menu plan monday: 10|10 to 16|10

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canucks!

We had Thanksgiving supper at my mom's on Saturday evening and my boyfriend is back to work today so our long weekend ended up being a regular (ie: not long) weekend. Yes, the kids are off school today but my step-daughter is at her mom's. The baby is currently napping and B is sitting on the couch eating popcorn and watching an episode in the all-day Discovery Channel marathon of River Monsters. (Mmmm... Jeremy Wade!)

It's after 1 o'clock already. I have put sleeping bags outside to air out in preparation for S's hunting trip next weekend, washed a counter full of dishes, vacuumed, and now I have two loads of laundry to wash and three to dry and those plus two more to fold. There are Kaiser buns to make and somewhere in there I think we need to hit the pavement with the stroller (for the wee one) and bike (for the boychild) and visit the park again. We went on Saturday, my boyfriend took the kids again yesterday, and it's a gorgeous day again today. Perfect fall weather.

With the return of fall weather (though it has been warmer than fall this past week) will come the return of oven cooking. It's amazing how much turning on the oven even for 30 minutes can heat up our main floor in an uncomfortably warm way. The stovetop, rice cooker, and slow cookers come in handy for summer cooking. This week we're having a mix of all four cooking methods.

Monday: Lentil Sloppy Joes over Carrot Wheat Kaiser Buns, carrot sticks

Tuesday:  pasta with Yummy Marinara Sauce (using up leftover and frozen Unstuffed Cabbage)

Wednesday: Crock Pot Roasted Chicken with potatoes, Zesty Herbed Carrots, Cheese-Garlic Biscuits

Thursday: Scalloped Cabbage Casserole, Parmesan and Herb Mashed Potatoes, green peas

Friday: Slow-cooked Eye of Round roast, Special Cauliflower, Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Rice, carrot sticks

Saturday: Pizza Braid, Caesar salad

Sunday: Slow Cooker Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Roasted Beets with Balsamic Vinegar, broccoli

Must- and maybe-do kitchen tasks this week include:

• Sweet Potato Bread
• granola
• sugar cookie dough for the freezer (Hallowe'en cookies, perhaps)
• applesauce

What's on your menu? Turkey Day leftovers? You'll find plenty of meal ideas over at I'm an Organizing Junkie. I'm getting quite the collection of recipes to try on future menus.