August Week 3 Meal Plan Review and Week 4 Options

Monday Dinner

This was my meal plan for August Week 3 (8/18 - 8/24):

Brunches:  Pancakes and French toast using up leftover batter; tortillas cooked with eggs and lunu miris, with leftover chicken curry; egg salad sandwiches; salad with sauteed chicken; toast and peanut butter, leftovers from dinners

Dinners: Ginger-soy sauteed chicken with rice, broccoli, cucumber salad (x 2); smoked sausage stir fry with vegetables over rice (x 2); rice and curries with leftover sauteed chicken; boxed macaroni and cheese with tuna and a salad; Leftovers;  or something else!  

I decided not to keep track of snacks/desserts unless we both had the same thing, because I can't keep track of what daughter snacks on.  Or, I might just record what I am eating.

Monday:

Brunch: Bread, butter, and banana sandwich (me); leftover shrimp alfredo and chicken drumstick (daughter)

Dinner: Rice cooked with chicken bouillon and green peas, sauteed broccoli, cucumber salad, with leftover stir-fried hotdogs and sauteed chicken (daughter); leftover stir-fried hotdogs (me)

Snacks/dessert: Banana, peppermint candy (me)

Tuesday:

Breakfast:  Toast with butter and calamondin marmalade (daughter) or peach jam (me)

Lunch:  Pizza

Dinner:  Leftover pizza

Snacks/dessert:  Asian pears

Wednesday:

Brunch:  Leftover pizza and sauteed chicken (daughter); leftover rice and sauteed chicken (me); Asian pear

Dinner:  Frozen burrito

Snacks/dessert:  Fruit smoothie (banana, strawberries, peaches, almond butter, lemon juice); cereal

Thursday:

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs and toast
Lunch:  Sauteed chicken with chili sauce (daughter); tuna sandwich (me)

Dinner:  Smoked sausage stir fry with rice

Snacks/dessert:  Hot cheetos, almonds (daughter); pears

Friday:

Brunch:  Egg salad sandwiches

Dinner:  Leftover smoked sausage stir fry with rice (?? - didn't really keep track!)

Snacks/dessert: Fresh figs and grapes, pears; egg salad on crackers

Saturday:

Brunch:  Canned corned beef sandwiches - I cooked the corned beef with onions, tomatoes, and chili powder

Dinner:  Corned beef mixture spread on warmed tortillas and rolled up like a burrito.  

Snacks/dessert:  Fresh fruit - banana (me), plums (daughter), savory crackers, apple juice  

Sunday:

Breakfast:  Fresh fruit: banana and cantaloupe (me); cantaloupe (daughter)

Lunch:  Tortilla  with corned beef (me); rice and chicken curry with tomato chutney (daughter)
Dinner:  Chicken curry sandwich (daughter), the last piece of sauteed chicken with tomato chutney (me)

Snacks/dessert:   Peach and condensed milk gelatin dessert

Peach/condensed milk/gelatin Dessert

I found many versions of this recipe online - some used condensed milk only, some used condensed milk and cream.  But, all called for canned peaches and canned sweetened condensed milk and unflavored gelatin.  It sounded like a cool and delicious summer dessert, and I had home-canned peaches and cans of condensed milk; all I needed was some unflavored gelatin.   So, I bought a packet of unflavored gelatin during the previous week's grocery shopping order and finally got around to making the dessert on Saturday evening.  It was an easy enough process - blend the can of peaches, syrup and all, with the can of condensed milk, dissolve the gelatin in a little water and add to the peach-condensed milk mixture and blend again, then, pour to a dish and refrigerate 4 hours to overnight.  I used a pint jar of my home-canned peaches in light sugar syrup, a 14 oz. can of condensed milk and one envelope of the unflavored gelatin, blended everything together and left it in the fridge overnight.

A Serving of Peach Dessert

The dessert set well, but, it was way too sweet for us!  All we could taste was the condensed milk!  I guess I should have halved the quantity of condensed milk or used two jars of home canned peaches.  Also, I hadn't dissolved the gelatin enough and there were undissolved granules of gelatin in the dessert.  I didn't mind that, though as it vaguely reminded me of sago/tapioca pudding.  I think I will mix this dessert with some yogurt to tone down the sweetness.  Daughter suggested adding it to a fruit smoothie and I think that will work out well, too.

Well, some of the meal plan options remained just that - options!  I went off the plan quite a bit as it was very hot and I didn't feel like cooking all that much.  But, that was okay.  No one went hungry and there were plenty of leftovers to put together for meals.

Moving on to the last week of August - August Week 4 (8/25 - 8/31), here are my meal plan options:

Brunches:  Corned beef sandwiches; salads; fresh fruit;  bread and peanut butter, scrambled eggs and toast, smoothies, leftovers from dinners

Dinners: Chicken curry and rice with tomato chutney, dhal, and cucumber salad; leftover smoked sausage stir fry with noodles or rice; hamburger patties with salad and corn on the cob; fried rice; leftovers;  or something else!  

Snacks/Desserts: Options include fresh fruit, crackers, yogurt (me - daughter doesn't like yogurt), cereal and milk, the last bagel with butter; dried fruits and nuts, granola bars

As always, the meal plan options are subject to change. 

And I am grateful for:

- Having the option to meal plan
- Having the option of going off the meal plan if I like
- A working fridge and freezer to store leftovers and planned overs without spoiling
- Electricity to run the fridge and freezer
- The availability of food

How is your meal planning coming along?  Have you tried a new dessert recipe that didn't quite turn out the way you had anticipated?