Menu Plan Monday

This week's contenders:

• Summer Chicken Stir Fry, brown rice
• Pan-Seared Steaks With Mushrooms, broccoli
• Homestyle Chicken Hash*, peas
• Seasoned Tilapia, Roasted Asparagus on Parmesan Polenta
• Pizza Friday

That might be too many new recipes in one week, but we'll see since all the flavors are familiar. New recipes are from Health.com. I get the magazine and really enjoy it.

Homestyle Chicken Hash is from Cheap. Fast. Good! It's a good kid friendly cookbook but absolutley NOTHING is seasoned. I add my own.

Menu Plan Monday

Again with the menu planning? Yes. It really does make it easier for me.

• Chili Colorado*, tortillas, refried beans
• Pork** and Bean Casserole, a vegetable*** yet to be determined
• Garlic Tilapia, couscous, vegetable
• Chicken Ziti Bake****, garlic bread, vegetable
• Pizza Friday

*I'm using leftover pork and NOT beef, so it's not really Chili Colorado, but don't tell anyone.**

**Mike grilled a pork shoulder roast which resulted in lots of leftovers.

***The vegetables depend on what looks good at Trader Joe's.

****Sam wants Chicken Parmesan but this is easier and everyone likes it.

Menu Plan Monday

In no particular order:

• Clam Chowder, salad, crusty bread
• Ground Turkey Stroganoff, broccoli
• Pork Medallions with Olive-Caper Sauce, vermicelli with garlic and herbs
• Mexican Lasagna, black bean and corn salad
• Pizza Friday - Pizza Hut has a $10 pizza going.

Brought to you by I'm an Organizing Junkie. Her post wasn't up when I did mine, so you'll have to look around for it.

Menu Plan Monday

Yes, there is a plan this week.

I went back to old stand-bys that everyone will eat.

Ana has her pre-test to determine her eligibility to test for Second Degree Black in October on Wednesday, so I'm making her favorite, Chicken Dijon.

• Clam Chowder, salad, crusty bread
• Spaghetti, tomato sauce, Italian sausage (I had Mike grill the sausages with last night's dinner)
• Chicken Dijon, couscous, broccoli
• Tacos, refried beans

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Menu Plan Monday

What's for dinner this week? So far, this.

• Carmelized Onion Penne, garlic chip greens (Sorry. TWO food network recipes. Their website sucks, but the food looked good so there you are.)
• Breakfast - Pancakes, eggs, bacon
• Turkey Burgers, Macaroni Salad
• something else. I'm going to end up at the store again (we're out of dog food) so I'll probably put fish on the menu.
• Pizza Friday (which I dislike, but the family likes it so I'll eat salad or something.)
  

Bon appetit!

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Menu Plan Monday

Ah, yes. Meal planning time again. Here we go!

• Turkey burgers, chips (I buy two snack size bags and we split them between four people.)
• Ground Beef Stroganoff, broccoli (Yes, I'm using ground turkey instead.)
• Chicken something. A family favorite. I have frozen chicken breasts. I have NO IDEA what they will turn into for dinner. I also have frozen vegetables.
• Ummm...There's pasta and eggs in the house. Maybe Pasta Carbonara (a la Rachael Ray.) I'll have to buy pancetta, but it's pretty cheap at Fresh & Easy.
• Payday! The sky's the limit! I'm hoping to avoid Pizza Friday. I really don't like pizza very much. Don't tell Joe. He'll unfriend me!

Another pantry/freezer week. Somehow I managed to spend all of our money last week so this week is a little tight. Happily, I keep a pretty well stocked pantry.

As always, more menus to steal at I'm an Organizing Junkie. I'm posting the blog, not the Menu Plan Monday entry because it's not up yet and I'm lazy like that.

Bon Appetit!

Menu Plan Monday

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There are many, many menus to cheat from.

My plan looks something like this.

• Monday: Leftovers-including: roast chicken, asst cheeses, salami, artichokes, marinated mushrooms, harissa beans, homemade pesto, homemade hummus, pita
• Tuesday: Baked chicken. There are two breasts with ribs leftover from the weekend.
• Wednesday: Pasta, I think. Lots of it in the pantry. Sauce? Pesto or maybe I'll whip up a tomato sauce. I might just serve it with butter and cheese.
• Thursday: There's frozen ground turkey in the freezer. Maybe tacos. Sam likes them.
• Friday: Mike's birthday. He hasn't decided if he wants me to cook or if he wants to eat out. He doesn't usually like to eat dinner out, especially after a busy week at work.

Updates as they occur, I guess.

An update before it even posts! I'm making Baked Teriyaki Chicken.

