Monthly Dinners

I wrote a post last spring about how I do meal plans. I have since been asked a few times what exactly I eat for dinner, since I make a different meal each night of the month. So, for fun, here is my list of meals from August (things got a little mixed up in Sept, I didn't end up following my meal plans exactly).

I just plan the protein and carb usually, then add whatever veggies/salad I feel like at the time to it.

1 - Chicken, veggie & rice stir-fry

2 - Turkey spaghetti & garlic cheese buns

3 - Tomato basil chicken breasts & baked potatoes

4 - Honey garlic salmon & rice

5 - Bison burgers (home made) & fries

6 - Slow-cooker pizza beans

7 - Pizza bean (leftovers) burritos

8 - Chicken burgers (home made) & sweet potato fries

9 - Chicken wraps

10 - Salmon mango wraps

11 - Breaded haddock, chicken fingers & baked potatoes

12 - Lasagna

13 - Slow-cooker venison & root veggie stew

14 - Margarita pizza (frozen)

15 - (out at a friend's house!)

16 - Corn on the cob, perogies & cinnamon buns (didn't feel much like cooking after making the cinnamon buns all day!)

17 - Turkey burgers (home made) & sweet potato fries

18 - Lemon pepper salmon & baked potatoes

19 - Honey garlic chicken breasts & rice

20 - Grilled cheese (cooked over a fire while camping)

21 - Baked beans and Zoodles (cooked over a fire while camping)

22 - BBQ Chicken, potato wedges and Caesar salad (on the way home from camping...)

23 - Panago Pizza (chicken, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms)

24 - Home made mac & cheese (haha, camping took a lot out of me)

25 - Loaded nachos (with black beans, tomatoes, green pepper, and green onions)

26 - Taco salad w/bison

27 - Veggie burgers (home made)

28 - Pizza (home made, same toppings as above plus pineapple and green olives)

29 - (out at a friend's house!)

30 - Lentil shepherd's pie

31 - Roasted whole chicken & roasted baby potatoes

So there you have it! It wasn't a "perfect" month, as camping and going to friend's houses saved me doing a big meal those nights. Also, you may have noticed that we aren't so vegetarian anymore. Sorry, my body has just been craving protein and the veggie sources have not been good enough.

Some other notable meals that didn't make the cut in August include:

~Chicken risotto
~Lentil soup
~Chicken noodle soup
~Butternut squash soup
~Mushroom soup
~Tomato soup (all of these soups home made, of course)
~Chili
~Burritos
~Tacos
~Tortilla pizzas
~Quesadillas
~Ravioli/Tortellini
~Venison roast/chops/steak
~Elk roast/chops/steak
~Roasted turkey
~Creamy lemon dill fish (any kind of white fish)
~Breaded and fried fish or chicken
~Tuna melts
~Falafel wraps
~Venison smokies
~Lamb burgers

If you want any of my recipes, feel free to ask and I will post them!

Plus there's always the random frozen things I occasionally pick up from the grocery store when I know I am going to have a busy day without time to really prepare something from scratch for dinner. There have also been lots of meals I have tried (mostly slow-cooker ones), but we didn't really like so we didn't add them to the roster. Dave also occasionally will cook, usually some kind of Asian food (which I am NOT good at!) or Italian pasta dish, or something random and new to me but delicious.

We are also thinking of trying to go gluten-free in the near future to see if it helps with some issues, so if you have any tips in regards to that, please enlighten me!

Anyone have any other favourite meals that they make that I should try?

Apple Oat Muffins

The other day I was given some apples, so we decided to make juice! We made 2L of apple juice, which also yielded 4.5 cups of apple puree. 2 cups of that was saved for Ruthie to eat. And my heart was set on making the other 2.5 cups into fabulous muffins.



I scoured the internet for a perfect recipe. I looked through lots of options, but nothing seemed 'just right'. Probably because I already had the recipe in my head, and really I was just searching for the internet to confirm it. I did pick up a few ideas during my search, and then decided just to wing it. While drinking delicious fresh apple juice.



First, I took 5 cups of plain Cheerios and ran them through the coffee grinder (or you could use a food processor) until it was a powder.

Then, in a bowl, I added the Cheerio powder and mixed together:

3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp whole flax seeds (grind them in the coffee grinder/food processor just before adding to mixture)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda

I made a well with the dry ingredients, and in the center added:

2 1/2 cups apple puree (I left the skins on, it gives a nice texture)
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs

I mixed it all together until all of the dry ingredients were wet. The batter is very thick. I doled it out into muffin tins lined with paper cups (you could try just greasing the tin really well if you like), the batter filled 24 cups. I recommend filling the cups right up, as they don't rise very much. Then I sprinkled the top with pure maple sugar. Because I have access to that kind of delicacy. =)

I baked them in a 400 degree F oven for 20 mins.

They were seriously amazing, very moist and hearty, and were quickly consumed! They would also probably taste really good with other fruit (like raisins if you like that kind of vile thing...) or nuts added.