Weekly Menu Plan 1-22 to 1-28, 2023

 

Hello!  

I don't know about where you are, but here it snowed today just a little bit.  Enough to make you feel like staying home and getting all cozy under a blanket.  We are supposed to get some more this week, but how much remains to be seen.

Last week was much calmer than the previous two weeks.  But I am still behind in getting recipes posted.  As usual, I forget to take pictures of what I've made, and then I get frustrated with myself.  It's a new habit I have got to work into my routine.  But it will take awhile.  Old dog, new tricks.

Here is my menu plan for the week.  Nothing too complicated.  The Sheboygan burgers we are having tonight are very easy.  It's just a hamburger patty topped with bratwurst, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese.  I will try and remember to take a picture.  I am having mine without a bun, since I'm gluten free.  I can't imagine a gluten free bun holding up to that much stuff!  Usually they crumble.  So I'm just doing without.

If you click on the bottom menu, you should get an enlarged view that is easier to read.

That's it for the menu this week!  I hope you have a nice, cozy week and nothing too crazy weather-wise!   Take care!

Weekly Menu Plan 1-15 to 1-21, 2023

 

Here we go again!  For me, last week didn't go as planned.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all taken up by plumbers and baby-sitting.  Saturday was my anniversary, 45 years!, and we went to breakfast and then shopped for almost the entire day.  So cooking was not what I accomplished!  Most of the week was throwing something together quickly, like canned soup and a sandwich.  But that's how some weeks go, right?  I'm hoping everyone stays healthy now and this week is more routine.  I don't know how anyone who is retired says they are bored!  I don't have time to be bored!  I'm busier now than when I worked!

I hesitate to make my menu plan too difficult for this week.  I hate buying everything I need to follow it, and then wind up not using it.  I am really going to work on cleaning out my freezer this year.  I have no idea what's at the bottom!  It will be a surprise as I work my way down there.  But I have got to get that done this year.  I should look at it as a challenge, but I dread it.  I'll try to be more optimistic!

Before I share my menu plan, I want to share what I've been reading.  The first book I read this year was Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. 

My opinion was that it was good, not great, but good.  The characters and some of the events in the story were underdeveloped to me, and some of it just seemed very stereotyped.  But, like I said, I thought it was okay.  I think I would have liked it more 40 or 50 years ago, when I was younger.  I would have been more impressed with it then.

But then I started this book:

I am halfway through this book, and I LOVE IT so far!  Each chapter has been so good, and the story just pulls me in.  If the second half is as good as the first half, we have a winner!  At least, in my opinion!

What are y'all reading?  I'd love to know!

Here is my menu plan for this week.  I hope I can stick to it this week!

I hope you all have a great week, and can find some ideas here!  I will try to share some recipes this week, I know I am far behind!  Take care and see you soon!

This Week's Meal Plan

 

Hello there!

It was a busy week last week!  Not one I had planned for, but I still got most everything done that I wanted to.  

I wound up getting slightly off my menu plan last week.  Instead of having leftover baked spaghetti on Thursday night, I wound up making pork chops in my crockpot with a sauce made of barbecue and cranberry sauce.  The baked spaghetti was so good, that my kids wound up taking some home for their lunches at work the next day.  So I didn't have as many leftovers as I thought I would!

I will post the pork chop recipe soon, I just have to make the recipe card.  Then, we wound up going to my daughter's house Saturday night for a Family Game Night, before the two oldest granddaughters went back to college.  They wanted me to make Ham and Cheese Sliders, so I did!  And I will post that recipe soon, too, as I made a couple gluten free ones that turned out great!

So I didn't wind up making the Red Beans and Rice until Sunday night.  We are having leftovers of that tonight.  I really liked it, and so did my husband.  It tasted very much like the Red Beans and Rice that we had at Port Orleans in Disney World.  I will post that recipe, too!  It doesn't take much for me to get behind!  But I'm hoping this week I will have a few hours of down time so I can get caught up!

I haven't made my official menu plan out for this week yet, but here's what I'm planning on putting into it:

Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Crockpot Potato Soup

Sausage and Sauerkraut over Mashed Potatoes

Crockpot Corn Chowder

Maybe some kind of chicken....not sure yet 

I will hopefully get that menu plan done today or tomorrow morning.  The rest of my day today is pretty much taken up with the youngest granddaughter.  I will see what I can do!

I hope you had a great weekend!  I will be back soon with some recipes and a plan!

Gluten Free Baked Spaghetti

 

Hello!  

I just wanted to share this Baked Spaghetti recipe with you before I forget.  It is very good, and it makes a full 9X13 pan.  Plenty for a family of at least 4, so the two of us have a ton left over.  And we each had two servings!  

I don't usually like cottage cheese in a layered casserole, but honestly, this time I really liked it!  If you have a child that has texture issues, then I would substitute ricotta cheese.  But there was no lumpy texture at all, and I used a little more than the recipe called for.  I think I used 1% lowfat cottage cheese from Aldis.  It was delicious!

Here is the recipe.  It might look a little complicated, but it really isn't.  Make the spaghetti in a Dutch oven, and then use the same pan to cook the ground beef and make the sauce.  While I was browning the ground beef, I made a pineapple cream cheese pie to use up some leftover Cool Whip.  That turned out great and will be a recipe for another day!

Here is the Gluten Free Baked Spaghetti recipe:

If you're going to be feeding a family or a crowd, you might want to try this one.  It'd be a great casserole to take to a potluck!

Have a great evening!

Gluten Free Biscuits

I love my breads!  That can present a problem when you're gluten free.