Menu Plan Monday

Short week this week. Our international karate tournament starts on Thursday so we're only eating at home on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The kids have not been eating well lately (owing to sickness) so they each had to plan a meal.

• Chicken tacos (Sam) Says he doesn't like ground meat in tacos so will dice chicken for him instead. Still sounds good.
• Chicken Dijon, Parmesan couscous, broccoli (Ana) A little more knowledgeable with regard to nutrition and balanced meals.
• Turkey burgers, potato salad (Karen) This may end up in the freezer since after I went grocery shopping, Mike did his shopping for tonight's dinner and came home with turkey burgers to go with my potato salad. We have a lot of frozen things. Maybe I'll whip up a miracle.

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Menu Plan Monday

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In no particular order

• Teriyaki Beef with Noodles (We have leftover Teriyaki Tri-tip from the weekend. I'll create something with it!)
• Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken (I can't remember where I first saw this recipe or I would give credit but it was probably here.)
• Pork Medallions with Olive-Caper Sauce, Vermicelli with garlic and herbs (Cooking Light)
• Gnocchi with Asparagus and Pancetta (Cooking Light, April 2008)
• Friday, Friday, Friday...I've grown weary of Pizza Friday.

Updates as needed.

The Food Reviews

Potato Leek soup with Chicken Andouille Sausage: Delicious, as always. It's hard to go wrong with this soup and the slightly spicy sausage complimented it quite nicely. I served it with Garlic Naan that I picked up at Trader Joe's.

Mexican Lasagna: Not bad. It's good that the kids did not see it being assembled as I'm sure they would have turned their collective noses up at cottage cheese. As it was I got "What kind of cheese is that?" Also, my family has a preference for corn tortillas rather than flour. And lastly, as usual, it made entirely too much food for my light-eating family of four. I served this with a black bean and roasted corn salad so there was a lot of corn and lots of black beans on the table.

Cheesy Penne with Chicken & Broccoli: This is pasta, chicken and broccoli with cheese sauce. What could be better? Nothing! Don't be afraid of making cheese sauce. It's incredibly easy.

Menu Plan Monday

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Another semi-plan for the week. I'm only responsible for three meals this week.

• Mexican Lasagna, Roasted corn and black bean salad
• Cheesy Penne with Chicken & Broccoli (except that I'm using Mike's leftover grilled chicken from this weekend. It was spectacular AND it's not breaded!)
• Potato Leek soup with Chicken Andouille sausage (I had a hankering for sausage, so I'm putting it the soup.)
• Thursday is Las Vegas 51's baseball. We eat in the air-conditioned restaurant before heading out in hundred (plus) degree heat for the game.
• Friday is a holiday for Mike, so he will cook.

Trying some new recipes from a new website, Meal Makeover Moms. They bill themselves as Healthy Meals with Kid Appeal. I can't seem to get the boy child to eat meat and even he thinks the lack of protein is making him tired. They also have a cookbook. I have a 30% off coupon. Maybe I'll go buy it.

Menu Plan Monday

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I sort of have a plan, so here it is.

• Asian Grilled Salmon, broccoli salad
• The Marlboro Man Sandwich, broccoli salad
• Tacos
• Slow-Cooker Turkey Meatballs, spaghetti, broccoli salad
• Pizza Friday (Last week I talked them into KFC!)

Mike made (a lot of) broccoli salad so we'll be eating it all week.

Menu Plan Monday

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This week we're eating whatever is available in the house. There's plenty of food so it shouldn't be a problem.

So far;

• Baked oatmeal (I'm trying something new.)
• leftover chicken (Mike smoked it on the charcoal grill. I'll turn it into something.)
• leftover tri-tip (Same thing. Mike grilled this weekend.)
• ground turkey in one form or another (It's in the freezer.)
• Pizza Friday (I don't have one, but it's pay day!)

I'll add fresh produce and we'll probably need milk at some point.

The menus are about to change. It will be over 100 degrees this week which means the oven will not be in use again until sometime around late September or early October.

Menu Plan Monday

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Dinner this week will be determined largely by how much walking I can do at grocery stores. The MRI on my knee is Monday, May 4th at 0730.

So far, the plan is:

• Tater Tot Casserole*, corn
• Bourbon Chicken, broccoli, brown rice
• chili (I don't use a recipe. I'll just make it up.), cornbread
• fish (whatever I can find), a vegetable, a side dish**
• pizza Friday

I'm keeping it simple and using mostly what I have on hand.

*Am I the only person on the planet who does not cook with Cream of Mushroom, Chicken, Celery or any other food Soup? Mike hates it and I refuse to cook with it!

