Category: menu plan monday

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning, travel, West Virginia

Teen Friendly Meal Plan

Posted on by traci

A year ago yesterday, we drove down to the New River Gorge area. Hubby, my sons, my niece and nephew, and a few of their friends were going white water rafting. I was just there because my niece was going.

I took over cooking for the group of kids. We had a small fridge, a microwave, toaster, and coffee maker. That’s it. No sink, so everything needed to be disposable if we had any dinner.

There was a sink in the bathroom of our cabin, but it was so small that it was hard to clean anything there.

I brought my Instant Pot to cook the dinners while my nephew brought something to cook pancakes on for one of the breakfasts.

So what did we eat during the 2.5 days we were there. I had 2 dinners and breakfast to consider. Lunch was on the river when they went white water rafting.

The two dinners we had were spaghetti and hot dogs with Mac and cheese. The hot dogs were frozen before we left for the trip. Even driving the 4 to 5 hours to New River Gorge did not defrost the hot dogs. They tried roasting them over the fire, but they remained cold inside. Ugh!

The favorite meal was the spaghetti. There was nothing left after the meal. I believe we had some sort of bread with it.

Breakfast was pancakes and cereal. They had milk and juice to go with their breakfast. We forgot to bring a spatula, so that was interesting using my wooden spoon to flip the pancakes.

We also had lots of snacks for the boys. Plus the boys brought their own food. One brought MREs to share with their friends.

Hubby and I were able to sneak away for a while. Since the teens we took were older teens except for Youngest, we didn’t need to watch them constantly. We went to Sheetz for coffee and their snack packs. We ate it while walking to the overlook.

After walking under the New River Gorge, we left. We needed to get food before leaving. Our original plan was to go to Sheetz for cheap eats. Instead we went to the Secret Sandwich Society for good burgers and pimento fries.

Five months after to visiting the Secret Sandwich Society, it burned to the ground.😭 I can just picture us sitting there on the patio waiting for the food. The teens just talking about whatever popped into their head. We were saddened to hear of it’s demise.

So why am I sharing this menu with you? This started a trend for me. I went on a few pandemic trips where I needed to plan out the meals for the trip. In a week and a half, I’m leaving once again for a trip. I planned out the food for that trip. I’ll share it with you once we get closer to the trip happening.

I’ll also share the menu from my Epic trip with my friend Molly last July and our menu from our beach trip last December. I can plan meals like nobody’s business but can’t keep a meal plan to save my life.

Menu:

Breakfasts:
Cereal, French toast muffins, cheese, applesauce, or fruit cup – Juice and milk

Lunches:
On the river and at Sandwich Society

Dinners:
Hot dogs with Mac and cheese
Spaghetti with Hawaiian rolls (favorite meal)

Dessert:
S’Mores on the campfire

My coffee that I got at Sheetz on the way down to the campsite.
Meals that were eaten on our trip.
The yummy food from the Secret Sandwich Society.

Happy eating,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s for dinner? – Meal Plan Week of May 31st, 2021

Posted on by traci

I planned out the meal for Memorial Day. Then Oldest needed to make sure it was an American meal. I don’t know what an unAmerican meal would look like according to him.

Here is our menu for the week. As you can see most of it is easy meals to put together. I think Friday’s is going to be the hardest meal because I’ve got to make the crust. I have a pizza crust kit, so that shouldn’t be too hard.

Monday – Memorial Day

Burgers (Impossible burger for me), Corn on the Cob, Chips, Baked Beans, Cucumbers

Tuesday

Rice and Beans, Roasted Cauliflower & Broccoli

Wednesday

Tacos, Roasted veggies

Thursday

Shrimp scampi on gluten free pasta, chicken from freezer for the family

Friday

Pizza and cheese bread

Breakfasts for this week keep changing. I ordered Kodiak’s gluten free protein pancake mix which came yesterday. So that is going to be some of my breakfasts. Another breakfast idea is to have smoothies with chia seeds and hemp hearts, if I can find them. They were not at Aldi’s when I checked the other day.

Lunches are often difficult for me. I’ve been on a grilled cheese kick lately since I have some gluten free sour dough bread. I’ll eat the grilled cheese with either a salad or a veggie. Another lunch idea is a snack plate of cheese, olives, nuts, maybe a hard boiled egg, and crackers. I may add some tuna to it. I eat a mostly vegetarian diet with the exception of seafood.

If you would like some other breakfast ideas, please click on this link. Here are some lunch ideas. And dinner ideas

Happy eating,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning, Recipes

Menu plan: May 24, 2021

Posted on by traci

Yesterday I went to see my dietician. We came up with a b rough plan for me eating. I’m dealing with disordered eating, trying to lose weight, and change of diet in the past month. I have moved back to eating a gluten free mostly vegetarian diet. My exception is seafood.

After meeting with her, I went home and wrote out a meal plan with items needed at the grocery store. Crossed out items are items I already have at home. Highlighted items were bought.

Well, the Kodiak cakes were a bust. I will change that to smoothies.

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s For Dinner? Week of April 25, 2021 (Mainly vegetarian)

Posted on by traci

Jump to menu:

My dear children, you are not going to like what I have planned for dinner. (I’m talking about my 2 children, not all of y’all. Oh, and I’m not southern. I just like the word y’all.)

