This Week With Dee – where I share our menu, my planned home tasks for the week, what I’m reading, self care plans and more. I hope it will give you some ideas for planning your own week or at least a glimpse of one homemaker’s life.
This post may contain affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more here.
THIS WEEK WITH DEE
I’ve already had a busy day so I’m enjoying this lovely background music as I write this post. I think you’ll like it, too.
MENU:
I want to use up some freezer items which you’ll see in this week’s menu.
Monday…
I got the inspiration for tonight’s main course here. Instead of ground beef I’ll use some cooked ground sausage. I made a breakfast casserole last night and saved part of the cooked sausage for tonight. I also have part of a jar of pizza sauce from last week that I’ll add to the marinara.
- creamy cheesy tortellini
- salad
- garlic bread sticks
Tuesday…
I have some cooked and seasoned lentils in the freezer that I want to use up so I’ll use those for this week’s tacos. I’m also going to make a topping for the tacos with canned Mexican corn, diced tomatoes, onion and taco seasoning.
- Lentil Tacos
- corn and diced tomatoes to top the tacos
- chips & salsa
Wednesday…
I have four smoked sausages in the freezer so I’ll use one for this meal. The veggies will include broccoli, carrots, red potatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers and red onion. I love the easy cleanup of sheet pan dinners!
- smoked sausage & veggie sheet pan dinner
- salad
Thursday…
I’ve seen a couple of mentions of chicken & dumplings recently and decided I just have to make some myself. I’ve got plenty of chicken in the freezer so this is a good option this week.
- chicken & dumplings
- carrots
Friday…
Chris and I love shrimp. David…not so much. But I have frozen herb breaded chicken breasts in the freezer so I’ll cook one of those for him. I’m not sure how I’ll cook the shrimp yet but I have a bag in the freezer that needs to be used.
- shrimp
- rice
- veggies
- salad
Saturday…
I have the makings of a tasty chicken soup in the freezer.
- homemade soup
- grilled cheese sandwiches
Sunday…
- “breakfast for dinner”
IN MY HOME:
REVIEW OF LAST WEEK
Monday…
Mondays are a busy day for me since I’ve made this my grocery day. In addition to picking up my grocery order from Pruett’s (local grocery store), I made a quick run into Braum’s as there are several items my mom wants from that store each week. I also bring Mom a few cooked dishes each week. After I got home with the groceries I made her weekly batch of Golden Touch Beans.
One day recently I had brought her some corn with her meal and she commented on how much she enjoyed it. It was just canned corn but I added half a stick of butter, some sugar and a good amount of salt and black pepper. So I made some for her like that again – the whole can as we don’t need the extra sugar and salt in ours.
I also made a big batch of Fussy Eater Vegetable Beef Soup so I could bring her a few containers for her freezer. I decided that instead of making two dinners I would just go ahead and make enough for our dinner, as well. I had some leftover biscuits which I toasted to serve with ours.
David had a volunteer fire department meeting at 6 p.m. which meant we didn’t eat until almost 7:30 p.m. But that did give me plenty of time to take Mom her groceries and the food I’d made for her. I cooked the soup in my Le Creuset Dutch oven so I put it in the oven on warm while I was gone. All I had to do when I got home was to toast the biscuits to serve with the soup.
Tuesday…
David and I went to vote mid-morning. I had two Zoom calls – 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.
I did the usual daily housekeeping tasks and proofread an article my son had written for a Colorado newspaper.
We had calzones and salad for dinner. For some reason I got it into my head that it was Wednesday when I started cooking dinner so I cooked what was supposed to be for Wednesday night. Oops. But it was really good.
I used a can of Pillsbury pizza dough which I spread out into a fairly large rectangle. I layered deli ham over it and a good layer of grated mozzarella cheese. I sprinkled with Italian seasoning and rolled it up lengthwise, sealing the ends well. I placed it seam-side down on a sheet pan covered with a piece of foil. I melted half a stick of butter and added garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. I brushed the top and sides with the butter and baked until done. I cut large slices diagonally and served with some warmed pizza sauce. We all enjoyed this.
David and Chris had their weekly movie night on Tuesday rather than Monday because of David’s firefighter meeting. I watched a documentary on the France Channel about Honoré Balzac.
Wednesday…
In addition to the usual housekeeping and blog admin tasks, I cleaned out a couple of the produce drawers in the fridge. I need to give the entire fridge a thorough clean but I’m at least keeping it reasonably in order bit by bit.
I made the tacos I should have made on Tuesday. The guys are happy to get them whenever. Rather than the usual ground beef, though, I cooked a couple of chicken breasts in the slow cooker with sliced onion, a can of green chilis, chicken broth and taco seasoning. I shredded the cooked chicken and that’s what we had in our tacos.
