The Menu Plan

Many moms I see online plan their menu each week.  I can see how this is beneficial, and something I will likely find myself doing once Little Sheep gets old enough.  But for now, my plan is pretty simple.

I took the four main ingredients of our diet -- chicken, pork, beef, and ground beef.  Then I created seven different meals that each item could be used with.  For example, each one can be made into a hash, a soup, or a stew of some sort.  That's 12 meals alone!  But I also added in a pasta meal, and a rice meal, and then something different for each.  After that, I mixed them up so that we never have two of the same meal or two of the same meats twice in a row.  We'll go through 4 meals before we have anything similar.

Some of them are fairly vague (ie "Beef and Pasta") and the reason for that is to allow me a bit of variety.  For "Beef and Pasta" I might make a Beef Bourgandy, or a beef stir fry over egg noodles, etc.  That gives me some wiggle room, as well as allows me to use up excess in the fridge.

I also prep my meat ahead of time so that it is portioned out.  Because at this point it is only myself and PapaSheppard eating real food meals, I have 8 oz of meat per meal, or 4 oz each.  This is plenty of meat for us, as we treat it as a garnish, and not the main focus of the meal.  We often add a salad and homemade bread to the menu.  I bake my favorite recipe, Cuban Bread, to go with it, and we have a delicious, healthy and complete meal!

Here's my current rotation of meals.

Shredded Pork Sandwiches
Beef and Pasta
Hamburger Soup
Chicken Hash
Pork Stew
Beef Kabobs
Mashed Potatoes with Hamburger Gravy
Chicken Alfredo
Pork Kabobs
Beef Stew
Hamburger Hash
Chicken and Dressing
Pork Soup
Shredded Beef Sandwiches
Nachos with Ground Beef
Chicken Cacciatore
Honey Garlic Pork
Beef Soup
Hamburger Casserole
Chicken and Rice
Pork Hash
Beef Stroganoff
Calzones (Can be used with pretty much anything)
Chicken Soup
Sweet and Sour Pork
Beef Hash
Spaghetti with Hamburger Meat Sauce
Chicken Barbecue Sandwiches

Welcome!

There are a million billion mom-bloggers out there.  In fact, by now I'm sure there's a spectacular phrase coined to describe them.  I unfortunately don't know it yet.  But I decided I could no longer sit ideally by and let the opportunity to share my 17 weeks worth of baby knowledge to myself.  And so, I created TLSS as a way to get involved and get in contact with all the other funky mamas who love to talk about baby-wearing, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, teething, housekeeping, baking, baby-making, and on and on and on.  That's the awesome thing about blogging about motherhood -- you'll never know ALL about it!

So I thought I'd take this time to introduce myself and my flock.  :)

I am MamaSheppard, a free-thinking little spirit floating in the breeze.  I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia with my beloved, PapaSheppard, and we have one Little Sheep in our flock, born on May 31, 2010.  She is the joy of our lives and we love her dearly.  You'll learn more about us as the days go on.  :)