weekly meal plan

Check out this week’s edition of What’s Cooking? for some dinner inspiration.  Meal planning is an essential organization tool, ensuring that I get dinner on the table each night.  I try to find new-to-me recipes that are quick and easy.  Hopefully, you will get some ideas for your dinner this week, based on the pictures and reviews of what I made this week!

Monday –  Have I mentioned how my son hates leftovers?  Well, we had a lot of leftover ham from Easter.  I froze a bunch of it. But, I saved enough to make a couple of recipes with it so we weren’t eating straight up leftover ham.  Monday I made Instant Pot Ham & Broccoli Mac and Cheese.  I will be posting a recipe soon for this!  Super quick and easy and enjoyed by the family.  I LOVE using our Instant Pot!

Tuesday –  I made Instant Pot Butter Chicken from Damn Delicious.   Technically, butter chicken is not the same as chicken tikka masala.  However, it tastes very similar.  This is another easy Instant Pot recipe.  However, I find when cooking in the Instant Pot, it is essential to have all of your ingredients prepped and nearby, including spices, etc.  I served this butter chicken with Basmati rice, string beans and naan. The naan is super useful in mopping up all the sauce.   This was another dish that was enjoyed by us all.

Wednesday – I made Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps from Joy Food Sunshine.  They are allegedly better than P.F. Chang’s, but I’ve never had the original, so don’t have anything to compare it to.  These were really easy to make and super tasty.  The sauce was especially delicious! I served the wraps with edamame.  I wasn’t sure that they’d be filling enough so I had my husband walk over to the local Chinese take-out restaurant and pick us up some egg rolls to go with it.

Thursday – I made ham and pineapple fried rice to use up the leftover ham I had saved.  I don’t have a recipe for this, since it changes with what I have on hand. I used diced onion and red pepper, soy sauce, egg and diced, canned pineapple.  I also added the leftover edamame from the previous night’s dinner.  Fried rice is always a family-approved dinner and it’s so easy to make.

Friday – My husband stopped at HMart on the way home from work since we needed a restock on rice, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, etc.  He also picked up some bulgogi and pork belly for us to cook.  I was a bit disappointed with the marinated bulgogi and thought it lacked flavor.  However, the pork belly was delicious as usual.  We had this with rice and kimchi (or at least I had the kimchi, which was super spicy!).

What is on your dinner menu this week?

Do you have your dinners planned for the week?  If not, hopefully you can get some inspiration from this week’s edition of What’s Cooking?  Since I’ve been back to work full-time, my goal is to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible.  As you can see from this week’s meal plan, sometimes it means a mix of already prepared foods and dinners from scratch.  You can read more about our meal planning process if you’d like to see how I create my weekly meal plan.

Monday – I adapted this Lamb, Feta & Couscous Stuffed Peppers recipe from Rachael Ray Every Day, September 2014.  I couldn’t find ground lamb at the grocery store so used meatloaf mix instead.  This turned out to be pretty tasty!  I enjoyed getting extra veggies in with the chopped zucchini.  I served this with some veggies.

Tuesday – I made Pierogies.  Not the homemade kind, the frozen, Mrs. T’s Pierogies kind.  I boiled them first and then sauteed in a pan with butter.  I served the pierogies with sauteed onions and a salad.  I hadn’t made pierogies in awhile but will be making them more often.  I made two boxes of the loaded baked potato variety. Both kids had seconds and I had to cut them off so there would be enough for my husband to eat when he got home!  Next time, I will have to make three boxes!  I served these with veggies.

Wednesday – I made One Skillet Chicken Parm from I Wash You Dry. I liked that the chicken is not fried and that everything is cooked in one skillet. I ended up cooking cheese tortellini instead of pasta and I served it with a Caesar salad.

Thursday – I made Chicken Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Sauce.  My husband bought Ortega Blue Corn taco shells and this recipe was on the back.  I used a chicken taco seasoning packet.  For the creamy cilantro sauce I used mango salsa, which gave the sauce a nice sweetness.  The sauce really made the tacos and was delicious.  (Sorry, the pic isn’t great!).   I served this with some salad.

Friday – My husband made regular cheese pizza.  Always a hit and so quick and easy to make using store bought dough.

What is on your dinner menu this week?

Happy Columbus Day!  It’s Monday, which means that it’s time for another weekly meal plan.  If you are looking for some dinner time inspiration, my weekly meal plan is the place for you. Each week I showcase what was on my previous week’s meal plan, with pictures, recipe links and my family’s review of each dish.  There are so many food blogs, cookbooks and recipes out there and I am always on the lookout for new family-friendly recipes to try.  If you are new to meal planning, read more about how I make my weekly meal plan.

