Menu Plan Monday 10/09/23

Brrr, it sure got cold fast. The wind we had this weekend made it so much worse. I LOVE Fall, but not so much when it's so windy. Cold weather means cooking & baking, so here's what's on the menu this week.

Monday : Pesto chicken casserole, mashed potatoes, veggies

Tuesday : Meatloaf, mashed potato, veggies

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same as Tuesday

Friday : Mexican - nachos or quesadillas with beans, pico, guac

Breakfasts : Carrot pineapple muffins, cereal, oatmeal, eggs, toast (wheat, raisin, chocolate brioche bread), breakfast sausage, breakfast burritos.

Lunch : Leftovers or protein from freezer with salad

Dessert : Glazed apple cookies

There's always a large variety of fresh fruit, veggies & salad fixings available.

I really wanted the bread rolls. There's nothing like eating homemade bread or rolls fresh from the oven. Mmm, the taste of freshly melted butter on it....pure bliss!! It was so good that I ate 2.

I decided on guilt free dessert - sugar free apple cookies. I always tweak recipes to suit our taste. I replace the sugar with crushed raisins (just add raisins to blender to crush. This way the sweetness spreads evenly throughout the batter). I also don't add glaze. We don't each much sugar and we don't even miss it. You won't even notice that it's sugar free, cause the raisins more than make up for it. These cookies are not supposed to be pretty. You just drop the batter onto a cookie sheet. No cookie cutters involved. They are so yummy and they're good for you (fibre - not a typo. I have a British vocabulary, so spell everything the English way). 

A tip - I don't bake everything with butter. I used ICBINB for many things, except cookies (cookies absolutely have to be made with butter) and it all turns out great. I also replaced the shortening with ICBINB. I stopped buying shortening when I stopped making my own pie crust. It's easier and cheaper for me to buy my crusts at Aldi. Just unroll & bake. Easy peasy!

Another tip : Belinda mentioned eating up the bagged salad before it goes bad. I buy the big spring mix and spinach containers at Sams every week. We love salad, but I also using it on sandwiches instead of lettuce. Lettuce doesn't have as much nutritional value anyway. I also like to add it to our smoothies. You don't even taste it in the smoothie. It might change the smoothie color, but you won't even know it's there. So there's 2 easy ways to use up your bagged salad. 

Meijer has apples on sale this week, so I bought some more and made more applesauce. It's an easy snack and something DS enjoys. 

I wanted to make spinach & feta quiche, but will add it to next week's menu instead. You'll notice that our dinner menu has little carbs this week. I'm aiming for 5 lbs weight loss this week, so I need to kick things into high gear. Portion control has worked well for me. I've never been a big eater. When I was busy at work, I'd skip lunch and just eat a snack in the afternoon. In 2 decades here, I've never finished a dinner out. I always ate half the meal and brought the rest home. It's just too much food for me. I remember when my parents were visiting us here. At dinner one night, my mom told me that I was overfeeding DS. I didn't understand what she was getting at, because he got his regular food portion. It was only when I visited SA the last time that it clicked. I stayed at my brother's house and made coffee for myself one morning. I remember getting the mug and teaspoon out and told my nephew that the mug & teaspoon look really small 😂 (he's visited us before, so he knew what I meant). It was then that I realised that everything is smaller in SA, so the portions are naturally smaller too. So I'm back to eating that way again & it's working. Trust me, I'm not depriving myself. This girl likes to eat. 

Buuuuuttttt, then Meijer sucked me in again. They sent me a Q for 50% off my total Breyer purchase. Do they know how good that darn Banana Split ice cream is? 😂 Guess who had milkshakes for dessert 😂 I added some frozen fruit to help with the guilt. I paid the price on the scale today. That's cause I had a big milkshake, then had the leftover milkshake (couldn't waste 😂 and it's not the kind of thing you can just refrigerate - ice cream). Then I had to have a few bites of the ice cream too, cause it's so good! Back to reality & better eating for me. 

I had planned on taking DS out for dinner once done with cooking, but he didn't want to go out. So after all the cooking was done, I took a nap. This waking up at the butt crack of dawn on weekends, is for the birds. 

Bon Appetit Peeps! Have a wonderful week!