The 2020 week 51 menu plan is complete. The focus this week is preparing for a 10 day trip to Aruba with the family beginning Sunday. The entire trip hinges on all 7 of us having a negative Covid test 72 hours prior to departure. I am planning a menu focused on eliminating perishables with fingers crossed that our travel will begin as planned.
Breakfast
The 2020 week 51 breakfast plan includes a repeat of the ricotta sausage casserole since it was so enjoyable last week and I still have ricotta cheese that needs to be utilized. Both blackberries and blueberries were on sale this week, so the giant berry pancake is a no brainer. I will make the BAM cake which is normally a breakfast staple for snacking and pack some portions for travel.
Lunch
The lunch plan for the week is super easy…soup! No need for further preparations because there are enough leftovers to get us through the entire week. We plan to spend our first full day in Aruba on Renaissance Island making the Papagayo Bar and Grill our choice for breakfast, lunch and possibly dinner.
Dinner
The dinner plans for the week include eat again entrees as well as roasted sausage and peppers utilizing nearly all of the remaining vegetables. We will celebrate my daughter’s birthday on Thursday and use several coupons for Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish Grill. We received the coupons at the Deadline Brewing Project tasting dinner and they expire the end of December. Once in Aruba I have identified two possibilities for dinner after we arrive. On Monday we make the move to the timeshare and will begin our “eat in” dining enjoying gourmet burgers packed frozen and brought from home.
Hits and Misses
I always forget just how much we enjoy this breakfast casserole and how many mornings it provides a hearty breakfast…so easily reheated! Always add fresh basil to take it over the top.
Ricotta and Sausage Breakfast Casserole
We have these pancakes quite often at this point. Sometimes they come out perfectly, other times I struggle to be certain they are completely baked. They are the best E pancakes I have tried.
I haven’t made this soup since last winter. It is packed with flavor and supplies multiple lunches. I used hot Italian sausage this time to pack more punch.
I added this Swedish Meatball recipe to my menu plan after reading about it in my sister’s blog post about scoops. I have only made Swedish meatballs once in my life and was not impressed with the result. As I prepared this recipe, I realized that these meatballs were not baked (my preferred method), but browned stove top. Realizing that fact, I was prepared to never make this recipe again. It is labor intensive. The final result however was fabulous. In fact my daughter gave these meatballs a “10”. This recipe has been moved to family favs!
Raspberries were on sale and I decided to make a family favorite keto cake. We don’t eat this as a breakfast, but as a dessert. I made it in advance to serve for my daughter’s birthday as an acceptable but decedent dessert and one of her favorites.
Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Food for Thought
Sweden’s official Twitter account has suggested that “Swedish” meatballs may have originated in Turkey. “Swedish” meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century,” the tweet said. (Source CNN)
Recap
It was a great week of eating and I actually changed a few of the menu plans for the holiday week at the time share because of the successes over the past several weeks. I am busy in the kitchen preparing for the trip by making some traditional treats (definitely off plan), but the holidays would not be the same without them. Cheers to holiday cooking and baking! Bon Appetit!
