Food

Well, as always, I've continued to plan our meals each week, but I've been shifting my planning strategy a little since we started buying our produce (mostly) locally. Instead of meal planning and then shopping, we now go shopping to the farmer's market, come home and I meal plan after knowing what kinds of food I will have to work with. I then go buy the rest of the things we need... non-perishables, household stuff, and any extra little produce that we might need to finish off a meal. It's been a fun adventure, but a little more time-consuming and I haven't spent as much time browsing online recipes for ideas, since I'm making food with whatever we have.

That said, I think I've got it down now and am having fun with it. I thought I would post my meal plan this week...

Monday: Asian vegetable wraps (carrots, bok choy, bean sprouts, lettuce, etc) with spicy peanut sauce. Rice and soy sauce on the side to help fill us up.

Tuesday: Chef's salad with turkey, jack cheese, carrot sticks, radishes, a local salad mix, hardboiled eggs, etc. Flatbread on the side.

Wednesday: Spaghetti with Andouille sausage in the sauce. I'll be home right in time for Bible study, so I kept it simple for Jesse to prepare. For Bible study, I'm making carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Thursday: Peppered pork loin and new potatoes (if the pork's good, I'll post the recipe on my food blog)

Friday: Calzones with the rest of the sausage from Wednesday, red sauce, mozzerella, and black olives and anything else we want to throw in. Homemade pizza crust from Biblical Womanhood

Saturday: Girl's night out for me on Alki in Seattle! We're eating at Pegasus and I'll probably treat myself to a yummy pasta dish! I bought Brats and sauerkraut for Jesse to make himself. I felt like a good little wife.


That's it for this week. We also got a couple pounds of cherries at the market in Spokane (where we were visiting Jesse's family this weekend). They're delicious and will make a yummy snack/lunchtime complement. We've been pretty much just eating apples in the way of fruit and I'm ready for something new! :)

Getting ready for another week!

Here we are, another week! I can't believe how fast these weeks are flying by - I always have intentions of other posts to add to my blog but can only seem to find time for the meal plans. Since Jesse and I are pretty heavily involved in church, especially with leading the young adult group there, our "down time" is either spent totally vegging in front of a movie or working on planning for activities for the group. I know that moms probably read that and think "Oh brother, how can she think that's busy" but it can overwhelming at times. I suppose it's good preparation for being a mom in some respects, and I have days that I come home from work and really don't want to cook, clean, plan, do laundry, meal plan, etc. Other days, I find it very rewarding to take care of things around the house. And my dear husband is currently cleaning both bathrooms of his own initiative, which I appreciate more than he knows.

So first things first:
Last week I had planned a few new recipes, but didn't get around to the potato and onion fritatta, so I won't review that one. The "Chicken Zucchini pot" was one of those few meals I have tried that after preparing it, I thought "WHAT WAS I THINKING!!" It was some chicken in the crockpot all day with some zucchini and spices. That was it. WHAT WAS I THINKING? The zucchini was total mush and since there wasn't any liquid included in the recipe, it was slightly burned at the edges by the time I got home from work. Needless to say, Tuesday night became date night and we had dinner at Panera bread. THE Spiced Zucchini bars that I made for Bible study were excellent and I have just posted the recips on His Little Wife Feasts. They were moist and sweet and sugary with bits of fruit. Almost a zucchini bread and almost a bar. I will be making those again - and for a whole 12th of the entire recipe, it's only 3 WW points!
The Mediterranean Salad was delicious as well - artichoke hearts making anything delicious!

This week with new recipes starred ***:

**Monday: Mediterranean Chicken with Rosemary Orzo (from Betty Crocker). We had this tonight, so I can already review it - it was good! Next time I would let the orzo cook a little longer, but essentially it's chicken tenderloins sauteed with onion, fresh rosemary, tomato, zucchini, chicken broth, and yellow pepper. We added feta cheese on top to give it little more flavor and I added some lemon pepper as well to give it a little tang. I was pleased.

Tuesday: Red beans and rice in the crockpot - easy peasey and nice to come home to a hot filling meal

Wednesday: Church supper, no COOKING! Huzzah! I'm still thinking up a recipe for bible study treats, something that will stay good overnight and be equally good 24 hours after making it as it was when it came out of the oven. I'm a tough cookie to please. Hey - maybe cookies.

