April Menu, Baking, and Stocking Up

April is a month for making use of all sorts of spring time foods.  With Easter this month, there are great deals at the grocery store on eggs, asparagus, ham, and strawberries are starting to show up here.

Around our house this month, we're working to eat up last year's produce that's still in the freezer to make room for more goodies.  We know we'll be seeing the trucks bringing strawberries from "off the mountain" soon, and we want to have plenty of freezer room for those and other goodies once our CSA starts again.

I'm also working to do some baking for the freezer to make the summer months a little easier.  Summer tends to be a little looser in some regards, busier in others.  We have more time for playing outside, picking berries, etc., but tend to want to spend less time in the kitchen.  So, I'll be baking up bread, pound cakes, muffins, etc. now to make summer months easier and cooler (not having to heat the oven in June and July as much).

I also scored an awesome deal on jalapenos at HT on the discount produce rack, so I'll be processing those to can.  These will be wonderful to have next winter, and they make a great addition to other homemade goodies for Christmas gifts.  (The time to think about canning for Christmas is spring and summer!  But it makes Christmas so much less stressful.)

Here's our menu plan for the month to make use of our springtime goodies and freezer stores.

Breakfasts:  banana nut muffins, french bread and rosemary olive oil bread from The Prudent Homemaker, lemon poppy seed muffins, winter squash pancakes, egg and cheese sandwiches, bagels from Panera (with gift card money), baked oatmeal, and marmalade muffins.  I will post the winter squash pancake recipe soon.

Lunches:  leftovers filled in with egg salad sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, three bean salad, or seasonal fruit

Dinners:  ham and asparagus quiche, baked potatoes with cheese and broccoli, corn chowder, these yummy egg sandwiches, pasta with pesto and ricotta (cheater's lasagna), homemade pizza with veggies and ham, roasted asparagus with salmon and baked potatoes or oven fries, bean and cheese quesadillas, vegetarian chili over rice or baked potatoes, black bean tacos, dinner salads with hard boiled eggs and tuna, and maybe a turkey pot pie to use up the last of the turkey in the freezer.

What about you?  I'd love to hear your plans for how to use those deals on Easter groceries!  Blessings to all this Easter weekend!

I'll be linking up to The Prudent Homemaker and Strangers and Pilgrims this week.