Menu Plan Monday - 3/22/10

Finally back on schedule with Menu Plan Monday...! Yay! We got a new fridge, and are slowing filling it back up. We got very fed up with take-out, fast food and convenience items while the old fridge was being fritzy, so we've been cooking more than usual and since we started fresh with the condiment shelf, have been having to make a few adjustments to our recipes since the old stand-by's haven't been replaced yet.

Here's what we have planned for the week:

Monday: Beans/Sausage/Rice with greens (need to take the beans out of the freezer!)

Tuesday: Easy Mexican Skillet (saw this recipe on Cooking During Stolen Moments and just had to try it)

Wednesday: Roast and veggies (crock pot recipe from Southern Plate)

Thursday: Stroganoff (leftover roast over noodles with sour cream added to gravy)

Friday: Open for now - maybe breakfast for dinner if we don't go out

Saturday: Stuffed Peppers (also from Southern Plate)

I've been finding lots of great sounding recipes on Southern Plate and saying I'll have to make them sometime -- I decided this is the week.

What are you planning for the week? For more recipes and menu plans, check out Menu Plan Mondays over at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday - March 1 edition

I did manage to write up a meal plan for this week, but I didn't get it done today. Had to get it done today, because I had to make my grocery list and go shopping, because there was very little left in the house! We've had a bit of the respiratory bug that's been going around and there's been little cooking happening here lately, but now that everyone's feeling more like eating regular meals, a restock of the pantry and fridge were crucial!

I decided to ask everyone what their favorite meals were and what they wanted me to cook this week and actually got some responses, which was shocking! So there's some new recipes on the list for this week.

So here's the plan:

Monday: enchiladas (done and they were yummy. This will also be lunches for G for the next couple of days)

Tuesday: Oven-fried Chicken (E's request) with mashed potatoes (according to G, the red ones taste the best mashed)

Wednesday: Beans and Rice (I have some Northern beans cooked and frozen from my last big batch I can throw some ham in)

Thursday: Chicken Fried Steak (I think I've seen a recipe for this on Southern Plate but I have to find it)

Friday: Pizza (I might even try to make my own crust)

Saturday: Open

Sunday: Leftovers or veggie soup

For breakfasts, I'm going to try to either make oatmeal for the troops or cook some sausage and biscuits tomorrow night to heat up for on the road meals.

Lunches will either be leftovers or sandwiches.

Sunday:

Menu Plan Monday - 2/8

Time for another menu plan - totally forgot to post last week's plan, and ended the week with a lot of leftovers to plow through. *sigh* I'm pretty much the only one who'll eat leftovers in my house, so I've got some lunches saved up. I need to figure out how to cook smaller. Or clean out my freezer so I can start freezing half of what I cook immediately for a later date.

Anyway, my plan for this week includes:

Monday: Salmon with veggies & rice

Tuesday: Leftover Pasta w/meat sauce

Wednesday: Tamales

Thursday: Scrambled eggs or frittata

Friday: Open - might go out for an early Valentine's Dinner

Saturday: Soup

I got some meaty soup bones from a grass-fed beef vender at the local farmer's market this weekend, so I'm going to put those into the crockpot on Saturday (or Friday night) to make a nice, meaty beef broth and then add veggies for a tasty soup.

Visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for more menu ideas on Menu Plan Monday.

Menu Plan Monday - 1/25

One of my goals is to participate more regularly in Menu Plan Monday. Of course, this means I'll have to start posting to the blog at least once a week, but we'll see how that goes... lol.

Anyway, this week seems to be a little heavy on the Mexican items, but my hubby loves my enchiladas and the salsa chili recipe is a new one -- I hope we like it!

Here's my plan for the week:

Monday - Enchiladas

Tuesday - Salsa Chili (found this on a healthy eating calendar - might post on this later)
Wednesday - Turkey Skillet Pasta (This is my go-to meal for busy nights)

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Soup

Saturday - Bean Burritos

Hopefully I can stick to this meal plan, because that'll help me with my WeightWatchers goals. Breakfasts will be either oatmeal with blueberries or a scrambled egg on an english muffin and lunches will be leftovers. I made a batch of super-easy meatballs the other night and neither G nor E really liked them, so I foresee lots of meatball lunches this week.