Thursday: Cheesy Chicken and Rice, one of my mom's staple dishes and a crockpot meal that is super easy and such a comfort food for me! Green beans on the side.

Friday: Corned beef and cabbage (one of Jesse's favorites) with baked sweet potatoes on the side (I think this is another slow-cooking recipe... that crockpot is getting a workout this week!)

***Saturday: Chicken Chilaquiles from my Everyday FOOD cookbook (sort of looks like enchiladas without the tortilla and served over tortilla chips. Jesse picked it out, so we're going for it!

I hope it turns out to be a good week food-wise. It will definitely be a busy week. We have Bible study at our place on Wednesday after church events, a meeting at church on Thursday (good thing we're doing the crockpot!) and Friday afternoon I am picking up my dear friend Morgan from the airport to spend some time together... Saturday evening I think I'm possibly speaking at our church's youth retreat. Yikes... this week is going to zip by. I better enjoy tonight and tomorrow night's peace.

Meal Plan for 2-17-08

First up: the week in review. The blackberry cobbler from PW was delicious and easy to make. the picture above was from her but my mine looked just like only in a red dish. I had so many compliments on it at Bible study. I even just served it with a dollop of plain-jane cool whip, which complimented it perfectly. Then (shh... don't tell my mom) I had a little bit for breakfast yesterday with a bit of milk. Mmmm- stunningly good breakfast food. Since it's sort of cake-y, it was a lot like a coffee cake or pastry.
The BBQ ribs might be one of the best meals I've ever made. The recipe is at my I'll post the recipe at the bottom of this post. They were sweet and just fell right off the bone since they sat in the crockpot for 9 hours while I was at work. The house smelled pretty amazing too. Sadly, I may have to hold off on repeating them again very soon, since Jesse came down with the stomach flu early the next morning. :-X

Up this week... the days with a (*) are days I am trying a new recipe. I want to make sure to go back weekly and record my thoughts on the dish in case I make it again. For example, with the ribs I made last week, I noted to myself that I should make the BBQ sauce up the night before... that kind of stuff.

Sunday-Monday: We're going to Bellingham, as I said in my last post. This means no cooking... but I make up for it the rest of the week since my mother-in-law and two brothers-in-law are coming to visit for a few days.

Tuesday: Homemade chicken noodle soup and biscuits - easy and quick, filling and yummy. Jesse doesn't even like chicken noodle soup generally but does love this meal.

Wednesday: Adrienne's Ranch Roast - one of my favorites, and we haven't had it in a while. I think I'll do some roasted small potatoes, a combination of red and yellow - in garlic, oil, and parmesan. And maybe a salad. That should feed 5, I think.
For Bible study dessert, I'm going to make my Grandma Ruby's banana bread. This isn't just any banana bread - it has chocolate chips, and maraschino cherries embedded in the sweet goodness. I don't even like bananas much but I could eat loaves of this stuff. I'll eventually post the recipe.

*Thursday: Quesadillas (a carryover from this last week)

Friday: Ahi tuna steaks with a hoisin marinade (I'll probably make it up as we go) and raisin-walnut sweet potato foil packets all cooked by my man on the grill.

*Saturday: Baked ravioli from the Everyday FOOD cookbook, pg. 313 and green beans

*Sunday: Turkey Cobb salad, again from Everyday FOOD, pg. 36 and homemade applesauce


BREAKFASTS: homemade granola, yogurt, toast, eggs, leftover applesauce
LUNCHES: sandwiches, chips, fruit, leftovers, frozen meal for me at work
Here we come, week!

Menu Plan 1-14-08

I was proud of myself last week for pretty much being creative all week and making many of my own recipes up in order to use up some extra produce and meat. I stretched the week before into some of last week's meals as well. We ended up having salmon with lentils instead of the dry rub because it was supposed to sit in the rub for an hour or more, which really doesn't work on days that I have to work. We wouldn't end up eating til the middle of the night. We ate a lot of lentils last week- the lentil soup was delicious and almost a little sweet. Yum! I was also proud of myself because I made a cornish game hen, which was a big step out for me. It was delicious as well, and not too much work. The same night I made a fancy dish with apples, onions, and pears baked in the oven, and while it was really good, it was way too much work to try again.