Saturday:  We were out shopping for most of the afternoon and had a late lunch (hello Chick-fil-A!).  On the way home we stopped at Stew Leonard’s and picked up some soup to have for a light dinner.

Sunday: We were at the Baptism of my friend’s son. We ate a late lunch/dinner (linner) after the ceremony at the celebratory reception.

Monday:  I made One Pot Creamy Tomato Orzo from Lovely Little Kitchen.  I think this came out a little more liquidy than it was supposed to be, but it was tasty. Instead of heavy cream I used half-and-half, so this probably wasn’t as creamy as intended either. I enjoy one pot meals because less clean-up is always a win.  We all enjoyed this meal.

Tuesday: I made Bottom Round Roast with Onion Gravy from allrecipes.  I had high hopes for this, expecting a nice and tender roast.  I cooked this in the slow cooker as per one of the reviewers directions.  Well, my beef overcooked and my gravy didn’t thicken.  It was a bit of a disappointing meal.  I served it with some mashed potatoes and corn.

Wednesday: I made Slow Cooker General Tso’s Chicken from Chef Savvy.  This only cooks for about two hours, so this is not one of those recipes that you can set and let cook for the day.  There’s also a little prep work involved with cutting the chicken, coating in cornstarch and browning on both sides. I served this with rice and roasted broccoli. This is a super tasty dish that the whole family enjoyed. I would make this meal again.

Thursday:  We used the leftover beef roast from Tuesday in these burritos.  There’s no recipe for this meal.  I just cooked some rice up in the slow cooker.  Then we put the rice, chopped beef, black beans and shredded cheddar in a large tortilla.  We wrapped them up and baked them in the oven for about 10 minutes to warm up and get the tortillas a little crispy.  We had this with a garden salad.  This kind of meal is a great way to use up leftover proteins and is always a winner with the kids.

Friday:  This week there were no after-school activities.  While homemade pizza is quick and easy, we are getting kind of tired of it every week.  My husband made pepperoni calzones.  He mixed ricotta, mozzarella and the pepperoni and cooked it in some pizza dough.  He served them with a side of marinara sauce for dipping.  These were good but I thought that they were a little light on the filling.  I would have stuffed them a little bit more.

What is on your dinner menu this week?

It’s Monday again!  Which means that it’s time for another weekly meal plan. If you are looking for some dinner time inspiration, my weekly meal plan is the place for you. Each week I showcase what was on my previous week’s meal plan, with pictures, recipe links and my family’s review of each dish.  There are so many food blogs, cookbooks and recipes out there and I am always on the lookout for new family-friendly recipes to try.  If you are new to meal planning, read more about how I make my weekly meal plan.  As you will see, this week’s meal plan was unintentionally filled with pasta and meatballs.  There were carbs…..lots of carbs!  Be on the lookout though, I’m hoping to incorporate some healthier meals into our meal plans in the upcoming weeks.

Saturday:  We had fried chicken from Acme and fries.  Definitely not a healthy meal but it was quick and easy. My husband was working outside all day and my daughter and I had to head out for a Girl Scout event.  Some days, you gotta do what you gotta do!

Sunday: My daughter woke up dreaming of spaghetti, meatballs and garlic bread.  Hoping we had that for breakfast, which sadly, we did not, I decided to make it for dinner.   This is one of her favorite meals and she was very happy with dinner.  I don’t have a go-to meatball recipe and just mixed some ground beef, diced onion, minced garlic, breadcrumbs, one egg, salt, pepper, some Penzeys Pasta Sprinkle and some shredded Parmesan cheese.

Monday: I was at the Culinary Institute of America for a blogging event so my husband was on dinner duty.  He made grilled cheese sandwiches with cheddar cheese and apple slices.  I got to dine on food like these fried shrimp!

Tuesday:  I made Broccoli and Bacon Chicken Alfredo Linguine from Closet Cooking.  Healthy cooking this is not!  Obviously, we all enjoyed it because…..bacon!  This was easy to make and wasn’t too time consuming.  I think cooking the bacon took the most time.

