It’s been a while. I know. My life has been so crazy I’ve been horrible about planning meals. It’s been the icky scramble each day as we try to figure out what to eat based on when we all get home!

Where did my summer go? It’s been insane. I know that. Somewhere I lost the entire month of July and nearly the month of August!

With much to report, I don’t know where to begin. We have a new member of our family, Som from Thailand. She starts school tomorrow at the local High School. I need to get my life back on track with good planning so her year with us can be the best ever!

So here I am with an update to our menu Monday. I don’t even really have a plan for this week but I wanted to talk about what we did last month and this month.

My neighbour’s church is part of the Angel Food Ministries network. This is a wonderful ministry that puts together food packages. You don’t have to be in financial hardship to qualify for it. It’s great for those in need, but it’s also great for families just trying to live a little more frugally as well.

There’s several options each month. First you have a signature box for only 30 dollars. It’s a week’s worth of meals for a family of four. That’s just a fantastic deal! They even offer an allergen-free box which is nice for those with dietary concerns as well as a box for seniors.

In addition to their meal boxes, there’s some specialty boxes. We’ve been picking up several of these. One is a box just filled with all sorts of yummy fruits and veggies. I love that box! But after two months I have a ton of veggies I’m not sure what to do with!! Especially combined with what little bit we’re getting from our garden.

Each box comes with a pamphlet with recipes. Last month we tried a Toscana Soup which was way yummies. There was no talking at the dinner table that night! All you heard was a lot of "slurp slurp slurp". There’s just something to be said about good food!

So tomorrow I’m going to make a pork roast with peach sauce. Doesn’t that just sound fancy? I know! Colour me amazed since mostly my meals are… well easy. So the sheet makes this sound easy, but we shall see!

Another idea from the Angel Food is a Meatloaf Pie. We’re going to try that one, but I’m not sure what day. Because we have a boatload of onions, I’m also going to look into a french onion soup one night.

I may not have a solid plan for this week, but I’ve got some plans. I do know this weekend it’s gonna be a grill master weekend. We’ve gotten plenty of meats in some grill boxes. We love the grill!

So here’s a question to all of you. I have a good couple pounds of carrots, a boatload of garlic (haha to any vampires, don’t come around here!), lots of onions, a variety of peppers, three fantastic tomatoes from my garden, celery, cabbage, romaine, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lettuce… Oh I’m probably forgetting something… but yeah. You get the picture!

I’m looking for something different. I mean sure I could make baked potatoes and french onion soup and whatnot… but what about something new? What do you guys make with these sorts of things? What would you enjoy a crazy blog entry? I think I’m prime for some great vegetarian meals, what do you think?

I did get a recipe for cabbage pancakes. Yeah. Cabbage pancakes. Ever heard of those? Not me. But I know that cabbage is being pushed because of the health benefits. Cole slaw is icky (Nope, not a southerner!) and while I’m Irish I don’t want boiled cabbage either. Should I go for the pancakes? And what on earth do you make to go with cabbage pancakes?

Sorry I haven’t been around much. Mostly I’ve been driving. Driving. More driving. Even more driving. Not to mention trying to do school, welcoming a new member into our family, busy keeping up with the travelling husband, fighting with crummy Verizon (I’m THIS close to going elsewhere for cells), reading when I get the chance, working on lots of pictures for people, and on occasion – sleeping.

–Lady O