This week's groceries (which included a few extra goodies) amounted to just over $60, right in our food budget. I bought a lot of produce, including a big box of salad greens so we eat more salad - we're way more likely to eat healthy if I just acknowledge that I need a few shortcuts here and there. :)

Sunday: We had a couple bachelor friends over for real food - beef stew, french bread, cranberry sauce, and fresh green beans from the Pike Place Market. The beef stew was MOUTH-watering - it had a little red wine in it and the beef was incredible tender. I used this recipe from taste of home light n tasty.

Monday: Salmon burgers with yogurt dill sauce (7 points) and a simple salad from this month's issue of Everyday Food. I actually didn't like it, but Jesse did. It tasted sort of... too lemony to me.

Tuesday: Brown rice bowl with shrimp, peas, and avocado, also from this month's Everyday Food (9 points) and homemade applesauce

Wednesday: Church supper! No cooking for me!

Thursday: Chicken noodle soup from Better Homes and Gardens (3 points) with apple cheddar muffins (no clue what the nutritional value is... but they sure look delicious)

Friday: Pepperoni pizza with Crystal's dough recipe from Biblical Womanhood

For more Menu Plan fun, visit Laura at orgjunkie.com

First 2008 meal plan!

I have two new cookbooks, so I'm experimenting with some new recipes this week. One book is called Homegrown: Pure and Simple by Michel Nischan. Some of the recipes might be too fancy for an everyday meal, but I really like that he uses locally grown produce to create his recipes. I can't necessarily buy everything locally in the winter since the farmer's markets all close down, but eventually I want to have a big garden and be able to store things grown during the year. We'll see...
The other book is the Everyday FOOD cookbook with a collection of recipes from the little magazine I buy faithfully. This book, however, doesn't overlap with the magazines I have, so I'm assuming these are recipes earlier than this last year. All the recipes I'm using this week are from these two books.

Tuesday - New YEARS! We've planned a dinner out for the young adult ministry we lead at our church. We'll be eating at the Zephyr Grill, which has delicious food... and we'll be dressing up in semi-formal wear for fun! I'm excited. I think we have between 10-13 coming!

Wednesday: Dry rubbed salmon and cranberry sauce

Thursday: Lentil soup and homemade bread (I made a delicious nutty loaf from Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess book... The Norwegian Mountain Loaf. It was amazing! It has sunflower seeds and wheat germ, and I added some flax seed. It's salty and dense and delicious. I wouldn't use it for a sandwich, but it is amazing with a little butter and dipped in a soup)

Friday: Baked ravioli

Saturday: Roast chicken and glazed pearl onions

Sunday: Lunch at church with the young adult ministry again- we're doing a spaghetti feed so we might not be too hungry when dinner rolls around. We'll probably do breakfast for dinner

Monday: Pasta with lentils...

That's all for now! I'm trying to keep up with the house these days, we did a whole bunch of cleaning and throwing out after Christmas, so one of my resolutions for the new year is to keep our litle place [mostly] clutter-free, tidy, and welcoming...

Menu plan dec 3

What a boring blog I have these days! I'm back to posting just my meal plan this week. The holiday season is so busy with us with lots of different family/friend events. On top of the bustle, I'm doing my best to fight feeling a little down since we won't be in our cozy little home with our tree and decorations the whole week of Christmas... we're spending the holiday with Jesse's family for the first time, and I know it will be fun, but I also know I will miss my family and my own little home. It almost makes it feel like it was pointless to put up a tree since we'll be gone the week of... but I'm trying to stick my chin out and "buck up" - I know Jesse's really excited to be with his family for Christmas this year and it's time for me to not be selfish.

Last week I improvised meals a little bit, so I have a few carryover ideas this week. Jesse insisted on making clam chowder Saturday when we decorated our tree together (not that I objected to one of my favorite meals!!) and there was lots left over from that too. I continue to put my eggplant recipe on the list, but each week I don't make it early enough in the week and the eggplant ends up going bad by the middle/end of the week. I think it gets too cold in the refrigerator, but I don't know how else to store it. So we're having it early this week since he keeps asking for it and I keep failing him...

