What's on your menu this week August 4th - 10th?

Here we are, well into August already and as humid today as we have had for a while.  Don't even want to go out to pick veggies (but I will do it anyway, along with hanging laundry out there)

Our forecast for tomorrow is predicting a day of rain which would be lovely, except for those who only have free time at the w/e.

I have taken the Italian sausage meat out of the freezer and will make up some spaghetti sauce using that and onions, tomatoes and peppers from the garden.  Might put some zucchini in as well - trying to find ways to use it as we don't really like it as a veggie in its own right.  Hubby planted some this year because there was space in a new veggie garden and rather than let weeds grow, he planted whatever leftover seeds he could find

A good thing to do with it I found last week was to add  it to home made hashbrowns.  Grate the potatoes and some onion and add grated zucchini as well as salt and pepper to taste..  Get just a little bit of oil nice and hot in the pan and add the potato mix.  Fry for about 4 minutes, turn and cook for another 4 minutes or so.  I didn't peel the zucchini but I'm sure if it was peeled, you could "hide" the dreaded vegetable from those who don't like it ie the kids.  Also add it to chilli

An awful lot of what we eat over summer depends on what is ready in the garden.  There's no point buying cauliflower when there's green beans that are ready for picking

I still have a couple of pieces of fish in the upstairs freezer so haddock, potatoes and green beans will be on the menu one night this week as will burgers - that will finish them off too.  I really enjoyed the chicken I did in the crockpot a couple of weeks ago and if I find one on sale, I'll do that again.  Just season it, and put it in the crockpot for 6 - 8 hours, breast down, no liquid and voila - fake rotisserie chicken that was melt in your mouth perfect.  Eat it hot or cold, with veggies or salad or use it in sandwiches.

Time to pick the rest of the beets and "deal" with them.  They're messy to do but we love them all year round

Cheese and tomato omelettes - quick and easy and definitely a cheap meal.  Plus it let's us have a meatless day which I like to do each week if I can.

How about you?  How do you work in garden produce to yoiur menu?  What will you be eating this week?

Enjoy your week,

Tasty

I never know where the day is going to take me.  This morning I went out to pick beans and tomatoes.  The beans are now in the freezer.  There weren't a lot of them but they are now ready to be used, when we want them - like maybe January.

Anyway, when I came back in to see what I had in the way of tomatoes, I had just over 2lb of an heirloom tomato that I had grown from seed.  The skin on them is a green, shading to a dark red when they are fully ripe and the flesh inside is a darker red than what you would buy in the store.

I decided to pair them with some Italian sauage meat that I had in the freezer.  Using onion and peppers, also from the garden.  I had about 3/4lb of sausage so it is a very veggie sauce but oh, boy, it is so good.  The Italian sausage has added a slightly sweet taste and other than garlic and a tiny bit of salt it needs absolutely NO herbs.  The veggies have added so much flavour.  Not sure if we'll eat that tonight or not - it really is kind of hot for pasta.  Feels like about 108F out there today - way too hot for this gal.

Tasty

We had rain overnight and a definite cool down in temperatures.  I like it.

I did a quick grocery run today and picked up some turkey scallopini and bacon on sale.  We'll enjoy one meal of scallopini tonight and I'll prep another meal for harvest time and also slice one package up ready for a couple of nights of stir fry.  The bacon will be used for BLTs and accenting meals along the way.

Our garden veggies are coming on beautifully so they will star in most meals this week.  We've got green and yellow beans, Chard, green and yellow zucchini, beets and cucumbers galore.  Some will get put into the freezer for winter and some family favorite pickles will get made if I can find time.

Was very upset yesterday - came home to my crock pot dinner of hot sausage with green peppers, onions and homecanned sauce - and realized that it wasn't turned on.  How very frustrating.  What a waste of perfectly good meat - had to throw it away.

So today's dinner is chili and I checked three times before I left the house to be sure the crock pot was turned on.  Tomorrow will be hamburgers with zucchini casserole - Thursday will be some kind of fish with who knows what vegetable - and Friday will be "who knows"

Just got a big quote for getting my car inspected today - told them to go ahead, but I sure wish there was some magic ball to know when to give up on a car.  It is a 96 Honda wagon - with 146,000 miles on it, but most people I know run these to 200,000 or even 300,000 miles.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Janet

 i have been canning off & on for several weeks. yesterday another 11 jars of tom soup & today a 3/4 gallon jar of super hot zucchini relish for my friend who thinks it's the best thing she ever ate. cooked it down for hours & put it in a 3/4 gal jar. not processing so it will have to sit in her fridge.  i think  I am up to 125 jars of  canned goodies so far. nearly out of toms. but have a fridge full of small cucs to man handle. think tom I'll turn those into pickle relish , something i've never canned. hope it turns out good. the tomatoes are pretty much done for unless a miracle happens & we get rain. I pulled the summer squash this morning & the cucs last nite. we'll plant something new next wknd. in their places.

