Fall has officially arrived, and so have all the foilage activities hosted by villages and breweries across New York State. Apple Fest, October Fest, beer celebrations, foilage sightseeing, and Halloween are coming. We find any excuse to enjoy pumpkin-spiced drinks, apple cider, BBQ, and other delicious treats.

I kicked off my weekend by participating in a significant fundraiser event for an organization I’ve worked with for the past 4-5 years.

It’s called “Towns 4 Troops. ” We support active first responders by organizing and hosting numerous events throughout the Hudson Valley. These can range from family Christmas parties at the barracks to BBQ events during training exercises or deployment.

We recently fed 850-890 members of the National Air Guard on base during a large-scale training exercise weekend.

Once a year, we host our most significant fundraiser, “Iron Chef,” which sees several first responder teams cook a meal, with the bragging rights the prize they can win, including a small trophy.

Visitors can buy food and beverages from small vendors and food trucks. The venue is a local brewery (and farm) that donates its space. A few local bands played excellent tunes, and we had the fantastic opportunity to offer helicopter rides for a fee.

It was a spectacular day. The weather was perfect. Music was jamming. Fires were running hot. Teams were cooking with enthusiasm. Beer was flowing, and visitors had a blast.

Week Forty-One Meals

Despite the busy weekend, I have to plan and prepare meals for the upcoming week. There’s no rest for the wicked in the meal-planning adventure. It is tempting to skip a week, but I know it will add extra pressure on me during the week as we try to frantically cook dinner.

Thankfully I had some hours Saturday morning before the Iron Chef event kicked off, which gave me enough time to prepare the list of meals and lunches I want to prepare for the family.

Over the past many months, I have built a well-stocked pantry, which allows us to reduce the items we need weekly and only add to the pantry in small quantities.

We only buy the vegetables we need for the week, and anything we don’t use will be consumed on Thursday and Friday evenings when we clean up the leftovers.

School Lunches

I baked bread and hoagie buns last weekend. We froze the bread to prolong our usage. Homemade bread does not last as long as storebought bread, as it does not contain all the strange preservatives and other chemicals.

Homemade bread does not trigger bloating or other intestinal challenges.

I also made pizza last weekend and will defrost a few slices for his lunch.

So, this week, our son will feast on several delicious sandwiches.

For fillings, I made a small batch of egg salad and will use the last slices of the homemade roast beef.

Dinner Time

I’m excited about dinners this week, especially as we will sample a variety of meat. It is important to eat a well-balanced meal and not consume beef daily.

Dinner this week will contain chicken, salmon, and beef (ground).

Even better, we will experiment with Italian-inspired dishes using orzo and stir-fry.

Lastly, I’m making a large portion of Indian butter chicken. Granted, it will not be the same as when made by seasoned Indian mothers, but I hope to get it close. If I have time, I will make a few garlic naan breads.

Meal Plan

	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Egg Salad Hoagie	Skillet Salmon with Lemon Orzo
Tuesday	Dumplings with Soy Dip	Butter Chicken with Rice and homemade Garlic Naan
Wednesday	Roast Beef and Melted Cheese Hoagie	Italian Ground Beef Stir Fry
Thursday	Homemade Pizza	Leftovers – cleaning out the fridge
Friday	Loaded Cheese Melt (ham and mushrooms)	Friday night over-the-fire cooking

Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.

Meal Prep Party Pictures

Here are a few mood pictures from the previous week since I did not prepare dishes this week.

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