November Menu Plan

We're kind of shedding tears around here now that our CSA season is over for the year, but it also simplifies things a bit in the weekly schedule and meal planning area since we know for sure what produce we'll have each week (mostly freezer).  Once again, we're going to make the most of our freezer and pantry stash, and graciously accept overflow from the food pantry where my mom volunteers (they're only open for clients two days a week, so some produce that's donated needs to be used before then).

We'll take advantage of the sales this month on baking staples to stock up on butter, brown sugar, white sugar, Pam, nuts, sweet potatoes, and cranberries.  We love to freeze cranberries for use in smoothies, muffins, and fruit crisps.  The sweet potatoes will keep for a while and are wonderful in soups, enchiladas, and casseroles, as well as just baked and topped with black beans and sour cream or yogurt.

Without further ado, here's the menu plan for the month, with some adjustments to be made depending on what we glean from the food pantry.

Breakfasts:  strawberry coffee cake (with gleaned strawberries and marscapone cheese), winter squash baked oatmeal with raisins, figs, and pecans, egg and cheese sandwiches, egg breakfast casserole with peppers and onions, fruit smoothies, yogurt and fruit, winter squash muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, cranberry oatmeal muffins

Lunches:  leftovers rounded out with gleaned fruit, salad, or yogurt

Dinners:  tacos with winter squash, turkey, and greens, open faced lentil sloppy joes with salad or roasted veggies, pasta with homemade pesto and salad, winter squash black bean chili, enchiladas with turkey, beans, peppers, onions, sweet potato and frozen shredded summer squash, dinner salads with hard boiled eggs and cranberry vinaigrette, loaded mac and cheese with cauliflower and sausage, homemade pizza with pesto/tomato sauce and veggies x 3, turkey pot pie, winter squash and chick pea salad with tahini dressing and sage from the garden, crock pot pasta with ricotta, corn chowder, veggie stir fry with egg rolls, black bean chili with corn bread

Putting up:  This month we'll focus on processing and freezing winter squash and dehydrating any appropriate fruits from the food pantry.  We'd love to dry some apples and pineapple for snacking, and have already dried some cantaloupe (great with oatmeal) and frozen some winter squash.

Groceries to purchase:  tortillas, eggs, brown sugar, pie crust, tahini, dried chick peas, dried lentils, canned corn, sweet potatoes, cranberries

I'd love to hear your meal plans for this month!