Last week I followed the menu plan pretty closely. The only exception was packets meals for Friday Night Fire. My husband ended up working really late, so I cooked inside.

I took the cube steaks that I had already defrosted for the packet meals, some onions, and some chicken broth from the freezer, (I wish I had had some beef broth, but I was out) and simmered them until the steaks were done. I added some cubed zucchini and simmered until they were done. I then removed the meat and zucchini from the pan, and thickened the broth with cornstarch. I served it all with the challah bread I had made, with lots of help from my daughter, as I wasn’t feel well that day. It turned out very well, everyone liked it. The zucchini was very flavorful from being cooked in with the broth and onions.

Now for this weeks menu:

Saturday – beef – Cheeseburger Macaroni, carrots

Sunday – sandwich day – Chicken sandwiches with tomatoes from the garden! and cheeseburger subs for supper that hubby cooked

Monday – chicken – Chicken wings, sweet potatoes, salad

Tuesday – beef – Fajitas

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers, salad

Thursday – chicken – Chicken and rice, salad

Friday – Friday Night Fire – Hot dogs, macaroni salad or potato salad, carrot sticks

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Lemonade is the only thing we normally have in the house to drink, besides water. The kids drink milk at mealtimes only.

Frozen lemonade is so refreshing on a hot summer day.

Frozen Lemonade

1 cup sugar
1 envelope unsweetened lemonade drink mix
1/2 cup water
ice

Place the sugar, drink mix, and water into the blender. Fill with ice. Blend until desired consistency.

You may have to adjust the water, and use more if your blender doesn’t do well with only ice.

Of course, you could use real lemon juice, I find it more convenient to use powdered drink mixes, then to keep lemons in stock.

You could use any flavor of drink mix that your kids like, (I just choose to keep the food coloring that the kids ingest to a minimum)and it would be like a slushie.

For more ideas, visit:
Homemaker Monday
Tammy’s Recipes

For more recipes, visit:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays,
Tasty Tuesday
Tuesdays at the Table
The Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom

1 packet any flavor unsweetened Kool-aid or similar other brand for making 2 quarts
8 tablespoons of sugar or 10 packets of sweetener for sugar free
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon salt substitute (that contains potassium chloride)
2 quarts water

Place everything in a pitcher and mix well.

I used to make this all the time when the kids were in karate. So much cheaper than store bought sports drinks, and you can make them in the kids favorite flavors.

With it being so hot out, it’s important to keep the kids hydrated, especially if they are participating in sports. And you know they’ll drink it, if they pick the flavor

For more recipes,visit The Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom.

For more frugal ideas, visit Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

I tried my hand at making granola recently. It was easy and the kids love it!

Ready to go into the oven:

8 cups of oatmeal
2 cups of walnuts
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oil

2 cups raisins
1 cup coconut
2 cups chocolate chips

Mix together the first seven ingredients. Spread out on cookie sheets, and bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Keep checking, as you want the granola to dry out, but not get too brown and crispy.

After cooling, stir in the raisins, coconut and chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container.

Next time, I will make some changes. No one liked the pumpkin seeds in the granola, even though they will eat them plan. So I won’t put them in again. I did have one kid that said they didn’t like the nuts. I had left the nuts in big chunks, so next time, I’ll chop them smaller. They are such a nutritious part of the granola, that I won’t leave them out. I also told the kids that next time, I wouldn’t use as many chocolate chips. They didn’t think that was a good idea. lol

We eat this granola dry for breakfast and snacks, and also with milk as cereal for breakfast.

For more ideas, visit Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven Homemaking Haven
and Tammy’s Recipes

For more recipes, visit:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday,
Tasty Tuesday,
Tuesdays at the Table,
Delicious Dishes

Last week was an easy week for meals. We ate supper at church every night. We did eat soup and salad here like I planned last week.

I haven’t planned anything labor intensive this week. Well, unless you count the Challah Bread on Friday.

Now for this weeks menu:

Saturday – beef – Spaghetti

Sunday – sandwich day – Chicken Salad sandwiches, Steak, rice, green beans for supper cooked by oldest son for Fathers Day

Monday – chicken – Chicken wings, sweet potatoes, zucchini

Tuesday – beef – Jag made with beef, salad

Wednesday – super simple – leftovers, salad

Thursday – chicken – Chicken Quesadillas, cucumbers

Friday – Friday Night Fire – Packet Meals using cube steaks and veggies, Challah Bread

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

The other day, I had a container of strawberries that the fridge decided to freeze, so I decided to make smoothies for the kids with them. I also have a lot of yogurt in the fridge, so I used that. Here’s what I ended up throwing in the blender:

8 oz. strawberry yogurt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
10-12 strawberries
ice

Place yogurt, water, sugar and strawberries in blender and fill the rest of the way with ice. Blend until desired consistency.

I got 4 smoothies out of this recipe.

I think next time I will use less sugar and see of the kids notice. The kids all loved these, even my husband like it, and he doesn’t like yogurt. I couldn’t even really taste the yogurt in it.

They came out nice and thick. We had to use a spoon at first before it started melting. It was almost like eating sherbet. I wish I had remembered to take a picture. Next time. 🙂

I’m glad I tried this, as the kids like to have a cold treat when it’s hot outside. The like to have milk shakes but I don’t like them to have milk shakes every day.

I’m looking forward to trying different flavor combinations.

For more homemaking ideas, visit 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven’s Homemaker Monday.

Last week was a menu disaster! I couldn’t find the hamburger in the bottom of the chest freezer for the cabbage casserole, in the search, a bag of chicken wings got left out, my husband worked late one night, so the kids and I had breakfast for supper one night. And it rained Friday night, so no Friday Night Fire.

I haven’t had such a bad menu week, since I started writing down menus.

Good thing I get to start over again this week! lol We have Vacation Bible School this week, though, and we eat supper there every night. But, my family is always hungry when we get home anyway. So super simple meals on tap for this week, that will carry over from night to night as needed.

Now for this weeks menu:

Saturday – beef – Stir fry

Sunday – sandwich day – Chicken Salad and egg salad sandwiches

Monday – chicken – Chicken Soup

Tuesday – beef – Salad with egg and cheese

Wednesday – super simple – Chicken Soup

Thursday – chicken – Salad with egg and cheese

Friday – Friday Night Fire – Sandwiches

I’ll have the soup made ahead of time, and hard boiled eggs cooked, as well as as the salad stuff chopped, so we can pull everything out as needed.

Should be an easy week!

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.