Meal Plan Monday

Happy Monday everyone!  The countdown to Christmas has begun!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  The family and I were sick for most of the weekend….blah.  Hoping the coughs and runny noses are gone for the holiday.  Here’s a look at what was on our menu last week.  You can read more about our meal planning process if you’d like some inspiration.

Saturday:  We went to a friend’s house for dinner.  The kids helped make homemade pizza and enjoyed playing with their friends.  Sadly, no pictures were taken.

Sunday: We went up to the Weekend Chef’s aunt’s house for a latke party.  We enjoyed latkes of course as well as mushroom barley soup, turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, salad and challah bread.  Yum!

Monday:  I made Korean BBQ Chicken Burgers with Grilled Pineapple and Gochujang BBQ Sauce from Closet Cooking.  Major adaptions were made to the recipe including using ground turkey, no bacon, onions or cilantro and not adding the spicy gochujang sauce in the romaine slaw to keep it kid-friendly.  Even without all those omissions these burgers were pretty tasty.  There were just a lot of steps.  I served these with fries.

Tuesday: I made Stuffed Baked Potato Chili from Melanie Makes.  This was super tasty and perfect for cold weather (although we haven’t really been having such cold weather here in New York recently!).  I loved it because it had no beans and I’m not a big bean fan.  Out of all the dishes made this week, this is the one I most recommend!

Wednesday: I made Slow Cooker Chicken Marsala Stew from Cooking & Beer which I served over egg noodles.  This was easy, being made in the slow cooker.  I used only chicken thighs and less mushrooms, since the kids don’t like mushrooms.  If I were to make this again, I’d use less garlic as well.  I found four cloves to be a bit overpowering.

Thursday:  The Weekend Chef went out to dinner with a friend, so it was just me and the kids.  This was the first day of me feeling sick so I went with something quick and easy.  Breakfast for dinner which included scrambled eggs, a hash brown patty and a bagel. The kids loved it!

Friday:  I made Penne with Sausage, Eggplant and Feta from Cooking Light.  This was a recipe repeat – something I had made ages ago, but thought was worth repeating.  This disappointed and wasn’t as good as I remember.  The kids don’t like eggplant and didn’t like this at all.

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  This past weekend was all about celebrating the last few nights of Hanukkah.  This week we are finishing all of our Christmas preparations….shopping, wrapping, Christmas dinner menu-planning, etc.  (err, okay, maybe really starting our Christmas preparations!) Here is what was on last week’s menu.  You can read about our meal planning process if you are new to meal planning.

Saturday: We had our annual Supper Club cookie exchange and dinner out.  We went to a restaurant called Hopscotch, where the Weekend Chef and I shared the giant short rib as well as the braised duck breast with red cabbage.  Dinner and the cookies were delicious!

Sunday:  I was really craving eggplant parmesan, but I know the kids don’t like it.  So, I had the Weekend Chef make chicken parmesan and pasta. Simple, but tasty!

Monday:  I made Chicken Fried Steak from Every Day with Rachael Ray.  I couldn’t find the exact recipe that I used online, but the linked recipe is very similar.  This is a recipe repeat, that I first made back in 2013.  This was as tasty as the first time I made it.  I served the steaks with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus for a dinner win!

Tuesday:  I made Asian Inspired Meatloaf from I Wash You Dry.  I had my daughter help me mix the meatloaf since I really hate touching raw meat if I don’t have to.  I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef.  This meatloaf was full of flavor and we all loved it!  I served with rice and edamame.  Unfortunately, this is not a quick and easy meal, since the meatloaf has to cook for about an hour in the oven.  If you have the time and don’t have a busy night, I recommend this recipe!

Wednesday: I made Pineapple Chorizo Rice Bowls with Avocado and Chipotle Cream from How Sweet It Is.  I substituted canned pineapple for the fresh.  Unfortunately, total time to make this recipe is close to an hour.  There are two sauces (avocado cream and chipotle cream) which are totally worth making!  The chipotle cream was too spicy for the kids.  My son had seconds of this dish……and he rarely asks for seconds of anything!

