Meal Plans Week of 7-4-10

God Bless America!  Happy Independence Day everyone!  I hope you are enjoying a long weekend full of family time and celebration.  We sure are :)  Homemade ice cream, pool, baseball game, parade, fireworks.  Love it.

This will be a fun, scary, busy, exciting week.  I'm glad it's finally here.  Today we are going to church in the morning (Rebecca and I finally get to go again.).  This evening we're going to a Whitecaps baseball game (Justin's Father's Day gift:).  We haven't been to a game in a while.  We're all excited.  Rebecca can't wait to hear them sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  She gets a kick out of that song.  Tomorrow we'll do our usual 4th of July stuff...local arts/crafts fair, parade and fireworks (watch from our porch...doesn't get any better than that).  Then the regular week begins.  Tuesday is farmer's market.  Wednesday is groceries.  Thursday is the big day...IVF kick-off!  I'm scared and excited.  Really just glad it's finally here and we can get on with this.  I might go to Target on Thursday too.  We'll see how long my Dr. appt. takes.  Friday I'll be cleaning and packing.  Saturday we're heading to Grand Blanc to spend the weekend with my family.

Last week I was pretty busy in the kitchen.  And now that so much fresh produce is coming in it's not going to slow down any time soon.  But I will probably be cutting back a bit on my extras.  Focus on the necessities and preservation.  Especially since I don't know how I'll be feeling over the next few weeks.  I don't want to add any stress to my life.  Last week I made mayonnaise, mint carob chip ice cream, watermelon popsicles, pickled cucumbers, vanilla ice cream,  fermented berry syrup, carob chips, kishk, ganola, soaked/dried oats, crispy walnuts, basil walnut pesto, ketchup, fermented punch, whole wheat pizza crust (post to come), sourdough english muffins, kefir, bulgur flour, thousdand island dressing, beef broth, fermented pinto bean paste, whey and cream cheese and pit/froze 2 qts. of cherries.

This week I don't have a lot extra planned.  Depends what I find at the farmer's market.  I think it will be another week yet until the good blue crop blueberries are in, so I won't be stocking up on those yet.  Peaches are starting, but not the canning variety yet.  Looks like our beans might be starting this week.  We'll see if it's just enough to eat fresh or if I'll have to start freezing some.  I'll keep up with making kefir daily.  I've finally gotten the hang of it and have a dish with lunch every day.  I didn't have time last week to make carob sauce, so I might do that this week.  I still have some good cream to use up, and that would be a great way to use it.  I didn't get around to seasoning my cast iron skillet last week.  Hopefully I can start this week.  I'm not sure yet if I'll have to make anything for our trip this weekend.  Still trying to figure out plans with my family.  If time (and heat) allows I could do some baking with my sourdough starter.  But it's not likely.  My SIL just posted a sourdough bread recipe that sounds good.  Hopefully I can try that soon.  And I have a bunch of homemade cream cheese to use up.  Any good ideas?  Maybe I'll have to use that in a dish to bring on Sat.

I just looked at the weather forecast.  More 90 degree days this week.  Yuck.  I may have to totally redo my meal plans.  We'll see.  I had planned to make cornbread...and use it in multiple meals.  So we'll see if I end up being able to bake that or not.  I still don't have pickling lime, but I'll do without it for now.

A few misc. updates.  I finally made it to Forest Hills Foods on Friday and got some seafood.  They do have a much better selection than Meijer.  I just wish it was closer.  I'm not making that trip across town all the time.  At least I was able to stock up a bit so we have a few things in the freezer.  I got tilapia, catfish, salmon and shrimp.  I've started my July co-op order.  I love browsing for good, local food online.  And I decided to try taking cod liver oil.  I started yesterday.  Boy is that stuff gross!!!  We'll see if I can stick with it or if I have to switch to the pill form.  Either way I'm hopeful that it will help my body continue healing.

Here's what's on the menu this week.
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S (church, Whitecaps game, feed sd starter, make punch)
  B - kefir, granola, beets (me), sourdough english muffin w/ pb, banana (Justin)
  L - cashew, avocado chicken salad (try it with crispy cashews and new homemade mayo) w/ crackers and cheese , watermelon
  D - dinner at baseball game

M (craft fair, parade, fireworks, soak lentils, make carob sauce)
  B - apple w/ almond butter, veggies (me), cinnamon raisin muffins (from freezer), grapes (Justin)
  L - leftover pesto pizza
  D - grilled steak, tortilla chips w/ avocado dip and fermented bean paste, grilled zucchini (from garden!!), watermelon

T (cook lentils, farmer's market, freeze zucchini)
  B - apple with almond butter and flax seed (me), cereal (Justin)
  D - sloppy lentils over grilled zucchini, home canned pearsauce

W (fruit/veg prep/preservation, Meijer)
  B - cream cheese omelette, toast, fruit/veg
  D - crockpot pork chops and potatoes, steamed sugar snap peas (Justin), hard boiled egg, chicken broth w/ white beans, sugar snap peas and avocado (me)

Th (make extra kefir, Dr. appt, Target, fruit/veg prep/preservation)
  B - hard boiled egg, veggies (me), crunchy granola bars (from freezer), fruit (Justin)
  D - leftover sloppy lentils over grilled zucchini, grapes, blueberries

F (clean, pack, prep food)
  B - cherry, pineapple, blueberry, avocado kefir smoothie
  D - salad w/ hard boiled egg, cucumber, crispy nuts, dried fruit, raw cheese and homemade thousand island dressing

S (clean, GB)
  B - kefir, veggies
  D - GB