And some days you are just lucky to get dinner on the table. Despite having a meal plan, despite being well prepared, some days just throw you for a loop. My mother decided to tie up the entire oven for hours, so there was no way to cook anything I had planned. Of course, she did not tell me she was doing this. I didn't expect her to cook as she has been mooching off of us for the past five days straight and I'd assumed she would again today since she liked what I was making, so it didn't even occur to me that she would cook.

She knew what I was going to make tonight, too, and when. But tying both ovens and the entire stove top up between 3 and 8 when she knows I have kids to feed, and that there are blood sugar issues, irritates me. I just don't even... I will be glad when we can move out. I am so tired of sharing a kitchen.

I was tempted to eat out, but I figured I could scrounge up something, and I did. I ended up making toasted waffles (from the last batch cooking session I did), microwaved ham, strawberries, and coleslaw. Yeah, it was a weird dinner, but it was good and it hit fruit, veg, starch, and protein.

I am too frustrated to make up a menu for the week tonight. I'll do it tomorrow or it'll end up being chocolate everything.

I forgot to post my meal plan on Sunday night. I am going to go ahead and post the meals I've already made this week anyway as I like going back and reviewing what I've made in the past when I am stuck for ideas.

Monday:
Beef stew
Green beans
Strawberries

Tuesday:
Chicken stir-fry
Strawberries

Wednesday:
Homemade pizza with onions, bell peppers, pepperoni and homemade rabbit sausage
Cole slaw
Strawberries

Thursday:
Garlic Butter Roasted Chicken
Baked sweet meat squash
Broccoli

Friday:
Pork chops
Broccoli
Pineapple

Saturday:
Sloppy Hoppies
Cole slaw
Oranges

Sunday:
Fried rabbit
Fried potatoes
Broccoli
Pineapple

I am baking my first loaf of bread in the new bread machine today. I gave my mother hers back. I love the new one so far. It is so much easier to put the parts together and use. I loathed my mother's machine, and only ever used it to mix dough and would bake in the oven instead. Hers had a round loaf pan which is just all sorts of impractical. The one I got for Christmas has a rectangular loaf pan with 2 paddles so the bread will come out looking like a normal loaf and not something that won't fit well in a sandwich baggy.

Hopefully it turns out well. I used all purpose flour and not bread flour. I hate using bread flour as it has all kinds of additives in it. But I was assured on the bread machine forum that it was fine to use in this particular machine. I am looking forward to having fresh bread in the house again. It has been a while, but is something I definitely want to get back into.

Anyway here is my menu plan for the week.

Monday:
Teriyaki Chicken
Baked potatoes
Green beans
Fresh bread

Tuesday:
Braided Chili Loaf
Baked Broccoli and Cauliflower
Oranges

Wednesday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Garlic bread
Leftover Broccoli and Cauliflower

Thursday:
Meatball Sandwiches made using leftover meatballs, leftover sauce, cheese, and leftover garlic bread
Cole slaw

Friday:
Rabbit Stew (rabbit, potatoes, carrots)
Fresh baked bread
Green Beans

Saturday:
Chicken stir-fry (with broccoli, carrots, celery, snow peas, water chestnuts, onions, bell peppers)
Egg fried rice

Sunday:
Beef pot roast
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Homemade biscuits with choice of homemade jam
Green Beans

I have almost everything on hand that I need for dinners this week. I do need to pick up some cabbage for cole slaw and some broccoli and cauliflower, but other than that I am good to go.

Monday:
Crockpot BBQ Ribs
Baked Potatoes
Green Beans
Cherries

Tuesday:
Teriyaki Flank Steak
Fried Potatoes
Roasted Broccoli/Cauliflower
Strawberries (from my frozen summer stash)

Wednesday:
Bacon Cheeseburgers
Cole slaw
Oranges

Thursday:
Beef stir-fry with carrots, celery, onions, snow peas, broccoli, and cauliflower
Pineapple

Friday:
Fried Rabbit
Baked Potatoes
Green Beans

Saturday:
Homemade Pizza with rabbit sausage, ham, onions, and bell peppers
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Garlic Bread
Cole slaw

Monday:
New York steak
Green beans
Salad with bell peppers

Tuesday:
Roasted garlic chicken
Baked potatoes
Broccoli
Cole slaw with bell peppers

Wednesday:
Homemade pizza
Cole slaw

Thursday:
Enchiladas
Cole slaw

Friday:
Fried Rabbit
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Salad
Green beans

Saturday:
Beef Stew
Cole slaw
Corn

Sunday:
Pork chops
Fried Potatoes
Cole slaw
Green beans

Since there were some really great ideas posted last month when I asked about go to meals, I thought I'd ask for crockpot meals this month. I am trying to increase my repertoire of these easy to make meals.

My favorite is pulled pork made with a pork butt roast, a jar of arrabiata sauce (from Trader Joe's), 4 oz can of green chiles, and a pint of canned tomatoes, drained. Cook on low for 8 hours.

So what is your favorite? It'd be great to see some that don't rely on cream of something soup or dry onion soup mix, but go ahead and post those, too, if that's your favorite.

Monday:
Rabbit stew
Fresh bread
Cole slaw

Tuesday:
Chicken stir-fry
Rice

Wednesday:
Fried rabbit
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Thursday:
Roasted chicken
Baked potatoes
Broccoli

Friday:
Homemade pizza (onions, peppers, pepperoni, prosciutto)
Cole slaw

Saturday:
Sloppy Hoppies
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Meatloaf made with ground rabbit and duck eggs
Mashed potatoes
Green beans

I forgot to post my meal planning for this week, but I still did it. We made up a big batch (16 cups) of brown rice at the beginning of the week, added corn and carrots and peas, and some soy sauce and have been using it as sides. I love having a rice cooker. I'm going to post the whole thing, even though it is already Thursday, because I often go back and look at the ones I have posted before to get ideas for future weeks.

Monday--
Teriyaki flank steak
Rice
Green beans

Tuesday--
Fajitas with chicken, bell peppers, onions, cheese, whole wheat tortillas
Rice

Wednesday--
Black pepper chicken
Rice
Man du dumplings (Korean, cabbage, bean sprouts, pork, mirin)

Thursday--
BBQ Chicken Wings
Rice
Cole slaw

Friday--
Homemade pizza (rabbit sausage, onions, bell peppers)
Cole slaw

Saturday--
Sloppy Hoppies
Cole slaw

Sunday--
Fried Rabbit
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Monday:
Baked salmon
Green beans
Corn

Tuesday:
Bacon cheeseburgers
Fried potatoes
Salad

Wednesday:
Roast chicken
Baked potatoes
Cole slaw

Thursday:
Fried Rabbit
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green beans

Friday:
BBQ chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Applesauce
Salad

Saturday:
Meatloaf
Green Beans
Oranges

Sunday:
Rabbit stew

Hey, everyone. I am getting kind of bored or in a rut with what I've been making for dinner lately, so I thought I'd ask you all what your favorite go to meal is, the recipe (or lack of recipe) you pull out when you are tired and cranky and know it will please everyone in the family (or just you, if it is just you). Something that is pretty easy to make, not terribly expensive, but still tastes great.

If you could either put a link to the recipe in the comments or leave a recipe in the comments, I'd be thrilled. My only two issues are I am allergic to mushrooms (so no dumping a can of cream of mushroom soup on anything) and almonds.

Editing to Add: No one here eats beans, either, so if any other ideas are posted, bean free ones would be better.

Monday:
Fish and Chips
Coleslaw

Tuesday:
Steak
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Wednesday:
Rabbit enchiladas
Spanish rice

Thursday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Garlic bread
Salad

Friday:
Meatball sandwiches
Coleslaw

Saturday:
Teriyaki and Barbecue chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Sunday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, bell peppers, and onions

I hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as my homegrown one. This was the best Thanksgiving food ever and it was so great knowing how I raised and grew almost all of it.

