Dinner is Served

  This week my meal plans were not complicated. I try to leave the complicated meals to the professionals or a holiday. 

  This week I pulled out the slow cooker, used leftovers and followed the meal plan for the week.

  I find my recipes in a variety of places but this week everything came from the internet.  My biggest goal was to use leftovers items I bought last week.  I succeed. So yeah no waste for me!

Chicken and spinach enchiladas!

Potato soup!

Zucchini Italiano casserole!

Each week I try to make new recipes and not just stick with old tried and true ones.  I have made this soup before but the other two recipes were new.  Two days of leftovers from last week was nice too.  

All of the recipes were easy and everyone liked all the meals.  No complaints means these recipes can go in the rotation to be made again.

  Now the weekend is here and the kitchen is closed.  It's everyone for themselves! Have a great weekend everyone.

Monday Motivation (Dinner Mealplans)

   Since my week was off a little bit and I skipped Fridays meal and made it Saturday I have leftovers and will eat them tonight and plan the rest of the week after that.

  I also have some leftover veggies bought for last week that I will use this week to avoid  wasting anything.  You will see meat this week as I am not a vegetarian but, do enjoy eating meatless meals sometimes.

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: meatless
http://www.wildernesswife.com/slow-cooker-zucchini-italiano-casserole-recipe/

Wednesday: Soup
https://thehappyhousewife.com/cooking/cheddar-potato-soup/

Thursday: chicken
http://www.5dollardinners.com/chicken-and-spinach-enchiladas-5-dinner-challenge/

Friday: leftovers

  There's my week!  Some chicken, a crockpot meal, soup and leftovers!  Have a good week everyone. Take time off from the kitchen at least one day.  What's your favorite quick and easy meal?

Monday Motivation (meatless dinner mealplan)

  For the last few weeks I have been sharing breakfast mealplans and this week I'm still sharing a mealplan but, a dinner one this time.

   This week I'm going to make my family all meatless meals.  Some of these recipes I have tried and obviously if they made this list they were tasty and successful the first go around.

  I am not going to label my days because I do have to go to the store and pick up some ingredients so depending on what ingredients I have on hand and when I go to the store will vary this mealplan.

Black bean quesadilla:
https://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/02/hearty-black-bean-quesadillas/

Pizza:
https://savorandsavvy.com/2016/08/15-minute-personal-pesto-pizzas.html

Shrimp:
https://damndelicious.net/2015/01/24/zucchini-shrimp-scampi/

Pasta:
https://savorandsavvy.com/2013/11/spinach-lasagna-rolls-recipe.html

Tacos:
https://wendypolisi.com/quinoa-taco-salad-bowl/

  I would love to hear what your dinner plans are this week or today.  I hope you have a happy, healthy and full week!

Weekly Meal 9/11-9/15

  Taking it easy this week.  Minimal recipes to share with you and actually only one is new to me.  Cheating with some meatballs that I received as a gift but, that's OK too.

Monday:
Crock pot
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/2011/08/slow-cooker-bajio-chicken/

Tuesday:
Meatless
http://pinchofyum.com/garlic-butter-shrimp-quinoa

Wednesday:
Hotdogs, potato salad and baked beans

Thursday:
Spaghetti and meatballs (frozen from Omahasteaks.)

Friday:
Leftovers or everyone fend for themselves!

  Happy eating everyone.  As always feel free to share your favorite dish or what your eating this week!

Weekly menu 9/4-9/8

  As I made my menu this week I thought to myself what's my favorite food.  Can I eat that all week?  I mean beyond pizza.  Can I eat chicken everyday for a week even if I change the dish?  Meatless meal everyday?  No even with a different vegetable and starch, mushroom instead of pepperoni and meatless spaghetti and meatless chili I still like to taste something different the next day.

Monday
Chicken
http://chefsavvy.com/one-pan-italian-chicken-skillet/

Tuesday
Crockpot
https://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/crock-pot-cheeseburger-soup/

Wednesday
Vegetarian
https://yupitsvegan.com/one-pot-tandoori-quinoa/
(Diy Garam Masala spice)
https://www.google.com/amp/s/allrecipes.com/recipe/142967/easy-garam-masala/amp/

Thursday
Meatless
https://www.google.com/amp/s/allrecipes.com/recipe/82817/balsamic-glazed-salmon-fillets/amp/

Friday
Leftovers

  Two meatless, one crockpot with soup for a busy day and a carry over from last week.  I think I have made the soup recipe before but I don't know which recipe I used this recipe may or may not be new.  Otherwise all the other recipes are new for me! Is anyone eating out? What's your favorite meal?  Could you eat the same meal everyday?

