Lucas Corner Farmhouse

   I'm attempting to post our  meal plans each week....mostly so I can refer back to them later! If you want to see all my   previous meal plans   (some are monthly, some are weekly), you can see them   here . Future ones will be tagged too if you want to bookmark that link. I typically make sure to include some meals designated for leftovers to hopefully reduce the chance of forgetting about food in the back of the fridge, but this week we'll be eating out more at the end of the week and over the weekend and I don't want food to go bad, so I only planned for one night of leftovers and picked meals that don't typically leave much left to keep. We'll be doing most of our cooking Sunday through Thursday. Breakfasts tend to switch between cereal & oatmeal or granola, with the occasional muffins or cinnamon rolls thrown in. As everyone is waking up, they can fix their breakfast with some coffee or hot cocoa, and pick out a book or quiet activity like colori...

 I'm going to try to start posting my meal plans each week....mostly so I can refer back to them later! If you want to see all my previous meal plans (some are monthly, some are weekly), you can see them here . Future ones will be tagged too if you want to bookmark that link. I always make sure to include some meals designated for leftovers to hopefully reduce the chance of forgetting about food in the back of the fridge. Breakfasts tend to switch between cereal & oatmeal or granola, with the occasional muffins or cinnamon rolls thrown in. As everyone is waking up, they can fix their breakfast with some coffee or hot cocoa, and pick out a book or quiet activity like coloring to do while eating while we wait for the day to get started.

Happy Sunday! I've been working on this week's Meal Plan and came up with a new recipe in the process! While searching for some recipes to include using what was already in the cabinet, I came across a spinach alfredo dish that looked delicious, but it was made using one of the dinner meal kits from the grocery store, so I used it as inspiration to come up with my own. This is easy, and it uses cabinet and freezer staples that we keep, but fresh ingredients can easily be substituted. You'll need: 4 frozen chicken breasts 3 cloves garlic 2 Tbs olive oil 1/2 tsp salt 1 Tbs dried basil 1 box (16oz) pasta (I used angel hair pasta) 1.5 large jars alfredo sauce (about 35 oz total) 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 cup fresh spinach (or thawed frozen spinach) Place the chicken, garlic, and salt in the bottom of a Dutch oven or large stock pot and drizzle with olive oil. I got my 6 quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven from World Market several years ago, but they don't make the same...

Last week I made a Meal Plan for the first time in a very, very, very long time. I full expected that I would fall off the wagon, but we did really well sticking to it (or switching a meal here and there). When we were first married, we would make a meal plan for an entire month ( I posted about it at least once !) and make one BIG grocery trip if possible, using the best deals available in store and stacking coupons. As we would run out of milk, bread, cheese, or fruit, I would make quick stops to pick up those things. That was great for our budget and incredibly feasible with the schedule we had at the time. I may go back to that style of planning one day, but for now, I'm liking a week at a time. I can plan my grocery pick-ups and farmer's market trips around the meal plan (and when we start to harvest our garden, I'll write the meal plan based on our crops!). A few things about the way we tend to eat around here.... We eat a lot of eggs (when our hens aren't bei...

There's an Indian restaurant in town who has a House Salad that is SO GOOD.  I've always referred to it as "Cucumber Salad" but it also has corn and green bell peppers tossed in a thin ranch dressing. I made a variation of that last night at dinner at Mom's house to go with the Lemon Pepper Chicken she made. It was DELICIOUS.  We didn't have a bell pepper on hand, but we had a can of Medium Rotel.  It added a little extra kick to the otherwise cool salad. You can eat this as a side, or pour it over chicken like we did! WENDY'S CUCUMBER SALAD 2 medium cucumbers, diced 1 can yellow corn, drained, with 1/3 cup drained water set aside 1 can Rotel, drained (or diced tomatoes for a milder taste) 1/3 cup ranch dressing Toss the cucumbers, yellow corn, and Rotel in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the ranch dressing and drained water from the can of corn.  Pour over the diced veggies and toss. That's IT!...

After many months of not writing down my meal plan, and scrambling at 5:30 to find something to cook for dinner....I've written a February Meal Plan! :) Every two or three days, I include a day of leftovers for two reasons: a break from cooking, and a time to clean out the fridge. There are some recipes that are already on my blog, some that are on other blogs, and some in cookbooks around my house.  If you want a recipe you see on the calendar right now, let me know, and I'll give you a link or type it up for you! Otherwise...these are the recipes you can expect to see mentioned on my blog this month! (Along with whatever else I bake along the way).  I'll give you a fair warning...there are going to be days when we scratch what's on the menu and eat leftovers or go out to eat haha! But at least this way, I have something to refer to. In the past, I've made a master shopping list and took one day to hunt down the best deals for the ingredients in the menu. ...

Better Late than never, right?? We were still eating leftovers, so there was no point in making a menu and going shopping yet! Here it is! May Meal Plan   Hopefully you'll find some good recipes on there you want to try! :)  Let me know if there is a recipe you can't access for whatever reason that you want to try, and I'll get it to you! :) ~wendy

This wasn't as easy as it sounds...but, then again, it's the first time I've ever done this!!  I planned a meal for every day that Adam doesn't work.  The plan is to go grocery shopping and buy everything we need for the month, and not do another big shopping trip until next month.  If we wind up not eating what was planned one day, we'll still have those ingredients on hand for another day!  This is one of those great things I learned at the Women's Conference this weekend!! :)  Since there's no good way to upload a pdf to a blog, here is a link for anyone who wants to use it/change it/just wanna see what I did! :) ((Let me know if it doesn't work...))  I included links to recipes that were online for some of the meals.  Some of the recipes I'm using this month come from this cookbook Mom got me for Christmas... If you don't have it, you can preview the book through Amazon's link that I've added.  It's really great! :) Also, I j...