Our feast:



My plate:

Monday:
Rabbit enchiladas
Cole slaw

Tuesday:
Roast chicken
Baked potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower

Wednesday:
Baked potato soup
Pull apart cheesy bread

Thursday:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green Beans
Stuffing
Chocolate cream pie

Friday:
Leftovers

Saturday:
Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Rabbit stew
Green beans

Monday:
Rabbit Stew

Tuesday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Green beans

Wednesday:
Sloppy Hoppies

Thursday:
Rabbit enchiladas
Broccoli/cauliflower

Friday:
Homemade pizza
Cole slaw

Saturday:
Barbecue chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Fried rabbit
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green beans

Monday:
Leftovers

Tuesday:
Barbecue chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Wednesday:
Beef stir-fry with broccoli, cauliflower, onion, and carrots
Oranges

Thursday:
Baked rabbit
Baked potatoes
Green beans

Friday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, ham, onions, and bell peppers

Saturday:
Bacon rabbit cheeseburgers
Homemade French fries
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Beef stew
Green beans

Our garden is still trucking along. We haven't had a frost yet and I've got two big heads of cauliflower to use and a couple broccoli. We still have green beans, too.

I have easy meals planned for Saturday, since we will be butchering turkeys that day, and Sunday, since we will be butchering rabbits that day. No one really wants to cook on those days, so something simple and easy to prepare is a must or we will end up going out to eat.

Sunday:
Beef pot roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Broccoli/cauliflower from the garden

Monday:
Pork chops
Fried potatoes
Green beans from the garden

Tuesday:
Bacon rabbit cheese burgers
Homemade French fries

Wednesday:
Rabbit/Duck Egg meatloaf
Green beans from the garden
Corn

Thursday:
Pancakes and ham

Friday:
Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Tacos

Sunday:
Crockpot ham
Green beans
Canned corn

Two weeks down, 16 days to go. We are doing really well here. The kids have not been able to talk me into going out to eat in two weeks. There were a couple of days that I really wanted to, too. Having the meal plans firmly in place help a lot. Making meals in such a way as to have planned leftovers helps so much. This week I will be using my homemade spaghetti sauce in 3 recipes and my homemade meatballs in two. I will make the sauce and meatballs tonight and then use them in tonight's meal and in the meals the following two nights.

Last week I made baked potatoes with dinner one night. I threw in enough extra to make baked potato soup later in the week.

Sometimes I will make roast chicken, pick the leftovers off the bones, and made enchiladas and quesadillas as well as using the bones to make chicken stock for chicken noodle soup.

Those sorts of leftovers really help to have on hand so I can make one complicated meal followed by one or two easy ones. I always plan my complicated meal for a night when I have more time and the easier meals for the nights when I don't.

Doing this helps me save money because 1. I don't buy as much food to begin with, 2. I don't end up wasting the food I did buy, and 3. I am far less interested in eating out when I know I can put together a much better meal quickly.

Of course I am still tempted to eat out, but I'm not sure it would be worth the hit to the wallet, or the pain from ingredients I'm allergic to. Since I never know what food additives are used, cooking at home is safer for my stomach, too. And certainly safer for my son's.

I'll need to harvest 3 to 4 heads of broccoli this week so that will play into dinner plans. The zucchini has gone to baseball bat size, so I've just been cutting them open for the chickens and turkeys to eat. If I catch any of the smaller ones at the right size we'll have some of them this week, too.

I've also got quite a few tomatoes and a couple of peppers so those will also be accounted for in the planning.

I cleaned out the refrigerator today. It's my least favorite chore. But it needed to be done. Now all my leftovers are organized and on one shelf so it will be easy to see what needs to be eaten up. Those are generally for my lunches or DH's if he is home.

