MENU MONDAY - 3/13/17

We used one unplanned recipe last week, a cranberry sour cream cake Silas made to take for his shift at the fire department. The new recipe we tried was a flop. Not horrible, but not good enough to make again.

COOKING IN ADVANCE (These are often spontaneous projects, so they'll include things we did at the last minute the previous week and/or plan on doing in the upcoming one.)
* peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week

BREAKFAST
* oatmeal with a rotation of the following toppings - brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix x4
* doughnuts at church
* egg & veggie scramble
* banana wheat bread / smoothies

DINNER
* leftovers (every Sunday so that we can have a day off from cooking)
* taco salad: lettuce, tortilla chips, ground beef with taco seasoning, crockpot beans, tomatoes, olives, green onions, and the avocado dressing from this roasted veggie salad
* lentils & rice with optional toppings of olives & tomatoes
* quinoa salad with apples & almonds
* Hawaiian chicken strips / new recipe / cherry tomatoes / cucumber slices
* pork tenderloin (crockpot) / brown rice / roasted asparagus
* Asian orzo chicken salad / roasted carrots

DESSERT
* popsicles

I'm excited to eat some asparagus! I love it, but it's crazy expensive the rest of the year. I'm planning to have it a handful of times in the next few weeks. I'm also looking forward to the taco salads. We're dairy-free this month (with a couple very limited exceptions) and doing any form of tacos without sour cream and cheddar doesn't sound worthwhile. I think that avocado dressing will give us the creamy element we'll miss from the sour cream and a little extra substance that the cheese usually contributes.

Do you like asparagus and/or avocados? They both seem to be foods people either love or hate. I've always been an avocado hater, but in the last couple years have been able to enjoy it in certain ways.

Note: Any chicken breasts, 93/7 ground beef, applewood smoked ham, or pork tenderloins in our menus are from Zaycon Fresh. We've been making bulk purchases from them for a while and have been pleased with their products.

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