Monday: Leftover clam chowder with muffins

Tuesday: Balsamic Eggplant Parmesan and rolls- another carryover. I will make this dish for my husband this week- it's all he's requesting!!

Wednesday: Church Supper- no cooking required! :-D

Thursday: Baked potato soup and salad

Friday: Peanut broccoli and beef (recipe to come) from WW cookbook with white rice. I'll also be making cookies to take to the Ladies Christmas tea at church

Saturday: White Elephant party at a friend's house- since it starts early afternoon, I'm assuming they're providing dinner...

Sunday: Slow-cooker WW chili and cornbread (carryover from last week)

Eggs, homemade granola, yogurt, and oatmeal for breakfasts
Leftovers, sandwiches, and Campbell's Soup to Go for lunches
popcorn, chex mix, fruit, applesauce, and baked squash for snacks

That'll do for now! Hopefully we can stick to it! For more meal plans, visit Laura at orgjunkie.com

~~~~~

Meals back in full force!

It's that time again... I'm finally feeling better and more able to think about life ahead... I hope I didn't pass that bug on to anyone I know, it was awful! And while I know it's not yet Monday, the weekend is the best time for me to shop, so I'm menu planning in advance! :)

Sunday: Balsamic eggplant parmesan (3 WW points - while I'm not a huge fan of eggplant, I'm trying to acquire a taste for it, since it is one of the few things my husband requests)

Monday: Greek style homemade pizza (with feta cheese, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, basil, and a white sauce)

Tuesday: South of the Border chicken-- a carryover from last week

Wednesday night dinner at church- no cooking!

Thursday: Baked potato soup -- We've had this a number of times and it is delicious with the sour cream and a little cheddar cheese on top) and Bleu Cheese Pear Salad (3 + 2 WW points)

Friday: Chili and cornbread (a low calorie favorite - the chili recipe is one I stole from one of my mom's WW cookbooks years ago, and it's only 2 points... the cornbread is also a WW recipe and is 3 points...)

Saturday: Garlicky Shrimp and Olives (6 WW points)

Simple and fast meal plan

This is all I have time for. I bought squash, sweet potatoes, yams, and baked potatoes in bulk too and hope to store them in a cooler on our back porch during the winter since our local produce stand is closing next week :( I have become a fresh produce snob and have had bad experiences at the nicer grocery stores nearby... so we'll have some squash and sweet potatoes as side dishes this week.

Wednesday: supper at church - no cooking!
Thursday: Chicken and Barley soup (particularly nice since I'm not feeling too great)
Friday: Wild sockeye salmon with wild rice
Saturday: French toast and eggs
Sunday: South of the Border Chicken (from one of my gooseberry patch recipe books -One-pot p. 75)
Monday: Balsamic Eggplant Parmesan (eggplant requested by Jesse)
Tuesday: Baked ravioli (one of our favorites!)

Menu Plan

Yummy food! I've had a really hard time jump starting any joy in housekeeping lately and I have no idea why. It's not that I dislike it that much- in fact, I still love having my own home to keep tidy and cook. It just seems like it's time for a DEEP clean and until that happens, my motivation to cook and clean is minimal... I'm planning to do some serious cleaning this weekend and that should help.


Saturday: Chicken enchiladas (6 WW points) and with black bean refried beans

Sunday: We'll have a big lunch because a friend from church is coming over... so lunch will be shrimp fried rice and a tangy asian salad. I think I'll make brownies for dessert

Monday: Crystal's homemade pizza (found through Laura at orgjunkie) in less than 30 minutes! Sounds yummy! BBQ chicken - yum

Tuesday: Sweet n Sour Chicken (8 WW points. The recipe calls for pork, but I think chicken will be yummier...) and salad

Wednesday: Church supper!

Thursday: Baked potato soup (3 WW points. It was delicious when we had it a few weeks ago!) and apple-cinnamon muffins (my Betty Crocker p. 67)

Friday: Red beans and Rice (betty crocker p. 349)

Not sure where we're going to have them this week, but a friend's recipe for pumpkin muffins is always a favorite, so I will be making Kari's muffins sometime this week. I'm going to bake some yams as well at some point.

Menu Plan 10-7-07

I found a new website that I love - 3fatchicks.com
They have a lot of really low calorie/low points meal ideas that are versatile enough that you can add/subtract anything you don't like. I've made a few of their dishes in the last few weeks and liked all of them. I am planning to try a few more of them this week!

