Preparing For A Busy Week

Being a stay-at-home wife, I'm used to the luxury (at least, I consider it a luxury) of being able to start supper early in the afternoon. It's been quite a while since I've had to come home late in the afternoon and try to put a meal together in a hurry.

This week, I have appointments to keep throughout the day Monday, some important work to do here at home on Tuesday, then Wednesday through Friday, I'll be caring for a friend's mother all day. (She recently had shoulder surgery and needs someone to stay with her in her home until family members can get there after work.) So, it will be an unusually busy week for me.

I have some free time today, so I'm going to take advantage of it by doing a lot of prep work in the kitchen to plan for the week ahead. That way, on those three busiest days at the end of the week, I'll have lots of yummy leftovers that I can just heat up quickly for us to eat.

Here is our menu for this week:

Today (and again on Wednesday): Marinated Broiled Flank Steak, Twice-Baked Cheddar Potatoes, Braised Cabbage, Green Salad.

Monday (and again on Thursday): Taco Salads in Tortilla Bowls, Drunken Pinto Beans

Tuesday (and again on Friday): Cheese Ravioli Lasagna, Garlic Toast, Summer Squash Veggie Medley, Green Salad.

Saturday: Ham and Pepperoni Panini, Roasted Corn and Crab Soup (I had originally planned for a creamy potato soup, but decided to try Violet's soup instead!)


To get a jump start on the week, this morning I have already:

- put the steak in the marinade and cooked the cabbage for today's meal;
- cooked and seasoned the ground beef, shredded the lettuce, sliced the black olives and made the salsa for the taco salad meal;
- cooked the Italian sausage and cut up the zucchini, yellow squash, onions and carrots for the lasagna meal. I have pasta sauce that I made last week in the freezer.

With these things done already, the meals will go together very quickly each evening. By Saturday, things will have slowed down again and I'll have plenty of time to make the soup and grill the sandwiches that are on the menu.

And if everything goes well, I might even have time to make a cake of some kind today for an early Valentine's Day treat.