Menu Plan Monday 2.15.10

Happy Valentine's Day! Wishing you lots of hugs and kisses. Know that you are loved (John 3:16). For breakfast today, we enjoyed toad-in-a-hole (bread with heart cutout filled with an egg) and French Toast Hearts. Hubby and I enjoyed dinner out at Rafters, using our last $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate. Too bad they are no longer on the lists of restaurants. Their ribs are awesome!

Every week I participate in Menu Plan Monday. Although I always stray from my menu, I feel good that at least I have some idea of what to make every day. I'm going to do my best this week to stay out of the grocery stores too. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been slowly cooking up different freezer meals in hopes that I can stay out of the kitchen more often. So besides a few dairy and produce items, we should have everything we need for this week!

BREAKFAST
French Toast
Breakfast Burritos
Oatmeal Pancakes
Baked Potatoes
Bagels & Cream Cheese
Tapsilog (Filipino steak, eggs & fried rice)
Breakfast Casserole

LUNCH
Soup & Salad
Lasagna
Sandwiches
Tacos
Pizza
Pancit (Filipino Lo Mein)
Adobo (Filipino Chicken/Pork Stew)

AFTERNOON SNACKS
Fruit & Cheese
Pumpkin Bread
Smoothies
Cereal

DINNER
BBQ Sandwiches
Stirfry & Grains
Pasta
Crockpot Casserole
Pressure Cooker Creation
Soup & Salad
Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner)

I know this menu seems overly detailed. (I am really more laid back than that!) But I hate leftovers. Once I finally got out of the closet and admitted that to myself, it became clear that freezer cooking is the only way to go for me! So now, when I make two batches of something, I freeze them in portions perfect for single meals. The downside- no second helpings! Instead of preparing whole freezer meals, I often freeze meats and veggies in baggies. Then I make easy stirfry with couscous the day of the meal. (I'm also working on freezing rice because brown rice takes forever to cook!)


My husband also requested more Filipino dishes. This week I made sotanghon- Filipino noodle soup. Wal-Mart sells rice sticks for less than $2 dollars. This is great for Gluten-Free soup! All you really need is chicken with broth, onions, and the noodles.
For this version I used:
6 cups homemade chicken broth
1lb cooked chicken breast, diced
1 onion chopped
3 stalks celery, sliced
4 cloves garlic minced
3 slices ginger minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
a bunch of parsley chopped

Saute veggies. Add broth. Bring to boil then simmer for 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add seasonings, suit to taste. It's better if you have chicken soup base and fish sauce (but works fine without it). Then add the chicken and noodles (I used 2 of the 3 bundles). Turn of the heat and let stand 10 minutes for the noodles to get soft. I loved this soup growing up and we would use dark chicken pieces for better flavor and lots more salt!