Catching Up With You and the Meal Plan 9/20-9/26

Hello friends! With my last post a whopping 5 days ago, I have some announcements, a treat and some tips to share.

First, an announcement to my newsletter subscribers: this is a "bye week" for the Krista's Kitchen Newsletter. The newsletter will be back in your inbox next Monday with all new tips, fun facts, the meal plan, and grocery list. If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter, please click the link on the top left sidebar.

We had a fun and busy weekend back in Indiana, tailgating the Purdue game, celebrating my daughter's birthday, attending a baby shower, and arriving home very late last night. We love football season; the crisp fall mornings, the sunny afternoons, the excitement of the game, AND the tailgate parties! We've been tailgating with the same friends since college. Of course, back then, we'd just wander out of our campus dorms, houses, or apartments on football Saturday mornings and crash our parent's tailgate parties. Like a pack of thirsty wolves, we travelled from parking lot to parking lot visiting whomever's parents happened to have the music thumpin' and the grill fired up. Sometimes we'd even get lucky and the parents would tailgate together, diminishing the need to partyhop.

These days most of the original tailgaters are parents themselves. New babies show up every year, ensuring the longevity of our tradition. For example, this little guy, the son of one of my husband's fraternity brothers. Couldn't you just squeeze him?!



As a result, the tailgate parties have tamed down considerably and are definitely more kid-friendly. After years of tailgating experience, our little group has gotten game day Saturdays down to a science. The parties are well-planned. This year, our group even has a tailgating blog where assignments (who is bringing tents, tables, etc) are posted and every family can post what snacks and beverages they are bringing so that we don't end up with say, 5 pans of brownies. There's also fun stuff on there too: video clips, pictures, and quotes. What a great idea! And here's another great idea I took away from this week's tailgate party:

The Tailgate Toolbox:




This handy tool box belongs my skilled tailgating friends, Jen and Dave. It contains all kinds of essentials and even non-essentials that you might find yourself in need of during a tailgating party. I didn't go through the tailgating tool box, but here are some things that I spotted: seasoning salt, non-stick cooking spray, table cloth holders, rope, hot sauce, a ladle, wet wipes, hot pads, mustard, a first aid kit, pain reliever (such as Tylenol), miscellaneous hardware and kitchen tools, Spider-Duck Mardi Gras beads(?), and much more! What a brilliant way to store and tote your tailgate party essentials!




My contribution to the tailgate party? Since it was my daughter's birthday, I made THESE chocolate ganache filled cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting that I found on Gonna Want Seconds. Oh my goodness! They were amazing. And I have to say that they turned out SO beautifully, with the rich frosting piped on and lots of sprinkles on top. Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture. By the time I remembered, the party was over, and the remaining cupcakes were worse for the wear, having been transported over 7 hours to a tailgate party and then sitting in the hot afternoon sun. But take my word for it, if you are looking for the ultimate chocolate cupcake, this is it!


Now for the meal plan. This week I am recycling a meal plan. That's the beauty of building up a file of old meal plans- whenever you are too busy or tired or uninspired to come up with a meal plan, you can just pull a meal plan from the past. That's just what I'm doing this week. This meal plan is from September/October of last year. If you don't have a file of meal plans built up yet, then use one of mine! Just click on the NEW "Meal Plans" icon in my right side bar and print off any of 84 meal plans, complete with a grocery list.

Before I share this recycled meal plan, I have one more announcement for my readers in the Greater Cleveland area: I still have plenty of room in my meal planning workshop next Tuesday evening, September 28th. In fact, I need 3 more people to sign up for the class to run. It will be a fun night of learning the basics of meal planning and grocery shopping. You'll leave with your own 2 week meal plan and grocery list and the skills you need to create your own meal plans in the future. Please, tell a friend! Click HERE for the link to the course catalogue.

Now for the meal plan.... (links to all of the recipes provided below)

Monday September 28th

Ham and Bean Soup
Corndog Muffins

Tuesday September 29th

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Wednesday September 30th

Leftovers or Quesadillas

Thursday October 1st

Oven BBQ Chicken

Friday October 2nd

BBQ Chicken Salad

Saturday October 3rd

Chili
Save the leftovers for a Chili Pie or Chili Cheese Dogs!

Sunday October 4th

Leftovers


Grocery List

Produce

3 onions
basil
garlic
3 potatoes
Romaine lettuce
tomatoes
green onions


Meat

ham, 2 cups chopped
hotdogs
3-4 lbs. ground beef
2-3 1/2 lb. whole chickens

Dairy

eggs
milk
cream cheese
butter
shredded cheddar

Canned Goods

whole kernel corn (frozen is ok too)
2 cans Great Northern Beans
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
24 oz. chicken broth
spaghetti sauce
cider vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
molasses
tomato paste
peanut oil
2 cans kidney beans
1 big can whole tomatoes
tomato juice or V8
black beans
prepared Ranch dressing

Dry Goods

brown sugar
cornbread muffin mix
spaghetti or linguine
1 box chicken Stovetop Stuffing
crushed red pepper
paprika
chili powder

Happy Fall! Hope you're all having a great week!