Meal Plan: Week of 4/24/11

Wow...it really has been a while since I last meal planned! I ended up stretching the one week into two (a few lazy nights on my part, as well as busy schedules), and then I went to Provo, UT to visit my sister, Cecily! Cecily made us some delish fried rice (very close to what our mom used to make, but more modern) and some nose-running good curry...maybe if we are lucky she will post the recipes. So, now I'm back, and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I did buy the Our Best Bites new cookbook while I was out there, so I'm super excited to try some of the recipes that aren't on the site!

To recap the last meal plan, I think the biggest hits were the curry and the bacon-wrapped meatloaf. I wasn't too thrilled with the meatloaf, but the kids had thirds and it was requested the following week. The pork tacos were good and so was the beef and snow peas. Nobody really liked the mustard chicken...in fact, it actually tasted like warm potato salad...yuck! I did not get around to making the herb roast, so I will have to try it out another time. The surprise like of the week was the quinoa and black beans. We had never tried quinoa before, and honestly it didn't look that appetizing, but it tasted pretty good!

Now for this coming week. Easter is on Sunday, so I am starting the week there. I'm trying some of Cecily's recipes that she posted on her other blog. Also, Adi is on another diet kick. He said at first that he would only eat chicken or fish with veggies, but I convinced him to do buffalo twice a week and then he has a cheat day. So, I have Sunday as the cheat day and Tuesday/Thursday as buffalo days, and I'm putting fish on Friday (why not?).

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Ham Scalloped potatoes Green beans rolls	Tonkatsu chicken Rice zucchini	Beef tips with peas Egg noodles carrots	Chicken cordon bleu Scalloped potatoes salad	Beef Bulgogi Rice Chinese Napa Cabbage salad	Grilled Fish Steaks Pasta and Herbs salad	Roasted Curried Chicken with Couscous salad

So, there it is! Hopefully I can stick to the meal plan better this week. I'm really impressed that my grocery list has nothing in the canned goods section. Now I'm off to the grocery store!

Meal plan for week of 4/4

So my method of meal planning is slightly different. I sit down with the family every Monday night and ask them what they would like to eat for the following week. With their suggestions in mind, I brouse the sales adds for my favorite grocery stores and find ingredients that are not only on sale, but I also have a coupon for. Feeding a family of 6 gets expensive so I try to cut costs as many ways as I can. Wednesday nights are very busy for my family so that is always leftover night. Some nights my husband and I will have special plans so those nights the kids get to fend for themselves. Fortunately my kids are all old enough and capable enough to cook their own food so they actually don't mind "Fend" nights. Another thing I should mention is that I don't use recipies. I will sometimes read a recipe for ideas, but I don't follow them while cooking. If you would like to know how to make one of the things I have listed, I will try my best to explain! I have school from 8-5 for the next 3 weeks so the meals are simple enough that my husband and kids can prepare them, or I can prep the ingredients the night before. My husband leaves for work by 6 every night so I have to have dinner on the table ASAP! So here we go: Monday 4/4 My Birthday! So dinner at Benihana's for the hubby and me, Fend for the kids Tuesday 4/5 Grilled cheese sandwiches(Cheddar on the inside, parmesan on theout side) With Tomato soup(Garlic croutons on top!) Wednesday 4/6 Leftovers Thursday 4/7 Shrimp Scampi with linguini, Ceasar salad, and garlic bread Friday 4/8 Carnitas street tacos- shredded pork, queso cotija, shredded cabbage, radishes, cilantro, lime wedges and salsa verde Saturday 4/9 Chicken Tortilla soup Sunday 4/10 Roast Chicken with mashed potatoes, and green beans(with butter & bacon) So that's this week! I'll try to post again next Saturday for the following week!

Meal Plan: Week of 4/1/11

This is my first weekly meal plan post of the blog! Just a fair warning, I don't always stick to the menu, so sometimes a week's menu lasts for a couple weeks. I should also point out that I have a couple favorite websites where I get most of my recipes. They are allrecipes.com and ourbestbites.com. Seriously, I very rarely need to go anywhere else. So, here is my week's menu (starting with today, if I can make it to the grocery store), with links to the recipes I'm using.

Friday:
Strawberry chicken spinach salad with crumbled gorgonzola and candied pecans (instead of almonds...I'm allergic to almonds)

Saturday:
Chicken curry
Rice
Sautéed zucchini & bell peppers

Sunday:
Herb crusted roast beef*
Roasted vegetables (subbing zucchini for the butternut squash...personal preference)

Monday:
Honey mustard chicken
Rice pilaf
corn (on the cob, if I can find it fresh)

Tuesday:
Glazed bacon wrapped meatloaf*
Mashed potatoes
Green beans

Wednesday:
Beef with snow peas*
Rice

Thursday:
Chipotle pork tacos
Lime cilantro rice with pineapple
Quinoa and black beans

*Every year, we get a whole buffalo to use as our red meat, so anywhere beef is used as an ingredient, it will actually be buffalo in our house. Buffalo is so much healthier for you, and it tastes better too!

Just a tip...whenever I use a recipe from a website, I read through the reviews of the recipe to determine any adjustments I will probably make. Also, when I am searching for a particular recipe on allrecipes.com and there are several to choose from, I will sort the recipes by the rating to find the best rated version. But, be careful...a recipe with only one review of 5 stars will show up higher than a recipe with 1000 reviews averaging 4.5 stars, so you will still need to do some browsing.

OK...now, hopefully an older person will get home soon so I can do my grocery shopping! I no longer take all 3 little kids with me to the grocery store. The last time I did that, I ended up with a broken finger, which still isn't healed properly (it has been over 4 months), and I will hopefully be getting surgery done on it soon...