Let me pick up from where I left y’all. My health is not the best right now. We are still trying to figure out what is causing the pain. I sorta have an idea, but nothing is solid just yet. So, yesterday I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy to see what is going on with both my upper and lower GI. They found and removed a polyp from my colon/ large intestine. It’s now being biopsied. They also saw the gastric sac (not the real name) in my stomach. That is also being biopsied. Now it is a waiting game.

So Traci, who enjoys Googling stuff, found out that polyps are more than likely not cancerous. However, they are caused by eating red meat and greasy food. Three years ago, I went vegetarian for over a year. So, I know I can do it. This is a week 1 of back to eating vegetarian. Oldest told me that he’s glad that he is not going to eat vegetarian because he couldn’t handle not having red meat.

Week of April 25, 2021

Sunday – Cheesy bread and sausage (boys) – Veggie cauliflower crust pizza (Me)

Monday – Italian salad (Me) – Boys are on their own.

Tuesday – Veggie Chili (Me) – Short rib pappardelle (Boys)

Wednesday – Nachos with leftover chili – Boys are on their own.

Thursday – Sloppy Joe’s (Vegetarian & Meat)

Friday – Loaded fries with leftover sloppy Joe’s

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s For Dinner

Posted on by traci

Last night, I made a baked penne pasta dish. When Youngest came into the kitchen, he told me that it looked good. After he finished his dinner, he told me that it was excellent cooking. Swoon! That’s the best early Valentine’s Day present.

Here is what I’m planning for next week.

This QR code will take you to a plain copy of the menu.

Ohio is suppose to be getting two different snow storms this coming week. It’s unsure how much snow we will get between those two storms. I’ve seen reports of 10 inches up to 20 inches. We normally don’t get more than a few inches at a time, so this would be a historic storm if the predictions are true. Here’s the kicker: I’m supposed to go back to hybrid teaching on Tuesday. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to the school on Tuesday or not.

I needed to get food for next week, so instead of going to the store and dealing with the crowds I ordered the food and had it delivered. So much easier than dealing with the influx of people.

Happy cooking,

Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s For Dinner? Weeks of December 7th and 14th

Posted on by traci

Sunday the 13th – Turkey Meatloaf, Pasta Roni, Veggie to be announced

All of these meals were frozen crockpot meals. I’m trying to use them up, so that I can make new crock pot kits next weekend. I haven’t figured out the veggies for next week just yet.

I’ll share the freezer meals that I’m going to cook later.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s For Dinner? – Thanksgiving Week 2020

Posted on by traci

On Thursday, I got word that I was going to be at home for the next two months. I’ll have more time to make us dinners at home. (No commute to or from the school building.)

I was going to be home this week anyway because it is Thanksgiving break. However, our plans for Thanksgiving have changed due to the fact my youngest is in quarantine for possible exposure. I’m going to be making our Thanksgiving dinner. I’ll make a big meal that can be eaten at lunch time and then we’ll have a grazing dinner or leftovers later on in the day.

My Misfits box came in yesterday with a few surprises of veggies that I’m going to cook this week. One of which is celery root. I’ve never cooked one of those so that would be interesting to try. I also got eggplant so I’m going to have an Italian themed lunch on Monday and Tuesday. The third veggie I got is fennel. I’m going to have that with my fish on Monday.

If you click on the images, it’ll take you to a Google Slide presentation where you can click on the links to the recipes I’m using this week.

Two of the recipes are going to be made in the slow cooker which makes life easier. I already have the mashed potatoes in my fridge. I had bought some already cooked mashed potatoes for something else. We never used them so they are going to come in handy. The mac and cheese is a family favorite. The recipe makes a lot but I know the boys will eat it.

I decided on turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. It’s going to be a lot easier to make. Easy is my name this year for Thanksgiving.

I hope my meal plan helps you decide on what you are going to cook this week.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving! I know it looks different this year and that’s okay. For me, it’ll remind me of 25 years ago when I was in Walt Disney World. I made my own Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Grandma sent me recipe cards with some of my favorites – white salad and sweet potato casserole. I made a chicken instead of turkey.

Look for the positives and be grateful. I know it’s hard in 2020 but there have been silver linings through all the hardships. For me, it’s the 3 trips I got to take this year. They looked different than what I typically do. However, I’m blessed I was able to create those memories.

My family has been healthy through this pandemic which is another blessing.

I took this photo on Thursday morning not realizing it was going to be my last morning commuting to work for a while. I took the photo through my rear view mirror. Behind me was the sunrise over the tornado damage from Memorial Day 2019. Something beautiful over something horrific. We need to find that sunrise in our lives right now. That something beautiful

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Posted in menu plan monday, Menu planning

Mom, What’s for Dinner? – Week of August 3rd

Posted on by traci

I don’t put Sunday’s plan on the calendar because it all depends on what we are doing on Sundays. This week we had chicken parmesan from Aldi with my Instant Pot Spaghetti, garlic bread, and roasted broccoli. I’ve finally perfected the roasted broccoli because they were not charred last night. Yeah! I’ll have to share the recipe with you.

Links:
Peach BBQ Pork Sandwiches
Mashed Potatoes
Pancakes
Instant Pot Spaghetti

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci