Menu Plan Monday - Aug 23

So we are plunging into another week, finding ourselves closer to our due date (just 8 1/2 weeks away!), and finding our schedules absolutely crazy.

This week we have childbirth class on Monday night, a baby shower for a friend on Tuesday, and our usual equipping class / home group for church on Wednesday.  Thursday is my late night at work (till 7), so Thursday and Friday evening we have absolutely no plans, and we are not going to make any!

Because of this, there are no food experiments this week, or trying of any crazy new things.  We're trying to keep it pretty simple so we do not go crazy (and I do not get too behind on keeping up with the cleaning).

I only have a few more weeks of work left; a prospect which has me very enthused that maybe I do not have to burn myself out entirely just to get our house ready for a baby.  As much as there is left to do regarding turning our "this is where everything that does not have a home goes" room into a nursery, I am leaving most of it until I am no longer working.  With Third Trimester exhaustion setting in, it just seems to be all I can do to work full time and keep up with dishes.  My midwife said I was a bit anemic again, and I have been taking Hema-plex for a few days.  I certainly do feel better already, but I am not expecting to feel as great as I did toward the second half of last trimester, so I am not going to push it.

Without further ado, the menu plan:

Monday - Taco Night!  Whole wheat tortillas, ground beef, tomatoes from our garden, and the rest of the typical taco fixings.  We make our own taco seasoning, and we love it!

Tuesday - Pork Stir-fry with Brown Rice.  The pork is from our own "home grown" pig :)

Wednesday - Spinach & Cheese Frittata (with farm fresh, pastured eggs)

Thursday - Crock-pot Chicken Pot Pie.   It is not really time for such "winter foods," here in GA, but we were looking for a tasty crock pot dish and this sounds delicious :)

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Fried Chicken, steamed veggies.

Sunday - Leftovers

Find more great menu plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan August 16

Last week we had a menu plan, but did not keep to it very well.  Between dh injuring his back and me being bowled over by the exhaustion that the third trimester suddenly brought back to the fore, I was not prepared for all the changes in our schedule last week.  This week I am a little more focused, because weeks where we do not keep to the plan really remind me how much planning helps!  I have a plan in place for meal prep, and that is going to make things much easier.

No crazy events this week, it is pretty typical.  I have a friend coming over Monday to help me start getting the baby room organized.  With 9 1/2 weeks to go I definitely need to get that together ASAP, so I am very grateful for her help.  Other than our weekly Bible study on Wednesday, it should be a fairly low key week!

Monday - Barley Burgers, steamed veggies

Tuesday - Roast Chicken (a la Jeff)

Wednesday - California Salad (with Chicken left over from the roast)

Thursday - Spaghetti & Steamed Veggies

Friday - Pizza (with homemade whole wheat crust!)

Saturday - Pork Tenderloin (a la Jeff, again)

Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner


This post is part of Menu Plan Monday!  See Org Junkie for more great menus :)

Menu Plan August 2 - High on the Hog

The menu for this week is a bit pork-heavy, because the pigs my brother has been raising (We split one with another family, and his family split one with another family) have just come back from the butcher.  I am a little sad because I was hoping to get some lard out of the deal, but no such luck.  They had to butcher the pigs early because a neighbor informed the Marshall that *someone* was keeping pigs closer to their house than 900 feet (a county ordinance my brother was unaware of).  They gave us 30 days before mandating the execution, but still there was really only enough lard to make the sausage.  Bummer.

Anyway, we have some other interesting happenings this week; namely the fact that tonight is our family birthday celebration for July (yours truly, on the 20th) and August, as well as a welcome home party for my brother in law who just returned from Iraq.  The birthday person's family does the cooking...and since dh baketh not, and little unborn Joshua cannot do much in the kitchen yet, it meant I threw together a lasagna (yesterday, to bake today) and an ahhhhhmazing chocolate cake.  This is seriously an incredible whole wheat cake recipe.  I think the secret lies in using melted bakers' chocolate instead of cocoa, as well as almost all of the leavening ingredients being liquid.  You get a cake that is moist and delicious!  I doubled the recipe and made layers, and since dh is not as chocolate obsessed as I, I'm throwing a white chocolate ganache between the layers instead of the dark chocolate ganache I'll be using to top it.  Just wanted to throw in a little variation to make him happy since the other cake will be an ice cream cake and dh cannot have too much pasteurized dairy without getting sick.  We will have 2 Italian lasagnas and one Brazilian Lasagna (courtesy of my sis), so I'm pretty sure my lunches at work this week will consist of leftovers of our own lasagna.

OK, so that is the info on the week; without further ado, our menu plan:

Monday:  Lasagna (Other family members are making the freshly milled whole wheat bread, and the salad).  Decadent Chocolate Cake. 

Tuesday: Quinoa Risotto (using leftovers from the freezer because it is my late night at work) and sauteed squash.

Wednesday:  Salad with grilled chicken

Thursday:  Pork steak (this is actually from the freezer...needed to use it up before we get to our new pork reserves) w/mashed sweet potatoes and steamed veggies.

Friday:  Leftovers (another late night)

Saturday:  Pork Roast w/ Potatoes (from our garden!!) & Carrots (organic from the store...ours do not seem to be ready yet)

Sunday:  Leftovers (there is always more than enough roast)

This post is part of Menu Plan Monday @ Org Junkie!  Visit for more great menus.