Now, let’s see if I can get on an even keel now that all the guests are gone, the kids are back in school and the holiday chaos is over. I need to get back onto providing one seafood/fish meal a week and one meatless meal a week. I think that is such a great goal to provide my family with more nutrition and variation, as well as a way (especially on the meatless meals) to reduce the cost of our menus.
Here we go!
Monday: Homemade Chicken Fried Rice & Steamed Veggies
I cooked up a huge family sized package of chicken breasts last week because it was cook them or have to throw them out. Poor planning on my part. Anyway-I have used a bunch of them up in various ways, but still have a couple of breasts left. Using leftover rice from last week I can whip up fried rice. I’ll just add a package of “Stir Fry Vegetable mix” as a side.
Tuesday: Meatloaf, Couscous, Carrots & Gravy
Plans frequently get thrown in to chaos when guests are involved. Last week I was supposed to make this meal, but my Dad really wanted to take us out for a nice dinner. Who am I to refuse an offer like that. Instead of cooking meatloaf we went out for an excellent Italian feast.
So I still have all the meatloaf fixings defrosted in the fridge. The carrots will be on of the 15 pints I finally got around to canning 2 weeks ago 🙂 When I asked Buddy what he’d like on the menu that we hadn’t eaten in a while his answer was “Couscous with gravy”-so I nixed my original plan for mashed potatoes with this meal and changed it to couscous.
Wednesday: Mostly Meatless Lasagna, Salad and Garlic Bread
Another meal I never made from last week was the lasagna. Since it was for guests I had even splurged and purchased real ricotta cheese (usually I substitute the less expensive cottage cheese). If there is just a bit of leftover meatloaf-ie not enough for another meal-then I’ll dice it up and add it for a bit of extra flavor, otherwise we’ll go fully vegetarian on this one-with all the flavors and cheeses it really doesn’t need any meat! So there is my meatless meal.
Thursday: Chicken Chili Blanco with Sweet Northern Corn Bread muffins
I love the totally different taste of Chicken Chili Blanco. The creamed corn gives it a slight sweetness. Mmmm. I’ll use up the end of the cooked chicken in this and toss together some corn bread muffins that can be eaten with the chili and then used in lunches or as breakfast muffins later.
Friday: Homemade Pizza.
Using the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe.
Saturday: Leftover Buffet
By Saturday I’ll have a fridge full of leftovers that need to get used up. If necessary we’ll round it out with canned soup and sandwiches.
Sunday: Venison Stew with Homemade Yeast Rolls
On the weekend we tend to get caught up in things-and all of the sudden it’s dinner time and I’m in a rush. Venison stew can easily be made in the crockpot (I’m not using a recipe, just sort of a toss it together methodology) and I can use up some of the canned venison left from last year. I’ll get the yeast rolls going in the bread machine mid afternoon and viola-warm, filling & easy.
So what are your plans for this week?
New to menu planning? check out “Why should I plan a weekly menu?”
PS-for more great menu plans make sure you pop on over to Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie
Amyrlin says
Jenn,
Last week we made an awesome fried rice with leftover ham from Christmas. It is a great way to stretch a little bit of meat for multiple people! I used a bag of stir fry veggies we had in the freezer instead of the standard peas and carrots. Have a great week!
Lorrie says
That Chicken Chili Blanco sounds really good; think I’ll put that in next week’s menu. Thank you!
Just found Frugal Upstate several weeks ago when looking for a homemade Bisquick-type mix to make sausage balls for Christmas. Love the blog! We live in the South, so I’m always interested to see how people live in other regions of the country.
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Amyrlin-I just love making fried rice. I’ve been thinking about writing a “how to” post, but it is kind of hard to write a recipe when you don’t ever use a recipe, KWIM?
Lorrie-The chicken chili is yummy! I love dishes that stretch a bit of meat a long ways-meat always seems to be the most expensive element of a meal. . . and we americans eat far too much meat as it is. I’m so glad you found Frugal Upstate and enjoy it-I’ve always had a great deal of fun writing it. Please, feel free to comment any time. Comments totally make my day 🙂
Lisa H. says
We had fried rice just yesterday. This week we’re having Arroz Con Pollo from Simply Recipes. And I bought a 6 pack of red peppers so we’ll be making the 2008 test kitchen’s best recipe’s stuffed bell peppers.
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Sounds delicious Lisa! I don’t think I’ve ever had Arroz Con Pollo-I’ll have to look that up. I think I’m getting in a recipe rut 🙂