Menu Plan Monday - 10/12

Well, this is how we're starting our week here in Colorado. It has snowed/iced off and on since Friday evening. This is what my grass looked like after we returned from church this morning. If Michael hadn't been here, there is NO WAY I would have braved the icy roads with the kids by myself to get to church, it was quite slick.

We had about 3 weeks of actual fall-ish weather and now we've skipped straight on to winter. Boo :-(

Here's what I'm planning for our meals this week:

Breakfasts will consist of cold cereal, oatmeal with honey/maple syrup and fruit and pancakes.

Lunches: Michael typically eats the leftovers from dinner the night before and the kids and I have quick fixes like, pasta, baked chicken nuggets, fresh fruit, veggie trays, cheese and crackers, sandwich wraps and any straggling left overs.

Dinners:
Monday - Crockpot chili, topped with cheese and crackers, and a side of fresh fruit
Tuesday - Meatloaf, oven roasted potatoes, green beans and bread with butter
Wednesday - Baked lemon pepper fish, steamed veggies, fresh fruit and rolls
Thursday - Philly cheesesteak sandwiches and fruit smoothies
Friday - Pizza night
Saturday - Baked chicken, steamed veggies, rice and rolls.
Sunday - The kids eat whatever I can scrounge up and Michael and I have a special take out dinner later in the evening.

Other goodies on the list for the week include apple crisp, gingerbread muffins and honey pumpkin muffins which will serve as our snacks and desserts through the week.

I think I just might turn into a pumpkin...

Do you remember this post and my gigantic pumpkins? Well, today was the day I tackled some of the preserving.

We had a regular size pumpkin from a pumpkin patch we visited and our 2 ginormous pumpkins. I chose to take care of the two smaller ones today (and we've since decided to sell the 76lb-er on Craigslist). I started this process just after lunch today and just now (at 9pm) closed up shop and I'm not even finished yet.

The average size pumpkin was definitely nothing special, but this guy was a bit challenging to cut into, even with my very best knife.











Here's the first batch in the oven baking.









Here are the other two batches waiting.






Today yielded me 15 pints of puree for the freezer and I still have about 4-6 more pints that are baked, peeled and chopped and ready to be pureed but I didn't have any more standing up left in me today (since I've been standing for the better part of the last 8 hours).

I also have enough pumpkin seeds to be roasted to last us a long while. They've been washed and I'll roast them tomorrow.
Updated 10/11
In other preserving news, here's what I have done and still have on the to-do list:
* Apple butter - done (2 pints and 8 half-pints)
* Apple pie filling - decided to just make a few batches of apple crisp instead
* Tomato/pasta sauce - (1.5 pints done and still have lots of tomatoes ripening, will probably have enough to make a few pints by the end of next week) DONE
* Jalapenos - done (half pint)
* Tomatoes; dehydrated - (have dehydrated a few pounds and will probably do the same with the stragglers that are the last to ripen once I've canned all that I can)