Thursday:  I had the kids at my daughter’s piano lesson Thursday and the Weekend Chef got home and made dinner for us!  He made Creamy Lemon Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts from Very Culinary, that I had planned on the menu.  My daughter was sick and only had some soup for dinner.  For the first time in ages, my son complained and didn’t eat dinner.  Don’t think that this recipe was bad though.  This was just as the title of the recipe describes.  The Weekend Chef and I thought this dish was tasty.  However, if we were to make it again, I would make sure I had a pound of brussels sprouts.  I only bought one package of brussels sprouts from the grocery store, not really noting how much was in the container.  It was definitely not a pound and the dish was lacking in amount of brussels sprouts.  The veggies also unfortunately lose their crispiness from roasting when mixed with the pasta and sauce.

Friday:  I made homemade cheese pizza.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I have another meal plan for you from last week.  I have to admit that I wasn’t impressed with most of the recipes that we made this week, but I’ll let you be your own judge!  You can read about our meal planning process if you are just getting started and need some tips.

Saturday: We were busy putting the lights up outside and decorating the Christmas tree.  There was no time for cooking so we ordered Chinese take out.

Sunday: The Weekend Chef made Turkey Burgers with fries and salad.

Monday: I made Turkey Meatball Stroganoff from Every Day with Rachael Ray.  The meatballs used a lot of breadcrumbs, but they were really flavorful and super moist.  When my daughter heard what I was making for dinner, she commented, “Ooh, that sounds good!”  And both kids enjoyed it.  This was my favorite meal of the week!

Tuesday: I made a corned beef in the slow cooker and served with mashed potatoes and veggies.

Wednesday: I made Creamy Spinach and Potato Breakfast Casserole from Pinch of Yum.  I was disappointed with this dish.  I ended up doubling the recipe, since the original only called for 1/2 a pound of ground turkey and 3 oz. of baby spinach and I didn’t want leftover half-used ingredients.  I’m not sure if it’s because I doubled the recipe, but the grated potatoes tasted raw.  While I’m usually a big fan of Pinch of Yum recipes, this was definitely not one of them.

Thursday:  We went to the city to see The Big Apple Circus and ate dinner at BONMi, a fast-casual Vietnamese restaurant, right across from the circus.

Friday:  I made Moroccan Chicken & Chickpea Stew from Every Day with Rachael Ray, September 2015.  Friday was a crazy night, where only my son was home to eat dinner with us.  This dish ended up being pretty spicy and I had to make him a bagel with cream cheese.  The Weekend Chef liked this, but I wasn’t the biggest fan.

Happy Monday!  We are super excited about a shortened school and work week and getting to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family.  Fall means comfort food and we are cooking up lots of it!  You can read more about our meal planning process if you need some inspiration or assistance.  Here is what was on our menu last week:

Saturday: We had our monthly supper club and this month’s theme was pizza!  I made a Kimchi Chicken Bulgogi pizza, since one of our members doesn’t eat beef.  It was tasty but really spicy! My pizza recipe came from a combination of several different recipes that I found online.

Sunday: We had leftover chicken bulgogi and kimchi from the pizza I made for supper club, so the Weekend Chef made another pizza for us for dinner and a plain cheese pizza with chicken bulgogi, no kimchi, for the kids.

Monday: I made Naked Turkey Bruschetta Burgers from Skinnytaste.com.  This recipe worked well for my husband’s diet, since there’s no bun.  I’m sure these burgers would be even tastier in the summer, when using fresh, home grown tomatoes to make the bruschetta.  Despite using store bought tomatoes, these burgers were good.  Plus we got extra veggies in the kids with the grated zucchini in the burgers!  I did serve these with French fries for me and the kids!  Unfortunately, no photo was taken of these.

Tuesday: I made Beer Braised Beanless Chili from Melanie Makes.  I am not a big bean eater, so this was a win in my book.  It was easy to prepare and had great flavor for a short cooking time.  I substituted ground turkey for the ground beef and it came out great!  My daughter and I had ours over some leftover rice.  I defrosted some Zucchini Corn Muffins from the freezer for the kids to eat with this as well.  This is definitely a repeat recipe!

