Menu Monday: Week of July 11th

Well, last week I was ambitious enough to get a Menu Monday post up on the 4th of July... but then I forgot to link-up to the parties!  Oh well, hopefully you saw the post, there were some new and awesome recipes included!  You can click here if you missed it.

I am super excited because today I come to you from here:

Back in February I made a sacrifice for the sake of marital peace and a roomy dining room.  It's a long story but, sufficit to say, I gave my desk to my son and my computer has been traveling with no particular home... most often sitting in the "off" mode on a shelf.  Recent activity and discussion with hubby revealed a desperate need for a stationary desk location/work space.  I found this one at Goodwill for a steal and we rearranged the "library" area (essentially a large empty pass-through room we keep our book shelves in) and I have an official work-space!!  I feel super-blessed since giving up my old previous space earlier this year was so hard.  Our sacrifices don't always see tangible rewards, often the reward is in knowing we are living more pleasing to God.  So getting back more than what I gave up is truly a wonderful blessing.

All this to say, my bloggy appearances and link-ups should be on the increase now that my computer can always be out and on!  I have revamped our schedule as well which should also provide more regular online time.  More on that in a post going up tomorrow!

This past week we also got the mulch down on our latent garden I mentioned last week.  We were also blessed with some FREE hanging and ornamental plants.  It was exciting to dress up some of our favorite areas...

 Large hanging plant by the guest cottage/garage where I have tomatoes growing as well.

 One of my favorite places to sit this summer while doing my Bible study or just journaling in the morning.  This ornamental livens up the space.

Food to share from this past week:

I tried a new recipe I sort of threw together myself, inspired by a Pinterest post I saw.  Mexican rice and beef.

The family liked it but did suggest tortillas to compliment it better so

when I served the leftovers for lunch the next day, I made some home-made tortillas to accompany.  It was delicious! 
 

Our 4th of July BBQ ribs.  They don't look like much but they were sooooooo moist!  I let them rest in the fridge all day in a sealed container filled with my BBQ sauce recipe I mentioned last week.  Then I roasted them in the oven at 350 for 1.5 hours on a baking sheet with baked potatoes, then cranked it up to about 425 for the last 15 minutes to get that bit of burn on.  They were amazing in flavor and texture!

Roasted chicken and fresh bread.  You can tell we eat a lot of salad in the summer!  Oh, and I drink iced tea with most of my meals, in case the content seemed questionable... I know the color is confusing!!


This week
I officially changed my twice-a-week Bible study to only meeting on Thursday evenings.  Fearing disappointment from the young woman I am mentoring is what kept me from doing this sooner... thankfully, she actually readily agreed!  This frees up my time some for better prep and we are moving to a post-dinner meeting so I will just serve dessert. 

Now my summer weeks are: Tuesday afternoon observing as Ashley leads middle school girls James study, we are still gone until dinner time so quick fix or slow cooker meals are most  helpful... and Thursday evenings right after dinner Bible study.  No youth group with summer break going on.  This week I also have a doctor's appointment Tuesday morning so, with all the running around Tuesday, my slow cooker will be my best friend!  I have a few of them so dinner and dessert that day will employ two of them because....

.... also this week we have one of the CEF summer missionaries staying with us. Meals need to stretch and I will be scheduling a specific breakfast to be sure our guest is properly fed.  I also plan to make some cookies and other snacks to fill in the gaps.

Menu for this week...

Monday
Breakfast: Pancakes and Scrambled Eggs
Dinner: Fish Sandwiches and Mini-Fries
     Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
 
Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal and Fruit
Dinner: Hobo Stew and Biscuits
     Slow Cooker Bread Pudding

Wednesday
Breakfast: (leftover) Biscuits and Eggs
Dinner: Spaghetti and Cheesy Bread-sticks
     Make No Bake Cookies

Thursday
Breakfast: Banana Muffins
Dinner: Pork Fried Rice and Spring Rolls
     Bake  Lemon Brownies

Friday
Breakfast: Cheesy Eggs and Sausage
Dinner: Burgers and Jo-Jos
     Home-made Slushy

Saturday
Breakfast: Popovers
Dinner: Pizza

  
What are you doing and cooking this week?


Blessings,

Linking up today with some of these...