Seasonal Menu Planning, Winter 2023/4
This is a broad menu plan idea - rather than specific meals for each day.
What I do is plan a basic theme for Sunday Through Saturday, and then I compile all of our favorite seasonal meals into those categories.
Showing posts with label Menu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Menu. Show all posts
All About Sweet Corn Season...
What Is The Difference Between Yellow & Bicolor?
We plant two variety of seed - a yellow, appropriately named "Incredible", and a bicolor, which is usually refereed to as Butter and Sugar. Both of these seeds are non GMO.
Dan's family has been planting the Incredible brand for may years, and we have planted it every year since we've moved here in 2004. It is hands down my favorite.
The Butter and Sugar is expensive to plant. The seed is very expensive, the corn is often buggier, and it just doesn't grow as well, so it is sometimes more limited in availability. The bi-color that we plant is a triple sweet variety called Serendipity.
We typically sell by the 100, although we will do "special orders" for less. In past years, it was about 100 ears that fit in one feed bag. This year we have smaller feed bags, we've been buying our feed from Norms Farm Store, and his bags are smaller. So this year it's 50 ears in each bag, which is really much easier to lift into vehicles anyway. Yes, we will sell 50 yellow and 50 butter and sugar as 100 ears - we do that any time we are asked, as long as both are ready at the same time.
When Will It Be Ready?
In 2017 we planted very late, because it was such a wet spring. We found that our customers really liked having sweet corn later in the year, after their summer vacations, with some still fresh for labor day. So now we always try to have it come on in August, and September. I so wish there were concrete dates I could put on a calendar to plan weeks ahead - but it will all depend on the weather each year.
Once it is ready, we usually have sweet corn for weeks.
We try to stagger the planting so that it does not all come on at once. This year the yellow was ready one week before the butter and sugar. Usually it comes on for about two weeks once it starts.. so this year it was a week of yellow, a week of yellow and butter and sugar, and then a week of butter and sugar, allowing us to have corn available for three weeks. That varies each year, depending on the weather. We've had years where we planted the two varieties weeks apart, and yet it all came on at the exact same time. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee corn will be ready the day you have free to do it.
How Much Corn Is 100 Ears?
Then it will depend on how full the ears are. It is smaller early on, and sweeter, then gets a little bit tougher as it fills out...
I think a safe rule of thumb is 25 qts per 100 ears. But that number is going to vary greatly depending on how full you fill your bags, and how full the ears are.
For reference I did 28 ears of yellow yesterday, and got 9 quarts of corn. Tonight I did 30 ears of butter and sugar, and I got 7 quarts of corn. Those bags were all about 3 cups each.
We pick the corn fresh each morning. Freshly picked, sweet corn is high in sugar and low in starch. The longer it sits, the starchier it gets. A day or two usually does not make much difference at all - but a week or so definitely will. For me, myself, I don't let it sit more than 48 hours - the fresher the better. After awhile, not only will it not be as sweet, it may start to get a chalky taste. This is one of the reasons why the sweet corn you freeze each year will be SO much better than what you buy in the freezer section of your grocery store. You can order as far in advance as you want (once we announce when it is expected to be ready) but we do not pick more than that days orders... so if you call at 9am, we may not be able to get back out to pick more until the next morning. It depends on the day - sometimes we have time to go back out, but your best bet is to make sure we have your order before 6:30am - so the night before, typically.
Molly, after picking sweet corn.
We do not husk the corn for you - it will come in the husk. When you get it home, you will first husk it, then silk it. I put the corn in a sink of cold water and run a vegetable brush over it quickly to remove the silk. (Note - the butter and sugar also seems to have a lot more silk than the Incredible... another reason I prefer the yellow). While you are husking you can start the water boiling on the stove. I use my canner, but any large pan will do - even a dutch oven. You want the water to be at a good rolling boil, then place a few ears at a time in to cook. Cooking recommendations are 3-5 minutes. It will depend on how full your pan is... basically you want the corn cooked all the way through, the ears should be good and hot. Then you can drop them into a sink of ice water, so they are cool enough to handle to remove the corn. You can then slice the corn off with a knife, or use a variety of gadgets. I LOVE the pampered chef tool, and recommend it if you are doing a lot of corn. It is SO fast and easy to use.