Wednesday:  I made Pumpkin French Toast Bake from I Wash You Dry.  This recipe used English muffins, which was different than any other French toast recipe I’ve made before.  I wasn’t a huge fan of this dish, although the whipped cream on top helped!  I opted not to make the crumb topping and thought the dish was sweet enough as is, especially with the added syrup or whipped cream.

Thursday:  It was the Weekend Chef’s birthday and he requested steak and potatoes.  He cooked the steaks, which we topped with blue cheese crumbles, mushrooms and onions.  I tossed the potatoes with olive oil and a McCormick Montreal Chicken Seasoning and roasted them.   Our son helped make the salad which we served with the steak and potatoes.  For dessert he wanted homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Because we were eating dinner while they would be baking, I went with cookie bars.  This way we wouldn’t be interrupted with switching baking pans and doling out more cookie dough during our dinner.

Friday:  The Weekend Chef made it home from work early and actually made this Caramelized Onion and Olive Pizza with Goat Cheese from Cooking Light while I was at basketball practice with my son.  He made a plain cheese pizza for the kids.  As you can see, we really like pizza in our house!  And this one was really good!

Happy Monday!  Here’s a peek at what has been cooking in our kitchen recently!  You can read about how we meal plan if you are new and looking for some tips.

Saturday:  I made Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti from Damn Delicious.  I’ve made similar baked spaghetti dishes before and honestly, this one didn’t wow me.

I also made Halloween Candy Apple Crisp from Melanie Makes, using up some of our Halloween candy stash.   This was actually almost too sweet for me.  Any treat that I make is kid approved, and this was no different! My daughter even helped me make this.

Sunday: We had leftover Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti since there was so much!

Monday: I made Fish in Coconut Curry from Cooking Light, April 2014.  This was flavorful and easy to make.

Tuesday: I made my own variation of the Cookie & Kate version of Roasted Cauliflower & Farro Salad with Feta and Avocado.  Since asparagus was on sale, I roasted and substituted that in place of the cauliflower.  I also served ours with a fried egg on top, because everything’s better with a fried egg!  The kids surprised me with how much they enjoyed this dish (though boy wasn’t a big fan of the farro!).

Wednesday: I made Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers from Damn Delicious.  I’ve only made stuffed peppers a couple of times and this was the first time cooking them in the slow cooker.  This was easy and definitely repeat-worthy.

Thursday: I made Chicken Tikka Masala using Trader Joe’s Masala Sauce in a jar.  I just had to throw it in a pan with the chicken and let it cook.  Quick and easy!  I served this with rice and veggies.  This is a great convenience jarred food to have on hand.  The only thing missing was some naan, which my daughter was disappointed that I didn’t have.

Friday:  The Weekend Chef was home early and we went out to dinner at a local Thai restaurant.  I had Beef Yellow Curry, though Tofu and Veggie is my usual favorite.

Happy Monday!  We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  Here is what was on last week’s menu.  If you are just beginning to meal plan, check out how we meal plan.

Saturday:   We ordered a bunch of pizzas from a local pizzeria since we were having some friends over for dinner before trick-or-treating.

Sunday: We went to a birthday party where they had catered from Chipotle!  I was in heaven!

Monday: I made Cilantro Lime Salmon from Closet Cooking (please note that the picture of the salmon was taken prior to cooking!).  We hadn’t had salmon in awhile so I was really looking forward to this.  Next time I’d make more sauce, as I had a big piece of fish and felt like there was barely enough sauce to cover the top of the salmon.  I also had a really thick piece of fish so the cooking time had to be adjusted.  This was tasty enough and I served it with rice and salad.

Tuesday:  I was at a staff development day for work all day.  The Weekend Chef was home with the kids and ended up making Queso Crockpot Chicken Chili from Pinch of Yum.  The recipe called for 3 bell peppers and a jalapeno, which seemed like a lot to me, so I only had him use 2 peppers.  We probably could have used all three and it wouldn’t have overwhelmed the dish like I thought it would.  We served this with tortilla chips.  I had never thought to use a chili as a dip with chips.  Let’s just say, although this was the first time eating chili with tortilla chips, it definitely won’t be the last!  Leftovers were just as good the next day!

Wednesday: I made {30 Minute} Honey Sriracha Chicken Rice Noodle Bowls from With Salt & Wit.  I replaced the rice noodles with lo mein noodles that we already had in our pantry.  I only added one tablespoon of the recommended 3 tablespoons of sriracha, for fear that it would be too spicy for the kids.  We all enjoyed this dish which was easy to put together.  My dish however, looked nothing like Megan’s!

Thursday:  After working and taking my daughter to piano lessons, I was in no mood to cook dinner.  I heated up some hotdogs and served with French fries.  The only cooking I did was making a red onion sauce for the hotdogs!

Friday:  The kids had off from school and the Weekend Chef was home.  We ended up running errands and grabbing a late Indian Buffet lunch.  No one was really hungry for dinner, so the kids ended up having a bowl of cereal and a yogurt stick before bed.  I just had some cheese and crackers.

Does everyone have tons of Halloween candy from Saturday like we do?!!  The kids had a fun Halloween trick-or-treating with friends.  We have candy for days….or more like months!  The only downer was that when we went out trick-or-treating we left a bowl of candy out for trick-or-treaters.  When we got back we discovered that someone not only took all the candy, but they took our bowl too!  And it was our good, wooden salad bowl!  The Weekend Chef has been giving me an “I-told-you-so” since he had questioned earlier in the evening why we weren’t using the plastic bowl (which I was too lazy to clean out – but hey, he could have cleaned it out just as well!!).

We are recuperating from the time change, which luckily, knock on wood, hasn’t affected us too badly.  I’m sad seeing it get dark so early though!  We are in store for a hopefully not as busy week, with the kids off of school two days and the Weekend Chef taking those days off from work.

Now, on to last week’s menu.  You can read more about how we meal plan if you are new and would like some pointers.  Here’s a look at what was on our menu last week:

Saturday – We ended up having a late lunch at the Chinese Buffet and were so stuffed we didn’t eat dinner!

Sunday – The Weekend Chef made London broil which he served with buttered noodles and swiss chard.

Monday – I made Asian Ground Turkey & Broccoli Lettuce Wraps inspired by a recipe on Cupcakes & Kale Chips which I served with frozen egg rolls.  This wasn’t the first time that I’ve made some version of lettuce wraps.  These were pretty easy to make and the kids enjoyed them.

Tuesday – I made Chicken Avocado Burritos from Oh My God Chocolate Desserts.  I made one burrito without avocado for my son, since he doesn’t like it.  I used leftover shredded chicken that we had in the freezer, which was a time saver.  And I baked the burritos instead of frying them.  We all liked these!  I served these with yellow rice and sautéed swiss chard.

Wednesday – I made Spiced Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Egg Skillet from Naturally Ella.  The kids, especially my daughter who’s not a big fan of sweet potatoes, weren’t sure they’d like this dish, but they did!  The seasoning really flavored the sweet potatoes.  And honestly, I think they will eat anything if you put a fried egg on top of it!

Thursday – I made Chicken and Gnocchi Soup from Taste and Tell.  This is supposed to be a copycat version of an Olive Garden Soup, but I’ve never had it.  This soup though was creamy, tasty and filling with the chicken and gnocchi.

If I had realized that, I wouldn’t have made these Apple-Cheddar Scones from Pink Parsley to go with.  But, we had the leftovers for breakfast, so it was all good.  I didn’t realize the scones needed some prep work, like baking and cooling the apples.  I did a kind of rush job on them, but they came out really tasty anyway!  These were moist and sweet.

Friday – I made Brats with Beer & Mustard Sauce over Egg Noodles from Pink Parsley.  This was of course after hearing in the news that sausage, bacon and other processed meats cause cancer.  I added in a little honey to the sauce to sweeten it a bit and also added a little bit of heavy cream, since I had some left over from the scones.  This was a hearty meal perfect for a cool fall evening.  I used a Yuengling Black & Tan and the beer taste was pretty evident.  I’m actually surprised the kids didn’t comment on it!