Weekly menu 8/29-9/1

  This was last week's Fiesta Ranch Chicken Pasta meal.  It is well liked in my house but this time I changed a few things and it wasn't as appreciated.

  This week I'm so excited for my meals not because they are all new and offer a variety of different flavors but because I get Monday off and dinner out!

  I did receive some vegetable special pasta that I will be incorporating into my meals if not this week next week for sure! We shall see how the family reacts to that!

Tuesday
Meatless
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/creamy-caprese-quinoa-bake/

Wednesday
Sausage
https://www.macheesmo.com/easy-pesto-pasta-with-sausage/

Thursday
Chicken
http://chefsavvy.com/one-pan-italian-chicken-skillet/

Friday
Sloppy Joes
http://homecookingmemories.com/meatless-sloppy-joes/


  Well there you go! That's what's on my plate this week! Look forward to hearing what's being served in your home. Have a great week but don't go hungry!

Weekly Menu 8/21-8/24

  This shrimp plate was from a couple a weeks ago but, I may have to put it on the menu again soon.  Everyone liked it.

  This week I guess pasta is the word of the week.  Although one day I'm going to try to make the Zucchini pasta!  I did a run through of my pantry items think I have my ingredients organized for this week and next but, for some reason I'm second guessing myself so we shall see.  I'm not sure I'm feeling the days I have specified but that's ok. The menu is planned and I can switch the days around because the hard part is over.

Monday
Sausage and pasta
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/cheesy-sausage-and-penne-casserole/cd8bd617-a2e6-489b-8794-b4a10292e8cc

Tuesday
Meatless
Zucchini pasta
http://www.inspiredtaste.net/29992/garlic-zucchini-pasta-recipe/

Wednesday
Chicken and pasta
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/04/fiesta-ranch-chicken-pasta-bake.html?m=1

Thursday
http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a53698/shrimp-fried-rice-recipe/

  Happy eating everyone! My dinners are planned now off to plan something else!

  If you could have your favorite meal tonight what would it be? Or where would it be?

Weekly Menu 8/14-8/18

  Last week I made all my planned meals except for the vegetarian chili on Thursday.  I would normally carry over the meal into the next week but I'm missing a few important ingredients too so I'll put that back into the pile.

  This week I'm only making 3 meals because there are enough leftovers in the house to feed us for a couple days.

Monday 8/14
1 pot chili mac
http://damndelicious.net/2014/03/15/one-pot-chili-mac-cheese/

Tuesday 8/15
Meatless
http://www.marthastewart.com/313967/shrimp-with-couscous

Wednesday 8/16
Meatless
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/9401/salmon-patties-i/

Thursday 8/17
Leftovers

Friday 8/18
Leftovers

  I'm looking forward to my short week.  Plus as long as we eat up the leftovers the weekly plan was a success.  If meals get thrown away because it's old or under appreciated it's definitely a sad waste.

  Any meal plans this week for you?  Any dinner out plans?

Meal plan 8/7-8/11

  It's that time again to organize what's for dinner!  I don't create recipes for me it's just easier to research recipes and raid the pantry.  Each week I try to make a meatless meal sometimes it turns into 2 days and that just a coincidence.  I might not even he 100% of the ingredients but I make the meal anyways.  A crockpot meal once a week is a nice break and of course so are leftovers!   Sliding in a new recipe is always fun to spice up the palette too!

8/7 Soup and leftover salad:
chicken-and-rice-soup.

8/8 Pasta:
tortellini-and-kielbasa.

8/9 Chicken:
Baked chicken with brown-sugar-barbecue-sauce.

8/10 Crockpot:
vegetarian-chili-with-sweet-potatoes.

8/11 Leftovers

There it is everyone! 2 days this week with chicken, 1 meatless and all new recipes! The slow cooker thrown in for convenience and soup also for an easy night! Happy eating! What's your dinner plans?

It's time to eat! Meal plan 7/31- 8/4

  A girls got to eat and a mom has to feed her family.  I know it's easy to fly through the week when you have a plan but, it's not easy to make the plan!  Plus it's soo frustrating when you have picky eaters that veto everything but I just push through.

  Tonight's meal was a winner because you can never eat enough breakfast.

Breakfast is the one meal I hear the least amount of complaints about so if we ate breakfast twice a day everyone would officially eat in my house.

Here's the rest of my line up for the week!

