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Menu Plan Monday: January 23

January 23, 2012 By Heather 1 Comment

Wow it is hard to believe it has been a month since I have been around. I have had a couple of life changing events in my home and it feels almost as if all normal activity has been on hold. My youngest son moved in with his father for a few months. My husband has been diagnosed with Parkinsons and I tried to electrocute myself while doing dishes but those are all stories for another day.

In attempts to get back to real life and settle down we took the boys and girlfriends to see a movie last night. While the movie wasn’t the best ever it was all in good company and we were pleased to make it home safely in white out road conditions on the way home.

I have been working on some daily routines and so far laundry and dishes seem to be moderately kept up. Next on the list is to get back on my menu planning so here goes.

I am going to start off by featuring our Easy French Dip Sandwiches this week. These are loaded with yummy carmelized onions which are canned by myself and always on our shelf ready to add great flavor to a meal.

Easy French Dip Sandwiches

16 oz sliced deli roast beef
1 pint carmelized onions
2 teaspoons beef boullion powder
2 cups water
1 teaspoon browning sauce (optional but it enhances the flavor)

Add all ingredients to a 3 quart crock pot in the order listed. Simmer on low for 6-8 hours until meat is tender. If there doesn’t appear to be enough liquid for au jus add desired amount of water. Serve on buns of choice. We use either hoagies which have been toasted or hard rolls. Feeds 4-6 people.

Monday: Easy French Dip Sandwiches and Glazed Carrot Coins

Tuesday: Homemade Potato Soup with Oatmeal Rolls

Wednesday: Philly Steak Calzones and Baby Taters

Thursday: We are eating out with Boy Scouts at a planning meeting

Friday: Creamy Crockpot Chicken Ala King

Saturday: Fajita Bean & Rice Bowls

Sunday: Italian Chicken Pasta with Olive Garden Breadsticks

What is on your menu this week? Does menu planning help you feel on track?

Linked to: Org Junkie

Filed Under: menu plan monday

Blessings of a Full Freezer

December 19, 2011 By Heather Leave a Comment

Sometimes the Christmas season can be difficult to deal with. My husband was laid off of work a few weeks ago and it felt somewhat frustrating at the time knowing Christmas was coming. However I do feel blessed and I thought I would take a week to show you how even through the tough times I can find some joy in the season. My hope is that someone out there will be encouraged to find some joy in their season even if their situation isn’t ideal this year.

My first blessing is my full freezers. I have some wonderful friends and an awesome mother who over the years have taught me how to stock a freezer with meat bought only at a discount or produce from the garden of those who love the soil. I have two chest freezers and the standard above the fride freezer. They are full to the top and will bring us through the winter with meals. If my husband doesn’t get a recall from being laid off soon I do not need to worry about my family being able to eat.

So today I am very thankful for the blessing of full freezers. I will have the ability to menu plan for weeks. We will have full bellies and delighted taste buds. I am thankful for the friends and family that have taught me the lessons of stock piling and how to do it on a budget.

This weeks menu:

MONDAY: Pigs in a Blanket with freezer corn
TUESDAY: Sausage pizza
WEDNESDAY: We are feeding the hungry at church and will eat with them as well.
THURSDAY: Swedish Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes with Carrots
FRIDAY: Feliz Navidad it is the Christmas Fiesta with the boys and their girlfriends We have quite the variety of mexican dishes on our menu from tacos to chili relanos to nachos.
SATURDAY: We will be with my mom celebrating Christmas.
SUNDAY: We will be with my grandparents celebrating yet again!

Have a blessed Christmas week everyone!

mealplanmonday v11 Blessings of a Full Freezer

Filed Under: menu plan monday

Fabulous Friday 12/9/11

December 9, 2011 By Heather 1 Comment

Congrats to Esther who is the winner of the Kroger gift card giveaway! For those of you who didn’t win make sure to check out some of the other giveaways going on around the blogosphere!

Filed Under: fabulous friday

Kroger Giftcard Giveaway

December 8, 2011 By Heather 23 Comments

I am a bit bummed I totally missed out on sharing a great deal with you from General Mills and Kroger! My husband was laid off of work and I got a little self involved and I apologize. But I do have some good news. I still have a $25 gift card to Kroger (or any of the Kroger family of stores). And while the sale is gone you can still shop for your favorite General Mills products like Cheerios, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies, Nature Valley Bars and Fiber One Bars.

