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Monday, February 8, 2010

Meal Planning Monday with Easy Ice Cream

We have been pretty bad about sticking to our menu plans!  I either make way too much of something, so we eat it for days, or just make pancakes :o)

So, to use:
carrots
onions
parsnips
potatoes
tofu
cream
cheese (pepper jack, Parmesan)

Not a lot that's fresh in the refrigerator, but I need to work on "eating down" our freezers before summer.
In the freezer, that I want to use up:
berries (cherries, strawberries, blueberries, grapes)
cooked broccoli (I had thought to use this for broccoli cheddar soup, but want to find a dairy-free use instead)
plum chutney
various meats (whole chicken, ground beef)
mint

I also need to go through our canned things from last summer- my goal is to can every summer, and restock every summer.
Peaches
Apple Pie Filling
Salsa
Jams (fig, blueberry, plum, marmalade, apple butter)
Applesauce

Sunday: sliced pork loin, skillet potatoes, home-canned peaches
Monday: pinto beans and rice- I'll freeze the leftovers
Tuesday: crockpot roast chicken with roast vegetables (carrots, onions, parsnips, potatoes)
Wednesday: Daddy won't be home till late, so we'll have breakfast- pancakes or french toast, eggs.
Thursday: Chicken-salsa pizza with pepper jack cheese (with chicken from Tuesday night)
Friday: no dinner- date night! Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Saturday: to appease the four-year-old, sushi.  (Or leftovers, depending on what's in the fridge)
Sunday: It will be our first "Big Family Meal" in a few weeks, so we'll do something festive.  Shrimp Coconut Curry!  I'll have to make everything early, because I'll just have time to reheat between church and dinner time.  I'll make an apple crumble for dessert, with the easiest vanilla ice cream ever.  Or maybe mint ice cream, because it's Mom's favorite?  (Skip the vanilla, and let 2 cups of mint leaves marinate in the combined milks for 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on how strong you want it.  Strain out the leaves before churning.)

Easy Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk (I use skim)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pour all ingredients into an ice cream freezer, and let it churn until thick (it won't be quite as thick as soft-serve)  Takes about 20 minutes.

Pack into a freezer-proof container with a lid, smooth saran wrap over the surface of the ice cream, and store in the freezer for a few hours to "ripen."  

3 comments:

Su said...

Oooooh... date night! What's that? :)

I hear you with leftovers. You almost need to make dinner one night, and plan to remake it into something else for the next night.

Aunt LoLo said...

Mmmm...sounds yummy!!!

Casey said...

Soulemama has a great non-dairy broccoli soup recipe on her blog. It freezes really well and by throwing in a handful of shredded cheese you can make it broccoli-cheddar soup. We had it last night, from the freezer, and it was great. :)