Tag Archives: menu plan

Menu Monday

Posted in budgets, California, meal planning, Uncategorized by

I slept terribly last night, so I feel like I’m running on empty. I’m not sure the why of it. Most nights I sleep well, and then boom, I get a night that’s awful. There’s not a lot of rhyme or reason to it. I do keep track in my journal so I can look back and see if there’s some pattern. So far, I can’t see a pattern. Oh well, it is what it is.

Last night we had Rancho Gordo cranberry beans in the crock pot. We had polenta on the side.

Monday- I think I’ll pull some baked potatoes from the freezer and figure out a protein.( updated: I just had the potatoe since we had burgers for lunch)

Tuesday- left over cranberry beans, burritos probably, and I have some avocados to use up.

Wednesday- I’m thinking a curry with either chicken or tofu.

Thursday- I have some soup in the freezer to use.Vegetable Barley

Friday- pizza or pasta, I’ll wait and see what we feel like.

My daughter and I went to the cinema and saw ‘Rental Family’. The movie was fun, and seeing Japan made me swoon. The cinematography was amazing. So after that, we stopped at In and Out for burgers. I had a protein-style one and it was good.

Today is Tuesday, and my sinuses are acting up, so I’m going to stay home. I’ll just do some house things and work on the budgets for next year.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, meal planning, simple foods, Uncategorized by

We had a fun time down at my son’s place yesterday.. We went to the farmers’ market and I loved it. Not too big, and not too small. I bought all the fresh veggies I need for the week, plus some yummy hummus dips.

Tonight: tilapia and farmers market broccoli some naam bread with hummus.

Tuesday: tacos of some sort. I have some WW tortillas, so I could do beans or grill some chicken.

Wednesday: quiche I have in the freezer with more broccoli on the side.

Thursday: This is my Velcade day, so something easy, baked potatoes from the freezer and leftover grilled chicken.

Friday: pizza from the freezer.

Saturday: TBD.

I don’t always follow these days exactly. It gets adjusted based on what we feel like eating/cooking.

I cooked the last pork roast I had from the freezer in the crockpot yesterday while we were gone. It was ok. My daughter’s not crazy about pulled pork, so I probably won’t do that again and just buy the packaged one from Costco.

I’m still learning about what we’re actually eating and what is getting wasted. It’s been a learning curve with grocery shopping and not overbuying. Freezer stuff I don’t mind, as that can be used as needed. I find it very interesting that since Barclay has died, we eat differently. Not sure why that is. Maybe it’s a lack of interest in cooking stuff, or ?? Really, I don’t know. Plus, my daughter is doing some of the cooking, and she likes low-carb, anti-inflammatory foods. Well, interesting to say the least.

Menu for the week

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, home stuff, meal planning, Walking by

I actually write out a menu for the month. But usually, it is somewhat generic, like Taco Tuesday. So that may end up as burritos or enchiladas. It’s more of a guideline ( remember that funny line in Pirates of the Caribbean)!!

Anyway, we had the home-canned chicken tortilla soup and the vegetable barley the other night. Last night, I made spaghetti sauce and we had spaghetti with that, and B had some ravioli. The tomatoes were the last bag I found in the freezer from last summer, so I wanted to use that up, but I didn’t want to get out the canner, so I froze a few pints.

Tonight, I plan on chicken enchiladas from the freezer with home made refried beans. I’ll make B a few bean/cheese quesadillas.

Wednesday- I think I’ll do some sort of burger with fries.

Thursday- grilled chicken and a Boca burger for B.

Friday- pizza, and this week I will use the coupon I have for a free pizza.

Saturday-??TBD

It’s raining again this morning, so no walking. Plus, it’s quite cold, and a Sierra storm is hitting Tahoe pretty hard. I was going to go down to the Roseville gym, but I think I’ll skip that today. Tomorrow the sun is back and I’ll go to the pool.

Thursday, I have my doctor appt, and on the way back I’ll either go to the gym or Costco. I’m leaving it open, as you never know how long the doctor’s appointment is.

I ordered my Rancho Gordo beans last week, and they should be arriving soon. If you haven’t tried RG beans and you eat beans, you should try them. These are all heirloom beans and the flavor is unsurpassed. I always cook my beans in the crockpot, no soaking first. I put it on high for 6 hours or so.

I’ve been good about not ordering from Amazon although I did order a bamboo blind for the sunroom. That’s the kind of thing I’m not going to go search for. Back in the day(Ha Ha), you could go to an import-type store and find these, but I wouldn’t even know where to start today.

B has labs today, so we’ll see how the hemoglobin is. He still seems tired all the time, but I think that’s the cancer. Tomorrow, hopefully, when he talks to the UCD doctor, we’ll know more. What a shit show. Anyway, I’m just going on the assumption that everything is on schedule till we hear otherwise.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia, travel, Uncategorized by

A nice walk this morning with the moon shining through the clouds.

Today, I plan to go to the Auburn gym and do some weights. I went to the pool yesterday and was very lucky to get half a lane before the pool was overrun with college swim teams. I got my swim in and left but man, it was nutso.

I need to do up my menu plan using pantry items. So far for this week, I have baked ravioli( using leftover Costco ravioli and Rao’s sauce.) for tonight. I also have salad stuff to use. The rest I’ll write up later after I check the freezer/fridge.

Today, I need to dust again. With our woodstove going almost all the time, dust is a big issue. Plus, I need to water my plants.

