Meal Plan Monday--The Tuesday edition

Yesterday was a very busy day so I wasn't able to post our week's menu. Here's what's on tap:

Sunday: Grilled BBQ chicken sandwiches, potato chips, baked beans, carrots, pineapple.

Monday: Fajita salads. (Marinate thinly sliced steak strips in half bottle of Italian dressing, 1 tsp cumin and a couple of dashes of hot sauce for 1 hour--or however much time you have! In hot skillet coated with cooking spray cook thinly sliced red & green peppers and onions. Add steak--and marinade--and cook through. Serve over salad greens, drained and rinsed black beans, rinsed frozen corn, crushed tortilla chips/taco shells. Top with cheese and dressing made from equal parts sour cream and salsa.)

Tuesday: Stromboli, salads, fruit, chocolate cake.

Wednesday: Catalina chicken (marinated chicken in Catalina dressing and then grill), grilled potato packets, green beans

Thursday: Quiche, fruit salad

Friday: Salmon cakes, rice peas

Saturday: At 8isgreat's house!

For more ideas check out OrgJunkie!

Meal Plan Monday

Here we go again! In an effort to keep our food budget down and cut my time spent in the kitchen, you'll see that I'm using lots of leftovers from the freezer and employing the old "cook once--use lots" method!

Sunday: Tacos with all the fixings

Monday: (daughter's Baptism birthday so something she really likes) Beef Stroganoff--with leftover flank steak from Saturday, broccoli, homemade 5 minute artisan bread, Baptism birthday cake! If you haven't tried the 5 minute bread yet--you must--it's so simple and SO YUMMY!

Tuesday: Ham (from freezer--leftover honey baked ham from last week) and potato casserole, peas, baby spinach salad, 5 minute Artisan bread

Wednesday: Pork fried rice (again using leftover pork from freezer from a few weeks ago), fruit. (Make extra rice for Friday's dinner.)

Thursday: Tball game, so cold tuna pasta salad, chips and fruit salad at the ballpark

Friday: Red beans and rice, cornbread (2 cans red kidney beans--undrained, 1 can cut up stewed tomatoes, 1 tsp dried basil, couple of shakes of Tabasco--heat through--about 15 minutes-- and serve over brown rice.) I often add diced red pepper if I have it.

Saturday: Hopefully a date night, so frozen pizzas for the kids!

As always, if you're looking for more ideas, check out Meal Plan Monday!

Meal Plan Monday

Monday: Quiche (from the freezer, I only labeled it "quiche" so I can't remember if it's ham, broccoli and cheese or Aidell's feta/spinach/turkey sausage with red peppers) and fruit salad--pineapple, strawberries, apples, and bananas.

Tuesday: Tball so we need something to eat at the ball park. Chicken club pasta salad from Family Fun
Chicken Club Pasta Salad
8 ounces corkscrew or spiral pasta
3/4 cup italian dressing
1/4 cup mayo
2 cups chopped, cooked rotisserie chicken
1 cup Muenster or Monterey Jack cheese, cubed
12 strips of crisp-cooked bacon, crumbled
1 avocado, chopped
1 cup each chopped celery and green bell pepper
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, cut in half

At home, cook and drain the pasta according to the package directions and rinse it with cold water. Whisk the dressing with the mayonnaise in a large bowl, then stir in the pasta and the remaining ingredients. Spoon the salad into individual resealable plastic containers and chill. Transfer the containers to your cooler before heading out.


Wednesday: Caribbean Jerk Chicken, mashed potatoes, black bean/corn/red pepper/lime salsa (grill extra chicken for tomorrow night's wraps.)

Recipe from Good Seasonings Casual Entertaining cook book:
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 1/2 pounds chicken breasts

Mix all ingredients except chicken in small bowl until well blended. 
Pour dressing over chicken; cover.  Refrigerate 1 hour to marinate.  Drain; discard dressing mixture.
Place on greased grill over hot coals or on rack of broiler pan 5-7 inches
from heat.  Cook till cooked thru. (I top mine with a spritz of lime juice.)

Salsa:
1 can drained black beans
1 cup rinsed frozen corn
1/4 chopped red pepper
1 tsp Good Seasonings Italian dressing mix
1 T lime juice
Mix together and chill

Thursday: We need something quick and easy to eat before going to the circus! Spinach wraps filled with grilled chicken tossed with roasted red peppers, baby spinach and mozzarella in balsamic dressing, chips, apple slices.

Friday: Refried bean tostados

Saturday: Stomboli. Half ham and cheese, half pepperoni and cheese, carrot stick and peaches.

As always, if you need more ideas, check out Org Junkie's Meal Plan Monday!

Meal Plan Monday

One of the easiest ways to begin saving money is by planning your meals in advance. This helps ward off last minute runs to the store to get "just one ingredient" where you come out with 10 extra things, or trips through the drive thru.

I've just gotten serious about this again because I know doing it makes my life so much easier. I don't have "what's for dinner?" hanging over my head all day and it helps me to avoid my "pregnancy paralysis" (which is my seeming inability to make even the smallest decisions while pregnant without stressing over them and all the options entirely too much!)

This week starts a new challenge for my family--balancing sports schedules, music lessons and family dinner. It's also what forced me to write out a dinner calendar for the whole month of April. I marked out which nights have:
-Tball games (which means I need to feed my tball player before the game and have something easy to eat at the ballpark for the rest of us),
-Tball practice (which needs a meal that can be ready for us to eat as soon as we all return home from Tball practice)
-and nights that have piano lessons (which is something that either I can put in the oven before I take my daughter to lessons while my husband stays home, or if I'm staying home something that's easy to prepare but can sit a bit if need be after it's finished to accommodate them getting home a little later.)

Also, since my morning sickness and can be known to be "all day sickness" I'm trying to cook with "planned overs" (not leftovers) in mind, so I can spend less time in the kitchen. You'll see examples of that this week.

And--the best thing I found while planning my month long menu--aside from fresh items like milk and produce--I only need 8 additional things from the store to make my entire month of meals! I planned my meals based on meats and frozen veggies I had in the freezer and other items I already had on my pantry shelves. April will be a month of huge grocery store savings for us!

For this week we have:
Sunday: Burgundy Pork Tenderloin (modified--no celery, used half red wine, half beef broth and topped with sliced onions and mushrooms), mashed potatoes (made double for the previous night's dinner), corn, homemade rolls.

Monday: Mom's night out with friends! (woohoo!) Dad and kids are having frozen pizza, carrots and apple slices.

Tuesday: Pork lo mein (using half of planned over pork tenderloin from Sunday night, remaining pork will be chopped and frozen for fried rice later in the month.)

Wednesday: Tball game Turkey, bacon, guacamole, cheese, salsa, and baby spinach in sun dried tomato basil wraps, chips, and grapes. (turkey breast is on sale at Giant for $4.99/lb. this week and grapes are $.99.lb.)

Thursday: Piano practice Cheesy chicken and rice with broccoli, remaining homemade rolls from Sunday. (Make extra rice for tomorrow night's dinner)

Friday: Red beans and rice with corn bread and baby spinach salads. (Recipe: mix 2 cans undrained kidney beans with one can undrained stewed tomatoes--chopped. Add .5-1 tsp dried basil and a couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce. Heat on low for 15 minutes or until heated through.

Want more dinner ideas? Check out I'm an Organizing Junkie where you can find tons of Meal Plan Monday ideas! (We're number 234!)