The Trouble With A Menu Plan...

The trouble with a menu plan is that:

A) You have to make one before it works

and

B) When you have one you really come to rely on it and when you don't it makes for a miserable week!!

I thought about it on Monday but never quite made time since I had to work this Monday (my normal day off). I thought about it yesterday but made dinner and dessert and then it was 10 o'clock! Today is the day I guess. I know you're wondering if it is even worth it now? Yes, it is. Now that I know what it is like to plan ahead I HATE coming home and trying to figure out what to cook.

Here it is:

Monday: Tacos for Brian, I never really ate dinner.

Tuesday: Spaghetti (with herbs and butter for me, meat sauce for Brian) with Quick Cheese Bread (this recipe is a winner! We've had it twice now)

Wednesday: Parmesan Crusted Walleye with Roasted Herb Potatoes

Thurday: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Soup & Peas

Friday: Breakfast for Supper - French Toast, Hashbrowns, Bacon, and Eggs

Breakfasts this week consist of those blueberry waffles I made for me, I'm not sure what Brian's been eating. For dessert I made No-Bake Cheesecake. I had one jar of blueberry filling that didn't seal so I topped the cheesecake with that. It was good last night but it is even better now that is had been in the fridge for awhile. Try it, you'll like it.

Whew. Glad that's done!! :)

What's on your menu this week?

All In A Day's Work

I could hardly believe my eyes when we pulled up to my sister-in-law's house the other day. Across the road, bordering a field that my father-in-law owns, there were hundreds of cherries hanging from the trees. I held back my excitement long enough to ask if anyone picks those? All I got back was a funny look. They had never noticed the cherries!! That was last week and the cherries weren't quite ripe yet.


We did go up to the beach for the weekend but we came home first thing Sunday morning. I have a bad sunburn (stupid me!) so I certainly didn't want to lay on the beach anymore and we were both ready to go home. Brian went to cut hay and I headed over to pick cherries. The whopping total: 8 # 13 oz.!! That took me a good part of the morning. Back home I pitted them all. Since our 5 tv channels suck and I canceled Netflix I set up my labtop next to me and watched the first 4 weeks of Here Come The Newlyweds while I pitted. After experimenting with different methods, I liked using a drinking straw and popping the pits out the other side of the cherry. It still took forever.

When I finally had them all pitted I decided to make cherry pie filling. I used this recipe and expanded it to work with the 14 cups of berries I had. Then I canned it, processing pints for 35 minutes as the Ball canning book suggests.

Once the cherries were done I moved on to blueberries. What kind of idiot puts 18# of berries in one Foodsaver bag I don't know but that's what I had done a few years ago. I thawed the huge bag so that I could use some blueberries for my 4th of July pie. I expected them to taste bad after so long in the freezer but they were still quite good. Blueberry season is coming up again soon so I needed to use these up!

First project: 4 batches of blueberry muffins equaling just under 4 dozen muffins total. Those went on a rack to cool and then in to freezer bags for quick breakfasts. Next: 1 batch blueberry waffles, into the fridge for breakfasts this week.

Then I made two batches of blueberry pie filling. I used the recipe from the Ball canning book but altered it to be easier. I'll post my method in the next few days.


There were just enough blueberries to top off Brian's ice cream and keep a few in the fridge for desserts the rest of the week. I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen while the last batch was processing so that by around 10 PM I was finally done. I was really tired and didn't relax much considering it was a Sunday but it feels great to have all this food put away

Total production for the day:

• Just shy of 4 dozen blueberry muffins (frozen)
  
• 9 pints blueberry pie filling
  
• 5 blueberry waffles
  
• 6 pints cherry pie filling

Umm... why does it feel like this list should be WAY longer?

What are you preserving right now? Have you every canned pie fillings? What berries are in season where you live?

Sunday Stroll: A Drive Around

See who else is strolling over at The Quiet Country House.

Traditional 4th of July Pie

I've been making this pie almost every 4th of July now for several years. I think I missed last year so it better be extra good this year to make up for it.


Start with enough dough for a two crust pie. Roll out half of the dough and place it in a 9 inch pie pan. Roll the other half out in to a circle around 10 inches across. Cut 6 strips from that, about 3/4" wide each. You'll also need to cut out 6 stars from the dough that is left. I used a paring knife to cut my stars but you could use a small cookie cutter if you want them to be perfect.

Next, go ahead and get the filling ready. I normally use cherry and blueberry but this year I used strawberries instead of cherries. The strawberries are some that I froze last weekend, the blueberries I picked and Foodsavered a long time ago. If you're using frozen berries be sure to drain them well. Large berries should be sliced or cut in chunks.

Here's what you'll need.

