Menu and thoughts for Monday (June 25th)

Monday was another off-ish day. We ate breakfast late (I was lazing on the couch) and we went to my mother-in-law's house for dinner. I actually MADE something for lunch, which is odd. Usually we just have sandwiches, or a pieced together lunch, but I used the stove today! So, here it is:

Breakfast - Kefir Smoothies and dry Cheerios
Lunch - Shells (I'll explain in a minute)
Broccoli from a friends garden
Cheese slices
Dinner - Lasagna Hamburger Helper
Green Salad
Garlic Bread

And here's my commentary:

Breakfast - We love us some kefir smoothies in our house. A couple of weeks ago I bought a bunch of fruit, cut it up, and put it in the freezer. We originally started making smoothies with vanilla yogurt, but since I got my kefir grains, we have been using that. We have had several variations; everything from plain old strawberry/banana to carrot juice/mango/banana. I have chopped apples, grapes, pineapple, strawberries, mangoes, bananas, and even frozen pomegranate juice in the freezer. I have run out of some of these, and need to restock. I would love to buy a TON of fruit, so it might last me for a while. With it being summertime, I hope to find it on sale. Anyway, this mornings smoothie was grape/pineapple/mango/pomegranate juice/strawberry. It mostly tasted like strawberry. After the smoothies, the kids were still hungry, so I gave them the last of the Cheerios.

Lunch - Shells. Sounds simple, and it is. My sister Kim gave me this recipe. I know my sister Jenni has it also. They got it from a friend named Mary (I think). Anyway, here is the recipe:

SHELLS
1 to 2 tsp olive oil
Small to Medium Onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 to 2 C small shell pasta
8 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 sauce cans water (enough to cover shells)
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Beef bullion cubes to taste (I used beef bullion powder)

Saute onion and garlic in oil for 1 minute. Add shells and saute until oil is absorbed and shells are lightly browned. Add tomato sauce, water, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and bullion. Bring to a boil, boil for one minute (to dissolve bullion powder). Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes. Stir when done cooking to distribute sauce.

These were great. My sister informs me that they are awesome as leftovers, too. I can't wait until tomorrow to find out! I just served this with some raw broccoli and ranch dressing, and some cheddar cheese slices.

Dinner - We went to my mother-in-law's house for dinner tonight, so we ate something I wouldn't normally serve. I don't know when the last time I bought a box of Hamburger Helper was. I would like to be able to say that with all the made-from-scratch stuff I have been cooking recently, that the Hamburger Helper tasted yucky in comparison. But unfortunately, it was really good! The lasagna is one of my favorites. We had a nice salad and some store-bought garlic bread. For dessert we had some of the No Bake Cookies from Sunday. But my real dessert will be Neopolitan ice cream, once I know the kids are asleep.

Well, that was Monday. Now it's time to go think about what's for dinner tomorrow. And I think I'll get started on those raspberrry muffins, so we can have them for breakfast!

See you later!