Check out Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for more meal plan ideas!

Menu Plan Monday - 11/23

Last week's plan went a little awry due to some stomach distress in the troops. The pancakes and French Toast went over well, but the enchiladas were postponed til later in the week. Luckily, everyone seems to be better this week. Miss Em is out at the grandparents this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, so I'm just cooking for the two of us.

Monday - Parmesan and Beef Pasta - I usually make this recipe with turkey and zucchini, but I've also subbed green beans and other veggies depending on what's in the fridge.

Tuesday - Green Salad with Chicken Fajita strips - I think it's a good idea to eat light this week before the big Thanksgiving feast.

Wednesday - Tilapia fillets and steamed veggies - I found these great frozen tilapia fillets breaded with a parmesan coating.

Thursday - TURKEY!!

Friday - I'm going to the after Thanksgiving sales so meals will probably be catch as catch can but I might throw some veggie soup in the crockpot.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving is great! Have fun with your families or whomever you choose to celebrate with. Be sure to check out more menu plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Menu Plan Monday: 11/16

I really did not feel like cooking this weekend, so we coped with some frozen dinners and tuna sandwiches. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things this week because I don't think I can pull that one off again without the troops complaining.

Tomorrow I'll head to the store for milk and some produce, but other than that I'm really going to try to eat from the freezer. I'll try to mix freezer things in with some of the guys' favorite meals. They really love breakfast for dinner!

Monday: Pancakes

Tuesday: Enchiladas w/ salad

Wednesday: Chicken breasts w/ veggies and rice

Thursday: Eggs & French Toast

Friday: Chicken pot pie

Saturday: Sandwiches & Soup

Check out OrgJunkie for more menu ideas.

Menu Plan Monday - Oct 5

Wow - Busy week! I'm running a bit behind on my menu this week but here's the tentative plan:

T - Ravioli
W - Salad with fajita chicken
Th - Mac and cheese with tuna
F - Beans and cornbread
S - Chicken pasta salad

Last week we stayed pretty well on plan. We didn't manage the beans and cornbread because I didn't get out the crockpot in time to soak the beans - so they're back this week. We'll see how it goes.

One thing I did this week was cook ahead for the weeks coming. I've seen info on once-a-month cooking (OAMC) on other sites, but I particularly like the plan set out by Menu Maker Mom in integrating cooking ahead into the weekly meal plan. I picked up a ham on my last trip to the store and cooked up her ham plan #2. Everything looks so yummy I can't wait to try them out!

Menu Plan Monday - Sept 28

This is the first week in a while I've taken the time to plan my week's meals -- Hopefully we'll be able to stay on track and this will help us be less frazzled at meal times!

Sunday - Roast chicken and cornbread (I picked up a precooked chicken while I was shopping -- so easy!!)

Monday - Ham, biscuits, green beans

Tuesday - Mushroom chicken, rice

Wednesday - Tuna salad and crackers

Thursday - Beans and cornbread

Friday - Enchiladas

Saturday - Ravioli, artichokes

Be sure to check the roundup at I'm an Organizing Junkie for lots more ideas to answer the question, "What's for dinner?"

Menu Plan Monday 10/6-10/12

Ahhhh.... another Monday. I'm not the best at the 'get up and go' portion of the morning, especially on Mondays, but I've found that the more prep work I've done the night before the easier it is to get everyone out of the house on time. Laying out our clothes, packing lunches, and thinking about what to have for breakfast is tons simpler at night when my mind is clear.

I usually do my menu planning on Sundays as I'm prepping the grocery list. Sometimes the menu plan includes specific recipes, but mostly is just a general idea of what we'll be cooking. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants chef unless I'm trying something new.

