Day 1: Baked Chicken, Mashed butternut squash, Pear slices
Day 2: Sloppy Joes, Sauteed kale, Strawberry and banana smoothie
Day 3: Crock pot mixed bean soup, Crusty bread
Day 4: Homemade pizza, Tossed salad w/ shredded carrots and olives
Day 5: Mozzarella stuffed turkey meatloaf, Roasted root vegetables, Steamed green beans
Day 6: Farmer’s casserole, Fruit salad
Day 7: Chicken pot pie, Warmed applesauce with cinnamon
Notes: You may have noticed that our family has homemade pizza every week. This is not a mistake! We have made it a tradition and the kids really look forward to this. In fact, if our Saturday plans change the routine, they are disappointed to miss it! Traditions are important and I hope this is something they will remember for the rest of their lives. From my perspective, this is an easy meal and requires almost no planning. We have our routines down for making the pizza dough (takes less than 5 minutes to mix and then 45 minutes to rise) The kids can select whatever toppings they like, although usually it is just cheese! I will change between homemade pesto that I’ve frozen from the summer and jarred pizza sauce.
Green Tips: Pizza night is one of our most eco-friendly. By not purchasing frozen pizzas or ordering from our local vendor, we eliminate the plastic and cardboard that goes along with the processed foods. I purchase flour and olive oil from the bulk section at my grocery co-op. They also have a cheese counter and I have them cut me a 2 pound chunk that is then wrapped in Bee’s Wrap so that I can avoid purchasing cheese wrapped in plastic. Two pounds will last 2-3 weeks. You don’t want to purchase too much or it will start to mold. The only packaged food that I use is quick yeast, which I have purchased in a large glass jar and sometimes organic pizza sauce in a glass jar (I have not tried making myself yet, if you have a good recipe that I can try in the summer please let me know in the comments). All of the vegetables for the salad come loose and I use my own cloth/mesh produce bags. I can get bulk salad greens or I will buy a head of lettuce and cut it up myself to avoid using plastic clam shells. Carrots can be purchased loose. I avoid vegetables such as tomatoes in the winter as they are out of season and take a lot of energy and carbon emissions to transport to Wisconsin. They are also pricey this time of year. Olives can be purchased from the salad bar in the grocery store and put in your own container.
