Meal Plan ~ February 2013 week 2

I love the satisfaction of completing a meal plan. We ate well this past week, enjoyed some favorite standbys and tried some new things. One of our big successes this week was trying this Artisan Bread. It was so unbelievably easy to make. Normally I am a sourdough fan, but during our summer of having our house for sale and then moving, my sourdough starter ... well it wound up in the trash after turning yucky colors and smelling pretty bad. It has taken me six months, but I finally got around to starting a new batch of starter this past week. However it will be a little while before the starter is strong enough to consistently make bread so in the meantime I am very pleased to have found such an easy and tasty loaf of bread, especially since I can freeze the dough and quickly make fresh baked bread after the baby comes. The most surprising food success story around here last week was when I defrosted what was labeled as beef heart only to find beef kidneys. Not something I can easily substitute as kidneys have a very distinct taste and smell. In a last minute frenzy I turned the kidneys into "beef nuggets" (like chicken nuggets) and served them up with some honey mustard dipping sauce. Amazingly my kids and husband gobbled them up (there was no deception involved everyone knew it was made from the cow's kidneys, my kids are just not old enough to know that other people don't eat the kidneys like we do). I made great progress in freezing meals for after baby arrives,  I now have 18 dinners, a couple gallons of soup, 25 burritos, 4 cups of liver pate, and several breakfast items in the freezer. Whew, a job well done. Now onto more good stuff! Here is what the second week of February looks like:

February 8 – February 14, 2013

	Fri 8	Sat 9	Sun 10	Mon 11	Tues 12	Wed 13	Thur 14
Breakfast	Apple Crisp and Yogurt	Fruit, Cheese, Pumpkin Muffins	Sourdough Waffles Scrambled Eggs	Baked Bell Pepper & Eggs	Sausage Egg Muffins	Sourdough English Muffins  Eggs & bacon	Fried Potatoes Eggs
Lunch	Homemade Hot Pockets	Leftover Lasagna	Split Pea Soup Cornbread Mini Muffins	Chicken Pot Pie (x3)	Chicken Nuggets Pickles Apples	Fresh Pea Soup Fried Cheese	Black Bean Empanadas Garlic Soup
Snack/ Treat	pancakes & cream cheese	Apples & PB	Smoothie	Veggies & Ranch	Smoothie	Apples & PB	Unknown Valentine Treat
Dinner	Sausage lasagna (X3) Salad	Pig's Feet Rice Pickled okra	Lamb Chops Mashed Potatoes Pickled Green beans	Baked Crusted Tilapia (x3) Pickled Collards	Guests Over Sheppard's Pie (X3) Salad Dessert?	Dinner at Church	Shredded Pork Dill Carrots Artisan bread
Notes:	Grind Flour Bake Sandwich Brd Make Yogurt Finish Cure Bacon Defrost more bacon Turkey Stock	Cure Bacon Beef Stock Start Sourdough Waffles Cut Veggies for Soup	Quiche Day: Bacon Quiche Sausage Quiche Crab Quiche Defrost Chickens Bread Crumbs	Start Artisan Bread Soak Black Beans Cook Chickens Chicken Stock	Make Black Beans Start Eng. Muffins	Make Kraut Make Dill Carrots Pickles Veggie Stock Ferment Ketchup	Make Granola Make Granola Bars

I really only had one thing carry over from last week. For some reason I never got around to making ketchup (part of the reason I made the honey mustard sauce for our "beef nuggets"). I haven't been able to pick out a recipe, I've had little luck convincing my family that fermented ketchup is just as good as store bought, but eventually I'll find the one that works for my family. I know I have all kinds of great things to blab on and on about, but I really need to get back in the kitchen! Happy eating.

Please note that I use whole real foods in my cooking as much as possible. I may have linked up a recipe that calls for low fat sour cream, but rest assured I will be using whole fat sour cream, possibly made in my own kitchen (depends on cream availability at the farm). I use these recipes as a starting point and do my best to create something that works for my family.

Check out what others are planning on eating this week at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday

I am also linking up to Menu Monday: What's for Dinner