Meal Plan Monday

Greetings, loyal readers! I say this often, but I want to say again how grateful I am that you all stick around, despite how dead this blog has become lately! I’ve even noticed we’ve gotten a few more readers on board, which is amazing! I sure love doing this blog, so the more readers the better!

This week’s menu is full of our family favorites. I spent the last week cooking meals that are more fancy (to impress company!), so I feel like just having a really easy week this week. Here’s what we’ve got going on:

Easy cheesy meat and potatoes
Baked potatoes and green bean casserole
Lasagna, oatmeal rolls, and salad
Pizza night and salad
Café Rio pork salads
Baked teriyaki chicken and fried rice

Talk to me: what's on your menu this week?

Meal Plan Monday

Hello, foodies! So sorry for the prolonged absence, but things have been crazy around here with Christmas break, holidays, etc. I'm so excited to get back into blogging and share with you all the yummy things we had to eat this holiday season! I hope you all had as wonderful a holiday as we did. It's hard to believe Christmas is over already!

I've done the el cheapo menus before, but I'm doing it again this week. We really need some recovery in the pocketbook after Christmas! ;-) So here's what we're doing for food this week:

Easy cheesy meat and potatoes
Gnocchi and crescent rolls (homemade)
Shredded beef enchiladas and sweet corn tamalitos
Baked potatoes and salad
Ravioli (homemade)
Spaghetti and crescent rolls

The other days we're eating out for dinner (my oldest turns 9...where did the time go?!) and having leftovers.

Did you eat anything fabulous over the holidays?! Do share!!

Meal Plan Monday

The weather is finally starting to cool off here in the desert! We've been able to turn off the air conditioning, open the windows, and we've even busted out the pants and jackets! I'm so excited to start cooking all my favorite soups that it's too miserably hot to make the rest of the year!

This meal plan is a super easy one. My husband has been out of town for almost the last week on business, so I really felt little need to make anything more than the bare minimum while he's gone.

The plan for this week:
Baked potatoes and salad
Huevos Rancheros (I'm trying a new recipe this week, though)
Breakfast for dinner (buttermilk pancakes, homemade syrup, and scrambled eggs)
Southwestern corn chowder
Chili's chicken enchilada soup and oatmeal dinner rolls
Crockpot Mexican pork

Meal Plan Monday

Even though I've been absent (again), I've still been doing lots of cooking. So there are some yummy recipes ready to be posted!

My mother-in-law just left today after spending the last week with us. We spent a couple of days in fabulous San Diego, California where we took the kiddos to Sea World. Tons of fun! It's fun eating out for a change, but it always makes me anxious to get back home and get back in my own kitchen. Once I developed a love of (and a talent for) cooking, no restaurant can really compare. I really love trying to re-create my favorite restaurant recipes! My first attempt was Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup, and I honestly love my version more than theirs. I also have a fabulous recipe for Applebee's Maple Butter Blondies, which I'll be posting soon!

Anyway, on to this week's menu! I recently got a new cookbook, so almost my entire menu this week is from that cookbook. The hubby and I went out to start on some Christmas shopping this last week while my mother-in-law was here to watch the kiddos, and while shopping for the kids, I just had to get something for myself, too! We were at Barnes and Noble getting them some books, and I saw a Betty Crocker vegetarian dishes cookbook. I am always having major trouble coming up with meatless meal ideas, so this was a MUST-BUY for me. It's a total success so far!

So, up this week we have:
Black bean burgers, veggies & dip
Middle Eastern pita pizzas (pitas will be homemade)
Easy cheesy meat and potatoes
Huevos rancheros
Baked potato soup
Vegetable manicotti

What recipes have you tried lately that were a big hit?

Meal Plan Monday

It's been quite a while since I've done a Meal Plan Monday post, so I figured it was time to start it up again! I love seeing other people's meal plans and getting fresh, new ideas!

This week I wanted to see how cheaply I could feed us. I ended up spending only $45 at the store for the entire week's worth of food! I was pretty stoked about that. I'm usually really good at planning my meals around as much of what I already have on hand as possible, but this week I did an even better job than usual. Typically we spend anywhere from $60-$75 per week on groceries, so this was quite drastic difference. It helped that we stocked up a couple weeks ago on all the meat, so I didn't have to buy any of that this week. But still!

So, on the meal plan are (in no particular order):

Lemon linguine
Chicken and dumplings
Feijoada
Fettuccine Alfredo & rolls
Chicken poulet
Tuna noodle casserole
Chili mac

What's on your meal plan this week??

Meal Plan Monday

Hey, hey! I know things have been s-l-o-w around here lately. Sorry about that! It's been kinda crazy at our house. I applied for college classes (haven't started yet, but I've had some issues with the college that have taken up some time), homeschooling with my 2nd grader, babysitting a 1 year old a few days a week, we all had this flu/stomach bug that I'm finally getting over today, etc. It's just been lovely!

