Warm Weather Menu

The days are growing quite warm, and standing over a hot stove in a hot kitchen is not very appealing, especially when it is soooo nice outside. So I have redone the menu, making use of the organic canned beans our local grocery store put on sale last week for Earth Day, which I took the opportunity to stock up on. The price was too good to pass up, not to mention the added convenience and smaller energy use- mine and our electric stove's.

Monday- Still Mexican night. Refried bean tacos with greens, salsa, shredded organic cheddar cheese and hot sauce. (I stocked up on shells, since they were also on sale. The Taco Bell brand does not use hydrogenated oils like the other brands, so that's the kind I get.) All I have to do is whip out a can of refried beans and....struggle...with the.....ugh...@#$%*can opener!!!! Ahem... warm the beans on the stove, pop the shells in the toaster oven, put out the condiments and, presto, time to eat!

Tuesday- Pasta Fagioli, or a cold pasta salad with kidney beans and whatever veggies I have. We're getting green onions from the garden now and these make a delicious topper. For tacos, too. And salad. And just about anything else. I hope some of them get left in the ground long enough to grow into mature bulbs.

Wednesday- I guess I'll stick to the stir fry, though I might make omelets if we have enough eggs on hand (and asparagus from the garden, mmmmmm). But the stir fry is about to be transformed with the sugar snap peas that will soon be ready to pick. Added right at the end so they're still crunchy. Drool on, my friends.

Thursday- One of Luke's childhood faves, fish sticks and egg noodles, with salad to round it off. I use whole grain egg noodles, and I actually found a store brand of fish sticks that doesn't have msg- BiLo's, for all you here in the Southeast.

Friday- Still pizza, gotta have it at least once a week, but at least it doesn't bake for very long.

Saturday- Hopefully, the bread will last till then and we can have sandwiches. No one wants to cook after spending the day working and playing in the yard and garden. Tuna, cream cheese, or peanut butter and jelly/ honey are all family favorites. And the kids must have their carrots (cut in matchsticks) with Ranch.

Sunday- 3 bean salad and green salad. These are great any day, really, and the nice thing about having so many quick and easy meals on the menu is that we can mix and match according to our mood or the weather. Too hot to bake pizza on Friday? Switch with the day with the thunderstorms in the forecast. Sick of pasta? Make potato salad instead and serve with a can of baked beans, and green salad or veggies and dip on the side. Or just top the green salad with cold kidney beans, maybe a little cheese, and a vinegar and oil dressing sweetened with honey (I also love a hard boiled egg sliced on my salad, but I'm the only one in my family who likes those). There are any number of possibilities.