Sunday: Slow cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice (in crockpot early in the morning so we won't be tempted to eat out!!)

Monday: Hoisin Salmon


Tuesday: Homemade Tomato Soup with homemade crusty white bread

Wednesday: Church Family supper!

Thursday: Classic Beef Chili (WW 2 points +crockpot recipe!) and country corn bread (3 points per serving)

Friday: Balsamic Eggplant Parmesan (3 WW points) with cranberry and oat muffins (3 WW points)

Menu Plan Monday

Here's my plan... see if I can stick to it!! It's a weird week, so we'll see...

Sunday: Last night we had spicy shrimp - from Ree the Pioneer Woman's directions. Jesse was in heaven- he asked if we could have it every night for the rest of his life. I reminded him of all the other foods he would miss out on (like my "famous" rosemary scalloped potatoes and one his favorite salads) but he wasn't convinced.

They were mighty good.

Monday: Who knows? Picking my parents up from the airport and running errands will probably mean eating out... (I just hate it when we "have to" eat out!)

Tuesday: Taco salad

Wednesday: I have a meeting in Seattle, so I think my Stallion :O) will have to fend for himself... I might make Gazpacho Pasta Salad in advance for him because I love him that much.

Thursday: Black bean pizza (carryover from last week)

Friday: Sesame chicken strips found through my mom's blog

Saturday: burgers

Sunday: Skillet Chicken risotto even though she didn't review it very favorably, I think I'll add some spices to give it more flavor... I think it sounds yummy...

Menu Plan Monday

Well, it's Monday again... since I got up at the CRACK of dawn (which was really before dawn was even cracking) to take my parents and brothers to the airport for their big Disneyland trip, I have been killing time before going to work. I didn't want to do anything terribly productive, like clean, since that SHOULDN'T be allowed when you got up at 4:30 am. But meal planning - well, I can just sit at the computer and do that!!

Monday: carryover from last week - grilled chicken burritos (a Weight Watchers recipe - it's yummy!!)

Tuesday: Barbara's baked ziti, linked over from the Humble Housewife
Wednesday: Lower-fat cheesy chicken enchiladas with brown rice (these sound yummy - and only 6 WW pts per serving!) found through Proverbs 31

Thursday: Black bean pizzas which we had about a month ago - both my dear husband and I thought was worth repeating, so now seems as good a time as any!
Friday: Hoisin salmon and rosemary rice
Saturday: Grilled beef tenderloin and lemon-tomato bruschetta

That sounds good enough to me... now I just have to deal with going shopping after work!

Menu Plan Monday

On time for once! I just got home from a fabulously huge and stuffing meal at my family's, so thinking about food is distressing. Our plan this week is a little meager since money is tight, but I do much better sticking to our plan if I've posted it, and we really need to stick to it this week; no eating out at all! Who knows why I feel accountable if I post it - it's not like someone is really holding me accountable to it, but it feels like someone out in the void is watching.

Sunday: Ohmygoshdelicious kabobs with my family, corn on the cob, potatoes, macaroni salad, and I made pathetic rhubarb-strawberry "soup" that for some reason just wouldn't firm up into a real pie. The only thing I can think of is that the strawberries were more frozen still than I thought. I was bummed, but everyone kindly said it was still good. Mush, but good. At least it was worth a laugh.

Monday: I'm starting my first real job tomorrow, so I'm thinking low-stress, since I'm sort of tired already. Probably baked potatoes with cheese, green onions, etc. Filling and not really in need of a side, although the thought of corn on the cob might be good. I might try to make bread if I get a chance, but we won't eat it with dinner, I'll make it in the evening as a relaxing activity while we watch a movie or something.

Tuesday: Rice and beans. Filling. Yummy. Red beans already cooked and in the freezer.

Wednesday: Cheesy Chicken over rice and fresh green beans with bacon as a side. For the recipe, see here. One of my favorite meals that mom makes, and since the weather has been rainy and cold here, comfort food seems in order. Plus it makes enough to share with friends who might come to Bible study and not have had anything to eat first.