This week's meal plan comes from my America's Test Kitchen cookbook. I think there are a couple of meals that don't, but pretty much all of them do. Yes, I'm putting in yet another plug for this cookbook. Hey, it's almost Christmas, so you could totally ask your hubby/family/friends to get it for you as your gift! Everything I've tried, I've loved. The ranch dressing I posted a few weeks ago seriously is THE best ever, and I just made another batch over the weekend. It's always in my fridge now. I only rant and rave about this cookbook because it's so rare to find a cookbook where you really and truly like every recipe you try out of it. And this is one of them!

So, on the menu this week, we have:
Shepherd's pie
Lemon and thyme pork with roasted red potatoes
Chicken enchilada soup
Spaghetti and oatmeal dinner rolls
Pizza
Black bean soup and quesadillas

The rolls I'm especially excited about! We went to Thanksgiving dinner at our neighbor's house, and another family that was there brought these rolls. They were the BEST rolls I have ever had, so I asked her for the recipe. She told me they're made with oatmeal! So I Googled it and found a really yummy recipe. I'll share soon!

Talk to me! How was your Thanksgiving?
Any fun holiday plans?
Any holiday recipes you'd like to see us feature?

Meal Plan Monday

It's just another manic Monday. (Do you have that song running through your head now?) Ready for yet another week? Are you busy with Thanksgiving preparations?

I guess one good thing about living far from family is that we get to have a nice, quiet holiday with just our little family. That makes it nice and low-key, and I'm not running around like a mad woman trying to make everything perfect.

This week will be a little crazy for me, though, because my baby turns 3 on Friday! I can't believe she's turning 3. How can time seem to go by so quickly and so slowly at the same time? So since I'll be busy with party planning, my menu theme this week is quick and easy meals.

Mexican-style pork stew
Homemade pizza (either BBQ or garlic chicken, not sure yet)
Smothered pork chops
Egg drop soup and pot stickers
Fajitas

Any exciting plans for Thanksgiving?

Meal Plan Monday

Happy Monday to you!

I've decided I really hate living in the desert. It's almost the middle of November, and it's still 90 degrees here! I seriously turned on the air conditioning the other night! I love fall and I love fall food. This weather doesn't make me want to curl up on the couch under a blanket with a nice bowl of comforting soup! And that's what I want to do. Blah.

Enough whining. Here's the menu for this week!

Baked potatoes
Mexican-style pork stew
Tuna melts
Lasagna and rolls
Homemade pizza
Chicken in a basil cream sauce
Smothered pork chops

Meal Plan Monday

I'm starting to get really excited to make my meal plans now! Because here in blistering Arizona, it's finally starting to cool off a little bit! We've been in the 60's at night and stay in the 80's or lower during the day. I've had the air conditioning completely off and all the windows open for the last 2 weeks straight. There's such a delicious breeze blowing through, and it's fabulous! So instead of shying away from cooking for fear of heating up the house, now my head is spinning with all kinds of recipes I want to try. Aren't you excited?! ;-)

This week has already been really messed up, and none of my meals have worked out the way I'd planned. We've had errands to run and lots of things come up, so we've eaten out way more than we normally do. So instead of giving you a day-by-day breakdown like I usually do, I'll just make a list of all the meals I'm supposed to make this week. :-)

Chicken enchiladas with cheesy rice and corn casserole
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Big Mac meatloaf and mashed potatoes
Lemon Linguine
Baked potatoes and salad
Spaghetti
Easy cheesy meat and potatoes

What are your favorite fall recipes that you long for all year?
Inspire us! :-)

Meal Plan Monday

Normally, I'd be fighting the urge to be annoyed about yet another Monday. I just love weekends and having my hubby home. But after my health scare last week, I'm just grateful for another day to be with my family and to be alive!

It's a long story, so I'll paraphrase. My doctor prescribed some birth control pills for me last year, even though I have a history of blood clots (I get them during pregnancy, in my lungs, and nobody knows why). I asked him if they were safe for me, and he said yes. So I've been taking them for a year without any troubles. Until Labor Day weekend. I started getting very short of breath, so I went into my doctor's office that Tuesday. My heart rate was at 111 (norm is 50-100), but even so, he told me to rest and come back in a week. By Friday, it was a lot worse, so my hubby took me to the ER. My heart rate was at 130 by that point. When they did a CT scan, they said both my lungs were almost completely closed off with clots and that I'm very lucky to be here today. A 5 day hospital stay and 1 new doctor later, I'm home and on the road to recovery! Thanks for all the well wishes!