7/31 Pasta

Chicken-broccoli-pasta-skillet-casserole

8/1 Meatless 

Falafel

8/2 Crockpot

Baked-potato-soup

8/3 Salmon

Grilled-salmon-with-honey-soy-marinade

8/4 Leftovers 

  What are your dinner plans for the week? I'm always looking for something new.  This week 3 of these recipes are new!

Meal plans 4/17-4/20

  This is a short week with a holiday being today.  I have tried to make my meals easy and less stressful.

  It so much easier to have a plan in place even if I don't label the days.  So this week my four meals will be randomly selected for the rest of the week.  Although it may only be 3 days as we still have leftovers from the weekend.

Chili this week will be my meatless meal:
https://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/10/chili-cornbread-skillet/

My chicken meal:
http://www.whatscookingintheburbs.com/2013/05/chicken-enchilada-skillet.html?m=1

Cheddar Bratwurst with homemade fries and veggies

Another meatless meal:
http://damndelicious.net/2016/05/23/garlic-butter-salmon-foil/

Happy eating everyone! What are you planning on eating this week?

Weekly Menu 11/14-11/18

  A new week and some new recipes before we get creative with our Thanksgiving leftovers!

  This week I'm using the slow cooker, having fish one night and even sneaking in a breakfast for dinner.

11/14
Dinner out!

11/15
Meatless
http://damndelicious.net/2016/05/23/garlic-butter-salmon-foil/

11/16
Breakfast

11/17
Pork and Crockpot
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/crock-pot-pulled-pork-tacos-51262190


  That's what we are having for our dinners over here.  What's for dinner at your house?  Are you trying any new recipes?  Pulling out the slow cooker or skipping meat for a day?

#NaBloPoMo

5 Reasons to Meal Plan

  There are multiple reasons to meal plan.  It does require some organization but your in charge of that.  Whether you want to have a specific theme every Tuesday (Taco Tuesday) or every week you will have a meatless meal.

  Your plan is catered to your needs.  First look at the week ahead.  Do you have any late appointments and if so planning for something quick those nights will help. Frozen pizza or breakfast for dinner work just fine.

1.  It will save you money.  If you have that willpower to drive past that fast food restaurant at 530.

2.  It's healthier for you.   I can agree with this partially because it depends on what you make.  To me a Chipotle salad rates pretty high in the healthy department. Brown Sugar Pork Chops not so much.

3.  You have time.  It doesn't take hours if you don't want it too.  You can cook what you know and what you always do.  I like to torture myself with new recipes.

4.  You feel lifted as the stress of "What's for dinner?", is taken care of. When you get up to start your day you already have a plan for dinner time in the evening.  All day you can relax because you already know what dinner is going to be.  You have the food organized, defrosting or cooking in the crockpot.  You are as good as done with dinner.

5.  Learning is fun!  The more cooking you do; the more home cooking you do you learn different recipes, styles and techniques.  I have learned new chopping features on my food processor.  Tried Gnocchi (and love it)!  I have even almost perfected my roux skills!

  These are only a few reasons.  I am sure there are more reasons of why to meal plan but let's stick with the basics.  What intimidates you about meal plans?

Meal plan 10/24-10/28

  As I go into another week I can't help but be excited as to all the food that I have cooked at home, the successful new recipes, and that my month is almost over and it's time to go shopping!

  Last week we did eat out for dinner so I picked which meal I was keeping and moved one meal to this week.  It works out as I had two pasta nights and that move made one pasta night for each week.

10/24 chicken
 http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/04/fiesta-ranch-chicken-pasta-bake.html?m=1

10/25 meatless
http://www.bhg.com/recipe/vegetables/black-bean-chipotle-burgerx/

10/26 Breakfast
http://damndelicious.net/2013/06/12/breakfast

10/27
http://goldilockskitchen.com/2016/08/corned-beef-hash-huevos-rancheros.html?pp=0

10/29 Leftovers

There you have it! Atleast 2 of these meals are new to us so we shall see how that goes too!  That's what we are eating in my house; what's for dinner in yours?

Meal Plan 10/17-10/21

  Even if you are not following my weekly meal plans do you have your own plan?  How do you decide?  I know some people have a specific day they have a certain meal (taco Tuesday)  Some people plan their meals based on the sales circulars.  Do you continue to make the same meals?  How often do you challenge yourself to a new recipe?

  I look on the Internet for most of my meals.  Sometimes I go to a specialty page and scan for a recipe other times I just make a generic search for porkchops recipes.  I do however shop before I pick my menu.

  My small list of regular necessities are dairy items, cereal, fruit, meat/fish, pasta, beans and veggies.  After that I let loose in the store and grab whatever to create.  I usually shop for the month.

10/17 pasta
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/52130/cheesy-pasta-alfredo-with-salmon/

Sauce
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/214183/quick-alfredo-sauce/

10/18 Meatless
http://www.ladybehindthecurtain.com/zucchini-burgers/

10/19  Chicken
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/04/fiesta-ranch-chicken-pasta-bake.html?m=1

10/20 Ground meat (this for me is usually turkey)
http://www.food.com/recipe/yes-virginia-there-is-a-great-meatloaf-54257?nl

10/21 Leftovers

  What are your plans for the week?  I'm hungry just thinking about it.

Meal Plan 10/10-10/14

             (Last weeks porkchops dinner)

  Last week went well!  A couple days had meals skipped by various people in my house so leftovers went further then just Friday!   This week just like any other week I try to challenge myself with new recipes or a new meal.  New meal being I have made this meal before but not this way.  You can make spaghetti a variety of ways and it's still spaghetti!

  I started this week off with a meal I love.  I don't know if it's all the sugar and soda combination and the ease of a crock pot meal but, I really like this meal! This is definitely saved as well as a few more recipes by them!


10/10 Crockpot with Chicken
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/08/slow-cooker-bajio-chicken.html

10/11 Soup (meatless)
http://thehappyhousewife.com/cooking/cheddar-potato-soup/

10/12 Pasta (meatless)
http://www.recipetineats.com/baked-spinach-ricotta-rotolo/

10/13 Vegetarian Meal
 http://www.marthastewart.com/900261/quick-veggie-fajitas

10/14 Leftovers


That's my plan for the week!  Do you think anyone will notice I have managed to skip meat most of the week?

Happy Eating!!

Weekly Menu

  So last week was all over the place.  We ate at home we ate out, I might have even missed a meal.  Throw in a day of leftovers and that pretty much took care of my week.  So let's try again.

This week we are going meatless with an exception of salmon tonight!  Couple meals are from allrecipes.  I love that site but I do try and surf the net for different recipes.

Tonight's meal was salmon patties with and side of spinach.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/81506/yummy-lemon-salmon-burgers/

Pasta:
http://wholesomemommy.com/category/wholesome-recipes/main-dishes/meatless-main-dishes/

Soup:
http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2015/09/panera-broccoli-cheese-soup.html

Meatless:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13941/zucchini-patties/

Meatless:
http://www.health.com/health/m/recipe/0,,10000001173704,00.html

Weekly Menu (March week 2)

  I will post 4 meals this week as we have a birthday in the house so therefore one day this week will probably be dinner out.  I did miss last Friday as that too was a night out.

This week includes two chicken meals, a soup and a meatless meal.

Soup:
http://www.cookingclassy.com/2015/06/summer-corn-chowder


Meatless:
http://www.health.com/health/m/recipe/0,,10000001173704,00.html

Crockpot:
http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-teriyaki-chicken-quinoa-and-veggies/

Chicken:
http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/party-food/caprese-chicken-pasta-salad

  So there we have it.  Dinner for the week.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Weekly Menu (week 4)

  I'm trying to squeak by one more week without going to the grocery store.  I still have some meat left and of course a pantry of supplies on hand.  So before I replenish I need to get rid of the old to bring in the new.

  This week meals include: shrimp, pork, there's always chicken and sausage.  Of course there is a meatless item because it doesn't hurt!

Chicken in the crockpot:
http://eatathomecooks.com/2012/03/slow-cooked-brown-sugar-chicken-and-sweet-potatoes-4-ingredients.html

Sausage:
http://childhood101.com/2014/07/easy-dinner-recipe-sausage-rice-bake/

Shrimp:
http://damndelicious.net/2015/01/16/easy-shrimp-broccoli-stir-fry/?m

Pork in crockpot:
http://www.food.com/recipe/bbq-pork-tenderloin-in-the-crock-pot-362883

Meatless pasta:
http://damndelicious.net/2014/10/11/one-pot-garlic-parmesan-pasta/?m

Weekly menu (week 3 Feb)

  So even though I am posting this late.  I wanted to update you on our menu for the week and share the recipes!  We missed a couple meals last week for various reasons so those get carried over to give me peace of mind.

Meatless:
http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/2014/04/black-bean-and-veggie-quinoa-taco-bake/

Chicken:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/11843/irish-chicken-and-dumplings/

Pasta:
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/italian-sausage-tortellini.html?m

Leftovers

Pizza!