Somehow, without my knowledge, someone put Thanksgiving on the calendar for *this* week. Eeps! I thought I had one more week in November, good thing our plans this year are simple.

Oh, and before I forget, I tried a new (better) omelet recipe instead of the one I posted last week. Much easier, fewer ingredients and we thought it was tastier. Ha! Pluses in my book. Here is the new recipe.

I am going to try to do some prep this week, as time allows. However, we have a pretty busy week in the days leading up to Thursday.

• Grocery Shopping on Monday (need to remember to take the bird out of the fridge today!)
• Max has a grooming appointment on Tuesday. In a perfect world, this would not be a most of the day adventure. However, the best (and most wonderful) groomer is about 30 minutes drive from our home. Just far enough that it's not worth coming home while she is taking care of him, so Emi and I end up needing to kill about 1.5-2 hours in a town where there is nothing to do. At least in nice weather there is a little park where we can take a picnic and run around. Now, nadda. This should be fun. Back to the picnic idea (in the car!) and dvd's. Hoping the day is sorta nice and not rainy, that way I can bundle us up and at least take a walk.
• Wednesday is my (hopeful) baking/prep day. It's only the three of us, so it's not like I am planning this big elaborate meal or anything. But because it's just us, I like to make a bit of a big deal out of the holidays. It's harder, when we can't be with our loved ones at this time of year but we are pretty much getting use it to. Mostly.
• I also want to not to have to do too terribly much on Thursday morning. One of my favorite childhood memories is watching the Macy's Parade in the mornings. Emi and I watched last year, but it went right over her head. This year, she is so into balloons and (of course) music. She will be lovin' this. Hope the talking heads keep it to a minimum, that's a big pet peeve of mine. I want to see the parade, not them.

My current plan for Thanksgiving:

• Psycho Chicken (That's right, no turkey again this year - we like chicken so much more!)
• Stuffing (Usually I just make a box, but this year I am SO tempted to try this. However, I wonder if Jeff can handle a non-stuffed bird? hmmmm)
• Homemade Gravy (Seriously, I am not a gravy person {yuck!} but I love this stuff!)
• Cranberry-Orange Sauce
• Yams/Sweet Potatoes (Just out of a can, nothing fancy - heat and add a splash of orange juice, a dash of maple syrup, a sprinkle of pecans and just a bit of brown sugar, NO marshmallows!)
• Acorn Squash (One of our all-time fav's and I really don't make this enough.)
• Mom's Apple Muffins
• Grandma Ople's Apple Pie (Probably the *best* apple pie we've ever had!)
• Pumpkin Ring Cake (Not for the day, but sometime over the weekend. It's just not possible to have Thanksgiving without something pumpkin. Yuuuuum, pumpkin.)

With all this going on, the rest of the week is going to be S.I.M.P.L.E. We still have so many leftovers from last week, and since I need the fridge cleaned out so I can shop, we are having our Leftover Buffet early in the week!

Please notice how blasted early this is up! I woke up at 4am and was not able to go back to sleep. After goofing off for too long, I decided to get this done. Woooohoooo!

Oh, and don't forget to check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for more MPM (later today).

• Sunday: Leftover Buffet

• Monday: Tuna Salad Sandwiches (left over tuna steak from Friday night dinner!), fresh bakery bread, lettuce, some kind of cold salad and probably frozen peas for Emi

• Tuesday: Easy Asian Beef and Noodles (either beef or pork, depends on what I have/is on sale this week)

• Wednesday: Breakfast (keeping it simple!): Eggs, grits, chicken sausage, maybe toast

• Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

• Friday: Chicken Pockets, green salad

Saturday: Chicken Tortilla Bake (using some of the leftover chicken)


Original Post: Menu Plan (November 23 - November 29)