I have a meal plan for this week, but I'm not sure I'll actually end up using it. I've got some nice ladies from church that have signed up to bring us meals for a week. But just in case, here's my menu.

Monday-- Spaghetti and crescent rolls
Tuesday-- Chili and cornbread
Wednesday-- Cheese enchiladas
Thursday-- Thai peanut noodles
Friday-- Chips and salsa chicken
Saturday-- BLT's
Sunday-- leftovers

Hopefully you all had a much better weekend than I did!
If you did something fun or made something yummy, tell us about it!!

Meal Plan Monday

Hello, all! Welcome to yet another week! Did last week go by quickly for anyone else?

This week, my family needed to eat as cheap as humanly possible. I ended up making a week long menu with stuff I already had on hand for the most part and only spent $34 at the store! I'll likely have to make a trip for milk, but that'll be all we'll need more of. I'm pretty impressed!

Before you think too highly of me, do realize that I had quite a nice stock pile of meats already in my freezer. So I didn't have to buy any meat at all this week and probably won't next week either. If it hadn't been for that, my bill would have been higher. Which is why I love Sam's Club! I don't shop there very often at all, but they are the cheapest place around for most kinds of meat, chicken breasts and thighs in particular.

Sunday-- teriyaki chicken and rice
Monday-- stuffed crust pizza
Tuesday-- spaghetti and homemade rolls
Wednesday-- country fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy
Thursday-- creamed tuna on toast
Friday-- easy cheesy meat and potatoes
Saturday-- shepherd's pie

So what yummy-ness do you have planned this week?

Meal Plan Monday

Sorry about not having any posts from last week! April said she'd post, so it's all her fault. ;)

Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to make your meal plan when you're hungry? I made that mistake this week, and I was so mad at myself! It took me well over an hour to finally decide on what I wanted to make each day, because every single thing I saw in every cookbook I looked through sounded fantastic! And THEN, I was so hungry that I decided to browse some of my favorite recipe sites/blogs, which only made it worse, because I'd see more delicious looking recipes and be tempted to change the menu I'd already finished.

So, make it easy on yourself and don't do it until after you've successfully stuffed your face! ;)

On with the show!

Monday-- Cheese and basil polenta
Tuesday-- Spaghetti and homemade rolls
Wednesday-- Huevos Rancheros and refried beans
Thursday-- Stir fry
Friday-- Shepherd's pie
Saturday-- Chicken noodle soup
Sunday-- BLT's

I've got a couple new items on my menu this week.
Are you trying anything new?

It's Monday again. How did that happen?! Sometimes the week goes by soooOOOooOOOoo slowly, and then other times, like last week, it seemed to just fly by.

Well, yesterday my adorable 4 year old son busted my laptop. He picked it up and tried handing it to me so I could turn it on and put a game on for him, but it slipped from his fingers and fell onto the floor in our room. It landed on carpet and didn't even fall that far at all, but it won't turn on. I've tried everything and looked up the service manual online, but nothing helps. My husband says it's likely the motherboard is shot, which costs more to replace than buying a new computer. So I guess I'm ordering myself a new laptop this week......ugh!

Enough venting, on with the menu.

Monday-- crock pot Mexican pork
Tuesday-- shrimp stir fry
Wednesday-- spaghetti and rolls
Thursday-- BLT's
Friday-- teriyaki chicken and mashed potatoes
Saturday-- tortilla black bean casserole
Sunday-- leftovers

Meal Plan Monday

I don't know about you, but I love hearing what other people are making for dinner every week. It really inspires me and gives me tons of new ideas. So I asked myself, "Self, why do we not have a weekly meal plan post here?" Then I responded, "I don't know, but that sounds like a great idea!" So it was unanimous! I hope you enjoy the idea as much as we do! ;)

Planning this week's menu was tough for me. A lot of the time, I never remember to plan my menu for the upcoming week until I'm in the kitchen, starving, standing in front of the fridge, thinking how we have simply "nothing" to eat. At that point, anything and everything, other than what I actually have on hand, sounds delish. As a result, my menu is put together quite quickly.

This time, though, I'd just finished eating, so nothing was sounding good. I hopped online, hoping for some inspiration, and I was hit with a ton of it! I have a couple of favorite food websites (all of which are listed on the side) that I browsed through, and coincidentally, all the recipes I keep forgetting to remember to try were shoved in my face. So this week is mostly all new recipes, and we're loving them so far!

(As the recipes are posted from our Meal Plan Monday posts, we'll come back and edit these posts with links for each meal.)

Sunday -- Primanti Sandwiches
Monday -- BBQ Chicken Pizza
Tuesday -- Tuna Melts
Wednesday -- Spaghetti and rolls
Thursday -- Stir Fry
Friday -- Cafe Rio
Saturday -- Cheese and Bacon Potato Rounds

What's on your menu this week?