 since I've been so busy  canning &  running back & forth to the eye dr's, i haven't been cooking much for the past week. however I did bake a meat loaf last week so  weds. nite  i'll warm it up with some corn/okra/sqsh mix & a baked potato & a dab of white gravy.

 tonite I will serve DH egg salad, cucs & onions, french fries, canned fruit

thursday we'll finish off the   spinach ravioli casserole I found in the frzr. this morning with some garlic toast & small salad.

 friday i'll teach my great nephew how to mac & chz.  from scratch with brats  so he can do it on his own when he goes back to Tx. we'll also have blue jello  with cool whip & sliced tomatoes.

 saturday & sunday will be what I can find in the frzr. the warm up. sunday I may thaw a chicken  out for next week & also some turkey breast my DH smoked a wk or 2 ago  will make a great casserole.   always fun to see what you can make from what you find in the frzr. & cupboards. always a fun challenge to whip up a new & tasty dish.

Well Tasty, I am using up some of the leftovers from the freezer as much as possible.  I may not be able to can this season, but i am going to try to freeze as much as possible with a little help from my daughter who will be here for a while!

So here's my menu for the rest of the week (a little late as usual

Sunday- we had swiss steak and tomato sauce over noodles, a tossed salad, and what was left of the chocolate ice cream.

Tues was Fish tacos with tomatoes, lettuce, a bit of leftover cheese, and an avocado that was starting to get very ripe.  Dessert was poundcake that was in the bottom of the freezer along with some Hershey's Lite syrup.

Wed-tonite will be tuna salad in homegrown tomatoes and pasta salad.  Also, banana cream pie from the freezer.

Thurs-sloppy Joes on buns, leftover pasta salad, fresh peaches with cool Whip for dessert.

Friday-hopefully a dinner out with DH then a movie from Redbox. 

Sat-haven't the slightest idea yet.  Will be going to the Farmer's Mkt so it will probably be fresh produce of somekind and what else, I don't know.  I like your idea of cheese and tomato omelettes, Tasty.  I think I still have some cheese in the freezer that needs using up and I have 2 doz eggs that I bought on sale for 99 cents ea. last week.  Maybe I will also make some deviled eggs this week too.  mmmmm-sounds good for a hot night!

Jan in MI 

Oh, wouldn't I love to find eggs at 99c a dozen  In the supermarkets here, I usually pay about 2.59 - 2.70 a dozen.  If I go to the farm shop, I'll pay about 3.00 - 3.50, depending on just how large they are.  But I don't mind because they are worth it.

Wish I could can some tomatoes for you this year.  The last 2 nights we have brought in about 8 - 9lbs of toms each nihgt and today hubby came in with almost 10lbs of them

A few nights ago, in an attempt to use some zucchini I made a form of ratatouille but I used no aubergine (I'm not keen on it and didn't have any anyway).  Anyway, with tomatoes, green peppers, onions and zucchini, all from the garden, it was a real tasty treat Sauteed it all in a skillet with a little oil and butter, added some garlic, salt & pepper and bingo it was good so I'm doing the same again tonight to go with a meatloaf (I know, that is completely unplanned but that's the way it goes)

Have a good evening,

Tasty

Tasty, that really sounds good!  It has all of my favorite ingredients in it. 

Speaking of "unplanned" dinners etc., I do that a lot!  If DH brings home stuff that needs to be used right away (marked downs etc), then the menu I planned goes out the window!  Yesterday, a neighbor from our old neighborhood dropped in on us and brought us 8 beautiful red and grren peppers.  He said that they were over-run with them this year and he planted too many, because last year he didn't plant enough!  Am I complaining???  Not on your life!  We are having stuffed green peppers tonite for sure

I DO have a complaint this year though------no one has given me any extra zucchini which is unusual.  I guess I will have to break down and go to Farmers Mkt on Sat and actually buy some  Usually, everyone is overrun with them by now. LOL!!

Our stores have been running specials on the eggs for about a month or so now, so we have been eating a lot more of them.  When you think about the price of cereal lately (except for oatmeal etc), eggs are a bargain here.  (DH HATES oatmeal, but I love it!)

I hate to see what the prices will be this fall, but I am sure this group (as usual) will come up with some very creative ideas.  Guess that is why I love this site, even if it is slow sometimes!

Have a great day,

Jan in MI

Oh, Jan, I wish I was close enough to be able to share zucchini.  We have way more than we can use and altho I have some friends who can use some, one asked "only for the little ones".  The majority of our extras are going to the food bank with me tomorrow morning.

Hubby picked our veggies yesterday and when he cam back indoors, one tomato alone weighed just under 2lbs It was kind of an odd shape having grown I think around the stem of another plant but it sure made for good eating last night.  Our mix was so good we both went back for second helpings and that's a thing we rarely do these dyas, just trying to cut back on how much we eat/portion control.  Lunch will be meatloaf and tomato sandwiches