I have had many failures with gluten free breads.  But not with these biscuits!  These are soft, buttery, delicious biscuits!  And so easy to make! Once you try them, you will be making them all the time!

Here is the recipe.  I get the Pancake Mix at Wal Mart.  It is the Great Value brand.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Beef Stew

 

How are you all doing this third day of January?  It's quite warm here, about 64 degrees, and raining.  It won't last long, I'm sure!  But I am enjoying it today!

Last night for dinner we had gluten free beef stew that I made in the crockpot.  It makes a FULL crockpot, so be prepared to have plenty of leftovers --  or freeze what is left for later in the month.  It turned out really yummy, and it was a great January dinner.  I also made gluten free biscuits, which turned out great, and I will share the recipe for those tomorrow.

Here is the recipe I use for my gluten free beef stew.  I had a package of frozen peas in the freezer, and I threw the whole package in about an hour before the we ate.  Sometimes I do that, sometimes I don't.  It's good either way.

This is a super easy meal to throw together early in the morning, and makes a very delicious stew that you can enjoy for dinner - and then some!

Thanks for stopping by!  I will be back tomorrow with the gluten free biscuit recipe!

Hugs,

Sausage Potato Chowder

 

Good morning!

Sometimes in January, it looks like the scene above when I look out the window.  But this year, so far, we have had temps in the 50's!  Rain and pretty warm for January!  I see on the forecast, though, that this will change by the end of the week.  So maybe it will look more like this picture by Saturday - we shall see!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Day, and you're all off to a great start for the new year.  Yesterday, I didn't do much.  It was a total relaxing day for me.  I did some odds and ends, changed the calendars around the house, and made dinner.  

I tried making Virgin Bloody Mary cocktails, and we wound up tossing them down the drain.  The best part was the celery!  :)  I try, every now and then, to like tomato juice.  But it's not gonna happen, folks.  Just not gonna happen.  I thought my husband might like the cocktails better, but he took two sips and handed his glass back to me and said, "Thanks, but I don't like tomato juice."  So that was that.  Down the drain they went.

Luckily, the soup was much better!  I really enjoy this soup.  It's pretty thick, and very tasty.  The flavors really go well together, and it really warms you up.  I was glad to have enough leftover soup for today's lunch.  Here's the recipe:

It's so easy to throw together, and it's ready in about 30-45 minutes, depending on how long you let it simmer to get hot.  It was really yummy!  

Have a great Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Weekly Menu Plan 1-1 to 1-7, 2023

 

It's the New Year!  So much to look forward to this coming year!  My hope is, rather than asking FOR blessings, that I can BE a blessing as much as possible, to others.  Focus outward, not inward.  That's my prayer for 2023.

I kind of fell off the menu bandwagon there at the end of 2022.  I just ran out of time and energy to get everything done.  I'm sure a lot of you felt the same way.  Good intentions, but not enough oomph to get it all done.

So I'm kind of winging it this year.  I changed the name of the blog to The Life Of Grammy, because I think the word 'spirited' sounded like I was either drinking or thinking I was mystical, neither of which is true.  Originally I meant it to reflect the fruits of the spirit, but somehow it wasn't working for me.  So I dropped it!

Then, in addition to that, I decided I don't want to spend as much time in the kitchen anymore.  I was struggling last year to keep up with my menu plans, and often I just didn't get 'er done.  I meant to, but my plans were a bit unrealistic for the time I have to spend making them.  I still go over to my daughter's house to stay with my granddaughter after school.  Now, she'll be 12 in a couple months, and doesn't really NEED me there.  But I just feel better going over there and having someone home with her.  The older two are away at college, and I hate her coming home to an empty house.  Also, my daughter is starting a new job that has about an hour commute both ways.  She won't get home until 6:00.  So I will be over there from 3:00 to 6:00 every day, and will start taking my granddaughter to all her evening practices and whatever else she has going on.  That should be my prep time starting dinner at home.  So what I do is, I prep everything in the morning or early afternoon so it's ready when I get home.  But if I have a doctor appt or meet a friend for breakfast or lunch, or have shopping to do, I usually don't have time to prep.  Then it's either go out or make a sandwich.  So I am making my menu plans a bit more flexible and not so time consuming.  

I am also including leftovers days.  Sometimes, when I stuck to my menu plan, we had so much food left at the end of the week it was crazy!  It was too much waste, and things are too expensive these days to pitch stuff because I made too much.  I am trying to be more economical, as well as spend less time in the kitchen so I have more time to sew and read.  So my plans will be much less intensive than before.  

The last change I plan on making is to share the recipes I use, instead of just providing links.  I often link to recipes, and then change ingredients or recipes at the last minute.  On top of that, sometimes I use the link to the recipe I posted, and it doesn't turn out or we don't like it after I make it!  So, my plan right now is to post the menu plan on Sunday, and then during the week post the recipes I used with any changes I made.  I will also be using my cookbooks more, and online recipes less.  That will give me more recipes to share, but less links for you to click.  If you don't want to wait for my recipes, just google the name of the recipe, and I'm sure you'll find a ton of links to choose from!

So let's see how this goes!  I'm sure I'll be changing things as the year progresses, making it work better for me and hopefully for you!

Here's the first week of the year's menu plan, and what I'll be making this week!  If you have any ideas or comments, please leave them below so I can incorporate what you like into my plans.

So there you go!  I hope the changes don't bother you too much!  As it is, I am feeling pretty comfortable with it!  

I hope you all have a wonderful week, full of good food and fellowship!  I'll be back tomorrow with a recipe for the soup!  See you then!