Manor Minis and More

Menu Plan Monday!

A little bit back, Scrumptious had a post over at In My Box about her Bowl System. The system involves making up a lot of goodies that can be mixed and matched throughout the week for meals. I thought that this was a great idea that fit in really well with my marathon cooking style.

So this week, I am doing my own variation on the Bowl System which should pretty much feed us for the week.

I’ll be making:

Vegetable Soup
Steamed Broccoli
Steamed Asparagus (just a little from what was left in my garden)
Pickled Beets
Hard Boiled Eggs
Sauteed Potatoes
Plain Cous Cous
Hummus
Baba Ganoush

Cheese Sauce
Curry Sauce

I may add some Baked Tofu for a little extra protein.

This sounds like enough food. We will see how it goes!

Sandra

Before I started my minis blog, I blogged about cooking and participated in Menu Plan Monday.

Being an empty nester (if you don’t include the 8 cats, the 2 dogs, and my husband), I find I don’t necessarily need to cook every day, but I am still cooking. Now, I tend to have cook-a-thons, mostly on Mondays. So, I thought, why not go back to Menu Plan Mondays.

My original personal chef post:

Even though I like to cook, I have always enjoyed Peg Bracken’s I Hate To Cook Book.

She knew how to keep it simple – a boon for busy moms that have to cook almost every day. Her book also contained many recipes (okay, not so many vegetarian ones) that could be done ahead in the event one woke up full of energy and wanted to get the cooking for the day done with the rest of the daily chores.

When I wake up full of energy and the stars are aligned right and I know full well that I will be occupied with tasks that are not kitchen related, I like to go a step further than Peg Bracken recommends. I become my own personal chef.

I take my menu in hand (assuming I have one!) and make two or three dinners at a time.

There are a number of advantages to getting multiple dinners done in advance.

I don’t have to worry about cooking after a long day doing something else.

I stick to my menu plan.

I am forced to clean out the mystery containers in the fridge to make room for the new meals.

I take advantage of the kitchen day to do things like make croutons or applesauce or a pot of vegetable soup (keeping with the cleaning the fridge theme).

The time it takes to make multiple dinners is usually less than making the same dinners separately.

Ditto with the clean up time.

Altogether, my personal chef cook dates are quite satisfying. I hope Peg Bracken would have agreed.

End of original post.

On my menu this week (and already made and in the fridge):

“Beef” Chow Mein
Brown Rice
Lentil Soup
Focaccia Bread
Egg Salad (for lunches)
Shells and Cheese with Peas

With some last minute Tofu Dogs and Vegetarian Baked Beans or Pizza, this should feed us for the week. 🙂

What’s on your menu?

To see all those old menu plans, go here.