Menu Plan Week 118 - Using What We Have

Hi! How is/was your Easter? We had a nice, casual, relaxing weekend here which I really needed ... and are NOT doing a traditional Easter Feast ... we are grilling ... and floating ... and baking (in the sun) ... life IS good around these parts!

My Pantry/Freezer/No Spend Challenge is 'sort of' in process ... I did stop at the store a few times this past week: produce store (hey, asparagus was 99 cents per bundle, and it was the skinny stalks!), Publix (needed milk and a few other things) and ... Whole Foods ... the WF stop was paid with gift cards, thankfully but geesh ... I got sucked in to some PRETTY things (baby carrots, honeydew melons, strawberries) and I was only going to get lunch meat from the deli ... there was a lot spent there so I think I just need to stay away from there for the next 4 weeks ...

Any who.

I've got a few things that I made over the weekend to be sharing this week which sort of goes along the lines of Pantry/Freezer/No Spend Challenge ... Honey Roasted Carrots (in the crockpot!) and then some lovely Carrot Cake Cookies ... both are grain/dairy free and I'm really excited to be sharing them! Sweet! It's about the only so-called traditional thing we did in honor of the great Easter Bunny around here ...

I also planned to do some meal prep ahead of time, cook the turkey for Tuesday night's dinner and grilled some chicken up with minimal seasoning to try and get a head start with protein for lunches and back up dinner plan because, let's face it, sometimes life interferes with the plan!

Here's what we are looking to feast on this week ahead:

Sunday - Steaks (freezer) with grilled asparagus (fridge) and crashed taters (fridge) ... Just three of us and it was nice after the piña coladas poolside with a girlfriend

Monday - was looking at Buffalo Chicken Salad ... chicken in freezer, iceburg (shudder) in the fridge, will offer up bottled dressing (pantry) as I don't know if I have all the ingredients to make the blue cheese dressing (I'm sure I do and if I do, will make this on Sunday night) ... all other ingredients in pantry BUT then ... I decided to put cobb salad on the menu since I have some deli meat that I will need to use up and I have everything else on hand ... (made the eggs on Sunday and I made the honey mustard dressing as well)


So need a better picture!

Tuesday - Taco Tuesday ... will use ground turkey (freezer) and balance of ingredients in fridge and pantry, thankfully! I forgot I had the tortilla bowls in the other kitchen so I will use one (gluten free) for me and offer others the regular tortillas if they want instead. Will also make up the Simple Corn Salsa to go alongside.



Wednesday - Pasta dinner ... did NOT make this last week and I need to use the sauce up. Pasta in pantry, sauce from freezer, will make garlic bread with the ciabatti rolls from freezer



Thursday - Chicken Cesar Salad ... will pull some of the pasta from Wednesday night's dinner for tonight, chicken from freezer and lettuce in fridge (hopefully I will still have some that is good, otherwise quick stop at Aldi's on way home to pick up). Will use bottled dressing from the pantry



Friday - yeah, it's Friday! Chicken and veggies on the grill ... chicken from the freezer and I'm quite certain there will be veggies floating around in the fridge (peppers and onions), if not, I know I have some peppers in the freezer to use



Saturday - Hubby's choice ... possibly just burgers (beef from freezer) and a veggie (from fridge or freezer) on the side to keep life simple ;-) Would need to pick up buns and maybe some fries, although, I should really just buy potatoes and do them myself, right?

What are YOU planning for the week ahead?

Looking forward to sharing with Organized Junkies Menu Plan Monday party ... go check it out!

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