Saturday, January 10, 2009

Meal Plans, Cracked Bulgur?

So as you can see I ended up doing more extras this past week than I thought I would. That's how it goes, though. I just never really know how much time I'm going to have on my hands - or what sales I just won't be able to resist. :) I'm hoping to do some more extras tomorrow. I still have the homemade graham crackers and homemade wheat thins on my list of things to try, so I'm really hoping to try one of them tomorrow afternoon. At some point in the next few weeks, I also need to do up some more hot fudge. Probably a couple of jars so I can have it if folks want it at Carson's birthday party. I can't believe he'll be a year old in just over a month now! I still haven't completely decided on the menu for his party - either mexican or italian - but I'm going to try to do up as much as I can in advance. If you have any yummy mexican or italian recipes that freeze well, let me know!

Anyway, back to the menu for this week. Here's what I'm thinking at the moment. I have the majority of all the ingredients on hand - I'm trying to use up my stockpiles. But a few of the recipes will require a trip to the store this week, so hopefully I'll have a chance to run out on my lunch hour at some point. Otherwise, I'll be changing it up a little.

Sunday ~ greek chicken pasta since we ended up just eating leftovers last night
Monday ~ moroccan lentil soup/stew, homemade cornbread from the freezer
Tuesday ~ black bean burrito bake, mexi-rice
Wednesday ~ chicken veggie stir fry
Thursday ~ leftovers
Friday ~ if I get the dough made beforehand, maybe we'll do some homemade pizza, otherwise maybe lobster ravioli and green beans
Saturday ~ I'll be at my cousin Jorie's baby shower during the day, but I'm hoping to try the baked falafel pitas for dinner since I didn't do them last week

I totally didn't plan this, but looking over my meals for the week, I notice I've got three meatless meals on the menu (Monday, Tuesday, Saturday). Shhh! Don't tell Kevin! ;-P We'll see if everything pans out and I end up doing all three (i.e. if I remember to get some tahini at the store for the falafel).

I'll be making up a huge batch of meatballs this week - I'm taking swedish meatballs to the baby shower. I'm planning to make up a ton of meatballs, bake them, and freeze a good portion of them, though.

I have some cracked bulgur that I need to find some new uses for. Any ideas anyone?? I've only ever used it in my veggie burgers and in tabbouleh. But since I still have some veggie burgers in the freezer and I'll be waiting until I have fresh parsley again next summer to do tabbouleh, I need some new ideas.

6 comments:

The Voogts said...

Let me know how the grahams turn out!

I've never used tahini. Maybe I'll have to add that to my to-try list :)

Do you make the lobster ravioli or buy it? That sounds so good.

I'm anxious to hear about some of your recipes. More ideas for meatless meals :)

Don't know anything about cracked bulgar...never used it. Maybe I'll have to try your veggie burgers sometime. I've had the recipe marked for a while.

Sara said...

Well I still haven't had a chance to get to the graham crackers yet. I just logged on to find my recipe for them. I believe the dough has to chill for awhile, though, so not sure I have the time to do them now. We'll see still, though.

You don't put tahini in your hummus? I love tahini sauces at the Middle Eastern restaurants. I've only ever made hummus at home so far, though. I love, love, love Middle Eastern food, though, so I'm excited to try some at home! :)

I buy the lobster ravioli. I bought a few packages of some fresh stuff a while back and froze it. I love it. I want to get a pasta roller and ravioli maker set for my KitchenAid to make homemade ravioli! It'll be a few months before I'll be looking to buy them, though. Figure I'll have that be my incentive to work out... to meet some goal I set. :)

I did some searching online earlier for bulgur recipes. I found quite a few that sound really good. We'll see if they make it to the meal plans in the next few weeks.

The Voogts said...

I ended up having some time this afternoon. My graham crackers are crisping in the oven right now :) I've tasted a nibble...pretty good. Can't wait until they're done! Now to experiment and see if I can cut down the butter in the recipe. A whole stick seems like a lot!

Jaime and Jeff said...

My mom makes lasagna rollups with cheese and spinach, and they freeze very well! You could also do a taco bar for carson's bday (so crazy, huh??) and everyone loves tacos!

Sara said...

I was thinking about the party more yesterday. All along, I've thought I'd end up doing a taco/nacho bar. But I almost think doing a few lasagnas with a big ol' salad would be easier (not so much chopping tomatoes, lettuce, etc. for toppings the day-of) and probably cheaper, too. I think I'm going the italian route now. I'm going to make the sauce for the lasagnas this week and can it (don't have meat sauce canned yet). Then do my veggie chopping and freeze the veggies for the veggie lasagna. Then I'll just have to assemble the lasagnas the day before the party and bake them that day. We'll see, but that's what I'm thinking right now.

Jaime and Jeff said...

yum! I have been craving some of your veggie lasagna. I think I might cry at his first birthday. He really shouldn't be that old yet!