I think I’ll end the blog here as there’s not much else new. Oh, we did add more days at the hotel when my son and I will go down. The one person from the Facebook group said her husband was in for 11 days and that’s considered very short. So that’s going to add up quickly but I feel like I want to be on the safe side with a room. If after we’re there it’s going to be longer then I could add more days. Right now we have Sunday through Friday. That Monday would be B’s 8th day so I really don’t think he’d be released. So one more thing to be stressed about.

Menu Monday on Tuesday and a few other things.

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, library, meal planning, Walking by

We got to the park at 6:30 and had to use the headlamps for a bit. So this is an ok time for right now. It’ll start getting light earlier so we can keep backing up our time. My ideal is time is 6-6:30. although in the summer we are often out there at 5:30.

It’s a clear sunny day today but the next storm is expected tomorrow. My plan is to go the gym today, and the library then if the weather is awful later in the week I won’t feel as bad not going. I’m not a fan of driving in the rain.

The pantry challenge is going great.

Last night it was wonton soup except what I thought were wontons were periogi. Actually, it was quite delicious with lots of fresh grated ginger. Now I have to go find the wontons in the freezer. I tried one of the Costco beef burgers for lunch the other day. I only had half because they’re huge. But it was ok. Not great but I’ll try and use the rest up somehow. Not something I’d buy again.

Tuesday- tacos for Taco Tuesday. I have some crunch shells so I may do bean tacos.

Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner -pancake mix that needs to be used and scrambled eggs.

Thursday- macaroni and cheese from the freezer and a big salad.

Friday- one of the frozen pizzas

Saturday?? TBD

The good news is the ultrasound came back on the liver ‘unremarkable’. so that’s a very good thing. But it’s still not good that he’s still having some abdominal pain. I told him to ask Dr. Singhal if it could have to do with the gallbladder?? He’s going for labs either today or tomorrow so we’ll see what that looks like. This has certainly screwed up his surgery( although this is not official at all) but it’s just a waiting game.

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 books, California, cooking, Gardening by

Here’s the new cookbook I ordered a while ago. I did use Amazon which I guess for some things like this, I will. This book was from a third-party seller though but still. I just heard about Feb. 28 as a nation wide no buy anything day so I hope you’ll join in.

It has some good recipes and the recipes are the way and what I cook. She also has a new cookbook coming out in June. I made the fried chicken pieces last night and it was a good recipe. She started as a youtube channel and I guess got pretty famous quickly. I plan on making some new recipes this week.

So, last night we had the fried chicken from this book and we had a packaged salad on the side. B had a quiche from Trader Joes.

Tonight, I think I’ll do tofu burgers because I have several packages of tofu. I don’t have any fries or potatoes so when I go to Costco I’ll pick up some of those baby potatoes.

Tuesday- I think something with beans. A bean bowl with rice, avocados, sour cream etc.

Wednesday- soup of some sort, ?

Thursday- a recipe in the new book for roast chicken with garlic. Probably salad on the side.

Friday- Pizza. I haven’t made homemade in quite a while so I think I’ll make a batch of dough. The recipe I use makes 4 dough balls.

Saturday-TBD

Our daffodils are coming up and it’s starting to look like spring. I picked a nice bouquet yesterday. My daughter has started all the tomato seeds and some other things. She got the onions in the raised beds too.

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 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.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, cooking, meal planning, pets, Uncategorized by

It’s been a frugal week for the most part. We went to Trader Joe’s and Winco for some basics that will last 2 weeks. That was last Saturday I think. With me having my chemo week, I don’t go out after Wed, so that’s Thursday and Friday and by Saturday the dex has pretty much worn off so I can do something if needed. My face is still pretty red this morning from Dex.

I did get some stuff done though, I vacuumed, feed my sourdough,mopped the floors, 1 load of laundry going. We always do one load a day even if its small. It keeps it from piling up. I moved some envelope cash around and put some in an envelope to back to the bank. That’s for Amazon stuff. I might make that a virtual envelope but the money I took out was from my personal spending as there was a plant based cook book that Sue over in Wales recommended highly. So I slpurged on that.

B is going to his gym and will pick up some things at Holiday Market. I need red onion, garlic, baking potatoes, and polenta. It’s been a challenge getting Bob’s Redmill polenta for some reason. I checked Amazon and it’s twice as expensive as the store. So Holiday looked like they had some in stock.

We filled up the Santa Fe after going to Sacramento and that was $50. Costco is still the cheapest gas around. 

I might go to the Roseville gym tomorrow but it depends on the rain. We did have a nice break yesterday but more is expected over the weekend. If I go, I’ll go slightly later so I can go into the library which opens at 10 on Sat.

I worked up a very flexible menu plan for the week:

no pizza tonight, I think will do :

baked potatoes with toppings and a big salad

turkey breast(frozen) and some mashed potatoes (also frozen) and home canned cranberry sauce.

chicken tortilla soup from the freezer

a left over night

fetticine alfredo with garlic shrimp( so my G F daughter can have shrimp )and salad.

brown rice with broccoli and some kind of crispy tofu.and maybe some panko shrimp.( that’s different from just the plain shrimp)

taco night with pressure canned pulled pork, lettuce etc.

I’ve got February’s budget done and the only thing I didn’t add was the VW’s registration and smog that just came in the mail but it’s not due till April so that’ll give me time to get and envelope stuffed. I may not end up the full amount but it’ll help. And I’ll need to add in Turbo Tax fee and if there’s taxes.

Next week looks good budget wise, hopefully no surprises.:)

Here’s the big boy, Guster

He says this is my Poang chair!!