You can follow Kroger on Facebook or Twitter to keep up with current promotions. Or visit Kroger.com to check out the current sales ads and other deals.

Please be sure to check your local Kroger Co. Family of Stores for specific deals and offers which include Kroger, Ralphs, King Scoopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith’s, Fry’s, QFC, Baker’s, Owen’s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Fred Meyer, Pay Less Supermarkets and Scott’s Food & Pharmacy

So onto the fun stuff….

A $25 gift card to Kroger! This is going to be a quicky giveaway which will likely mean a low number of entries.

How to win?

Like Kroger on Facebook or Twitter (find the links in the post)
Subscribe to My Red Apron (your choice email, reader, Facebook or Twitter AND leave a separate comment for each follow)
Tell me which Kroger family store you shop at!

Contest ends in 18 hours at 8:30 AM CST 12/9/11 Good Luck!

“Disclosure: The Kroger gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Kroger and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.”

Filed Under: giveaway

Ground Beef Freezer Prep

December 5, 2011 By Heather 1 Comment

Even though I usually put up my Menu Plan Monday post I thought I would share how I use my freezer and a good deal to make the planning easier. Let me know if you like this sort of post occasionally and I will share more of them!

I recently purchased 40 pounds of ground beef at a really good price thanks to my friend Vivian. We like the super lean 93% beef when we buy and we always buy in bulk. This plan will show you why I can handle 40 pounds at once.

When I bring home the meat it comes in approximately 10 pound tubes. This is how they come to the grocery store before they separate it out. I am pretty sure if you talked to the meat department you could just buy a tube.

I have this glorious skillet made by Wearever that is very deep like maybe 6 inches. This T-Fal is a decent price and comparison even though mine is deeper. I use this skillet to brown 5 pounds of beef at a time. This speeds up the process over having to do multiple browning sessions with a standard skillet.

I browned 15 pounds adding in some minced dehydrated onion (since I had it on hand in bulk) for flavor.
I browned another 5 pounds with onions adding to it my homemade sauce for sloppy joes.
I browned another 10 pounds with onions adding taco seasoning and garlic for various Mexican meals.
The last 10 pounds isn’t browned and I will get to that later.

So in just six skillet loads I have already completed 30 meals. I have browned and seasoned according to what my purpose is. We do eat a lot of Mexican in my house and the sloppy joes are a great meal for when I am not home or we have to run out the door quick. The plain browned hamburger is great for casseroles, soups and pizza just to name a few ideas. I will put up a more detailed post later.

So I get to the last 10 pounds of ground beef. I take out 4 pounds and set 6 pounds aside. To the 4 pounds I add a cup of diced green pepper, more onions, a cup of shredded carrots, two cups of oatmeal and two eggs. I also toss in some salt and pepper. After I get this well mixed I dump half in a gallon freezer bag and half in another. This is a great crockpot meatloaf base. When it comes time to cooking I cut the bag open and dump in a crockpot. You can top with your favorite sauce recipe. I have used a tomato style sauce, creamy mushroom sauce or if I am gone a BBQ sauce. You could even use salsa for a healthier flare. It cooks on low all day and I just need to heat up some home canned taters or frozen rice. Plus the leftovers (if there are any left) are great to add to various meals.

Onto the last 6 pounds. I add to this 2 pounds of ground pork sausage. You don’t need to do this but I like the extra flavor. It is time for meatballs. I first remove 3 pounds of this mixture for porcupine meatballs since I have to add rice to it. I then take out another 2 pounds and add Italian seasonings for Italian style meatballs. Lastly I have 3 pounds left and will make our Swedish meatball recipe.

Now it is time to clean up and I have 42 (minus 1 we already ate) freezer meals completely or partially done. Bags are 1 pound each.

13 bags of plain ground beef & onions
5 bags of sloppy joes (but we ate one bag worth for lunch)
10 bags of taco meat
2 enchilada casseroles (I just prepped these because they are easier to do on the spot)
2 bags (8 each) hamburger sandwiches
2 veggie loaded meatloaves
3 bags porcupine meatballs
2 bags Italian meatballs
3 bags of Swedish meatballs.

So there you have it 40 pounds of ground beef and 2 pounds of pork sausage it is pretty easy to get 42 freezer meals ready. This took me about six hours but in all honestly I would have spent close to an hour each evening preparing supper if I had to do these meals individually. If something like this intimidates you just try doing one section like 5 pounds of sloppy joe meat.