Why Did My Sweet Corn Go Sour?
Once you have your corn bagged, lay it out in thin piles to freeze it. If you pile all the bags into one high stack, you run the risk of the center bags going sour. I'm sure there is some science behind this, but I don't know exactly what it is off hand... I just know it happened to me when I did 300 ears years ago, and my mother in law said it had happened to her once too. I usually make sure the corn is good and cool on the counter before putting it in the freezer too.
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Menu Planning Monday 8/31/15
Monday - Hamburgs, Copycat Texas Roadhouse Steak Fries
http://texasroadhouseathome.blogspot.com/2013/02/steak-fries.html
LONESTAR STEAK FRIES
Texas Roadhouse Copycat Recipe
Serves: 4
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 potatoes (about 2-1/2 pounds), with skin on
2 tablespoons peanut oil
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine paprika, chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Seal bag and shake to mix.
Cut each potato in half then each half into 4 flat wedges. Add peanut oil and potatoes to seasoning in bag then close tightly and shake to coat well. Spread potatoes in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake 20 to 22 minutes, or until fork-tender. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and serve immediately.
Notes: Sure, you can peel the potatoes if you want, but we like the extra crunchiness of the skin. Besides, the skin is good for us!
Tuesday - Taco Night
Set out as make your own. Ingredients:
- Tortilla Chips
- Quesadillas
- Seasoned ground beef
- refried beans
- salsa
- guacamole
- black beans
- sour cream
Wednesday - Church Dinner
Thursday Night - Pulled Pork, Roasted Potato Salad, Broccoli
Perfect Pulled Pork | Kevin & Amanda's Recipes
The recipe calls for soaking the pork in a brine, then coating it in a dry rub, and slow roasting it.
Dry Rub
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 cup brown sugar
Roasted Potato Salad
Toss the potato chunks in oil, then sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Roast.
I love to use Hickory Smoked Bacon - I bake that while the potatoes are roasting
Then it's best with home made mayo - but whatever you typically use to make your potato salad will work.
Friday Night - Football night - Eat Out/Calzones at home
For away games, we eat out in the town of the football game, but I'll make sticky buns for breakfast, calzones for lunch, with an extra calzone for my son and his friends to eat after the game, if they end up here.
This weeks restaurant -
Our favorite restaurant in Muncy is the Main Street Grill, but they take a long vacation each year, to visit greece, and do not reopen until September 10th.
So we're still deciding between Haywoods, and the Country Store Cafe. I think we're leaning towards the Country Store right now - I love their soft pretzels.
Saturday - Soup & Sandwiches
Hungarian Mushroom Soup (From the freezer)
Leftover pulled pork sandwiches
coleslaw
Sunday - Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings - stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, rolls
From thrift store painting to menu board
When I bought this painting at the thrift store, I actually intended for it to be a sign for my porch. But then when I was spring cleaning my kitchen, I decided it would make a great menu board.. I had primed the entire thing off white when it was meant as a sign, but that just made it easier to make it a chalkboard. I used raft paint on the frame, a deep dark red. When I sprayed on the chalkboard paint some of the overspray got on the frame - I rubbed it on and added a bit more black craft paint giving it that sort of crafty antiqued look.
I'm really surprised by how much my family loves this. They all really like knowing what is for dinner each night. Especially my husband!
Menu Planning
How I Plan Our Menu
1. Set Basic Themes
- Monday - Sunday leftovers re-purposed. (Roast for Sunday dinner becomes beef pot pie, or beef vegetable soup. Roast chicken or turkey becomes pot pie, or chicken/turkey gravy over waffles, etc). If there are not leftovers to work with, this usually becomes my chicken day. Some sort of chicken breast recipe.
