menu planning

 i cooked all of last weeks meals in one form or other.  the meatballs were excellent, if a little sour cream heavy.  i forgot to make the meatloaf and put it in the crock pot, so the mister just made a turkey meatloaf and cooked it in the oven.  i had no panko, so the shrimp were breaded in crushed cornflakes with the sauce on the side.  the pork tenderloin i went with a combo sort of recipe from both recipes.

everything was good.

here's what i found for this week - 

Creamy Tuscan Chicken

Mongolian Ground Beef Noodles

Vietnamese Meatball Lettuce Wraps

Ham and Cheese Crescent Roll Squares

menu planning - this week and last weeks honey garlic chicken

 lets menu plan!  i'm doing this from my cozy chair in the living room this morning.  everyone is still asleep.  it's dark and quiet in here.  laundry and cleaning and cooking looms ahead of me for the day but we'll ignore it right now and just relax for a bit.  and since my phone is on the charger and i can't scroll tik tok, and i have no lights on so i can't read, that means menu planning.

last week we had a birthday celebration one night (Red Robin burgers) and a quick dinner of ham and eggs before we went to see the Shrek musical (amazing!!!), and made a crock pot pulled pork that will do double duty as sandwiches that night AND feature in tonights Sunday dinner, and a very very good honey garlic chicken that i added grated sweet potato and spinach to which was truly excellent.

So here's what i'm thinking for this week - 

Swedish meatballs - god I miss Ikea

Slow cooker meatloaf 

Bang Bang Shrimp - or sub out chicken, but I think we have some shrimp in the freezer

Pork tenderloin - probably either this one or this one, depending what I have in the pantry.

Happy Sunday.  Don't forget to drink your water.

 

French Toast cups, banana muffins, chicken cordon bleu and meal planning

I am mentally and physically stuck in huge ruts right now.  My house is cluttered and unorganized and none of my good intention projects have been started.  I am GAINING weight, I feel like this is something I need to focus on here soon as I just can't seem to find long lasting motivation for that either.

Winter has done me in, I think, even though up until the end of January it was not a particularly hard one, but I am done.  I need blue skies and warm air and green grass.

I need happiness and gentle talk and encouragement and I can't find any of that in me lately.

ANYWAY, here are 3 recipes that I made in the past bit that turned out quite well.

French Toast Cups from Chrissy Teigen -

SO good.  Croissants instead of bread mixed with beaten egg and milk and sugar and such and then nestled into a little ham nest for baking.

I made these best ever banana muffins (added some chocolate chips!!!)  and everyone loved them.

They were super easy and good.  My family mowed through them in no time and requested more.

We all really loved Skillet Chicken Cordon Bleu  it was an easy weeknight dinner and very delicious.

The idea of just laying the ham and cheese on the chicken is so smart and saves so much time and headaches.  And the sauce was deeeelish.

_____________________________________

I'm heading into the kitchen to start menu planning for the week so I can get groceries today.

I'm considering the following - 

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Crock Pot Gyros - The Mister is particularly excited about this one.

Slow Cooker Cajun Fettuccini   - with probably all the spice left out for the kids.

Curried Lentil Tomato and Coconut Soup - no one will eat this but me.

Honey and Ginger and Garlic Meatballs

Pina Colada Cake - I really wanted to make this for work but one of the ladies hates coconut so I might make this for Sunday Dinner.

 

What's on your meal plan this week?

Last weeks menu plan - what we ate

 Still lots of snow up in Aberdeen on the Highlands Trail!  

Sunday - I made my mom's lasagna recipe which is THE BEST.  Salad and bread too.  Apple pie and ice cream for dessert.
Monday - my sweet, sweet Boo made us a batch of Brown Stew Chicken, a Jamaican dish that is totally amazing.
Tuesday - Met The Fam at Costco after work.  Hot dogs and fries after shopping.
Wednesday -  Leftover night.  The Fam ate the last of the lasagne, I had old pizza.
Thursday -  The Grandfather came over for dinner and I made chicken sandwiches and more cake. 
Friday - We had to go shoe shopping so we hit the mall after work.  Got each kid a new pair of shoes, used my last book store gift card to buy everyone a book, and ate at the food court.  The kids shared a plate from the chinese food place, the parents had Opa.
Saturday -Tried a new casserole recipe - Ham and Cheese Hashbrown Casserole to use up some ham and browns in the freezer.  I didn't have as much potato as called for in the recipe, so I cut back on the amount of soup, and I don't think it was as creamy as the original, but it was tasty.  The kids were pretty meh on it, which is and isn't a surprise, as they do love ham and cheese and hash browns, but they also pretty much dislike anything we make them and how annoying is that.  The Mister loved it - LOVED IT - and stood in the kitchen picking at the (big) dish of leftovers, saying "I can't stop eating this." which is good because he will be eating it all week for lunch.

Menu Plan -Nov 6-10

It's been a while since I've written about menu planning, but I still hate it.

Hold on to your hats, this is a wild week. And by wild I mean boring.
I had no alone time (aka before the kids got up Saturday morning) to really sit and plan and look up ideas, so we have a pretty dull dinner week ahead.

Monday - Beef Dip sandwiches, raw veggies

Tuesday - dinner at Costco after shopping

Wednesday - Spaghetti and meatballs

Thursday - Soup and sandwiches - still figuring out what the soup will be....

Friday - Fish and chips

dreaming of mini doughnuts this morning......

Snapshot - Menu Planning

always menu planning...

Snapshot - Menu planning

Ugh, the WORST. 

Menu plan

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is off to a good start for you. My poor baby has been sort of sick so there's not much sleep happening over here for anyone.

Here's what we're going to be eating the next few days -

Monday (today!) ham leftovers from our New Years Day dinner.

Tuesday Ranch chicken

Wednesday Fish tacos

Thursday Mango Chicken salad

Friday Pasta with peas and ham

Saturday Mexican turkey

Sunday Jamaican beef patties

Monday Thai chicken wings

And the best part of all of this.....my shopping list for the week has 4 items* on it! I've got all the stuff I need in the freezer, pantry and fridge.

Go me!

*Note - this doesn't mean I will leave the grocery store with only 4 items.

weekly menu plan

The camera/computer connection is misbehaving and I have no photos to show you of the delicious lasagna resting on the counter, which is too bad, cause man it looks goooooood!

Monday (today) lasagna made w zucchini, mushroom and bell pepper

Tuesday bean spinach and chorizo soup, buns

Wednesday bubble and squeak, salad

Thursday bbq kebabs, veggies

Friday bean burritos

Saturday soup i can't tell you about

Sunday Paxton's Birthday Dinner!

Monday Nigella Lawson's rapid ragu