Monday, July 20, 2015

Menu Plan Monday

  Do you like to make a menu plan on Mondays?  I do.  I don't always have one but when I do, what a difference it makes in my week!  

Here's a recent one of mine.  I hope you find something helpful.   

MONDAY:  Chicken and Dumplings, baked carrots
     I cook boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in chicken broth in the crock pot all day.  About 30 minutes before serving I use the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box to make dumplings.  I plop the dumplings right into the crock-pot and they always turn out great.  For the carrots just pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees, cover a cookie sheet with carrots and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Bake until soft (approximately 45 minutes - or less, you just have to check them).  

TUESDAY:  Steak, pasta, peas
     This is one of my short-cut meals.  I serve this when I'm limited on time.  I use frozen fajita steak strips and a couple of envelopes of Knorr pasta and a bag of frozen peas. 
  It makes a yummy meal and is quick.

WEDNESDAY:  Homemade pizza 
     Anyway you want to do it - here's one of our favorites.  

THURSDAY:  Pork chops, cheesy potatoes, corn, green beans, and yeast rolls
     I usually marinate my pork chops in Italian dressing overnight and then cook them on the grill.  If you want my recipe for Cheesy Potatoes you can find it here.  Cheesy Potatoes rank in our family's top 5 all time favorite recipes.  

FRIDAY:  Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread
     Another short-cut meal if you don't have time to make homemade meatballs.  (You may find several short-cut meals on my menu plans in the weeks to come.  With a little infant nursing every few hours my time for cooking has been temporarily altered.)  There are several varieties of frozen meatballs at the grocery store.  We like Armour.



     I put my spaghetti sauce in the crock-pot in the morning and add the meatballs to that.  After cooking all day they are simply delicious.  All that's left to do is cut up a salad and boil some pasta.  

SATURDAY:  Breakfast for dinner- eggs, bacon, and biscuits
     Easy peasy and the whole family loves it!

SUNDAY:  Chicken salad croissants, crackers, and fruit
     Everyone makes chicken salad their own way.  Here's mine.  I like to get the croissants from SAMS or COSTCO.  

MONDAY:  Sloppy Joes, tater tots, carrot sticks
     This is an easy meal.  Just throw your Sloppy Joe ingredients in the crock-pot in the morning and let it cook throughout the day.  When dinner time comes you can simply scoop it onto hamburger buns and serve.  Need a good Sloppy Joe recipe?  Here ya go!

TUESDAY:  Taco Soup
     We love Taco Soup!  Do you?  I love to use my crock-pot for dinner as often as possible, especially during the summertime.  There's something so relaxing about knowing that dinner is cooking away in the crock-pot while I am doing my daily work.  Taco Soup is easy and tasty.  I normally serve it with chips and salsa but most recently we ate it with cornbread my girls made.  It was super delicious and I was super excited that my girls wanted to make it.  They love to cook and bake and are becoming quite a big help in the kitchen.  Yay! 




WEDNESDAY:  Grilled Chicken, green beans, Cheesy potatoes
     I know, Cheesy Potatoes again.  Honestly, my family would eat them every night of the week.  For this meal I marinate boneless, skinless chicken breasts in Italian dressing all day.  When my husband gets home from work he throws them on the grill.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

THURSDAY:  Pork Barbecue Sandwiches, coleslaw, potato chips, carrot sticks
     Another quick and easy meal you can do in the crock-pot.  I'm not turning my oven on much this summer.  :)

FRIDAY:  Ranch Chicken Tacos corn, chips and salsa
     This recipe makes my family so happy.  Recipe credit goes to my sister.  She served this to us once when we visited and my whole family loved it.  Everything you've seen so far on this menu plan is super simple and this meal is no different.  I have to keep things simple during this season of life.  I've got a busy family with people coming and going in different directions plus a new little one.  I can't be fussing with difficult or time consuming recipes.  You're probably busy too.  Hopefully this menu plan will help you out. 

     I sometimes get into a recipe rut.  Does that ever happen to you?  This coming week I've got something fun planned.  I've saved many years worth of Taste of Home magazines and I'm planning to go through them and find new recipes to try.  My husband loves to do this too so I'm going to give him a stack to look at as well.  It will be fun to see what he picks out.  If I find something particularly wonderful I will be sure to pass it on to you!  Many of my favorite recipes have come from Taste of Home and I'm excited about finding new ones in these old magazines.   

Have a great week!

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