Monthly Menu and Recipes for April 2013 Essay

Submitted By persiannose
Words: 2492
Pages: 10

APRIL MENU

Monday
Breakfast Oatmeal with Apple Butter and Pecans, Vanilla Rice Milk
Snack Plain Greek Yogurt, Honey, Wheat Germ or Flax, ½ Banana and Chocolate Rice Milk
Lunch Egg Salad Sandwich with Lettuce and Tomato, Carrot Sticks, Tea
Snack Celery Sticks, String Cheese and V-8
Dinner Red Wine Pasta, Antipasto Salad

Tuesday
Breakfast Hard-Boiled Eggs, Blueberry Muffins, Orange Slices and Almond Milk
Snack Apple Slices with Peanut Butter, Chocolate Rice Milk
Lunch Corn Chowder and Biscuits
Snack Bean Dip with Chips and Salsa
Dinner Hamburger Helper and Steamed Vegetables

Wednesday
Breakfast Tofu/Egg Scramble with Roasted Potatoes and Soy Milk
Snack Apple Sauce with Cinnamon Toast and Rice Milk
Lunch Vegetable Soup with Herbed Bread Sticks
Snack Carrot Sticks, Celery Sticks, Pepper Strips and Hummus
Dinner Three-Bean Pie and Spinach Salad with French Dressing

Thursday
Breakfast French Toast, Bananas, Pecans and Light Whipped Cream, Almond Tea
Snack Mandarin Oranges with Cashews
Lunch Crab Louie Salad with Thousand Island Dressing
Snack Fruit and Vegetable Smoothie
Dinner Garbanzo Bean Pasta with Creamed Spinach

Friday
Breakfast Pancakes, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs and Orange Juice
Snack Jell-O with Fruit Cocktail and Whipped Cream
Lunch Tomato Soup with Bean Toast
Snack Popcorn
Dinner Tortellini Soup and Weekly Special Dessert

Weekend
Breakfast Eggs, Hashbrowns and Fruit
Lunch Vegetarian Taco Salad
Dinner Chicken Mole, Pinto Beans and Mexican Rice

Weekly Special Desserts for April
Apple Caramel Dessert, Lemonade Pie, Poppy Seed Cake, Key Lime Pie, and Apricot Almond Torte
About Me/About the Menu (A Good, Old-Fashioned Rambling)

My kids love to cook and wanted to try some new desserts, so rather than simply Jell-O with fruit on Fridays, we’re adding a dessert back into our weekly menus. We haven’t done this since the holidays because everyone was so tired of sweets for a while. All of the dinners in April are super-easy to put together, less than a half-an-hour plus cooking time. They are all really inexpensive too. There is no need to cook/freeze these ahead of time because they all are very quick to make. Of course, I won’t hard-boil eggs three different days during the week, instead I’ll just cook them all on the weekend. Of course, I’ll cut up the carrots and celery ahead of time, I might make the bread sticks one day for the whole month and freeze those (and maybe the biscuits), and I surely will make the Jell-O the day before.

Also, one of my children heard how great Hamburger Helper is from a friend and has requested that we have it once a week for the month. So, we’ll try a variety of it each week, doubling the recipe to feed a family of six. I am not a big fan of processed foods, but figure that when the daughter added, “I’ll cook it for you,” to the deal, I could compromise.

Fruit servings are usually 1 small piece of fruit or ½ cup. If fruit is large (like banana) we cut them in half. Most of the baked goods/breads (pancakes, muffins, etc.) have ½ the amount of sugar. Fried foods are made non-fried, but are actually a healthier baked version. Sandwiches, salads and main dishes have a lot of legumes/vegs (beans, onions, peppers, lettuce, tomato, etc.) and only a little added fat and/or cheese. Most items are low-sodium and are also diabetic friendly. I use low-fat mayonnaise and take ½ the yolks from the egg dishes. I sometimes replace oil with applesauce and sometimes make other healthier adjustments of the sort. We shop organic and non-GMO as best as we can.

My children don’t always eat the snacks, but I use this as my grocery list so that they know what they can eat when they are hungry. Most of the snacks are about ½ cup of food total (not big). Serving sizes are healthy and vary due to age, health, etc.; for example, I eat one pancake, but my husband may eat 3-4. He will burn it off during the day, but