Monday:
Spaghetti with Meatballs made with homemade tomato sauce
Broccoli

Tuesday:
Pizza made with homemade tomato sauce, rabbit sausage, onions, bell peppers

Wednesday:
Meatball sandwiches made with leftover meatballs, leftover sauce, and on garlic bread
Broccoli

Thursday:
Barbecue chicken wings
Fried potatoes
Green beans

Friday:
Chicken Stir-fry with broccoli,, garlic, ginger, onions, carrots, green beans, and celery
Egg Fried Rice

Saturday:
Bacon rabbit cheeseburgers
Homemade French fries

Sunday:
Homemade Fish and Chips
Broccoli

My first week of not eating out is complete. The menu planning went fairly well last week, though on Saturday I decided not to cook and instead we ate up the leftovers from the week. And today, instead of making what I'd planned on, I made fajitas. I was just in the mood for Mexican food.

This week won't be too bad, I don't think. The hardest part always seems to be that first week. I've got plenty of protein, but I do need to go and pick up some lettuce at the store. My garden lettuce is done and I've been craving a big, elaborate salad, so I'll do that this week for a few of my lunches.

Monday:
Pork chops
Fried potatoes
Broccoli from the garden

Tuesday:
Shrimp stir-fry with broccoli (garden), carrots, onions, celery and green beans (garden)
Egg fried rice

Wednesday:
BBQ Chicken
Cole slaw
Corn

Thursday:
Beef stew
Green beans

Friday:
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, onions, bell peppers trips, and basil

Saturday:
Bacon Rabbit cheeseburgers
Homemade fries

Sunday:
Pot roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Green beans

Well, the kids have not yet persuaded me to eat out. They were wrangling for pizza last night, so I deviated from the meal plan and made a homemade oregano and basil pizza. They just weren't in the mood for enchiladas so I made them up and then put them in the freezer wrapped individually so they can be eaten in the future as an after school snack or for my lunch during the week if I don't feel like cooking.

I don't foresee going out this weekend either. I really don't even want to change out of my pajamas, though I will need to for a trip to the library.

Things have gone great with the no eating out challenge so far. I've made all food at home for the past 3 days, and am on track for today as well. When we were at the grocery store yesterday, the kids wanted me to buy them a couple of premade soups from the salad bar, but I felt like that would be cheating on the intent if not the letter of the challenge.

Then there is the fact that each one of those soups costs $4, so $8 for soup when I can make a big pot of soup for a lot less money, that will feed us about 8 times the amount of that soup. And I'll be using the leftover potatoes from last night's meal to do it.

On tonight's menu is baked potato soup. So they only had to wait a day for soup. And while it is not savory pot roast soup, we just had beef stew on Monday with all the same ingredients, so I don't feel like I'm disappointing them any by making a different hearty soup. Plus its on the menu plan anyway. They can live with it. And they always like my soups and stews better anyhow.

I feel better when we eat this way. Even eating out once a week makes me feel cruddy afterwards and almost like I am hung over the next day from the excessive carbohydrate intake.

So far I feel if I continue to plan well for this, that I won't have any problems making it through the month.

The biggest thing I am noticing is how there isn't nearly the garbage without the eating out. And none of the food is getting wasted at all since I am making planned overs and those get eaten up in the next meal or the one after that. It's much more efficient, since I am using the oven less for long-term cooking, and then being much quicker on the stove top the next day by using leftover ingredients. Less waste will lead to saving more on the grocery budget since everything gets used up.

Hopefully I will stay this together and focused as we head into October, the second half of which is always my big cold season starting.

My goal for the next 30 days is to not eat out once, so I'll be joining Laura on the first half of her challenge. Maybe the second half, too, but lets see how I do for the first month. I've gone two weeks before without eating out, but it's been a long time since I've gone longer than that.

My family will be doing it, too, except my husband, who does eat out on the days he flies. Not really much we can do about that since he's usually travelling for 24 hours with no access to anything but restaurant food. But he will when he's at home and obviously will at work since they provide all meals onsite.

