Category Archives: meal planning

Menu Monday

Posted in California, meal planning by

I have the sourdough lemon myer rosemary boule in the oven as I write this. Basically, it’s a no-knead bread that uses just sourdough. It’s not rocket science. I’ve been adding a 1/2 tsp yeast and that’s giving it a bit more of a rise. If you want to make the no-knead bread that was started by Jim Lathery(sp), just google it. He was the one who basically started the whole movement. Sourdough though is just a few folds and turns and then into the fridge for an overnight rise. Easy and delicious, especially as sourdough is better in general, for digestion or if there’s a sensitivity to wheat.

I’ve been making bread since 1975. Of course, those first loaves that were from Laurel’s Kitchen and Tassajara Bread Book left a lot to be desired. 🙂

Last night we had a curry with tofu, potatoes, peas and onion. I used TJ’s jar of red curry sauce. That’s a really good one to keep in the pantry for an easy meal.

Meals are not in any particular order. I sometimes switch meals around.

Monday- pasta and salad. I have a fettuccine alfredo in the freezer to use.

Tuesday- quesadillas with cheese,beans, etc

Wednesday- Soup. I have chicken and wild rice and vegetable barley from Costco. I’ll serve it with bread.

Thursday- TBD but maybe breakfast for dinner

Friday- pizza. I have a coupon for a free pizza from RoundTable so I may use that.

Saturday- YOYO.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, meal planning by

Last night, we did end up having the Costco ravioli. It’s their spinach and cheese ones. Quite good. I grilled baguette slices in some olive oil, and we had a big salad.

Monday- I took out a container of turkey chili, and we’ll have that. B will have the vegetarian barley vegetable soup. I’ll probably do another big salad.

Tuesday- I am defrosting some chicken, so I may do Mexican chicken, and B can have another veg chick patty. Maybe I’ll do a Mexican burger-type thing. I’ll need to check if I have rolls. I have lots of avocados in the fridge. The best tip ever I learned was to put the avocados in the fridge after they just start ripening. Right now, I must have 6 in there, and they’ll be good for a few weeks.

Wednesday- I have some dark rye bread and plan on Ruebens minus the meat. Basically, grilled cheese with sauerkraut with a Russian dressing.

Thursday- My daughter starts back at her librarian job this week so she works late Thursdays, so I’ll just do something for B and myself, maybe blueberry pancakes.

Friday- pizza of some sort.

Saturday- TBD, leftovers??

Well, I’m not sure what I’m planning today. It’s early yet, so I can think about it.

Menu Monday

Posted in bread, cooking, home stuff, meal planning by

Last week ended up kind of a mish-mash of my menus. I did some and not others. Oh well, I’m flexible.

Last night I made a Mexican chicken dish and veggie Chicken patty dish. I grilled the chicken and then when it was done dumped the rest of the salsa in the pan and topped it with Monterey Jack cheese. I did the same in another pan for the veggie chicken patty. We had salad on the side. BTW, Wico has these new chicken veggie patties and for the price point, you can’t beat it compared to Quorn or another name brand.

Monday- I’m either doing fish or the Costco Slice beef, which is sous vide. The reason I’m not sure yet is my son is spending the night so I’ll see which he prefers. I have salad either way.

Tuesday: Quesadillas, beans, and cheese. If there’s any beef left over, I’ll toss that in, too. I bought 2 bags of avocados from Costco so if there are any ripe I’ll top with that. BTW, once the avocados start to ripen put them in the fridge. They will last weeks in there.

Wednesday- Vegetable Barley soup from Costco with homemade sourdough

Thursday- ravioli with marinara sauce with salad

Friday – pizza of some sort.

Saturday- TBD

The sun is out today and it’s a lovely day to be home.

I’m still showing ( apple watch)somewhat elevated sleep dist indicating sleep apnea. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern as to why one day it’s not elevated and the next it is. Does anyone have sleep apnea and what did you do? If I could lose some weight I’m sure that would help:)

I probably should start on our taxes, but not today. 🙂

This was my last boule!

Mid week stuff

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, meal planning, swimming by

When I got to the pool Monday, the parking lot was fairly empty. It seems the warming pool was closed because of something so a lot of people weren’t there. Also, the lap lanes were not too crowded. I got my favorite lane by the stairs. I had a good swim and did 950 yards again. My guess is that’s about my limit right now. I was pretty tired when I got home.

I am really enjoying having the Apple watch. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I do. Usually, I don’t like anything on my wrist but this has really helped me track my steps and swimming and the sleep stuff. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re on the fence.

The baguettes came out GREAT!

