Menu Plan for the week of November 1-7

This week I'm challenging myself to a pantry challenge, well actually this is the second week of my pantry challenge. I go through my cabinets, freezer and fridge and use up things that are getting old. Stuff that I bought for a recipe, then never got it made, stuff I bought three of cause I thought I had none, only to find I had two more at home, anything with ice crystals on it...etc. Last week I used up a bag of beans and a ham bone dreg from the freezer, a whole chicken, some homemade deer salami sticks, brats, etc...The challenge basically is to purchase as little as possible and use as much as possible of what you have on hand. For this week's menu I bought a pound of bulk breakfast sausage, eggs, and I will likely need to buy salad towards the end of the week. I will need flour tortillas (I want to make breakfast burritos as I found two gallon size bags of Canadian bacon in the freezer this week that need to be repackaged and used up), fruit, butter, ketchup, parsley, yogurt and probably some milk, but will try to get by this week without buying much else. The one thing I might get extra are some chicken breasts which are on sale for $1.79 a pound for BS CB through Tuesday at Safeway since I am out of bagged cooked chicken at the moment and chicken taco meat. I'll also be cleaning out the pantry and using up canned Amy's soups, dried fruit and whatever other tidbits I find in there for lunches, etc.



Monday-

Sausage and Cauliflower (found old bag of cauliflower in the freezer--bought a pound of sausage at the store and we have on hand onions)

Sausage and Cauliflower
( a family fav from an old dutch cookbook)

1 head cauliflower
1 # bulk breakfast sausage (usually our deer sausage won't need to be drained)
1 onion
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Cut and Steam the cauliflower until it's tender. While that is cooking slice and saute the onion in some olive oil. Remove the onions from the pan and brown the sausage -- once sausage is cooked, add onions back in and nutmeg. Drain and add the cauliflower to the meat mixture. Mix well and serve. It's simple but delicious!

Butternut Squash (In pantry)

Biscuits (from scratch-using pantry staples)

Canned Fruit (from canned stores)



Tuesday-

Breakfast for dinner

(french toast or pancakes) & bacon or sausage & scrambled eggs (everything on hand- will likely buy eggs and flour tortillas to make breakfast burritos for the freezer.)



Wednesday-

Shrimp and angel hair pasta (both from freezer)

Veggie (from freezer-probably garden snow peas or squash)



Thursday-

Cabbage Rolls (from freezer meals)

Zucchini Parmesan Bread (using zucchini in freezer and Parmesan in fridge and pantry staples)



Parmesan Zucchini Garlic Savory Bread

3 c flour

6 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp onion powder or 1/4 onion+ very finely minced

1 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves very finely minced

2 eggs

1 c buttermilk or sour milk

2 1/2 tbsp sugar

1/3 c oil

1 heaping cup shredded peeled zucchini

3/4 c cheddar cheese, shredded/grated



In a bowl, combine the flour, cheeses, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, beat the eggs, buttermilk, sugar, fresh onion and garlic, and butter/oil. (if you powdered onion and garlic, put into the dry ingredients) Stir wet into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in Zucchini. Pour into greased and floured 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350degrees F for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.



Friday-

Homemade Pizza (dregs of three small bags of pepperoni, cooked Italian sausage , Canadian bacon, sauteed mushrooms, red pepper, onion, pre-made crusts and frozen mozz cheese all from my freezer.)

Salad



Pizza Crust
3 cups of all purpose flour
2 ¼ tsp . instant or quick rise yeast
1 T. sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 cup water (warm)
4 T. cooking oil or 3T. and add 1 T. more water

In a mixing bowl, with a mixing spoon, mix together flour-2 cups, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the warmed water and oil to the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Knead for about 5 min. Divide the dough in half using a knife. Cover and let it rest for 10 min. Roll out using a rolling pin to make two 13 inch circles. Place the dough in 2 greased (12 inch or 9x13 baking pans)
Cover and let it rise until almost doubled or for a thin crust don’t let it rise. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 min or until cheese is bubbly.





Saturday-

Pork chops (pulled from the freezer--yikes these are icicles! may need to rinse the frost off and cook them in some sort of sauce to make them palatable)

Veggie or salad

Potatoes (from pantry)