I plan to bank any savings.

So here is my menu plan for the week.

Monday:
Beef stew with potatoes and carrots
Green beans
Nectarines
(Everything in this meal is home-canned)

Tuesday:
Chicken stir-fry with onions and bell peppers
Fried rice

Wednesday:
Roast chicken
Baked potatoes
Green beans
Nectarines

Thursday:
Baked potato soup made with leftover baked potatoes
Homemade bread
Broccoli from the garden

Friday:
Chicken enchiladas made with leftover chicken
Spanish rice
Salad

Saturday:
Fried rabbit
Fried potatoes
Green beans
Nectarines

Sunday:
Barbecue chicken
Baked potatoes
Broccoli from the garden

I am still on a no protein buying kick (except sliced deli meat for school lunches this week) as we work on eating down the mini-chest freezer. The garden is finally starting to kick in enough harvests now that I should not need to buy any vegetables this week, and in a couple of days there will be lots of Italian plum prunes ready to eat so I won't need to buy any fruit this week. Well, I wouldn't need to anyway as we are still working our way through a large watermelon and we have a cantaloupe as well and an open jar of apple sauce that didn't seal.

Tomorrow I will bake a batch of egg "omelet muffins" where I will use 2 duck eggs, a tbsp. of diced green onions, a tbsp. of diced peppers, a tablespoon of diced tomatoes, and a tbsp. of diced ham per extra large muffin cup that has been greased with butter. Then the kids will just have to reheat them in the mornings. I will also make up several batches of pancakes for the freezer for making quick microwave pancakes in the mornings. I am not all that with it in the mornings, so if they just have something they can put together, I can be as zoned out as needed until it is time to drive.

Monday:
Barbecue chicken wings
Leftover Roasted zucchini
Baked potatoes
Watermelon

Tuesday:
Chicken and broccoli stir-fry
Cantaloupe

Wednesday:
Fish and chips
Watermelon
Green beans

Thursday:
Chicken, onions, and peppers stir-fry
Italian plum prunes

Friday:
Oven-roasted rabbit with basil, oregano, and thyme
Corn
Green Beans
Watermelon

Saturday:
Homemade pizza with ham, pepperoni, peppers, and onions
Cole slaw

Sunday:
Rabbit chili
Homemade bread
Broccoli
Italian plum prunes

I managed to mangle myself pretty good last night. Well, not mangle, just beat my knee up pretty good. The knee formerly known as the good knee. It's a big bruise, and I think it is just the muscle I hurt. I hope it feels a lot better tomorrow.

I canned 14 more pints of applesauce today. Tomorrow I hope to get some pickles and potatoes canned, and some more peppers and onions frozen, but it depends on how I feel and what else needs to be done around here before DH leaves again.

We ground up the duck meat from the drakes we butchered and we ground up 7 pounds of rabbit meat, too. So we'll get 9 meals out of that.

Cleaning out the mini-chest freezer, by using the food in it for meals, is going pretty well. I've got it down to about 1/3 of the way full. I need to make up another meal plan for this new week, though. I haven't bought any protein since I started this. Not that we buy all that much anyway, since we have so much that we have butchered, but I am finding all kinds of things I didn't know I had. There is a ton of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and way more beef and fish than I thought we had.

I've also come across some frozen fruit from last summer that needs to get used up, probably in smoothies.

I am still wavering back and forth on whether I want to get s pork half or half a steer, but I think I'm starting to lean towards beef. True, we don't need much hamburger anymore, because of the ground rabbit meat, but I'd really like to get some steaks and roasts and stir-fry and stew meat, not to mention bones and tallow. If we can swing it, I'd like to do both, but I'm just not sure we can. It might be worth borrowing from the EF to do so, though.

I haven't been posting a lot of meal plans lately, but I am being very careful about food. I've lost 12 pounds in 4 weeks, and the diet is going very well, though I did have one very bingey meal a couple of days ago. I didn't let it side-track me, though.