**Who says meal planning is hard?

Menu Plan Monday

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In no particular order:

• Steak with Sun Dried Tomatoes, broccoli, corn-on-the-cob

• Sesame Fish, salad, brown rice
• Pizza (for Sam)
• Pasta Carbonara, peas
• Tacos, refried beans (Sam again)

Sam gets much of what he wants because he states a preference.

Menu Plan Monday

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There was a lot of complaining about last week's menu.

We actually ended up eating:

• popcorn chicken (on the menu)
• turkey burgers (on the menu)
• sloppy joe's (on the menu AND they hated them)
• tater tot breakfast casserole (yum!)
• Pizza Friday turned into Pasta Friday because that's what I wanted.

This week I asked the question again. The following responses were given:

• Chicken Dijon, couscous, broccoli *Ana*
• Tacos (No, we're having Enchilada Suiza. Choose again.) *Sam*
• Turkey Burgers on regular buns (not English muffins) and crunchy (shoestring) fries *Sam*
• Whatever you're making *Mike*
• Enchilada Suiza
• Gnocchi with Asparagus and Pancetta
• One day stays open - things happen and we have an early appointment on Friday.

Looks like a decent food week to me.

Menu Plan Monday

I asked, as I always do, what everyone would like to eat for dinner this week. I received one response (from Mike) so Turkey Burgers made the menu. The rest of the week is food I like and some of them hate. Perhaps they will be inspired to ANSWER THE QUESTION the next time I ask it.

• popcorn chicken, tater tots (Ana has a very early soccer game)
• Turkey burgers
• sloppy joes (with ground turkey)
• more ground turkey - will it be meatloaf (which they hate) or tacos (which they like)?
• Pizza Friday (I'm picking the flavor this week)

No ham this week. We stayed at a Strip Hotel and were gone on Easter. Lots of ground turkey, though. We prefer it to beef and it was cheap this week.

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Menu Plan Monday

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• Monday: Tilapia Picatta, Orzo with grape tomatoes and parsley
• Gnocchi with Asparagus and Pancetta
• Breakfast, which will include scones, hashbrowns, bacon and eggs if anyone wants them
• Turkey Burgers, potato salad
• Friday: Pizza Friday

Monday and Friday actually got planned this week because Friday is always Pizza Friday and Tilapia was on clearance for half price at Fresh and Easy so that will become Monday's dinner.

The turkey burgers may fall by the wayside since I can't find them on sale. We may do leftovers or whatever is on clearance at Fresh and Easy.

This was the second week in a row that Breakfast has been requested.

Menu Plan Monday

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This weeks meals were suggested by Sam. When I asked, "What do you guys want for dinner this week?" Mike responded with, "Whatever you're cooking." Sam responded with three dishes he likes. We have started a tradition of Pizza Friday and the Lazy Lasagna I adapted from a recipe found on Taste of Home.

One day: Salt and Pepper Salmon, broccoli, Parmesan couscous (Sam's recipe: Put olive oil, salt and pepper on the salmon and cook it.)

Another day: Tacos (Sam's recipe: soft corn tortilla, refried beans (Rosarita green chile and lime), shredded cheddar, lowfat sour cream) The rest of us will eat turkey taco meat, tomatoes, lettuce and guacamole.

Yet another day: Lazy Lasagna I renamed this and will make a lot less of it for my family of four.

And still another day: Chili I don't use a recipe. I just throw this together and let it simmer.

Friday: Pizza Friday

That's it. All simple and all family favorites. I went through period of time where I tried many new recipes. The family likes the old standy-bys, so that's what we're eating this week.

Manga!

Menu Plan Monday

This week! A plan, of sorts.



Clam Chowder - Clams and juice in the pantry. I just need a few potatoes.
(potatoes $1.60) Total $1.60
Chili - In the crockpot? I don't know yet. I might just throw it together one afternoon.
(ground turkey $3.99, chili seasoning $1.00) Total $4.99
Beef roast with potatoes and carrots - inspired by this post on $5 Dinners
(chuck roast for two meals $2.14, potatoes $1.60) Total $3.74
Roast beef burritos - from the same post
(chuck roast $2.14, taco sauce $2.29, fresh tomatoes $2.49, tortillas $2.19, shredded cheese $3.09, refried beans $1.33) Total $11.39


The burritos would have been less expensive using canned tomatoes and shredding my own cheese. We usually have tortillas on hand, but we were out so I stocked up. I also count the cost of the entire item, not just the portion I'm using, so future meals with tortillas and cheese will be closer to free.


And I don't usually use chili seasoning. I was on the aisle and it caught my eye. We'll see how it tastes.

Still not the cheapest meals in town, but I'm working on it.

Enjoy dinner. I know, I only have four meals posted. I have another package of ground turkey and some italian sausage in the refrigerator. I don't know what it will become. I'll let you know.

*brought to you by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie.