Menu Plan Monday ~ December 20, 2010

Click here for more menu ideas.

Monday:

I had originally planned to make Chinese food tonight and we were going to watch "A Christmas Story".  However, David ended up having to go to the city this afternoon. He will be late and is eating up there.  Chris had leftovers from a restaurant meal yesterday so I think I'll just make a sandwich for myself.  Quite frankly, after several hours of running errands today and finishing up all the grocery shopping for the upcoming holidays, I'm rather happy not to have to cook (and clean up!) tonight.

Tuesday:

• homemade egg rolls
• homemade sweet and sour sauce
• fried rice and veggies
• fresh pineapple

Wednesday:

Today is the Christmas party where David works.  They will be having a big meal of barbecue ribs, brisket and potato salad at noon.  I plan to make baked beans and a cake.  Since we will all have had a huge meal at noon, we'll just eat something light for dinner.  I haven't decided for sure but maybe just a big salad with hard boiled egg wedges.

Thursday:

•  Creamy Artichoke Pasta
• tossed green salad
• garlic bread or rolls

Friday:

We will be celebrating Christmas Eve with my extended family at noon.  It's a potluck meal featuring the traditional turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and all the usual side dishes.  I'm bringing green bean casserole, candied  yams and a pie.  Our church candlelight service is at 8 but I have to be there early to rehearse with the choir.  We'll probably just have some cheese and crackers before we go to tide us over and then have the following when we get home:

• hot dogs (I bought all beef, nitrate free, uncured hot dogs)
• homemade hot dog buns (I plan to bake these Thursday)
• homemade potato salad (I will make this Thursday, as well)
• leftover baked beans from David's Christmas party (I'll make a small pan of them for us)

I know that sounds like a strange Christmas Eve dinner, especially for people who are mostly vegetarian.  However, it has become a sort of tradition with us the past few years.  Even when we ate meat regularly, I very rarely bought hot dogs but somehow we ended up grilling hot dogs late on Christmas Eve a few years ago.  We ate them while watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and decided we rather liked this simple little tradition. 

Saturday: 

Breakfast- Lisa and Justin join us early on Christmas morning to open gifts and eat breakfast with us.  None of us are huge breakfast eaters so it's a simple meal.

• bacon (yeah, that vegetarian thing is largely on hold for the holidays)
• orange rolls (Chris has this thing for Pillsbury Orange Rolls so I indulge him during the holidays.)
• some sort of homemade coffee cake, pumpkin bread or such (will bake this on Thursday)
• eggs if anyone wants them
• coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate, juice

Lunch- Sometime around noon we will go to my parents' and have the usual turkey dinner about 1 p.m.  I'm bringing green bean casserole, yams, and pie (I'm making double of all these for the two meals we are bringing food to - smart, huh?).  We'll probably be there for several hours and just pull out the leftovers for dinner. 

And then it will be back to healthy, mostly-vegetarian meals for us!