Thursday: Some sort of salad (ideas welcome) and some of that bread I mentioned earlier. If I can put beans in the salad somehow, it'll be a lot more filling, although I could put chicken in, we do have that!

Friday: On our way to Spokane to visit Jesse's family for the weekend- I'll probably make something up beforehand though. Chicken with white wine and lemon, which we were supposed to have last week, but when I'm on vacation, I'm just not into sticking to my meal plan. I want to think up some cheap snacks to take with us too - maybe I'll make some popcorn or something. We have lots of fruit, I bought produce at the local produce stand yesterday so we have lots of fresh food to eat.

I'd moan on about how hard it is to meal-plan when you're poor, but I don't want my mom to read and feel worried for our health. But see mama- I can meal plan on a super small budget - about 25 bucks this week, it's amazing. If I just did that on a weekly basis, we would have so much money to spare! Too bad I love good food so much. Too bad for our budget and too bad for my figure. :0)

Monday Menu "plan" again... late

So, yes, I realize it's Thursday. Oops. It's been my week off, so Monday I ran errands all day, Tuesday I slept and read all day, and yesterday I had a job interview and ran more errands. So as you can see if you scroll down through today's posts, I'm definitely playing catch up this afternoon. it's been fun and relaxing! So, this is a little bit of reflection on previously prepared meals thus far in the week with the rest of my plan.

So far:

Monday: Fettucine with spinach pesto, fresh green beans, and our weekly homemade sourdough bread (which, I must say is getting better and more sour with every week I keep the starter alive!). I made rhubarb pie over the weekend, which was SO yummy!

Tuesday: Black bean pizzas with roasted asparagus, strawberries and apricots, and delicious Berry Lemonade Jones Soda. The pizza was amazing - it only took 3 weeks or so for me to finally make it, but it was yummmy.

Wednesday: I went to a baby shower, so I started making Tuna Salad Nicoise and Jesse finished. I had taco salad at the shower.

Thursday: I'm trying to decide what recipe from my plan to make tonight. I think we'll have shrimp fried rice from Barb's blog. I made this a few weeks ago and it was a definite hit. Yum. Now I'm excited for dinner! I think I might also make Light'n'Tangy Asian salad to go with it.

Friday: Chicken with lemon and wine over baby spinach.

Saturday: Turkey paninis and salad

Sunday: Father's Day!! We're going over to mom and dad's and mom and I are making chicken and beef kabobs together for the men to grill on Dad's new grill. Mom's making a macaroni salad and I'm making dessert... not sure what yet. Mom said something with fruit or berries. Cobbler comes immediately to mind, but it would be fun to try something new!

I take such delight in food, baking, and cooking, sometimes I wonder if I shouldnt' have just done culinary school and tried to open a little bakery somewhere down the road. Of course, I know I made the right choice, but I really do love to bake and baking for other people especially. Maybe someday way down the road. What's life about if you don't have something to dream about happening years from now? ;)

Meal Plan "Monday"

I'm a day late, but I actually meal planned last Friday for the rest of the week, so though I'm late posting, I've had a plan.

Monday: ate with my mom and dad; mom made this Southwest Chicken Salad which was delicious! Then we went to my brother's baseball game, which he played really well.

Tuesday: 40-garlic chicken from last week

Wednesday: Tuna Salad Nicoise

Thursday: Fettucine with spinach pesto

Friday: Turkey paninis

Saturday: Black Bean pizzas (also from last week)

We'll see how the week goes...

Menu Plan Monday (late...!)

We went camping over the weekend and didn't get back until late last night. Needless to say, putting together my meal plan wasn't a top priority last night. I'm still pretty wiped out but I want to get something down while I have a chance, so even though I haven't thought through it as much as I usually like to, here goes:

Tuesday: Black bean pizzas (from Laura at Organizing Junkie)

Wednesday: Turkey paninis with balsamic red peppers

Thursday: 40-clove garlic chicken (yes, it's time to try it this week, I think!)

Friday: Greek salad

Saturday: Honey-baked salmon and sweet potato fries

Sunday: Tortellini Salad, once again, from Laura

We'll see if I can stick to it... I guess it means I have to go grocery shopping this evening...! Fortunately for me, my husband has the day off, so he said he'd unpack and do the laundry that smells like campfire smoke. What a husband! Pictures from camping coming soon - it was a fun and beautiful trip!