Wednesday: I made Family-Style Meatball “Fondue” from the September 2017 issue of Cooking Light.  Unfortunately, I only realized when grocery shopping Sunday afternoon that we were going to be eating meatballs twice this week.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but one of the reasons why I try to meal plan.  The Sunday evening spaghetti and meatballs dinner was a last minute decision and I had already had this dinner planned.  These meatballs were different than the ones we had Sunday since they were made with ground turkey.  Even though the recipe noted that the meatballs would be very soft, I added some bread crumbs to prevent them from totally falling apart. I found these meatballs to be lacking in flavor and probably won’t make these again.  No matter how hard I try, one veggie that I haven’t been able to get my kids to like is mushrooms.  I should have just left them out of the sauce since they picked around them. Instead of toasting a baguette I bought already made garlic bread toasts to scoop up the meatballs and sauce.  I served this with a Caesar salad.

Thursday: I went out to dinner with a friend but needed dinner for the rest of the family.  I made an “Impossibly Easy Breakfast Bake” from Betty Crocker.  The recipe makes enough to serve 12, so I halved it.  Sadly, the bell pepper that I bought Sunday afternoon had gone bad sitting on my kitchen counter.  I only discovered this Thursday morning when I went to make this.  I wasn’t running out to the grocery store to pick a replacement up, so I made it without.  After putting everything into the prepared backing dish, I didn’t think that there was enough liquid covering the sausage and potato mixture so I added two more eggs. While this is relatively easy to put together, it does need 40-45 minutes to bake.  I cooked it early in the afternoon and had my husband heat pieces up for dinner. Breakfast for dinner is always a hit in our house and according to my husband, they all enjoyed this.  I got to enjoy leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

Friday:  I made our weekly pizza but added leftover turkey meatballs from Wednesday night’s dinner.

What is on your dinner menu this week?

 Monday means that it’s time for another weekly meal plan. If you are looking for some dinner time inspiration, my weekly meal plan is the place for you. Each week I showcase what was on my previous week’s meal plan, with pictures, recipe links and my family’s review of each dish.  There are so many food blogs, cookbooks and recipes out there and I am always on the lookout for new family-friendly recipes to try.  If you are new to meal planning, read more about how I make my weekly meal plan. Since it’s officially fall, it will be getting darker sooner.   Unfortunately, I fear my dinner pictures will be negatively affected.  Just a pre-warning, that they may not be looking as light and bright as they have been!  Now on to our menu from this past week:

Saturday: It was my birthday and we went out to celebrate!  I had been wanting to go to Polpettina to try their Eggplant Chips.  We had a carb buffet with the chips, truffle parm fries, pizza and a fried eggplant, broccoli rabe and burrata sandwich.  Everything was delicious!

Sunday: After a day of eating in the city we weren’t too hungry at dinner time.  My parents had given us some veggies from their garden so my husband made a ratatouille sauce of sorts with tomatoes, eggplant and squash. Fresh garden tomatoes always make any sauce taste extra delicious! He served the sauce over spaghetti. As per his usual cooking style, there’s no recipe.

Monday: I made Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken from Get In My Belly.  It’s an adapted version of a Damn Delicious recipe.  As you can tell from the plate, the dish was super liquidy.  The chicken had great flavor from cooking in the sauce all day.  Unfortunately, chicken thighs are not the most photogenic food!  LOL!  I served the chicken with rice and veggies.

Tuesday: I made Mini BBQ Meatloaves from Cooking Light, December 2015.  I served these with roasted potatoes and veggies.  Since the recipe only called for a 1/2 pound of ground beef and a 1/2 pound of sausage and made eight mini meatloaves, I ended up doubling the recipe.  I usually buy meat in bulk and freeze it by pounds.  By doubling the recipe I didn’t have to figure out what to make with the leftover 1/2 pounds of meat and I ensured that I’d have leftovers for lunches during the week.  These meatloaves were so tasty!  I loved the flavor combo of the ground beef and sausage with the BBQ sauce. This was a kid-approved meal and wins for me as best dinner of the week.  I would definitely make these again.

Wednesday: I made Creamy Balsamic Skillet Chicken from Lovely Little Kitchen.  I didn’t mean to have chicken thighs twice in one week.  I was supposed to make the pineapple chicken last week but we had gone to my parent’s house for dinner.  Let me just say that my chicken looks nothing like the chicken in the original recipe.  My sauce didn’t reduce and thicken and was a liquidy mess, as seen from my plate!  The flavor of the chicken was okay but this is not a dish that I’d make again.

Thursday: I made Cheesy Sausage Zucchini Rice Skillet from I Wash You Dry.  Since the kids were off from school I ended up making dinner late (as can be seen from the terrible lighting of the picture!).  This dish is easy to make with few ingredients.  Unfortunately, I thought the kielbasa overpowered the flavors of everything else.  For those with picky eaters, this might be a plus, since the zucchini taste is barely discernible. The kids enjoyed this but I wasn’t a big fan.