This week, here's what we'll be having:

Breakfasts:
oatmeal x2
cereal x2
eggs/toast
pancakes

Lunches:
varies per person

Dinner:

Monday: Breakfast for dinner (probably eggs/toast)

Tuesday: Chicken & veggies

Wednesday: Mac & Cheese

Thursday: Garlic Chicken & Spinach over pasta

Friday: Turkey tacos

Saturday: Cod fillets & veggies

Sunday: depends

Um... okay, usually I don't plan out 7 dinners a week. I've found 5 works out the best, as sometimes there are leftovers that don't get taken in lunches and we occasionally go out to dinner on Fridays as a date night. And dinners can also get switched around depending on schedules. Mondays and Wednesdays are school nights for G, so E and I are on our own for dinner. Usually we have something easy or kid friendly. Having things planned out so we can keep to a schedule is crutial on those days so we don't get distracted and forget about dinner completely.

Usually more menus can be found weekly at Org Junkie but today I'm not seeing the Mr.Linky... maybe she'll get it fixed soon.

What are you having this week?

Menu Plan Monday - August 25th

This week is going to be extra busy because G and E are both returning to school, so our dinner schedule may be up in the air until we get our routines down. Also we will now be packing 3 lunchbags every day and eating a healthy breakfast before leaving the house in the mornings.

Here's the plan:

Breakfasts:
Oatmeal w/ brown sugar
Cereal
Toast w/ peanut butter, yogurt
Eggs and toast

Lunches:
Leftovers from dinner
Lunch meat sandwich
Mac and cheese
Salad
*lunches usually have 2 or more of the following: carrot sticks, goldfish crackers, pretzels, dinner rolls, trail mix, grape tomatoes, banana, plums, pudding, cookies.

Dinners:

Sunday: Ravioli (frozen) w/ tomato sauce
Monday: Salad
Tuesday: Rice with stir fried veggies
Wednesday: Soup (veggie with beans)
Thursday: Spaghetti Cups
Friday: Pizza (probably this crust with leftover sauce from Sunday and ground turkey)
Saturday: Pinto beans and cornbread

I try to plan a different dinner for each night, but if one night turns out to be extremely busy and no time to cook, there are usually leftovers from an earlier night. We typically eat at least 5 dinners off our plan, and the dinners we don't get to get merged into the next week.

For more menus, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie - plus there's a giveaway! You might get lucky...

Have a great week everybody!

Menu Plan July 20 - 26

Last week's menu plan went really well. We did substitute pizza on one night when we took a trip to Costco, but all in all, menu planning went well. One thing we do need to plan in more detail are breakfasts and lunches. Packing lunches at 6 in the morning when you have no idea what to pack makes for some pretty interesting lunches. So here's the plan for the week:

Breakfasts:
Pancakes
Sausage biscuits
Oatmeal
Cereal
Eggs & Toast

Lunches:
Tuna
Broccoli Salad
PBJ sandwiches
Egg Sandwich
Leftovers

Dinners:
Sunday: Twice baked potatoes
Monday: Broccoli Rice casserole
Tuesday: Turkey Pasta Bake & Salad
Wednesday: Salmon Croquets & Veggie Medley
Thursday: Veggie Pasta Sauce
Friday: Date Night
Saturday: Leftovers/Everyone for themselves

To see more menus for the week, check out the main post at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Lunches are a little tricky because G is essentially vegetarian at this point and doesn't like traditional lunch foods such as sandwiches. I'd love to think of a few more options for him, as sending a lunchbag full of fruit, cut up veggies, and pretzels seems like a skimpy lunch. Any suggestions?

Menu Plan July 13-19

Now that we're back from vacation it's time to really get back on schedule. Beginning with menu planning for the week and getting the laundry washed, folded and put away.

This week's menu will look something like this:

• Sunday: Beans & cornbread


• Monday: Salad with grilled chicken


• Tuesday: Salmon & rice


• Wednesday: Bean burritos


• Thursday: Leftovers


• Friday: Pasta with veggie sauce


• Saturday: Out to eat or breakfast for dinner

This is my first week submitting to Menu Plan Monday. To see more menus for the week, check out the main post at I'm an Organizing Junkie