Meal plans and the week ahead

September sure is flying on by us, isn't it? It's already mid-September and it seems like the month just began a couple days ago! At least we're not quite as busy this week as we were last week... maybe it'll slow it down a little... haha, fat chance, right? :)

I didn't get a whole lot done in terms of preservation this past week, just too busy. I picked up some huge heads of cauliflower at the farmers' market and roasted all four of them. I then pureed about 80% of it and froze the purees to add into things later on. I froze some more zucchini dices and fries; as well as some more beans and some carrots. I think that's about it for this past week...

We're trying to use the grill for some meals this week since we may not have many more weeks that we can use it. And I'm trying to work in some side salads with some of our dinners this week. Kevin and I both love salad and we definitely don't eat enough of it. I have some issues that prevent me from eating it at lunch very often, so I can usually only have it at dinnertime. We ate a lot of salad when our lettuce/spinach was coming in, but haven't really eaten many since then and I totally didn't realize it till now. Lettuce and spinach are readily available at the farmers' markets again, so I figured its a good time to add them back into our meals. I also realized that Carson has never tried lettuce or raw spinach, so we'll see how that goes over this week. He loves to dip things, so I think I'll give him a small dribble of salad dressing to dip some small pieces of lettuce in and see what he thinks. Let's hope he loves it! Though, my guess is that it will take a few times before he enjoys it.

Sunday ~ crockpot salsa chicken; steamed organic brown rice; chopped avocado for topping; home-canned peaches

Meatless Monday ~ huevos rancheros; fresh honeyrock melon

Tuesday ~ It'll be a late night for me with legislative hearings in the afternoon, so something easy is key... tacos using the leftover shredded crockpot salsa chicken from Sunday; organic refried beans (doctored up a bit); mandarin oranges

Wednesday ~ grilled rib steak; romaine salad with cukes and cherry tomatoes from the garden, cheese; sauteed green beans, zucchini, carrots (all from garden), and cauliflower (from farmers' market) in garlic and EVOO; fresh grapes and honeyrock melon

Thursday ~ grilled chicken breasts; romaine salad with mandarin oranges, home-dried cherries, mozzarella, pecans (for me, not Kevin since he's allergic); grilled corn on the cob; grilled zucchini from the garden; fresh grapes, pears, and mango

Friday ~ Its my flex day! I'll be taking Carson to the Swartz Creek Homecoming Parade, so I think we'll need a crockpot meal since the parade doesn't even start till 5:00. I think I'll do thai peanut noodles; romaine salad with cukes, cherry tomatoes, cheese; fresh grapes and pears

Saturday ~ If the weather holds up, we'll be going out to Tivoli Gardens in the morning for the MSU RipFest ski tournament. Then we'll be dropping Carson off for an overnight stay with Nana and Papa and heading to Lansing for a wedding and reception for some friends of ours in the late afternoon/evening.

There is another huge farmers' market at the State Capitol on Thursday this week. The fall one is always the best and I'm looking forward to it! Hopefully I'll find lots of great things again this time! I'm hoping to pick up some pears so I can do up some sliced pears and pearsauce soon. We definitely will need quite a bit of both since we all love pears and pearsauce, so I'll probably pick up a half-bushel to start with. I'm thinking I'll end up getting another half-bushel in another week or so... one of the half-bushels for pearsauce and one for sliced pears probably. I really need to get our pear trees trimmed down and under control so that I can finally use my own home-grown pears next year, hopefully! All of the fruit trees are absolutely loaded with fruit this year, which stinks because I can't use it! I'll do the winter dormant pruning like you're supposed to so that I hopefully don't put the tree into too much shock with the amount of pruning I plan to do. And then keep my fingers crossed for a good production next year!

Other than that, I doubt I'll do much else extra since I'm trying to catch up from last week still. I'll be working on getting all my fall and Halloween decorations up still. I was able to get some of them up last week, but not all of them, so I want to finish it up. I think that's about it for this week. Hopefully I'll have a little more time next week... though it's looking doubtful...