Here we go again...!

Once again, my favorite time of the week! I stuck to my plan really well last week, and it really helped us not to be tempted to go eat out when I had such yummy new recipes to try. The apricot glazed pork was delicious!! As was the shrimp fried rice. I also let my Sweet and Spicy chicken marinate all day in a mixture of orange juice, honey, and Italian dressing mix, and it was so tender and flavorful coming off the grill!!
This week I'm trying some new recipes again that I found on the treasure trove of other blogs listed at Laura's host site.

Monday: Taco salad - we're having friends over for our Monday Night Dinner. It's a fun way to get out of making dinner at least one night a week. We rotate through with two other couples, so every three weeks we feed 2-4 extra people, but it's worth it to have those two weeks off from Monday meals!

Tuesday: Pizza pancakes (from last week! STILL haven't had a chance to try them! But tomorrow, I swear)

Wednesday: Cream of Sweet Potato Soup from Laura at Quotidian Mysteries

Thursday: leftover Cream Cheese Enchiladas that I froze last week along with a new recipe I found for Mexican Rice that looks yummy

Friday-Saturday-Sunday: We'll be camping with friends from our little Bible study. I'm planning meals for everyone, so we're going cheap and simple - eat out on the way there on Friday, grilled burgers one night (I guess that makes burgers twice this week... oh well) and spaghetti I'll make ahead for Sunday night.

Now I just have to go grocery shopping...sometime (yech). I wanted to try Teriyaki Beef Burgers from Anne's Cafe this week but since we ate out Sunday, my whole meal plan got thrown off... guess I'll just have to put that one on for next week! :)

Menu Plan Monday!

I have been looking forward to this post since last week - it's fun! I've planned to make 3 dishes from recipes posted on the blogs that are listed on Laura's website, and I'm excited to try them out! Since I actually meal plan on Saturdays and go from Sunday-Saturday, so I already tried the first one:

Sunday: Tuscan white bean soup (I actually blended it all up so it was thick and pureed - it was okay. My husband loved it, but the texture actually sort of turned me off...) and homemade white bread (one of my best loaves yet!)

Monday: dinner with friends (we had delicious Cajun chicken made on their George Foreman... )

Tuesday: Shrimp fried rice (which I found online on a blog and wish I could remember which one so I could give credit where credit is due - sorry!!) and Light-n-Tangy Asian Salad

Wednesday: Mom's Cheesy Chicken over rice (**recipe to follow**) and biscuits --Bible Study night, so I always have something that will go a long way prepared

Thursday: Apricot Glazed pork roast from Sarah's blog and instant mashed potatoes

Friday: Sweet and Spicy chicken on the grill

Saturday: Pizza pancakes from Laura's blog

A backup plan is for taco salad... I forgot about our dinner plans with friends tonight when I was grocery shopping so I'm all prepared to make taco salad this week or next...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**Cheesy Chicken Recipe** (I make this for two, but mom makes it for 6+ but adding more chicken and maybe more of each ingredient... this version serves us two for dinner plus lots for leftovers!)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I use campbell's 98% fat free to reduce calories)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
(finishing touches: 1/2 c. sour cream and some chopped mushrooms)

Put all ingredients except sour cream and mushrooms in the crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. For last 1/2 hour, add sour cream and mushrooms and shred chicken with two forks. Serve over rice (or pasta). So yummy!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm going to join in Menu Plan Monday, brought to you by Laura. (my mom tries to do this each week too... it looks fun!) Here's the plan - I usually stick to my plans pretty well each week, but we'll see!!

Monday: Bubba's Dancing Beer Can Chicken (since we're having friends over, it makes a lot!)
Tuesday: Greek-style Turkey Burgers and Home-made tomato soup from 5 ingredients!
Wednesday: Cheesy Chicken and Noodle Soup with homemade sourdough bread
Thursday: Sweet and Spicy Chicken and biscuits
Friday: Cream Cheese Enchiladas with green sauce (one of my favorites and so easy!)
Saturday: Tuscan White Bean Soup

Should be yummy! :)