Actually, that title is wrong. It's not when you just want to barbecue. It's when you just want your husband to barbecue!
Anyway, I would much rather spend the majority of the week barbecuing, but the truth is that's not always the most economical way to eat. I like to make my meat go far by making stews or casseroles or pastas, and with barbecuing you tend to use a whole chunk of meat of some kind. Sure you can barbecue potatoes and veggies, too, etc. etc., but you know what I mean.
So here's what I've come up with:
Monday: Spaghetti. It's old fashioned, but it's easy, and it's Rebecca's turn to cook! We usually mix a can of spaghetti sauce with a can of pureed tomatoes, throw in some seasoning, add some carrots and garlic and mushrooms and ground beef, and then you're good to go. It's easy for kids to make, starting at around age 9 or 10. So why not get your kids cooking it? Tuesday: Barbecued Pork with quick veggies and rice. I'm going to marinate the pork in a fruity-garlicky marinade all day, and then Keith can stick it on the barbecue. This dinner won't take long to make, which is good because we're going to see Prince Caspian again that night!
Wednesday: Roast Beef and potatoes and veggies. This is our company meal! We're going to roast the beef on the barbecue spit, because I've never done that but apparently it's delicious. We have some people coming over to talk about homeschooling, so this seems like a good night to make something fancy. I'll probably barbecue the potatoes, too, and then serve with sour cream, butter, or homemade salsa. The salsa is my favourite, and it doesn't add as much fat!
Thursday: Leftovers. We should have quite a few leftovers from this week, but if not, I have leftover Jamaican rice and beans in the freezer, too. Not enough for a full meal, but certainly enough to round one out. I often keep leftovers in the freezer so that we can make a meal out of them later. Sometimes it's hard to eat up all your leftovers at once because you get kind of sick of the same thing. So freeze them, and spread it out. It works much better!
Friday: Marinated whitefish. I think I have tilapia in the freezer, but maybe it's cod. But anyway, I'm going to marinade it in this fish seasoning that I bought, with some lemon juice and oil, and then just broil it. Serve with rice and veggies, and we're fine. The kids are starting to eat fish now without complaining as much, so that's good.
If you're wondering how to make your own marinade, it's not hard. You can buy all kinds of seasoning mixes at the store, although we buy ours from a specialty catalogue that are so good, but frequently you just mix with oil, or with oil and vinegar for beef and chicken, and then put in a ziploc bag for a couple of hours. It really is yummy!
Saturday: Barbecued Hamburgers. I think we'll have a pile of people over on Saturday, so we'll probably just do burgers. I try to keep it healthier by having a ton of veggies and dips. I can totally fill up on veggies, and then you don't need much of a burger. I also never put the chips out until dinner; I just have veggies out first. It's amazing how many veggies people will eat, even when they say they don't like them. And it is healthier!
Okay, so that's my barbecue week. Hope on over to Org Junkie to see all the other menus for this week! Labels: cooking, Menu Plan Monday |
Stumble It!
Have fun bbq-ing this week...Looks like a great menu!