :)

Lyn wrote to me asking if I'd write about our favorite summer meal standbys. :) Honestly, it's nothing fancy! But here's what we've been doing this summer for meal plans:

We've been eating fresh veggies. The vegetables are almost all from gardens, thanks to my mom giving us goodies from her garden, along with occasional gifts from other gardeners here. :)

I often make two different cooked vegetables with a meal, or plan meals that are made of mostly vegetables. We love eating huge servings of veggies with our meals... so that is how we manage to get the recommended amounts. :)

We've also had lots of fresh fruit. We call the fruit "dessert" for the boys. ;) The fruits are usually on sale at grocery stores. We love fruit! The children can easily eat two bananas each for their afternoon snack... and when we have nectarines or peaches, they eat those like apples -- often two at a time, as well!

And we've been grilling. I mean Joshua has been grilling meats for us. ;) We've had burgers (I love these garlic turkey burgers!) and lots of grilled chicken and even an occasional Texas Broil. It is so convenient to thaw a little meat and ask Joshua to grill it for our main meal of the day!

I also like to make BBQ Beef Sandwiches in the summertime. I use leftover roast meat and just cut/shred it and stir in some BBQ sauce as you warm it up. The very top photo on this post is of a BBQ Beef sandwich. :)

I haven't been doing much baking lately, aside from our bread. Although it's hot outside, the real reason behind my "break" from baking has to do with our attempts to shrink our waistlines a little. ;) Freshly baked muffins, cookies, cakes, or sweet breads are tooooo tempting to me!! I'm sure this winter I'll get back to regularly baking.

I'd love some reader input on this topic! What are your summer meals like? Do you cook easier/quicker meals in the summertime? What are your family's favorites? :)

When there's fresh food from the garden, it's easy to plan the menu!

Joshua: What's for dinner, Hon?

Me: I thought we'd have salad... and asparagus... and strawberry shortcake. Hey, will you grill some chicken for the salad?

Joshua (thinking): I guess that's the only way I'm getting any meat with this meal... ;)

Yes, I read his mind. Well, not really... but I could see him visibly wilt when I said "asparagus" since we'd already had asparagus once a day for the past 2 weeks.

The word "salad" elicits the same sort of reaction (I'm not creative enough when it comes to salads... that or else I'm just lazy!) but suggesting some grilled chicken did the trick.

(Read more for a photo tour of our meal "from the garden"!)

I finally got my Passover/Unleavened Bread menu planned! We'll be celebrating Passover from sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday. Passover is a day of rest (sabbath), as well.

After Passover, we'll have a whole week of Unleavened Bread -- and won't eat anything with leaven (yeast, baking soda, baking powder).

Passover is my favorite holiday and it's always such a blessed time of reflection and remembrance of our deliverance from sin through the blood of our Passover Lamb, Yeshua (Jesus).

Menu for Passover (I'm keeping it very simple)

Matza ball Soup
Oven-roasted chicken
Unleavened bread
Salad
Cooked peas and carrots
Unleavened chocolate cake (Yehoshua turns 4!)

My dinners for the week of unleavened bread

Saucy chicken broccoli bake (using leftover chicken)
AGK's organic chicken fettuccine
Taco salad
Chicken squash bake
Broccoli and cheese mina
Italian beef and beans over pasta
Easy chuck roast

I'll be sharing another unleavened bread recipe after I make it and take pictures. I am also excited about the cake for Yehoshua! It has been a couple of years since I made the cake, so hopefully it will turn out well and I can share the recipe! :)

I am, however, stumped when it comes to packing Joshua's lunch all week. I remember how poorly I did last year! I think Joshua practically starved at work. He doesn't like "sandwiches" made with unleavened bread... any ideas for an unleavened packed lunch food?? Joshua doesn't have access to a microwave at work, and only gets 15 minutes to eat lunch.

I just finished editing our new menus for after the new baby's born. The last time I had done any serious menu planning was 2 years ago, before Eliyahu was born. Since that time, we've added quite a few recipes to our repertoire, and it was definitely time for something a little more updated!

Before I share the actual menus, let me tell you how I went about making the menus. I doubt that my particular menus would be perfect for any other family besides us, but sharing the general idea and tips for writing out a long-term menu might be helpful if you're not sure where to start. :)

First, I made a two-week "Easy Meals" menu, which contains my easiest meals -- either meals that are just plain easy (like grilled cheese!) or else meals that are easy for me because I have ingredients in the freezer or pantry, already prepared (like spaghetti and meatballs!). I'll use this easy menu for the first month or so after having the baby, which should allow me to relax on meals and not need to spend too much extra time in the kitchen. :)

For the rest of the menus, I decided to plan a 12-week menu. I planned dinner for each night, and one different soup for each week. To begin, I made a list of our favorite main dishes. I made a list of all 12 weeks, and started filling in the days' meals. If it was a recipe we like, but don't want to eat too often, I just put it down once. For meals we really like (like pizza!) I planned them every 2 weeks or so.

I also made a list of some breakfast ideas, and we'll decide on breakfast each day or week. Lunches will be leftovers or else something from my list of lunch ideas. I also have a list of sides/breads. And, I always make a cooked vegetable or salad with the meal. :)

I won't follow these menus exactly... I'm sure I'll be adding in things that we get on sale/in season (especially in the summer, with all of our garden food!) or making special meals for guests. For this reason, the menus will probably last longer than 12 weeks. :)

Read more for the 2-week Easy Meals menu and my new 12-week menu! :)

Miriam wrote to me with a really tough question!

Do you have any suggestions for easy to share, economical meatless dishes? My hubby just started a new job at a huge County Emergency Room, and he often works from 3 PM - 3 AM, with virtually no time to eat. Once a month, I'd like to provide a meatless (since it would be non-refrigerated), yummy, healthy dish with wide appeal to place in the staff breakroom so that my husband and his coworkers have something besides vending machines to eat from. Any suggestions?

Honestly, I am having difficulty coming up with any sort of substantial dish that wouldn't require refrigeration after 2 hours. Meats aside, dairy, eggs, and cooked vegetables (basically low-acid foods, unlike tomatoes or fruits) should be left at room temperature for a maximum of 2 hours.

So unless the food is definitely going to be consumed within two hours, I wouldn't recommend any "main dish" sort of meals that contain vegetables, rice, beans, cheese (like cottage cheese; some hard cheeses can be at room temperature longer, I believe), milk, or eggs...

But I don't think you want to make everyone peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So here are some other suggestions... they may not all be healthy, or particularly "complete" as a meal, but surely they'd be more enjoyable than food from a vending machine! :) (Click here to read more...)