We are working our way through the small chest freezer right now. I am basing our meal planning on what is in there. I want to get it completely emptied out, chip out the ice build up (which isn't too bad) and then have it ready for us to use when we buy either half a hog or half a beef. Any money we save on the grocery bill by doing this will go towards our big meat purchase.

I had been leaning towards a hog, but with the pig people being so flakey and it being so much easier to find pasture-raised organic beef and less for pork, we may just go beef and keep getting selected cuts of pork from the one farm in the next county.

Anyway, my menu planning the rest of this week, based out of the stuff in the freezer and the garden.

Tuesday:
Sloppy Hoppies--ground rabbit meat, onion, peppers, tomato sauce, few other ingredients, on whole grain buns
Leftover mashed potatoes
Salad

Wednesday:
Beef stir-fry with onions and peppers
Strawberries

Thursday:
Barbecue Chicken
Sweet Potato fries
Coleslaw

Friday:
BBQ Korean Short Ribs
Japanese Fried Rice
Salad

Saturday:
Steaks
Baked Potatoes
Green beans

I am also going to be roasting a whole chicken and doing a roast in the crockpot for lunches. The kids will make quesadillas with the meat and DH will have sandwiches. I will just eat the meat straight on salad as I am still on my controlled carb diet.

We are well into strawberry season here, so that is why you will see strawberries listed for dinner every night this week. There is absolutely nothing out there that is as good a berry as those grown in the Pacific Northwest, particularly my part of it.

In fact I will be picking up 90 pounds of strawberries on Monday to process for the freezer. I am hoping that will be a year's supply for us. We will be buying at the height of the season when berries are at their sweetest and produce the most juice. These are the only berries we will have to buy as the raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are all coming on strong, as you can see in my fruit garden update below.

http://youtu.be/t8ZqYw2fBUw

Sunday:
Homemade (sort of) pizza with store bought crusts topped with: tomato sauce, rabbit sausage, ham, pepperoni, yellow onions, red and green bell peppers, fresh basil and fresh oregano from the garden, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses
Strawberries

Monday:
Bacon cheeseburgers made with ground rabbit and homemade buns
Fried potatoes
Homemade coleslaw
Strawberries

Tuesday:
Chicken and broccoli stir-fry (cauliflower, carrots, green beans, snap peas, onions)
Strawberries

Wednesday:
Pan fried steaks
Baked potatoes
Green beans
Strawberries

Thursday:
Barbecue and teriyaki chicken
Fried potatoes
Coleslaw
Strawberries

Friday:
Fried rabbit
Baked potatoes
Salad from the garden

Saturday:
Beef chuck pot roast
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Broccoli/cauliflower
Strawberries

I can't believe I spaced on posting my meal planning for the week. The goal has been to eat down the protein stores in the freezer in preparation for bulk purchasing in the later summer. I'm not buying any new protein for these meals. We are also processing the Cornish cross chickens this week, so I am definitely not going to run out of chicken for a while, but I'm using up what was already in the freezer first.

I'm going to post Sunday and Monday's menus even though it is now Tuesday.

Sunday:
Crockpot duck (I raised it up on aluminum foil balls to keep it out of the cooking liquid) sprinkled heavily with herbs de provence
Microwave baked potatoes
Green beans

Monday:
Tacos

Tuesday:
Fried chicken legs
Baked potatoes
Green beans

Wednesday:
Pan-fried steaks
Fried potatoes
Salad

Thursday:
Hot turkey and provolone sandwiches on Rosemary bread
Coleslaw

Friday:
Crockpot Beef Chuck Roast
Baked sweet potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower

Saturday:
Spaghetti with homemade sauce
Meatballs
Coleslaw

When we moved our stuff out of Mom's freezer and into our own new huge chest freezer, I took an inventory of what was in there to help me with future meal planning. I still need to go through what we have in the small chest freezer and move a portion of it out, and what we have in the above fridge freezer in the laundry room and move all of it out, and the below fridge freezer in our kitchen, but I figured this was a good start and I could put it here and then compile my spreadsheet later.