- Tuesday - Taco Night
- Wednesday - Crock Pot Night (I'm out of the house a lot on Wednesdays with BSF) & salad.
- Thursday - Pasta night. (In football season, this is so our son has pasta the night before the games. It became a habit over the years that has stuck even out of football season).
- Friday - Pizza Night - which is usually homemade calzones. I buy provolone, mozzarella, sliced ham & pepperoni all in the same aisle at Sam's club, then bring it home and section it all into "portions" for calzones, and freeze it all. Because Thursday night is pasta night, I can often set some sauce aside Thursday to dip the calzones in on Friday.
- Saturday - Soup & Sandwiches. Saturdays are often so chaotic, I like to have a soup on the stove or in the crock pot all day.
- Sunday - We have big traditional Sunday dinners here. The rotation is usually Roast, roast chicken or turkey, pork loin, lasagna. The lasagna is served with salad & garlic bread, everything else is mashed potatoes & a veggie, often stuffing & applesauce too.
These are not set in stone, and change as needed - it's just the basic template I work from.
2. Create Pinterest Boards For Each Theme
As part of of my electronics decluttering project in February, I am trying to find the best way to store my recipes electronically. I still haven't come up with a good solution. But for recipes to try, pinterest usually works great! I have a board for each theme above, where I pin recipes I might want to try for Pasta night, or taco night, etc.
Pinterest Boards:
- Pizza Night - https://www.pinterest.com/htruck/pizza-night/
- Soup On Saturday - https://www.pinterest.com/htruck/soup-on-saturdays/
- Taco Night - https://www.pinterest.com/htruck/taco-night-tuesdays/
- Pasta Night - https://www.pinterest.com/htruck/pasta-night/
- Crock Pot Wednesdays - https://www.pinterest.com/htruck/crockpot-wednesdays/
3. Create a Menu Calendar in Google Calendar
I've tried a variety of apps, notebooks, and pretty gadgets for menu planning.. but google calendar just works best for me. It's helpful to see our schedule when planning our menu. This is what January looked like -
I uncheck the box beside menu so it doesn't show up on our calendar most of the time - except on the widget on my phone that shows my agenda for the day. (I have two seperate calendar widgets on my phone, on different screens One screen is a month view of our calendar that takes up an entire screen. The other is my "daily" screen that has my agenda, my daily to do list (it resets every morning) and short cuts for our grocery list, to do list, and my husbands to do list.)
4. Set Taco Night & Pizza Night as repeating events on google calendar.
This just saves me from entering them over and over. They automatically repeat every week
5. Go through the pantry, open the freezer, fill in meals that use ingredients we have on hand
There's so much food in our freezers, and we need to rebuild our savings, so using what I have is a priority right now.
6. Fill in the blank days, using Pinterest Boards for extra inspiration as needed
This is rarely a needed step, this time of year. I'm more likely to try new recipes in the spring and summer, when more produce is fresh and local. Winter is more of a "clean out the freezer and pantry" time of year for me - but an occasional new recipe is nice.
7. For meals that need prep ahead, set reminders in google calendar.
If we're having turkey for Sunday dinner, set a reminder to pull it from the freezer a week ahead, Thursday I pull the calzone ingredients out of the freezer to thaw, etc. Reminders set in google calendar pop up on my phone screen when scheduled.
8. Add ingredients needed to Out Of Millk
My favorite shopping list app. I can add items on my phone, or on my computer. https://www.outofmilk.com/
9. Keep ingredients on hand for some basic meals that can be made in minutes on nights that don't go as planned.
- Hot sausage & pierogies
- Jars of Ragu sauce, spaghetti, meatballs & frozen ravioli (quick pasta, or meatball subs)
- Toasted Cheese & Tomato Soup
- Sausage or bacon for Breakfast for Dinner
Menu Plan Monday 6/30/14
I've been trying something new for my summer menu planning, and I like the concept, but would like to find a better app for it. This is in google keep, which works well enough for now.