Happy last week of October!  We have another weekly meal plan for you today!  We used the crockpot twice this week because quick and easy is what we need these days.  You can take a peek at our meal planning process to see how we plan each week’s menu.

Saturday – The Weekend Chef was with my son at a cub scout overnight camping trip.  My daughter and I had Panera for dinner.

Sunday – The Weekend Chef’s family was over and we went out to “linner” at Applebee’s.  We never used to be a fan of the restaurant chain, but they’ve revamped their menu and we’ve enjoyed some tasty meals there.

Monday – I made Chicken, Bacon, Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus from Pinch of Yum.  This recipe uses deli cold cut chicken so there was not a lot of cooking.  I roasted the asparagus and cooked the bacon at the same time in the oven.  My kids first were like, “just a salad for dinner?”  But this salad was tasty and filling and we all enjoyed it.

Tuesday – I made Cauliflower Chowder from Damn Delicious.  I’ll be honest, this wasn’t my favorite soup and I won’t be repeating it.  I was  surprised that the kids ate it without complaint though!  I served this soup with Trader Joe French rolls.

Wednesday – I made Crockpot Thai Chicken from Iowa Girl Eats.  The slow cooker chicken part of the recipe has three ingredients so it ranks high up in the easy category.  I couldn’t find the Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette that Kristin used in the recipe so I used a Peanut sauce that I found at HMart, an Asian grocery store.

Thursday – I made Slow Cooker Italian Breakfast Casserole from The Seasoned Mom.  I precooked the sausage Wednesday night, so Thursday morning all I had to do was dice the onion and pepper and prepare the casserole.  We haven’t had too many egg type dishes in the slow cooker.  This wasn’t bad and was nice that it was made in the slow cooker.  However, I prefer the taste of egg casseroles baked in the oven.

Friday – I made homemade cheese pizza. An easy, tasty dinner that the kids helped make.

What was cooking in your kitchen this week?

Here is a look at what was on our menu last week.  You can read all about how we meal plan and hopefully get some inspiration and cooking ideas from these weekly posts!

Saturday – My sister and her family were visiting and we ordered Chinese takeout.

Sunday – We went to my parent’s house for dinner and had Spaghetti with Meatballs and Sausage.

Monday – The Weekend Chef was off from work for Columbus Day and made a Slow Cooker Whole Roasted Chicken which he served with homemade French Onion Soup and Buttered Egg Noodles.

Tuesday – I made Creamer Potatoes with Sausage and Peppers from The Cookie Writer.  Except, I didn’t use creamer potatoes.  I used Eastern potatoes that I had in a bag in my pantry.  This dish wasn’t difficult to make but it took awhile to cook everything.  Overall, we found it just okay.  I wouldn’t bother remaking this one.

Wednesday – I made Slow Cooker Cola Barbecue Beef from Melanie Makes.  We don’t eat a lot of beef and this was my first time cooking with a chuck roast.  Even with me adding the ketchup to the slow cooker and not making the recommended sauce, this came out really great!  The meat was really tender and flavorful.  I served this with mashed potatoes and veggies.

Thursday – I was going to make Pierogis a la Sobieski Voda from Living the Gourmet.  However, I realized that I didn’t have the cream for the vodka sauce.  I was tired and lazy, so I threw a can of tomato sauce with some Penzeys Pasta Sprinkle over Mrs. T’s Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Pierogies and voila, dinner was served.  I had never thought of pairing a tomato based sauce with pierogies before, but I think the flavored pierogies worked really well with the tomato sauce.  My son, who’s not a huge pierogi fan even enjoyed these!

Friday – I made Apple Cheddar Turkey Burgers from Rachael Ray Magazine, August 25, 2008.  This is a recipe repeat, meaning that I’ve already previously made these before.  It was several years ago, but regardless, they are good and worth repeating.  I served these with fries.

What was cooking in your kitchen this week?