Christmas College Vacation Quick List Menu Options

Gnocchi with spinach ham sauce or with trader joe’s marinara and ground beef, salad, green beans

Bacon wrapped sage pork medallion with salad and butternut squash with or without cranberries , melon, rosemary bread

Pesto pasta maybe with diced chicken and salad with croutons

Antipasto Platter like Whole Foods Market

Burritos and or fajitas

Spaghetti, Italian salad with pepperoncini

Greek chicken, honey rice,  tzatziki sauce,  Greek salad,  pitas, lemon soup

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, homemade rolls

Asian chicken ?, rice, fruit

Steamed pork buns

Homemade ribs, salad

Pulled pork crockpot on buns with ciabatta

Chili and potato soup? With rice

Wingers type sauce on crispy fried chicken with or over salad

Wheat waffles

Apple cake

Swedish tea rings

Breakfast burritos

Orange Julius

Caramel Popcorn

Sour Cream Enchiladas/Regular Enchiladas, black beans, rice, chips

Chicken Enchilada soup

Empanadas

Zulema fajita marinated grilled chicken, rice, sautéed zucchini

Café Rio type pork with uncle Jason’s sweet green salsa and cilantro lime vinaigrette

Mousakka  with Mediterranean Dipping Platter from Whole Foods Market (white and wheat pita bread, feta, assorted olives, dolmas, hummus, roasted red bell peppers)

Jambalaya with rice

Shrimp lemon zest butter garlic pasta with spinach salad

Potstickers (homemade so soy free)

Bruschetta platter from whole foods market (marinated artichokes, roasted eggplant, sundried tomatoes, sliced toasted baguettes)

Spinach Artichoke Dip in bread bowl with sourdough bread from Whole Foods Market if still soy free and make from scratch if not

Pineapple or Mango Salsa Chicken with white or brown rice, Costco veggie tray and sliced cucumbers and baby carrots

Pesto filled Tortellini with marinara sauce or pesto or cold in tortellini salad

Aunt Debra's Pasta Salad

There are different ways to make this but when we had it at Emma's baptism, this was the general directions for what she made.  I have made different versions but never remember what I do so when Debra made this and it was so good, I asked what she did.  I've also added diced chicken and artichoke hearts.

Bow Tie or Spiral Pasta cooked and drained and cooled to warm or chilled
Greek Salad Dressing OR Italian Salad Dressing (we can make our own so it is soy free)
Bacon bits or shredded bacon
Cherry tomatoes cut in half
Olives
Feta Cheese
Decent Shredded Parmesian, not the powdered nasty stuff
Spinach with stems off
Broccoli
(Basil leaves would be good too)

Combine the above and add or delete items and serve.

Monthly Meal Calendar

I'm still working on a Monthly Meal Calendar with google calendar so if you click on the link below, you can try to copy what you want to your own google calendar.  There are about 9 weeks of meals that will rotate with additions and deletions along the way.  I'm hoping you will be able to add meals that are recorded as events from my menu planner calender to your own google calendar and that the recipes will be in the descriptions. 
Mobile apps to do this have gone all quirky in the past month and now are asking for yearly subscription fees with some of the features now dissabled even in the paid version.

myfitnesspal.com works for diet and exercise online and on the phone.  The MenuPlanner app is fairly good for a grocery app but data entry is kind of a pain so I'm still trying others to find one that will work for what we need.

<iframe src="https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=2q9g5i1jkh3nl142h5uc9g4g6c%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles" style="border: 0" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Menus / Menu's

So.......  Here are some of the menus from the past.

OK... so I have gone thru different stages of meal planning from what's in the cupboard, to what's easiest tonight, to what can the kids fix on their own, to planning by the week, to planning every two weeks, to planning monthly, to planning in 3 or more month sections for daily menus.  OK.. why do Menus and Menu's both look incorrect right this moment.  Maybe it should be Meni.

Well... I have also posted menus/menu's on the fridge with pictures and in lists. I have posted them in boring calendar grid format when my older method of printing didn't work any more.  Now the boring way that was on a program that synced with my palm treo 650 and kept 3 months at my fingertips with shopping lists too has crashed too many times. 

Help... I'm now trying to figure out another way without going back to the oldest way of using Excel spreadsheets, then exporting them to Publisher and then doing separate shopping lists in Word.  So far there a few aps on my Ipod Touch, but they really don't do what I need so I don't want to put too much effort into them until I find something that works.

Why would I plan meals like this, you might ask?  Many reasons, but the initial reason was because I was basically homebound and had to have what I needed in stock and be able to provide a healthy variety.  It also solved the problem of the kids asking what was for dinner and then complaining about it.  I also didn't have to think about it, which was huge.

The key to planning ahead was being flexible to change if we are out and not back in time to cook, yet I would have time to prepare many things ahead.  I also was able to make enough of some things for 2 or 3 meals and rather than have the same thing for 3 nights in a row, freeze the meals for later and free up times when I couldn't cook. 

We also had the bailout menu listed that we would rotate so we didn't h

ave taco salad or macaroni and cheese everynight on a really busy or bad health week.

"Where do the forks go?"

1. Print
2. Cut out

3. Paste to the latest free Realtor Calendar Magnet left at your door
4. Place on fridge
5. Hey kids... Remember to check the fridge to know where it goes and if you need to, you can hold it next to the place you are setting


I don't remember where I found this place setting picture but there are so many different ones that this one seemed to do all that we needed for our family.