Friday: I made our usual Friday night pizza.  Tonight was plain cheese, a favorite of the kids.

What is on your dinner menu this week?

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a great weekend celebrating my birthday, which was on Saturday. I just can’t believe how quickly it flew by!  Monday means that it’s time for another weekly meal plan. If you are looking for some dinner time inspiration, my weekly meal plan is the place for you. Each week I showcase what was on my previous week’s meal plan, with pictures, recipe links and my family’s review of each dish.  There are so many food blogs, cookbooks and recipes out there and I am always on the lookout for new family-friendly recipes to try.  If you are new to meal planning, read more about how I make my weekly meal plan.  Here is what was on this past week’s meal plan:

Saturday:  We hosted our monthly supper club.  This month’s theme was “sauce.”  I made Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas in Creamy Avocado Sauce from Closet Cooking (which I showed a pic of on Instagram and in this past Friday Favorite’s post) and my husband made the gnocchi in a spinach, mushroom and Gorgonzola cheese sauce, pictured above.  Unfortunately, there’s no recipe since he made it up.

Sunday: We attended a food truck festival during the day.  When we got home we weren’t super hungry.  But my husband made Chicken Fried Rice for dinner using some leftover cooked chicken.  Again, no recipe.  But this is a great way to use up any leftover proteins you may have!

Monday:  We had leftover enchiladas and gnocchi.

Tuesday:  This week I tried one of Cooking Light magazine’s “Make Once Eat 3x” series from the August 2017 issue.  Tuesday I made Smoky Caramelized Onion Burgers.  They were easy to make and tasted good.  I served the burgers with fries.

Wednesday: I used two of the leftover burgers to make Thai Beef and Cabbage Salad.  This was a light meal that was easy to make but it wasn’t very filling. Both kids ate this without any complaints though.  I cooked dinner for the family and ended up going to the gym.  I will admit that after I got back at 8:45 PM and ate this salad I was still hungry…..so I ate some leftover fries.

Thursday:  I made Skillet Nacho Dip with the last two burgers. The spices totally changed the flavor of the former burgers!  I did not add the jalapeno so it wasn’t too spicy for the kids and omitted the pinto beans because I don’t like them!  I also used a Taco Blend of shredded cheese instead of the combo of Mozzarella and Mexican Blend cheeses as directed.  I’m glad my husband was at a Yankee game and not eating with us because there was only enough for the three of us (two kids, one adult).  I realize my dish lacked one cup of beans.  But next time I’d use at least a pound of ground beef and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Friday:  My parents had us over for dinner to celebrate my birthday.  My mom went all out and did a mini Thanksgiving.  Our dinner included turkey breast, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, her homemade sausage stuffing, and asparagus.  Plus a Napoleon cake and strawberries for dessert.

Happy Monday!  Summer has sadly come to an end and we are done traveling for the time being.  This means that the weekly meal plan posts will return to the blog.  If you are looking for some dinner time inspiration, my weekly meal plan is the place for you. Each week I showcase what was on my previous week’s meal plan, with pictures, recipe links and my family’s review of each dish.  There are so many food blogs, cookbooks and recipes out there and I am always on the lookout for new family-friendly recipes to try.  If you are new to meal planning, read more about how I make my weekly meal plan. Here is a look at what was on our menu this past week:

Saturday: We were in Rhode Island for Labor Day weekend.  My parents cooked steak, chicken, baked potatoes and sauteed veggies for dinner.  It was delicious, but sadly no pictures were taken.

Sunday: We were in Rhode Island last weekend and made a stop at Foxwoods before we came home.  My kids love the Wizard of Oz game at the arcade there and requested we stop so they could play.  While we were there we decided to eat dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.  Between the three of us we shared a Chicken Cobb Salad as well as a Spinach Artichoke Thin Crust Pizza and this Thai Chicken Pizza.  This is our favorite pizza there!

Monday: My husband made breaded eggplant sandwiches with fresh mozzarella and roasted peppers.  No recipe but really tasty! Even though the kids normally don’t like eggplant, they will eat it when it’s breaded and fried.  There was enough for some leftover sandwiches for lunch as well.

Tuesday: I made Honey Soy Chicken from Table for Two.  I made the honey soy sauce early in the morning and marinated the chicken in it all day.  Otherwise, I made the recipe as directed.  The chicken was very flavorful, I think from marinating all day.  I thought the leftover liquid in the pan was pretty greasy so I did not pour it over the cooked chicken, as directed.  I served the chicken with rice and roasted broccoli. The chicken bakes for 40 minutes, but otherwise is super easy to prepare.  To cut down on cooking time, next time I think I’ll cut the chicken up into bite size pieces and cook it in a pan on the stove.

