Monday, August 9, 2010

Menu Plan Monday--Pluot Predicament

When produce goes on sale for less than $.50/lb, I can't resist it. No matter what it is. So what was it this week? California Pluots, on sale for $.39/lb. I bought two lbs. for 80 cents. Fabulous.

But what in the world does one do with overly ripe pluots?

(First of all, what is a pluot? Apparently it's a cross between a plum and an apricot. Interesting!)

I don't have equipment for canning, so that's out. I could try freezer jam much like I did with blueberries. I'm not super optimistic about how that would work. Of course we could just eat them as they are, but I'm not that big of a fan of how these particular ones taste (something about the texture). Advice? Recipes?

Sushi, Stuffed peppers, Sweet potato casserole, Sue-Sue's Casserole w/okra and tomatoes
Last week's menu plan went well, for the most part. I made Sweet Potato Casserole from all the sweet potatoes I got from the farmer's market, and we still have leftovers of that (recipe to follow later today!). The sushi was wonderful. We finished off some Sue-Sue's casserole from the freezer (I am very tired of this dish!), and I discovered that when making okra and tomatoes I need to cook them longer (or cut the okra in smaller pieces). Mine did not turn out well! I made stuffed peppers for the first time--a variation of Tricia's recipe. They were good, but not my favorite. The filling by itself, however, was divine. I need to concoct a recipe to use the filling in.

Without further ado, here's the plan for this week:

Breaksfasts: Smoothies (I have been loving these lately--we're doing a combo of milk with frozen bananas, blueberries, and strawberries. Our smoothies are so thick and the blueberries make them perfectly sweet), cold cereal, Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Lunches: Leftovers, Sandwiches

Dinners by weeknight:
Monday--Sushi. Need to think of a good go-along for this. We will probably do salad.
Tuesday--Enchiladas with tomatoes, lettuce, fresh guacamole
Wednesday--Dinner at a friend's house
Thursday--Chipotle Chicken with Peppers, Memaw's green beans, and carrots
Friday--Pesto Chicken Pizza and salad
Saturday--Chicken Pot Pie (recipe from the $5 Dinner Cookbook!) with Mashed Potatoes
Sunday--Headed out of town to my parent's for the week (yay!).

Stay tuned for later this week when I take you grocery shopping with me and explain how I balance couponing, eating less processed food, and the budget.

In the meantime, you can find thousands of menu plan's at Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.


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15 comments:

  1. Oh No! You aren't liking the pluots? I think a jam sounds perfect then!

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  2. beautiful meal plan for this week. I love pesto in anything!

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  3. I wish I had your predicament...pluots are my absolute favorite!

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  4. I'd second the jam suggestion - if you can't find a recipe specifically for pluots, I'd go with a plum jam recipe of some sort.

    Or maybe split them, pit them, and freeze them to use (with another, more popular fruit!) for smoothies during the winter? That's what I do with most of my excess fruit.

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  5. I've seen several plum recipes that I would like to try. I think pluots would work well for either of these. Here's one for pizza: http://www.parents.com/recipe/pizza/fruit-pizza/. Also, I can't recall where, but I've seen another kind of plum crisp where you just top plum halves with the standard sweet buttery oat topping and bake 'em.

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  6. I love sushi it sounds perfect for a summer dinner.

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  7. Ladies, I tried making freezer jam with them, and I think it turned out ok! I'm excited about it. Less than $2 for two jars of freezer jam? Very frugal AND yummy! Thanks for all your suggestions.

    @Aiming4Simple: I will have to try the plum crisp idea sometime...it sounds great.

    @Sheana and Seanna: Sushi is one of my definitions of perfect.

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  8. Your sushi photo looks great! Congrats on such a great produce deal. That's a bargain.

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  9. delicious meal for the week at your home...It's so diversed..

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  10. Hey, if you get into this predicament again, try making a plum sauce for Chinese food using the pluots. I bought plums at an Asian market for about $.30/lb and made a plum sauce. It was delicious. I didn't have a specific recipe, but searched several (in cookbooks and online) and got the gist of it into: Plums (peeled, pitted, and cooked down a bit), a little fresh ginger, a little garlic, a little vinegar, and if necessary some honey or brown sugar.
    Very tasty with pork or chicken, dumplings, lettuce wraps, etc. My hubby even said his (Chinese) mother would have loved it! It wasn't that hard, but it took a little planning ahead. I'd guess it could be frozen.

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  11. You learn something new everyday. I had never heard of pluots. I see you are going out of town on Sunday. Safe travels and have a wonderful time.

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  12. If your family is adventurous, you could try making miso soup to go along with your sushi. We put cubes of tofu and wakame (found at the oriental market)in ours, and it just makes it a bit healthier. (My kids are weird though - they like seaweed and tofu.)

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  13. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Plum-Cake/Detail.aspx Plum cake is our favorite way to use up very ripe plums, pluots work great as well!

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  14. @Cindy: The plum sauce sounds AMAZING. Thanks for telling me about it.

    @Tracy: We love miso soup! I'm going to have to try that. Although I might leave out the tofu (not a HUGE fan). But I'll include the seaweed!

    @fblife: Thanks for the link!

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  15. I don't like stuffed peppers either... too much pepper for my liking (and they always taste bitter to me once their cooked/baked). But I LOVE the filling... so, I make Stuffed Peppers Casserole, and just mix some chopped peppers into the filling part, put it all in a casserold dish and top with buttered bread crumbs (and then bake of course). I like that MUCH better :) I'm not sure what kind of filling you had, but mine is a rice/tomato soup/hamburger mixture.

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