Menu Plan Monday Week of 8/16

The garden continues to influence our meal choices and sides this week. The roma tomatoes are all coming ripe quickly, and we should start seeing our first Better Boys in the next week or so, I think. This week's meal plan provides 7 dinners for 2 adults and 2 kids, and comes in at around $34. I threw an estimate figure on the pizza night as I haven't decided my toppings yet. I do know that I will be doing a roasted tomato sauce for them, though!

Monday-
steak tostadas w/ roasted tomato salsa $3.00
corn .50
avocado slices .75
melon .00
$4.25

Tuesday-
lemon oregano chicken drumsticks $2.50
baked potatoes .75
spinach salad .75

Wednesday-
cheeseburgers $3.50
fries $1.25
melon .00
$4.75

Thursday-
pork chops $2.50
tomatoes au gratin .75
lemon scented broccoli $1.00

Friday-
tacos $3.75
refried black beans .75
$4.50

Saturday-
italian beef sandwiches $5.00
hand sliced fries .75
$5.75

Sunday-
pizza night
$6.00

Preserving the garden's bounty

Hubby and the boys have spent the day at the pool today. Has been just lovely for me, because I've finally been able to tackle some projects I had been putting off this week. First up, doing something with the oodles and oodles of jalapenos I had. I canned a batch of sliced jalapenos for nachos, etc. These tend to go pretty quickly around here, between hubby and our neighbor across the street. I also tried my hand at a batch of jalapeno jelly. You can use this to glaze meats when grilling, or serve over cream cheese with crackers. Really excited to sample how this turned out!
I'm also starting the project of drying the herbs from the garden. Rosemary, thyme, marjoram and oregano will all be dried and jarred. I hope to create some herb blends to give as Christmas gifts.

This week should bring another batch of pickles, and perhaps a batch of tomato sauce.

Menu Plan Week of 8/9

What the? You mean she's actually posting one? YES! Now, I will say that some of these might move around, but overall this will be the meals we're having for the week. I'm still wavering on whether I want mexican or italian tonight. 7 dinners for this family of 4 clock in at just over $31, and feature lots of fresh produce from the garden.

Monday-

tacodillas $4.50

corn .50

melon from the garden .00

$5.00

Tuesday-

bacon wrapped smoked pork tenderloin $4.00

capresi salad w/ tomatoes and basil from the garden $1.25

green beans from the garden .00

$5.25

Wednesday-

angel hair pasta with grilled veggies $2.50

salad .75

melon from the garden (I think there will be a lot of melon on the menu!) .00

$3.25

Thursday-

beef brisket sandwiches $3.00

fries $1.00

tomato and cucumber salad .50

$4.50

Friday-

grilled pork chops $1.50

rosemary potatoes .50

salad .75

$2.75

Saturday-

grilled pizza $3.00

greek salad $1.50

$4.50

Sunday-

chicken fajitas $3.50

black bean salad $1.00

guacamole $1.50

$6.00

Stuffed jalapenos in the smoker!

We've made stuffed jalapenos in the oven for years, but now, hubby has gone smoker crazy with them, and they are AWESOME! We used 12 peppers, cut in half and seeded. I boiled them for 2 minutes and shocked them in ice water, as my peppers are really hot, and the boiling takes a little bit of the heat out of them. In a bowl I combined 1 block of cream cheese, 1 bag of shredded mozzarella, 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic. Stuffed each pepper with about 1 heaping tablespoon of the cheese mixture, wrapped with a half slice of bacon, and secured with a toothpick.

Hubby smoked these at 235 degrees for about 2.5 hours, with pecan smoke for about an hour. Yum!

The garden is in full produce mode!

This is my favorite time of the year! Of course, it keeps me really busy, but I love it! The cucumbers had been coming in for a while, and I'd been getting herbs and some green beans, but we now have lots of tomatoes!
I've now made two batches of pickles- one dill and one sweet....relish is next.

Today I used some of my peppers in the smoker stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. We'll have those with dinner. I also made a batch of roasted tomato salsa, and I will post the recipe this week.

This year is a first for the melons. I have 2 heirloom varieties I'm growing, and the first few are just starting to ripen. We are going to have a bunch!

I tried to take a picture from upstairs of the garden for you to see, but it didn't turn out well, and it's HOT out today, so I'm pulling the a/c card today :) I will take a picture for you this week, along with pictures of the canning I'll be doing to preserve all of this!