Meal Plan Monday - 3/3 thru 3/9

 

I enjoy eating a variety of things, and I really enjoy trying new recipes.  So I try to incorporate new recipes into our weekly meal plan.  For sanity's sake, one, maybe two, recipes per week is plenty.  I find new recipes all over - blogs, cookbooks, Pinterest, personal recommendations.  When I see something that looks good, and might work well for our family, I add it to a list.  Then, I pick one out to try as I make the weekly meal plan.  

So here's what we'll be eating this week. 

DINNERS

Sunday - Bacon-Pork Burgers with Coleslaw {new}, Fries

Monday - Spaghetti and Salad*

Tuesday - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Wednesday - Crock-pot BBQ Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - Fish fry at the local Catholic Church

Saturday - Barbacoa Tacos 

LUNCH
Honey Turkey and Swiss

BREAKFAST

Cereal

SWEET

Cake **

 

* We are swapping sandwich and pasta night this week because Kat is starting tumbling classes!  Classes are on Tuesday from 5:30-6, so dinners for the next 6 Tuesdays will need to be super quick!

** The box mix from last week that was supposed to be cupcakes (but never happened) became a layer cake for this week.  

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This post is linked at OrgJunkie.com's Menu Plan Monday. 

First Loaf of Bread

As I mentioned in my last menu post, I try to make one homemade treat each week.  I didn't get around to it this week though.  Instead, I finally found the confidence to try making bread.  I've made plenty of quick breads - banana bread, apple cinnamon bread, zucchini bread...  But nothing that involves yeast.  Yeast is scary!  It requires proper temperatures and rising times, resting and kneading.  But after reading a few tutorials, I decided to give it a go.

And the result...

Looks like bread, and happily tastes way better than the "light wheat" bread that I buy for sandwiches.  

I used this recipe from King Arthur Flour.  Honey-Oat Pain de Mie.  Don't be overwhelmed by the name! Pain de Mie is a sandwich bread typically made in a pan with a lid (I had to look it up!).  I love oats, and I figured this was bread that we would actually eat; surprisingly, toddlers don't really care about artisan bread!  

The recipe was amazingly easy to put together - just 6 ingredients, plus water.  I used a bit of whole wheat flour (about 2/3 cup) in place of some of the white flour, but otherwise followed the instructions exactly.  I let Kat help with the kneading; who needs play-doh when you have bread dough!?  And while the whole process took several hours, the amount of hands-on time was probably only 20 minutes (less than I spend on a batch of chocolate chip cookies!). 

The bread was slightly denser than I was expecting, probably because of the bit of whole wheat flour that I used.  But it is chewy and tasty and is delicious as toast with jam or nutella (my breakfast at work on Thursday and Friday), as cinnamon sugar toast (whole family's breakfast on Saturday), and as the base for a peanut butter sandwich (NerdDad's snack on Saturday evening). 

So, I have gotten over my fear of yeast!  And I'm inspired to try more!!