Sunday, November 23, 2008

Menu Plans for November 23 - 29, 2008



Recently I sat down and scoured websites and cookbooks trying to find something new and different for dinner.

Looking at all the different recipes, I quickly became discouraged. I used to cook fabulous meals. Now, I have to cook most everything from scratch. Because most all recipes call for processed foods which contain milk in the form of cheese.

We have to avoid many foods because of severe food allergies in myself and youngest daughter. We have to avoid corn, milk, wheat/gluten, soy, cinnamon, avocado, and strawberry. We can have some sugar, but it has to be in the form of organic. It has changed my cooking in the past five years or so. Morgan loves to get school lunches for her daily junkfood "fix" because we don't eat like that at home!

I have to say there were some recipes without cheese that I thought I may try, but I knew my hubby and daughter #2 would put their noses up at them. I guess we're mostly a meat and potatoes family.

There is a happy ending to the story. I decided to count my blessings and made a list of all the main dishes I can fix for dinner. I quickly came up with a list of 35 dinners. Hey, that's over a month's worth. I'm sure there's more, but this is just what I came up with quickly.

Here's my thinking...if I rotate these things, I will feed my family a different dinner every day and we will only have to eat the same thing 12 times per year (once a month).

So...here's what I came up with for this week:

Sunday:
rice cakes with peanut butter & jelly or bananas/cereal
leftovers
soup beans, homemade breads made into grilled ham and/or cheese sandwiches, finger veggies
jello

Monday:
Quick bread muffins/oatmeal
leftovers
meatloaf, boxed potatoes/crockpot baked potatoes, peas, homemade breads
Juice pops

Tuesday:
eggs & toast/rice cake
leftovers
potato soup, homemade bread into grilled ham and/or cheese sandwiches, pickles
cereal bars/granola bars

Wednesday:
Chicken Gravy & biscuits
leftovers
hot dogs, french fries, finger veggies
cookies

Thursday:
Happy Thanksgiving! Traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, breads/biscuits
cookies

Friday:
leftovers
leftovers
leftovers
*You thought I'd say leftovers! I'm not that mean! Cookies!!!!

Saturday:
bacon & eggs (Saturday morning tradition)
leftovers
hamburgers & french fries, salad & finger veggies (Since I know no one will want to look at any type of fowl for some time!)

What's on your plate? Go to organizing junkie for more dinner plans.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about trying to cook around allergies. I have the wheat, milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, soy, seafood, and corn allergies.

I'll be watching you list of 35 meals maybe I'll be able to find something new.