Rather than planning out a strict menu, I've started making a list of recipes that I have the ingredients for here at the house. I'm concentrating a lot on Zucchini Recipes right now, since there is more ready in the garden every day.
I put the list, and a few photos, in a note in google keep, with links to the recipes if needed, and then each morning I try to figure out a head count (Seriously - I cook for 8, and it's just Dh & I. I cook for Dh & I, and 6 extras show up... this season of life with teenagers is more chaotic than when we had toddlers!) and decide which meal to make.
The List Currently:
- Chicken Soulvaki Gyro Style - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Souvlaki-Gyro-Style/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
- Hot sausage sandwiches, Grilled Zucchini Nachos http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/grilled-zucchini-nachos/
- Chile Lime Steak Tacos
- Rosemary Ranch Chicken http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/bacon-pineapple-chicken-kabobs/41c5cee7-e258-4605-923d-959de6370d92?src=SH&sf3322335=1
- Chicken marsala w/ garlic smashed potatoes http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/8887/chicken-marsala
- Zucchini noodles with chicken & tangy peanut sauce http://kitchenconfidante.com/guest-post-cilantropist-zucchini-noodles-with-chicken-and-tangy-peanut-sauce-recipe
- Grilled Chicken, Garlic Rubbed Cabbage steaks - Garlic rubbed cabbage steaks = http://www.everydaymaven.com/2012/garlic-rubbed-roasted-cabbage-steaks/
- Zucchini Crust pizza topped with Bruchetta & Mozarella http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2012/08/zucchini-crust-pizza-margherita.html
- Hamburgs
- Calzones
This is the menu/Shopping homescreen on my phone
KeyChain for all those loyalty cards
Out of Milk for My Shopping List
And Google Keep for my Menu List
And this is the post where I'm working my way through a list of Zucchini Recipes:
Menu Plan Monday 4/28/14
Monday -
Soup & Sandwiches
(Using up assorted leftovers)
Tuesday-
Trying a new recipe-
Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti , rolls, salad
(It's buffalo chicken dip served over pasta)
Wednesday -
Pork Picata, mac & cheese, salad
Thursday -
Grilled chicken sandwiches, on ciabatta bread, salad
Friday -
Home Made Calzones
With No Bake Raspberry Cheesecake Bites for Dessert
Saturday -
Grill night. Hamburgs, hotdogs, chicken, pineapple
Sunday -
Turkey, Mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, rolls, strawberry jam
Last week when I cleaned out the freezer and pantry, I made note of any meals I saw that I could make with the ingredients on hand. I posted a list on the freezer -
Menu Planning Monday
Monday - Grilled Chicken & Salads (the guys had the chicken on rolls as sandwiches, us girls had it sliced on our salads. The guys had chips too)
Tuesday - Celine Dijon Chicken, baked sweet potatoes, Mixed veggies
Wednesday - Taco Night
Thursday - Pasta Night - I think I'll do a simple spaghetti & meatballs this week.
Friday - Homemade Calzones for the kids, Dh and I out with friends.
Saturday - Soup - Chicken Corn
Sunday - pork chops and stuffing layered in a crock pot and left to cook while we are in church. Mashed potatoes
Monday - Grilled chicken, baked sweet potatoes, Salad
Menu Plan Monday
Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
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Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Scheduling Issues
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Cmas at Grammie & Pappy’s
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| Breakfast |
Pop Tarts
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Bagels/toast/yogurt
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omelets
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muffins
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bagels/toast/
yogurt
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leftovers
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casserole
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Lunch
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leftovers
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leftover soup
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ham & bean soup
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At mom’s
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Toasted Cheese, tomato soup
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Mac & cheese for boys, salad w, chicken for Meg & Mom
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PBJ
Applesauce or fruit salad
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Dinner
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Taco Night
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steak, potatoes, salad
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Lasagna &
bread, salad
| hot dogs and popcorn after church |
Breakfast for dinner - sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, french toast in the waffle iron
|
calzones
salad
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Taco Night
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White Castle Slider Knock Offs - http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2013/01/white-castle-slider-knock-offs.html
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