The recipe is straight forward and easy to follow. I wouldn’t buy the book though for just this recipe. I took a picture of the recipe to use later. Most of the other recipes are using more unusual grains like Eikorn which I don’t have. Still, this is a great recipe to have. I made this with rosemary and wowza!!

Today is a home day. Usually, I go to the gym but I don’t feel like driving. It’s still early yet so I may go to Costco and get a few things.

Here’s the front room without the rug. We took it up because it seemed every time we vacuumed it was full of lint and fibers. I think it was because the rug was a shag rug and it just had that stuff. I love the fact it’s so easy to clean and when I vacuumed there was very little stuff in the vacuum so my point was taken. I will get another rug eventually but it’ll be something like a Ruggable. I can’t afford that now, especially with the VW in the shop.

My labs came back with my Kappa up some to 19.8 so a bit of a jump from 18.2 but since I’m just over high normal, I’m not too worried. High normal is 19.4. It is what it is and every month there is some variation.

B has his labs today. He’s only going once a week now and all have been good. Tomorrow is the big day with the appt with Dr. Lee so we should have a good idea of what comes next.

The menu plan has changed a bit since I made it up. We had Boca burgers last night and tonight we’ll have the soup( pasta fagioli ). I used some of my canned beans, the Marcella, and kidney. I plan on canning more pintos very soon. It takes some planning and it is time-consuming with the pressure canner going.

Well, that’s it from mi casa.

Menu Monday and miscellany

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, cooking, meal planning, Political things by

The fires in SoCal are so awful. So many people lost everything. The power of nature is amazing and with fire, it’s hard to stop esp with the Santa Anna winds. Plus there are so many crazy people with conspiracy theories it’s enough to make you gag. Republicans keep spouting about not having enough water in fire hydrants. There’s plenty of water you idiots, but when there are dozens of hydrants being used there is of course going to be some effect. Geez, stick with the facts. It is concerning though with the orange man as president, will he be an asshole and withhold funds? Let us hope not for all of those people in LA that need it. Well, I try not to get sucked in but frankly, it is hard not to.

Menu for the week:

Last night we had the last of the breaded cod from the freezer with some fries and a salad.

Monday- I plan on making spaghetti with sauce and salad. I think I have some garlic bread in the freezer.

Tuesday- A freezer meal of chile rellenos, beans, and rice.

Wednesday- Baked tofu, with leftover potatoes from the freezer and broccoli.

Thursday- Soup, if I can get my act together. I wanted to make a Pasta Figlioli soup with Rancho Gordo beans.

Friday-Pizza, I really want to use up that frozen pizza but I haven’t made a homemade one in a long time so I may do that. I have a bag of 00 flour I can use.

Saturday- TBD???

I’m off for my labs and then swim. The warming pool is closed for maintenance so I’m not sure if that will impact the big pool. My backup plan is to go to the gym for a workout if it’s too busy. Mondays are like a box of chocolates, you never know what it’ll be.

My sourdough starter looks better this morning so I think when I get home I’ll make up the dough and then feed the other 2 I have in jars. ( I have 3 containers going to see which one does the best.)

Menu for the week and misc.

Posted in California, cooking, meal planning, Uncategorized by

I had a great swim yesterday except I overdid it so my low back is a little sore. Once I started moving around it was fine but getting out of bed was like,, urgh… Oh well, I surpassed my last swim yardage and got to 950 yards so I’m happy about that.

Sunday night-Turkey with some stuffing, salad, and nut loaf from the freezer.

Monday- leftover lentil soup and salad. I made a salad I saw on Facebook of chickpeas, cucumber, avocado, cherry tomatoes, parsley, and artichoke hearts. quite yummy.

Tuesday- I made a Greek pasta salad and I’m unsure what I’ll have with it. Maybe grilled tofu.

Wednesday- I want to make a turkey and wild rice soup with the leftover turkey. I’ll make B a ramen bowl.

Thursday- Something from the freezer to use up. I have some perogi’s from Costco to use. I wouldn’t buy them again. They were ok but not our usual fare.

Friday- Pizza, either make or get take out.

Saturday- Again something easy to use up freezer stuff.

Sunday- TBD.

I just finished the kitchen zone and I still need to vacuum. I thought of going to Trader Joe’s today but I think I’ll wait a bit maybe till Thursday. The only thing I do need is butter and the Lundberg wild rice and I can get those down at the Holiday.

Oh EXCITING! We scrolled through Amazon Prime and saw on masterpiece, the new season of Astrid. So we watched the first episode and it was very good. They definitely have snazzed it up some.

