Our Family Dinner Table - The Past Three Months

Every few weeks I sit down with cooking books spread across the table and leaf through the pages.  I have been planning our dinners approximately three weeks into the future.  I starting this project in November.  "Why?", you might ask.  Well to be completely honest it is because we have food stamps.  In spite of careful shopping I still managed to run low on food stamps by end of the month and it was an unnecessary worry in my life.  We manage to eat varied  mostly organic, fresh, made from scratch meals every single day sitting around the same dinner table (unless Adam is working out of town) sharing our day with family and sometimes friends as well.

There are a few patterns that  have developed over the course of this experiment that I try to utilize to make the process simpler:

• soup and fresh baked bread once a week
• 2 or 3 vegetarian meals per week
• seafood once a week
• a salad centered meal once a week 
• pizza night every other weekend (from scratch of course) 
• all breads and crackers with the exception of tortillas are made from scratch

Here are the meals we have had since November 4th:

Nov. 4th - pot luck, bring cornbread

Nov. 5th - Spaghetti with mushrooms and cream sauce

Nov. 6th - Crispy Kale and Rice

Nov. 7th- Spinach Salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, beet, carrot and walnuts with raspberry dressing along with Mushroom and Rice stuffed Winter Squash

Nov. 8th - goat roast, bring a potato casserole 

Nov. 9th - Spinach and Bacon Salad, Parmesan Encrusted Salmon with Honey Mustard Sauce

Nov. 10th - all sick, no dinner, only broth

Nov. 11th - Mac and Cheese with Hot Dogs (freeze half for hunting trip)

Nov. 12th - Pizza with Roasted Beets, Kale and Feta

Nov. 13th - Pork Roast with Carrots and Jerusalem Artichokes

Nov. 14th - Butter Head Salad and Venison back straps

Nov. 15th - Quiche with Kale, Onion and Mushrooms

Nov. 16th - Curry with Shrimp

Nov. 17th - Carrot Soup with Fresh Bread

Nov. 18th - Kale, White Bean and Sausage Soup

Nov. 19th - (at the Cabin) Hashbrown Casserole

Nov. 20th - (at the Cabin) Mac and Cheese Casserole

Nov. 21st - (at the Cabin) Lentil Stew

Nov. 22nd - (at the Cabin) Thanksgiving! Roasted Chicken with onions, potatoes, carrots; steamed broccoli; stuffing casserole; left over mac and cheese; apple pie; pumpkin pie 

Nov. 23rd - left overs

Nov. 24th - Spaghetti with meatballs

Nov. 25th - Chicken Soup with Dumplings (stock make from roasted chicken and left over thanksgiving vegetables

Nov. 26th - Leftover Lentil Stew

Nov. 27th - Pineapple Chicken with Rice (for Adam at work)

                 - Roasted Beet and Orange Salad (for the kids and I)

Nov. 28th - Risotto with Mushrooms, Peas and Rice (fail - tried to use brown rice)

Nov. 29th - baked chicken legs with potato wedges and carrots

Nov. 30th - Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce

Dec 1st - Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice (make double and freeze half)

Dec 2nd - French Onion Soup with Fresh Bread

Dec 3rd - Baked Winter Squash with Barley, Kale and Sun Dried Tomato Suffing

Dec 4th - Royal Tomatoes with Paneer and Naan

Dec 5th - New England Clam Chowder with homemade soda cracker

Dec 6th - Spinach Salad with Oranges and Roasted Beets, Venison Roast

Dec 7th - Pizza Night (make extra dough)

Dec 8th - Spaghetti and Meatballs

Dec 9th - Shrimp Soup

Dec 10th - Sushi

Dec 11th - Tofu and Cucumber Salad

Dec 12th - Pot Luck - Kale White Bean and Sausage Soup

Dec 13th - Mac and Cheese 

Dec 14th - Herbed Seafood Pasta

Dec 15th - Leftovers

Dec 16th - Argentine Stew

Dec 17th - Lentil Soup (frozen) with Biscuits

Dec 18th - Spring Rolls with Shrimp

Dec 19th - Somen Noodles with Zucchini (not a favorite)

Dec 20th - Pot Pie (use up leftover Argentine Stew)

Dec 21st - Sloppy Joes (bake buns and bread)

Dec 22nd - Carrot Soup

Dec 23rd - Pork Fried Rice

Dec 24th - Baked Oatmeal for Breakfast

                 Pot luck - Sweet Potato Casserole, ham, cardamon bread

Dec 25th - Tofu Cucumber Salad

Dec 26th - Spinach Stuffed Manacotti

Dec 27th - Pizza Night 

Dec 28th - Quiche with summer squash, ham and onion

Dec 29th - Mac and Cheese with Ham (per Ivory's request)

Dec 30st - Pot Luck - Pork Fried Rice, Tofu and Cucumber Salad

Jan 1st - Fish with Rice and Carrots

Jan 2nd - Pumpkin Soup

Jan 3rd - Spaghetti and Meatballs

Jan 4th - Butter head Salad and Venison Steaks

Jan 5th - Sweet Potato Quesadillas 

Jan 6th - Chili with Cornbread

Jan 7th - Gnocci with Cream Sauce, Spinach and Mushrooms

Jan 8th - Mac and Cheese with Ham

Jan 9th -  Spinach, Rice and Kale Casserole

Jan 10th - Mushroom, Onion, Quiche

Jan 11th - Apple Cabbage Slaw, Spicy Shrimp with Yogurt

Jan 12th - Baked chicken legs, salad and cabbage slaw

Jan 13th - Potato Soup with Bacon

Jan 14th - Cauliflower Primavera

Jan 15th - Roasted Brussels sprouts, chicken and rice

Jan 16th - Egg Rolls, Peanut rice noodles

Jan 17th - Clam Chowder with Soda Crackers (homemade)

Jan 18th - Pizza Night (make double the pizza dough and freeze)

Jan 19th - Baked Fish with Rice

Jan 20th - Lentil Sausage Soup

Jan 21st - Winter Vegetables Quesadillas

Jan 22nd - Herbed Barley Salad and pulled pork

Jan 23rd - Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions and Spinach

Jan 24th - White Bean and Chicken Chili

Jan 25th - Spinach Salad with Poached Eggs, Potatoes and Chorizo 

Jan 26th - Fritatta (use up Spinach Salad leftovers)

Jan 27th - Ground Hog Day Party (no dinner) 

Jan 28th - Dampf Nudeln

Jan 29th - Shrimp Bisque

Jan 30th - Spaghetti Squash with Pasta Sauce (lots of veggies and Mushrooms)

Jan 31st - Curried Lentils with Paneer, Mac and Cheese (we ended up eating the Lentils for lunch the following two days..  mac and cheese resulted from a food compromise between Ivory and I)

Feb 1st - Chili  Night @ a Friend's House - made Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Feb 2nd - Pizza Night (toppings included turkey, chorizo, caramelized onions, spinach and mushrooms.. no more cheese only for the kids)

tonight:

Feb 3rd - Soup and Sauna @ a Friend's House - make fresh bread

 

tomorrow:

Feb 4th - Parmesan Encrusted Salmon with Honey Mustard Sauce

We also cook breakfast every morning...  lunch is usually leftovers or fresh fruits and vegetables, cheese and bread, hard boiled eggs, etc... If we are somewhere else for lunch (the children's museum for example) we always pack a lunch.  

I could keep going, but I will not.  Our dinners are planned through Ferbuary 24th, but the sun is up, the kids are up and the Sunday mound of unwashed laundry is beckoning me and I have some fresh bread to bake for tonight's get together.  I'm bored with this and so are you most likely.