Red Portion:
2 - 3 cups red berries (cherries or strawberries)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch

Blue Portion:
1 - 1 1/2 cups blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch


Mix all ingredients for each portion in separate bowls. You can use more red berries if you like. I only had a little over 2 cups of strawberries thawed today. That will work but it should be a little more full. Pour the red mixture into about 3/4 of the pie shell. Use a spatula or large spoon to hold it in place. Pour the blue mixture in to the remaining 1/4 of the shell. Adjust the filling with your spatula to make a nice line between the two colors. Sprinkle with some small pieces of butter.

Go ahead and place the strips across the filling. Put the longest strip right over the line between red and blue. Evenly space the rest of the strips above and below the first. Then place the stars over the blue portion.

Place the pie pan on a cookie sheet with edges to catch any juice that may bubble over. Bake on the bottom rack of the over at 400 degrees F for approximately 1 hour. Check the edges and cover with a pie shield or tin foil if they are starting to brown too much. Cool for at least an hour afterward, then serve with ice cream or whipped cream.


This is a great dish to take to a party or a potluck. It makes a great impression. I've taken in to some parties where I don't know many people and it has made for a nice icebreaker.

Enjoy, and have a great holiday!! If you make a special dish for the 4th I'd love to hear about it.

Fitness Friday: New Bathing Suit

In other words, I hope all this working out is working! I bought myself a new bathing suit since we're heading to the beach for the weekend. Eying myself up in the mirror I want to say that I can see a difference from 3 weeks ago. My abs have a hint of an indentation on each side of my belly button now (until I sit down). I think my thighs might be a little smaller too. Now I really wish I would have taken my measurements before starting so I would know if this is wishful thinking or not.

Oh well, the important part is that I feel good and working out is good for my body any way. I held at 132.4# at my weigh-in on Tuesday. Isn't week 2 usually the toughest on biggest loser? I think that is when they typically lose the least amount of pounds.

Level 2 is getting much easier. I am amazed at how well I can handle the strength moves now after just 1 week of trying. The cardio still gets me, it is really hard and I "feel like I'm going to die" like Jillian says. My muscles are not sore after working out at all this week. My abs do burn during double crunches and my legs almost give out after every static lunge.

On the downside, my left ankle has been bothering me some. It started during week 2 and I thought it was from slipping around and doing jumping jacks on my wood floor in socks. I found some New Balance shoes on clearance so I picked them up. New Balance makes the best running/workout shoes ever, IMHO. Any way, I can't tell if they are helping but I hope they will at least keep the problem from getting worse so it can get better. My ankle doesn't hurt during the workout at all but it hurts a lot afterward if I step wrong or stretch it a certain way. I don't want to quit so I'm going to give it a few more days to get better on it's own.

I've started to think about what I want to do after week 4 is done. I'd like to stick with the 30 Day Shred until I'm comfortable at Level 3. After that I might try some of the Biggest Loser workout DVDs are other Jillian Micheal's material. I feel good about pushing myself to do this every day and I don't think I'll be ready to quit after 1 more week. Any suggestions? I really need something where they talk you thru it, if I'm just supposed to listen to music and jump around I'll turn it off for sure.

For those who haven't been following along you can check out my other Fitness Friday posts to hear more about my journey through the 30 Day Shred.

Brian's Project: A Tractor Post

"So... since you're always looking for interesting pictures for your blog, you should come outside and bring your camera" says my husband when I arrived home last night.

"Is everything alright!?" I said, a little worried.

I went out to see what he was talking about. Turns out his project for the day involved tearing apart our main tractor, a JD 4010. We put a lot of money in to this tractor last year and had joked that it was not allowed to break down ever again. The only thing left to break was the hydraulic pump and it really needed to be replaced awhile ago. It died out in the hay field the other day so Brian hauled it home. He had to take off the entire front axle to get the pump out. The pump itself costs $1200 so any money we can save on labor is great. I'm so glad Brian can do stuff like this!

Here is the tractor where it sits until the pump is replaced. That red thing in the picture is The Bone Creeper. Brian asked for the creeper as a Christmas present last year and he uses it a lot.


Here is the front axle!


What kind of projects are going on at your house?

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfasts
Toast or cereal with fruit for me, eggs for Brian.

Lunch
Mostly PB&Js + pretzels and/or lettuce & peas from the garden + string cheese (same as last week unless I get creative)

Supper
Monday: Walleye Parmesan with Homemade Garlic Shells

Tuesday: Lil Smokies with Homestyle Mac & Cheese

Wednesday: Hot Dogs & Hamburgers with Baked Potatoes on the grill

Thursday: Chicken Tenders (from a bag :P) and Hashbrowns

Friday: Homemade Pizza & Breadsticks

Dessert
Sour Cream Raisin Cookies (may go in our lunches) and Easy Apple Crisp with Ice Cream

Check out what everyone else is eating over at Menu Plan Monday.

What are you eating lately? I'd love some new make ahead recipes and have some to share as well.