Menu Plan Monday: Leftover Ham and Freezer Love
Wow, it’s Monday, and I actually have my menu planned! Perhaps there is some hope for getting back on the organizational bandwagon...
(for people who are organized enough to plan menus every Monday, you can visit http://orgjunkie.com)
Part of my plan relies on leftovers from the Ham, with Cranberry-Maple Glaze, I served yesterday to my visiting mother (and the rest of my family), using the ham I got on a good deal before Christmas. It was an eight-pounder (part of the reason I like to have an “extra” person around to eat these big things in the first go-round), so it made plenty for a Sunday dinner, and more will be ground up to be frozen and used in additional recipes over the next month or so -- plus some for this week’s Hashbrown Casserole.
One of my favorite appliances is our chest freezer, which allows me to store things like this ham, and the rhubarb picked last year from DH’s family farm, chopped and frozen, which went into the Rhubarb Coffee Cake served with the ham. The glaze used the last can of cranberry sauce from holiday deals, and the Mashed Potatoes were served with gravy from that season’s deals.
(And, since grocery stores are currently running “Easter type foods” promotions, my trip last week yielded a “new” ham from the freezer plus, with its purchase, a free turkey breast, free pack of sausages, and free dozen eggs -- to add to the additional free dozen eggs, free milk, and free Oreo cookies I had in my pocket from a previous grocery deal. It was a good shop.)
This week’s menu:
Monday: Fish Sticks. Also on sale, for 33 percent off, since they are seafood during Lent. They are also handy for our “get out the door quick” Monday evenings.
Tuesday(s): Hashbrown Casserole. Will use some ground ham leftovers, quite a few eggs (I currently have two dozen free ones in my fridge), hashbrowns that were already in our freezer, and shredded cheese -- possibly prepurchased, possibly some I’ll shred myself with the Pampered Chef grater my mom gave me a while back. Nora will eat the “stinky” (smoked cheddar...mmm) cheese as an ingredient, but not by itself.
Wednesday(s): Barbecue Crockpot Chicken. There are a couple of different recipes for this, one of which would use the jar of barbecue sauce that’s been in our pantry for who-knows-how-long. I also have quite a bit of chicken, so it might also make some leftovers for shredding. (Maybe not; my family likes chicken.) There’s still some Sweet Corn from last summer in the freezer, too, which might make a good side dish.
Thursday(s): Leftovers or Vegetable-Stuffing Bake/Indian Dinner. I am hoping there will be enough leftovers for DH and Nora for this evening (it’s hard to say how much people are going to eat before then), but if not, we have all the ingredients for one of our standbys. I will be eating at a friend’s house, since I won the drawing for her homemade authentic Indian meal.
Friday: Pizza. Because it’s Friday in our family.
Saturday: We have free tickets to a Minnesota Orchestra family concert in the afternoon; this may end up being our dinner out for the week.
(for people who are organized enough to plan menus every Monday, you can visit http://orgjunkie.com)
Part of my plan relies on leftovers from the Ham, with Cranberry-Maple Glaze, I served yesterday to my visiting mother (and the rest of my family), using the ham I got on a good deal before Christmas. It was an eight-pounder (part of the reason I like to have an “extra” person around to eat these big things in the first go-round), so it made plenty for a Sunday dinner, and more will be ground up to be frozen and used in additional recipes over the next month or so -- plus some for this week’s Hashbrown Casserole.
One of my favorite appliances is our chest freezer, which allows me to store things like this ham, and the rhubarb picked last year from DH’s family farm, chopped and frozen, which went into the Rhubarb Coffee Cake served with the ham. The glaze used the last can of cranberry sauce from holiday deals, and the Mashed Potatoes were served with gravy from that season’s deals.
(And, since grocery stores are currently running “Easter type foods” promotions, my trip last week yielded a “new” ham from the freezer plus, with its purchase, a free turkey breast, free pack of sausages, and free dozen eggs -- to add to the additional free dozen eggs, free milk, and free Oreo cookies I had in my pocket from a previous grocery deal. It was a good shop.)
This week’s menu:
Monday: Fish Sticks. Also on sale, for 33 percent off, since they are seafood during Lent. They are also handy for our “get out the door quick” Monday evenings.
Tuesday(s): Hashbrown Casserole. Will use some ground ham leftovers, quite a few eggs (I currently have two dozen free ones in my fridge), hashbrowns that were already in our freezer, and shredded cheese -- possibly prepurchased, possibly some I’ll shred myself with the Pampered Chef grater my mom gave me a while back. Nora will eat the “stinky” (smoked cheddar...mmm) cheese as an ingredient, but not by itself.
Wednesday(s): Barbecue Crockpot Chicken. There are a couple of different recipes for this, one of which would use the jar of barbecue sauce that’s been in our pantry for who-knows-how-long. I also have quite a bit of chicken, so it might also make some leftovers for shredding. (Maybe not; my family likes chicken.) There’s still some Sweet Corn from last summer in the freezer, too, which might make a good side dish.
Thursday(s): Leftovers or Vegetable-Stuffing Bake/Indian Dinner. I am hoping there will be enough leftovers for DH and Nora for this evening (it’s hard to say how much people are going to eat before then), but if not, we have all the ingredients for one of our standbys. I will be eating at a friend’s house, since I won the drawing for her homemade authentic Indian meal.
Friday: Pizza. Because it’s Friday in our family.
Saturday: We have free tickets to a Minnesota Orchestra family concert in the afternoon; this may end up being our dinner out for the week.