Wednesday: I made Summer Chicken Parmesan from Cooking Light, July 2017.  Instead of baking the cutlets, I fried them.  I also added a dash of balsamic to the zucchini and tomato mixture.  Chicken cutlets are always a hit in our house and we all enjoyed these.  The kids even ate all the veggies.  I cooked up some extra cutlets which we ate for lunch during the week.  I served this with a Caesar salad and some garlic toast.

Thursday: I made Sausage and Peppers Pasta Supper from Epicurious.  This was a fairly quick and easy dinner.  Instead of cutting the sausage into 1-inch pieces, I removed it from the casing and crumbled and browned it.  I apologize for the lack of a picture.  Imagine a plate of penne pasta with sauteed peppers, onions and sausage crumbles, sprinkled with some shredded Parmesan cheese.

Friday: I made Tomato-Ricotta Pizza from Cooking Light, May 2017.  This was a tasty vegetarian pizza and a change from the normal cheese pizza that we usually make.  My husband made a cheese pizza for the kids, since they don’t like ricotta cheese.  But they both voluntarily ate a small slice of this one.

What is on your dinner menu this week?

Hello Monday!  I am exhausted!  We had a very busy but fun weekend celebrating Father’s Day.  While I’m never happy for Monday to arrive, this week is the last week of school for the kids!  This also means summer vacation begins for me too!  I no longer have to awaken to a 6 AM alarm clock, pre-plan breakfasts and lunches or chauffeur the kids to and from their various activities.  This will also be the last week of our weekly meal plans for awhile. Since we will be traveling so much this summer, I won’t be creating very many meal plans.  If you follow me on Instagram, I’ll hopefully be posting more of my dinner food pics there.  Now, here’s a look at what was on our menu this past week:

Saturday – Last Saturday we were out geocaching  On the way home we picked up some takeout from a local Caribbean restaurant.  We shared a Curry Goat and Jerk Chicken dinner.  It was really good and we will definitely be back!

Sunday – We were out geocaching again and then made a quick stop at Woodbury Common Outlets since it was on the way home.  While there we stopped for some Shake Shack for dinner.  We love the Chicken Shack!

Monday – I made a Broccoli Rabe, Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic Frittata from the May 2017 issue of Cooking Light.  The original recipe called for broccolini but my local grocery store didn’t have any.  I substituted broccoli rabe.  The garlic prep takes 25-30 minutes of cooking, so I did that earlier in the afternoon and just left the garlic infused oil and roasted garlic on the counter until I needed to cook with them.  This was  a tasty frittata.  I served it with a salad for a nice, light dinner.

Tuesday – I made Buffalo Chicken Ziti from the February 2015 issue of Rachael Ray Every Day.  While I love almo st everything “buffalo” flavored, this pasta dish wasn’t a fave.  The buffalo sauce gets drizzled on the top at the end which worked out well.  My son complained that buffalo chicken is too spicy, so he had his pasta without the sauce.  Overall this dish was just okay.  I’d recommend either saving some blue cheese crumbles or having extra to sprinkle on the dish at the end.

Wednesday – I made Queso Crockpot Chicken Chili with Roasted Corn and Jalapeno from Pinch of Yum.  I have made this recipe before, but we enjoyed it so much and I needed a slow cooker recipe, so I decided to make this again. I did not put the jalapeno in for fear my son would think the dish was too spicy and not eat it.  I love serving this with tortilla chips and using the chili as a dip.  I actually went out to dinner but had this ready for the rest of the family to eat.  I was able to enjoy leftovers for lunch the next day though!

Thursday – I made Turkey Burgers with Special Sauce from the June 2006 issue of Cooking Light.  The special sauce is a mixture of mayo, Dijon mustard, scallions, orange juice, honey, soy sauce and ginger (which I left out since I don’t like it!).  The burgers had many of the same ingredients in them.  The sauce was a bit on the sweet side and was a nice addition to the burgers, which didn’t have much flavor, in my opinion.  There are so many better burger recipes out there that I won’t be making these again.  I served the burgers with curly fries.

Friday – I made Grilled Cheese with Apricot Jam and Arugula from Love & Olive Oil.  This was my husband’s request after he found the recipe online while helping me plan the menu.  This was quick and easy to make and was a winner with the family.  I haven’t made grilled cheese in awhile and this was a great version.  There was no additional prep work and the ingredients were simple but tasty.  The sweetness of the jam paired well with the bitterness of the arugula.  I served this with some sauteed zucchini.