Weekly Meal Plan

I think my meal plan for this week is going to rock, so I want to share it.  I got almost everything in a desperate last minute web search before placing a FreshDirect order, so there are a few recipes on here I haven't tried yet, but they're all so simple I can't see anything not ending up great!

Pecan Crusted Chicken (Rachael Ray recipe)

     w/ Steamed Asparagus in lemon butter
Creamy Tomato Parmigiano Soup

     w/ French Baguette (using heavy cream in soup instead of sour cream)

Romanesco Broccoli and Rigatoni (Rachael Ray recipe)
Mediterranean Lemon Chicken and Thyme Roasted Potatoes

     w/ leftover asparagus

Crockpot Stuffing Chicken

     w/ steamed green beans

Weekly Meal Plan

Here's my meal plan for this week.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE start posting more of your ideas.  Just tell me what you're making!  I don't even need recipes...but it took every ounce of energy and creativity I had to come up with these this week!

Monterey Chicken

Thai Fried Rice

Dad's Ham and Potato Casserole 

Crockpot Lasagna  (Kraft recipe contributed by my cousin Heather)

Breakfast for Dinner (pancakes, eggs, and bacon- yum!) 
Chicken Pesto Foccacia Sandwiches (foccacia bread, sliced chicken, pesto sauce, cheese, and tomato)

Other Recipes: 

The Bateman Family Ham and Potato Casserole

(One of the best dishes my dad makes-- a Christmas Eve staple!)

Ingredients:

4 to 7 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks about the size of a silver dollar and about 1/4" thick

3 to 5 slices cooked ham thick sliced and cut into small squares

2 cans evaporated milk

Dehydrated onion

Salt and Pepper

1 cube butter, cut into pats

About 8 oz mild cheddar cheese 

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Weekly Meal Plan

My meal plan last week ended up being awesome, so I wanted to share.  I made:

Stuffed Green Bell Peppers (Mel's recipe w/ a few tweaks)
Amy's Crock Pot Roast and Corn Bread
Mackenzie's Enchiladas (sort of)
Chicken Cordon Bleu (Mackenzie's recipe)
Corn Chowder
Steak Tacos and Nacho Libre Corn
Greek Chicken Souvlaki Pitas

Click on "read more" for the recipes!

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Planned Meals

My least favorite question of the day is, "what's for dinner?" I love the idea of this blog and I look forward to new ideas for meals. A few years ago, I decided that shopping for planned meals saved me more money than grocery shopping without a plan. So I made these meals cards and have used them off and on over the years. I have 6 cards (each is an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper folded in half). One one side is 7 dinner ideas and on the back is a list of all of the ingredients needed for those 7 meals. So in all, it is 6 weeks worth of dinner ideas. I tried to include one or two more elaborate meals each week, but the rest are simple. I laminated them so I can take the card to the grocery store with me. I often already have many of the items on the list (butter, salt, flour, etc.), so it's easy to look over the list and see what I need. I LOVE these cards and would be happy to email copies to anyone who wants them (including the recipes). You can substitute your own recipes or change them up in any way you want.

Progressive Meal Plans

I've been playing around a lot lately with the idea of progressive meals. I'm not talking about the church dinner socials where you travel from one home to the next for each course. I'm talking about the idea of starting off with one entreé and over the course of a few days making different meals out of it. Here is my favorite so far, a.k.a. "how to feed a family of 4 for 3 days in a row with a single chicken."
You can pick up a rotisserie chicken at most grocery stores for around $7. They are delicious and pre-cooked and are great for working moms who don't have a lot of time to prepare an elaborate spread after work. (As a middle-school teacher I REALLY appreciate meals like these!).
They are relatively nutritious and most people with special dietary regimens can eat them. Plus, I can usually stretch one chicken out into about 3-4 different meals for my family of 4.

The first night I usually just serve the roast chicken with some mashed potatoes (I cook the potatoes in the microwave on high for about 10 minutes, turning once, then slice them into bits and mash them- ta da! Homemade mashed potatoes in under 20 minutes!) and some greens. We use up most of the breast meat and the drumsticks doing this.

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Morgan's menu this week, plus recipes

I don't know if this is helpful to anyone, but I thought I would post the dinners I am planning for this week. I know I always like to see what other people are doing. I do usually make a plan for specific nights, but sometimes it ends up getting changed depending on what we are in the mood for, or what we have time for. So here are 5 meals in no particular order:

Less Fat Fettucine Alfredo (recipe from Heather Mason. Hope you don't mind me sharing Heather!)
1 Tbs butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups 1% milk
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (reserve 1/4 cup for topping) **I use the store-bought Kraft stuff and it works just fine
2 Tbs 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups hot cooked fettucine or other pasta (8 ounces uncooked pasta)

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