MPM--Last Week of School Edition

Hello, my menu planning friends. How kind of you to stop by, after my uninspired June menus!

I'm still struggling to hit my summer food stride. I'm finding we're out of the house more, and I either want things to bring to the pool (and my kids don't eat sandwiches other than PBJ, which is usually lunch) or things I don't need to cook or don't involve too much time at the stove. This week will reflect that, I'm afraid.

Monday: I'm going to try that Korean beef, honest. And our CSA box comes again so that will impact the sides.

Tuesday: I'm trying the Captain's Chicken from the Crockpot 365 site. Crockpot recipes are helping in this heat. (see below for a good one from my cousin!)

Wednesday: Leftovers (ahhh)

Thursday: Last day of kindergarten for my son! So excited for him and pleased at all he accomplished this year. His end-of-year presentation was awesome. Tacos in his honor.

Friday: We will probably be going to see Thomas the Tank Engine today, for one of the last times, I would imagine, which makes me sad. But I will defrost one of the Dinner A'Fare meals or plan to have Trader Joe's pizza when we get back. (On a different note, my kids tried an inside-out pizza the other day and loved it. It's not hard to love but my older one gets funny about cheese so it was a relief!)

My poor family. I am in a real roasting rut right now. When in doubt (which is often), my answer appears to be: toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast it for a while. What have we done this with? Carrots. Brussels sprouts. Asparagus. Even kale. Sweet potatoes can be roasted at the same time in the oven but even easier: no salt or olive oil necessary, just some stabs with a knife. Same with the beets. Even the Smitten Kitchen potatoes and turnips were roasted. They are lucky I'm not roasting celery and lettuce (hmmm...no, no, probably not).

The good news is, all those roasting recipes were awesome. I had no idea what to do with all those cute little turnips from the CSA, so I threw them in the SK mustard roasted potatoes recipe. Yum. Yum. Yum. The potatoes were better, but the turnips were actually a nice little addition in there. The roasted carrot and avocado salad was a hit again as well, and I have taken now to just broiling off big bags of carrots and calling it a day and using them at lunch or otherwise for me. I like them cold or hot, with the lemon or without. I also tried the carrot salad, although without the harissa it almost seems not fair to say I tried it. But even without that admitted crucial component, it was really good and we enjoyed it quite a bit. OK, me especially but I am a sucker for feta.

On my last post, don't miss commenter Brandy's awesome tweaking of the cannoli dip recipe. Thanks Brandy!

And in my effort to get back on track with summer meals, I pulled out my crockpot, which seemed counterintuitive but makes sense. I don't have to wait over anything hot, and I can start it any old time in the morning and have dinner ready at collapsing time for the kids. This recipe went well though it made a ton--I froze some and did Aid for Friends meals and still we ate it three times this week. Thanks to Jan for providing it!

Jan's Italian Beef
Rump or sirloin tip roast 4 to 5 lbs.
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cup water
1 pkg. dry Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix
1 tsp. each of basil, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper

Bring sauce to boil with water and seasonings. Pour over meat in crock pot. Cook all day on low, breaking apart meat. ( I usually shred the meat all day as soon as it is tender enough to come apart)
Its so easy!!!

What are you having this week? List your meals with I'm an Organizing Junkie and inspire us!