The afternoons are longer and it was light almost till almost 5:35. Even the angle of the sun coming down our driveway is different from a few weeks ago. Imbolc is Feb 2 so pretty soon it’ll be crossquarter.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, California, cooking, home stuff, meal planning, seasonal things, simple foods by

A nice walk this morning. 6:20 till almost 7 right now is a good time. We still need our headlamps when we start but by the time we’re finishing it’s getting light.

I went to the auburn gym and then over to Bel Air. I needed cardamom for the khruchiki to drop one of my knives off to get sharpened. They are also called Fattigmands Bakkelser I think in Sweden. My mother made the these at Christmas every year. I never knew their name because we called them ‘krusts’. I think because in Polish it’s pronounced Chrusciki. Martha Stewart’s mother had a recipe but it’s a little different than the Betty crocker cookbook’s one. Anyway they are quite rich but not that sweet except for sprinkling powdered sugar on top.

We watched Elf last night and that was fun. Then we watched an episode of ‘Astrid’ . If you have PBS masterpiece theater, I believe that’s where it is. It is superb. We linked it with our Amazon Prime acct.

I have my schedule for Christmas cooking laid out. Tomorrow, I’ll make the ‘krust’ dough and keep it in the fridge till Tuesday. I’ll make the cheese lasagna Tuesday as well. I have garlic bread and I’ll put together and antipasto plate. whatever I need, I’ll go down to Holiday and pick up. I’m also planning on cooking some cornish hens that Costco had. They only have them at Christmas time. So the meat eaters will have something besides cheese lasagna.

Other than that it should be a mellow week. B contacted Stanford but everyone is out on vacation till the first week of january. So no appts for a while which is a relief actually.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgeting, California, cancer, cooking, meal planning by

Last night we had falafels with Pita bread, cucumber tomato raita, and tahini sauce. I was excited that Winco had the falafel mix in the bulk section. I’d looked a few times before so I checked this last time and it was there. Quite a savings buying in bulk over a box.

Tonight is IP polenta with gorgonzola cheese as I have a little to use up. I’m going to pair that with some garlic shrimp. I have salad mix to use as well.

Tuesday—I’ll probably have some beans of some sort, and I have an Amy’s cheese enchilada to use up in the freezer.

Wednesday- Soup of some sort. I’m leaning toward a minestrone.

Thursday-I have some stir fry veggies to use so I’ll add crispy tofu cubes.

Friday—Pizza, although I’m not sure if I’ll make a frozen one, make one, or buy one. I guess I’ll wait and see how the day shapes up.

Saturday- leftovers or FEY. (fend for yourself).

The rain was intense again this morning but seems to be lifting now.

Menu Monday

Posted in Blood test, California, meal planning, Uncategorized by

Using my master one month plan, this is what I have for the upcoming week.

Sunday ( last night ), was egg salad sandwiches. Easy and I didn’t feel like cooking anything.

Monday- I plan on a quiche using a store-bought pastry. I’ll do Swiss cheese, a few veggies, and I have some cream to use up too.

Tuesday- I’ll probably do black Beans. Either black bean soup or chili.

Wednesday- Homemade mac and cheese with salad. We’re still getting the romaine lettuce from the garden.

Thursday- I think a tofu scramble with potatoes. I still have half a bag of Costco’s Yukon gold potatoes so I want to use them up.

Friday- pizza of some sort

Saturday- TBD

Today, I have my labs and then I’ll head down to Roseville to get gas at Costco and go into Winco for a few things. I need some fresh produce, and I’d like to get the stuff for the Christmas lasagna. Then I’ll head up to infusion. B should be done by 10 am.

After we’re home, I’ll work on the kitchen zone and get some of that done. I’m planning on being home on Tuesday, so I can finish it then.

I also want to sit down and write up some goals for 2025. At this point, we have NO RV reservations as we don’t know how long B’s recovery will be. I’m hoping that we can at least plan a couple of trips starting in June. or maybe one longer trip. I guess it’s a wait-and-see situation.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgeting, California, cash envelopes, cooking, meal planning, swimming, Uncategorized by

First off, B has done really well with this last chemo. He’s been engaged and has had energy(some). So that’s very positive.

Sunday night- we had spaghetti with Rao’s sauce and some meatballs

Monday- Tamales and rice with salad

Tuesday- Quiche of some sort

Wednesday- Brinner

Thursday- TBD??

Friday- I’ll do a pizza, either homemade or take out

Saturday- Soup of some sort, I’m thinking a split pea.

The pool was nice this morning but busy. Everyone was doubled up in the lanes. Then I went to Costco to return an item and got some ink for my HP printer. Also milk, eggs, bread, cookies, and some cheese.

Our weather continues to be lovely. Sunny and temperatures in the mid 60’s.