Jan 10, 2011

Menu Planning Monday and To Do List

Last week was so busy! Between getting back on schedule with babysitting Mr. B. and trying (succeeding!) to get my sewing room cleaned out, other rooms decluttered, furniture moved - it was a long, exhausting week. This week will pretty much be the same.

The sewing room did, indeed, get emptied and cleaned (where did all those cobwebs come from?!), and I'm now in the process of sorting, purging, and moving everything back in. Honestly, I love doing this. Like items together, work stations organized - everything with a place and a place for everything. I am so much more productive when I am organized! I will put up some photos of the progress on Wednesday.

Menus this week will include two recipes from the 1948 cookbook I've been drooling over. One, Porcupine Meatballs, at the request of my husband, who remembers them from his childhood. The second is one that just looked good to me and which I had all the ingredients. These menu items are in GREEN and recipes follow.



MONDAY
Porcupine Meatballs
Steamed green beans
Chick pea salad

TUESDAY
From the freezer
Beef Stew
Biscuits
Green salad

WEDNESDAY
Pineapple Pork Chops
Brussel Sprouts

THURSDAY
Help yourself to leftovers
Green salad

FRIDAY
DiGiorno Pizza

SATURDAY
Hamburgers on English Muffins
Oven-baked French Fries
Lettuce, tomato

SUNDAY
Breakfast for Dinner
Sausage and Biscuits
Scrambled Eggs

PORCUPINE MEATBALLS
1.5 lbs ground beef
3/4 cup uncooked rice
2 tbsp diced onions
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp thyme
1 Egg
1/4 cup milk
1 can tomato soup plus 1/2 can water

Mix beef, rice, onions, salt, pepper, thyme, egg and milk. Form into 1 1/2 to 2 inch meatballs. Place in baking dish. In a bowl, mix tomato soup and 1/2 can water. Pour over meatballs. Bake in 350 oven for 30 minutes. Turn meatballs over and bake 20 mins. more.

PINEAPPLE PORK CHOPS
1 can crushed pineapple
3 large sweet potatoes
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 thick loin pork chops

Empty pineapple into large flat buttered casserole. Peel sweet potatoes and slice on top of pineapple. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Salt chops and lay on top. Cover and bake in hot oven 400 degrees until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Uncover the last 15 minutes to brown.

You can read other menus and post your own at Organized Junkie.


My To Do List this week is a bit less formal than previous weeks. The name of the game is to simply get my house back from this CRAZY re-organization that's going on! We have been purging, donating, sorting and cleaning almost every room in the house. Because of that, there are piles here and there that are still looking for homes or need to be moved and, of course, my sewing room needs to be finished. So while the list may look simple, trust me, it's not!

  • Clean off dining room table
  • Purchase TV stand for new TV about to be delivered
  • Purchase ANOTHER new TV for Jeff's Office
  • Pick up new glasses at Sears
  • Trip to IKEA for some organization items I need for sewing room
  • Move recliner and chair into new game room
  • Move cabinets up to sewing room
  • Make new curtains for sewing room
  • ?? New curtains for game room??
  • Purge cookbooks
  • Burn paperwork in fireplace that accumulated to the point it will take too long to shred it all!
  • Move unused furniture to basement
  • Freecycle as many items as possible
  • In general, get my house back!
Move everything BACK from guest room to sewing room - organizing, sorting and more purging as I go.

Oh, if you only knew how much work that simple list really entails! LOL

You can post your To Do List and read others at Domestically Obsessed!

3 comments:

ammie @ domesticallyobsessed.com said...

I am loving the purging of the cookbooks, Joan! Let me know how that goes! I did this a year ago and I still have much to do, but I have such a hard time parting with my cookbooks!

Thanks for the linkup! Great list!

Anonymous said...

I need to purge my cookbooks too, but it's hard letting go. I keep telling myself, any recipe I want, I can find online now.

You are making good progress. Congratulations!

Chaos Cottage said...

I love porcupine meatballs. Haven't had those in a while. I need to add them to a menu soon.