This week did not start out well. It was Monday at 5:15, and I was in the café area of the grocery store with my kids. I had them doing homework and I was frantically planning my menu and shopping list for the week. I felt that I had hit an all time low. My kids doing homework in the grocery store?! I was somewhat reassured that I wouldn’t be seen – surely my friends who are a bit more together than I, were probably home making their Chinese Chicken Salad (Last week’s Monday night dinner). …A tiara and cape would be really useful right now…

What to make this week? The fleeting thoughts throughout the day of menu possibilities quickly went out the window. It was time for the ICE Menu: In Case of Emergency!

Monday: Roasted Chicken (store bought), Tomatoes, Sugar Snap Peas, and Grapes
Tuesday: Turkey Burgers with Caramelized Onions, Beets, Tomatoes, and Side Salad
Wednesday: Roasted Chicken over Rice, and Roasted Butternut Squash
Thursday: By Request: Breakfast for Dinner – Buckwheat Pancakes with Hemp -Granola, Chicken Maple Sausages, and Frittata with Asparagus, Tomato, Left Over Caramelized Onion and Butternut Squash

Roasted chickens are amazingly good – I like to save these for emergency situations. I can pull a rabbit out of a hat (actually a hot, savory roasted chicken out of a bag), add a few easy sides and sit down to a feast! I can reinvent this meal two days later over rice. The turkey burgers, a proven winner, are really, really fast. And breakfast for dinner – who could turn those angelic kids, sitting across from me, diligently doing homework in the grocery store?!

Shopping List
For 2 Adults and 2 Kids – with some leftovers for lunches; Includes Fruit for breakfast and lunch

Entrees
2 Roasted Chickens
2 lbs. Ground Turkey, dark meat
1 box Chicken Maple Sausage, Frozen, Fully-Cooked

Vegetables
Sugar Snap Peas – enough for 1 dinner and lunches (paired w hummus it is great in kids’ school lunches)
5 Tomatoes
3 Onions, medium sized, halved and cut into thin strips
6 Beets
Greens For Salad – enough for 1 dinner and lunches
Asparagus

Fruit
1 Big Bunch Grapes
1 Large Bunch Bananas
8 Kiwi
3 Mango
8 Apples

Dry Goods (You probably have a lot of this in your pantry from previous weeks)
1 1/3 C Buckwheat Flour
2/3 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
¾ lb. Hemp Plus Granola (from bulk section)
Maple Syrup
2 T Honey
Salt
1-2 T Vegetable Oil
Canola or Olive Oil Cooking Spray
1 ¾ T Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 ¾ T Worcestershire Sauce
2 t Balsamic Vinegar
1 t Brown Sugar
1 C rice – white or brown
Sunflower seeds or cashews to top salad

Dairy
3 T Butter or Earth Balance
4 Eggs or Egg Substitute (I use 1 T flaxseed meal w 3 T Water for each egg)
6 Eggs for Fritatta

Bakery
Mini rolls for Turkey Burgers