I've broken it down into categories, and then individual types within each category.

Rabbit--
15 whole cut-up
2 quart bags of liver
1 gallon bag of bones for making stock
7 bags of belly flaps for making jerky
1 container of soup
2 gallon size baggies of homemade sausage patties
1/2 a cut up rabbit

Beef--
2 skirt steaks
3 quart bags of stir-fry meat
4 pounds of ground beef
7 rib-eye thin cut steaks
1 chuck roast
2 packages hot dogs

Turkey--
1 package of 3 extra large turkey legs
1 turkey kielbasa

Chicken--
7 quart size baggies of boneless skinless
3 family size baggies of chicken legs

Pork--
4 ground
3 packages of sausages
3 packages of bacon
4 chops

Lamb--
1 ground

Elk--
1 ground

Fish--
1 package of cod
2 pounds of shrimp

Rice--
1 baggy of chicken fried rice
3 baggies of brown rice

Vegetables--
1 bag of fire roasted onions and peppers

I'm going to try to inventory the 2 fridge freezers today. The small chest freezer will probably wait until tomorrow.

I want to get through some of this meat before we buy a side of beef and a side of pork later this year. We've got the chicken way down, but only because we are going to be butchering some in a couple weeks. We also need to get moving on the rabbit as we will be butchering again in about 3 weeks and then pretty often during the summer.[

A lot of the rabbit meat needs to be ground, mixed with a little tomato sauce and seasonings, and pressed into patties. I will also do up some meatballs and cook them and freeze them for future use. The meat is packaged well, but it is from February of last year so it'll get used up faster in a more usable form. Because of how we've packaged it there has been no freezer burn or drop off in quality, but I'd still like to get the older stuff gone.

With this inventory at my fingertips I can keep it handy and we can get eaten what needs to be used up and do far less grocery shopping for protein because I will know at a glance what I have and plan around it.

The only foods I need to buy for this menu are potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower. Everything else is either in my freezers, my pantry, or my fridge already. I will have to buy a few things for lunches this week and some eggs for breakfast since most of the 7 hens are still not done molting so aren't laying more than one or two eggs a day. I will be glad when the ducks and the new chicks get old enough to lay eggs.

Sunday:
Beef Fajitas

Monday:
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Green Beans

Tuesday:
Tacos

Wednesday:
Fried Rabbit
Baked Potatoes
Broccoli/cauliflower

Thursday:
Korean Style Mandu Dumplings
--Ingredients are ground rabbit (in place of pork), savoy cabbage (in place of Chinese cabbage), bean sprouts, green onions, ginger, garlic, egg, mirin, dark sesame oil, and goyza wrappers. I leave out the tofu as it causes a histamine reaction.

Friday:
Steaks
Fried Potatoes
Green Beans

Saturday:
Bacon cheeseburgers made with ground rabbit meat
Cole slaw

We've been working really hard on building the turkey pen so the turkeys don't have to spend all day inside their coop. It's been a lot of time and we will probably spend a total of $600 altogether, although that includes the cost of a reciprocating saw, a staple gun, and an electric sander.

We got Mom's freezer cleaned out and our stuff from it moved into our large chest freezer in the garage. I made up an inventory list of the food and then promptly misplaced it. Still, I've got a pretty good idea of what we have so that will make it easier to plan my menus for this week.

I started moving some transplants into the straw bale garden today. I like it so far. It is definitely holding in a ton of moisture from the conditioning process. In the long run this will use very little water and hold on to what it absorbs for a long time, which is great. I still got a lot of transplants to do, but here's what I've done so far:

http://youtu.be/xYzDaxNdn6Y

I'll post the turkey pen build video when we've got it finished.