Weekly Menu - July 26 through August 1

More and more I've been relying on other bloggers' recipe posts and Google searches to plan my weekly menus. It's been a very long time since I used a cookbook. My cookbook collection has dwindled from nearly 300 about 8 years ago to about 40 now. Of course, that's not counting the small "checkout stand" booklets or my Taste of Home magazines (I have all of them through 2007 when I finally kicked that addiction). I'm actually considering getting rid of most of my hard copy cookbooks, but I've yet to take that leap.

I still go to my own recipe card file for old favorites, but I'm finding it's just so easy to star an interesting looking recipe in Google Reader. I also tag the main ingredient and whether it's a main dish, side dish, salad or dessert. Then when I need a pork main dish, I just go to the pork tag; if I need a fruit salad, I go to either the fruit tag or the salad tag. Once I've made a dish, I "unstar" it -- it still stays tagged but I can very easily see that it's one we've already tried.

The only thing that would make this easier for me is if I had a laptop computer I could take in the kitchen with me. Unfortunately, a laptop hasn't made it to the top of our priority list yet.


Sunday, 7/26 - "Upside Down" Tater Tot Casserole

This is one of just a couple of recipes that Shane brought to our marriage, and it's a good one. We say it's upside down because the tots go on the bottom instead of the top like most tater tot casserole recipes. I was surprised to see I haven't posted this recipe yet. I will this week!

Monday, 7/27 - Crockpot Baked Beans (with Hot Dogs)

Tuesday, 7/28 - Garlic Ranch Chicken Pizza

I buy bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves when they are on sale for under $1 a pound, then fillet them myself. This leaves a lot of meaty chicken bones that I freeze until I have quite a few. I'll be simmering some of those bones and picking the meat from them for this pizza. I'll save the homemade chicken stock while I'm at it.

Wednesday, 7/29 - Beef Taco Skillet

Thursday, 7/30 - Leftovers of the Tater Tot Casserole meal.

Friday, 7/31 - Leftovers of the Crockpot Baked Beans meal.

Saturday, 8/1 - Chicken Salad Sandwiches and anything else that might be leftover from the week.