In case you missed it, I wrote a blog post last week all about how I make ground beef tacos, including a short video demonstrating how to fry corn tortillas. You can read it here:
Classic Tacos ~ A Family Favorite
David did the kitchen cleanup and I went over to Chris’ house for our movie night. We usually do that on Thursdays but I had something else going on Thursday. We watched Party Girl starring Parker Posey. It was a fun and rather sweet movie.
Thursday…
We had dinner early because I had a 7 p.m. Zoom call for a new group I recently joined for “creatives”. I had quite a lot of the shredded chicken left over that I didn’t want to waste so I changed my original dinner plan from our menu. I cooked a package of yellow rice. I heated up some flour tortillas and we made burritos with the chicken and had rice on the side.
Friday…
I was rather tired this day so I did the bare minimum around the house. I did, however, make a nice dinner. I cooked a pot roast with carrots and onions. I served this with twice-baked potatoes and a nice, green salad. The pot roast was fall-apart tender and we all enjoyed this meal.
David has been working on a big project for work so he worked a few more hours after dinner. We didn’t end up doing our usual Friday night “Cocktails and The O.C.” ritual as we were both rather tired.
Saturday…
I was still just wiped out for some reason and didn’t do much more than make the bed, throw in a load of laundry and work on scheduling social media for the week ahead. I didn’t even cook dinner because we had plenty of leftovers. We each did our own thing. I think we all ended up making sliders of the leftover roast beef on some Hawaiian rolls I had.
Sunday…
Still tired but had to pull it together anyway. I washed the sheets and remade the bed, plus one more load of laundry. I made the week’s menu, called my mom for her grocery order and placed the order to pick up on Monday.
I made her favorite green beans. I try to do a second cooked vegetable for her each week and this time I made candied yams, something she really likes.
I finished scheduling social media for the week ahead and outlined this post. I also did several Duolingo lessons.
For dinner I made a breakfast casserole with cooked sausage, a bag of O’Brien frozen potatoes, homemade gravy, eggs and grated cheese. I served this with canned orange Danish rolls and peaches.
David and I watched an episode of The Gilded Age in bed before we went to sleep.
THIS WEEK
I have three Zoom calls this week. Our niece and her little boy who live in California are coming by for a visit Wednesday afternoon. It’s supposed to be in the upper 70s that day so we’ll be able to have a nice visit outdoors. But that means we need to get the patio all cleaned up. David says he can do it himself tomorrow after work but I’m sure I’ll help with it.
WORK
I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for blog-related work this week but I’d like to get another blog post written.
READING
I finished New Arrivals at Mulberry Lane and started the next in the series,
Other books ongoing…
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady ~ Edith Holden
An Incomplete Education ~ Judy Jones and William Wilson
I’m still reading last month’s LWD Book Club selection, Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen. I’m about half way through.
If you don’t already have Audible, you can get a free trial here. We’ve definitely been enjoying it on long drives.
SELF CARE
I meant to do at least one night of stargazing last week but that didn’t happen. The first part of the week was nice but I was busy. Then it got too chilly to be outdoors at night. I’m hopeful I can manage it once this week.
I also did very little coloring last week so I’m going to try to do more.
HEALTH & FITNESS
Chris asked me last night if we can hold each other accountable to drinking more water. That’s an ongoing quest for me. I drink enough fluids overall but a lot of it is the form of tea and coffee. I tend to fall into that habit during cold weather but now that it is getting warmer, it should be easier to drink more water and fewer hot drinks.
FUN ACTIVITIES
I’ll have movie night with Chris on Thursday. I’d like to get out one of my old Nancy Drew books and get lost in it like I used to as a child. We haven’t done a “donut run” for quite awhile so perhaps we can do that one night this week. It always makes Charlotte so happy when Gramma and Grampa show up with donuts!
HABIT OF THE MONTH (March)
The LWD March Challenge is to begin a daily journal practice. And if this is already a habit, consider adding something to it or changing it up in some way. I’ll be sharing some ideas in the Facebook group throughout the month and if you want to share something about how you journal, please feel free to do so in the group or email me.
If you aren’t already in the group, here is the link:
LIFE WITH DEE
I’d love to see pictures of your challenge so feel free to share them in the group or on Instagram and tag me:
~~~~~
What’s on your plan for the week ahead? Home tasks? Menu? Fun? What are you reading?
You may also enjoy…
I chuckled over your confusion Tuesday about it being Wednesday. I did the same thing! I was so convinced, that when my son asked if I could keep his young daughter the next day, I told him no because we were running errands and had a doctor’s appointment. I didn’t realize it was only Tuesday until nearly 11 pm! I texted him right away that I had been wrong about what day it was and would keep her but gosh…And like you we voted on Tuesday as well. You’d think that would have prompted a memory of what day it really was, but it didn’t…
That is so funny that it happened to you, too. I virtually never get confused like that. But maybe…hear me out…there was some sort of glitch it the time/space continuum and we were the only ones who noticed. Ha!