Menu Plan Monday

• Homemade pizza with fruit
• Seasoned Chicken with lime sauce, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies
• Shepherd's Pie with baked sweet potatoes and broccoli
• Chili (from the freezer!) with corn muffins OR Salmon wrapped in aluminum foil with potatoes, tomatoes, spices, etc. and paired with corn on the cob
  

I only need 4 recipes this week as we went to a barn party Sunday and my birthday is Thursday, which is also the night my daughter's soccer league has a dinner fundraiser at a local restaurant. We want to support the league and I want to eat out for my birthday so it's a win-win all around! That last meal is up in the air because a lot of it will depend on how I feel the night I go to cook it. The chili is from a large batch made about a month ago; I make it in the slow cooker and then freeze the extra. We normally eat 3-4 times off of one batch so I consider that a stretchy meal.

Menu Plan Monday

Great menus planned this week!

• Baked rigatoni with garlic & cheese drop biscuits
• Hot dogs with potato salad and fruit
• Turkey Potato Pie with broccoli
• Pasta Salad -- going Greek by adding some feta cheese and keeping it cool-weather oriented by making it a warm pasta salad; probably some baby carrots on the side
  
• Salmon (??? don't know how yet) with baked potatoes and baby carrots
  

Menu Plan Monday,

Meals for the week include:

• salmon with a honey-mustard sauce with brown rice and mixed vegetables
• bone chicken with sweet potatoes and corn -- Bone Chicken is my daughter's name for chicken drumsticks or fried chicken, both of which we rarely eat and both of which she adores. This chicken will be rolled in breadcrumbs, parm cheese, and spices and then baked.
• baked rigatoni with garlic bread

And leftover from last week b/c we never got around to eating it...

• chicken in a balsamic-based marinade with roasted red potatoes and broccoli

It doesn't seem like a lot of food, but 2 of the meals make enough for 2 night's worth and usually there's a night where I either don't cook because we need to eat the leftovers or, if there are no leftovers, then I make something fun like breakfast for dinner.

This week I'm switching from salads (it's officially too cold to enjoy them anymore) to roasted vegetables. I'll alternate with vegetable soup, baked potatoes, and baked sweet potatoes.

Menu Plan Monday

Five delicious and yummy meals for the week!

• Jambalaya with pork chops, served over brown rice
  
• Salmon with orange sauce with brown rice, a vegetable, and salad
• Slow Cooker cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes and salad (I'm scared! Will these meet my husband's expectations?! His mother apparently made really good ones and this is my first attempt.)
• Steak Lime Fajitas with salad and fruit
• Chicken (marinated in a balsamic-based mixture) with roasted red potatoes and broccoli

There is some serious competition vying for Favorite Meal of the Week! I'm remembering to leave the camera in the kitchen most of the time so hopefully I'll be able to catalog all the meals for you!

Menu Plan Monday 9/21

Here are my 5 menus for this week. We eat leftovers twice a week and if we run short on leftovers, then I make something fun like breakfast for dinner or spaghetti. I generally plan to have leftovers on Tuesday, which is my daughter's night for soccer practice, and Thursday because that's the night before I grocery shop, so it's a chance to clean out the fridge.

• Greek-Italian turkey burgers with fries and fruit
  
• Honey & BBQ salmon with rice, green beans, and salad
• Garlic Pork Roast with drop biscuits
  
• Lemon-y Chicken with a vegetable (haven't decided which one yet) and baked potatoes
• Nachos with all the fixin's and fruit!

Fruit in the fridge: 1 cantalope, 2 apples, 3 nectarines, 4 pears (No, I did not plan this! LOL)

Snacks: In addition to fruit we have pretzels, almonds, the last of the carrot bread, banana muffins (in the freezer, don't know if they'll make it out or not with everything else we have), popcorn, and yogurt.

Menu Plan Monday

I generally plan my menus to run Friday to Thursday. This will probably change once I find a job. But for now it works. Sale ads come out on Thursday in my neck of the woods so that gives me time on Thursday to finalize my plan (loosely drafted at the first of the month), check the sales, and match coupons. I don't consider myself a major couponer, but more on that later. I usually plan 5 meals and 2 nights of leftovers.

Friday, 11th -- sausage and peppers tossed with pasta & Romano cheese; watermelon
Saturday, 12th -- triple bean soup with cornbread; maybe salad*
Sunday, 13th -- ginger-ed salmon with salad, zucchini, and rice
Monday, 14th -- pork chops with mini corn cobs, salad, and side (potatoes?)
Tuesday, 15th -- leftovers and daughter's soccer practice
Wednesday, 16th -- herb chicken breasts with salad and baked potatoes
Thursday, 17th -- leftovers

*Saturday we are also providing the post-game snacks for daughter's soccer team. Snacks will include cheddar and pretzel goldfish crackers, fruit snacks (80% fruit juice and actually very tasty), and capri-sun a.m. drinks.

Lunches can be sandwiches, salads, or wraps.

Snacks include banana nut muffins, carrot bread, and corn bread (all made from scratch); pears and grapes; stove-top popcorn (which I'm learning how to make this week).