Yankee Bill is out of town this week-so quick and easy is the order of the day. I don’t know why it feels different to make meals when he is eating with us-it isn’t like he expects anything fancy or “more”. . . I guess it just feels more like a proper family meal when we all sit down around the table together.
A few things to consider this week:
1. I thawed out chicken breasts last week and then didn’t use them. I’ve got to cook those up soon if I don’t want to toss them out. And you KNOW I don’t want to toss them out.
2. We’ve got swim club 2 nights this week at 5pm-so dinner needs to be ready for the kiddos by 4:30
3. The kids have a concert at school this week, and of course we have our weekly Girlscout meeting-so that’s two other early dinner nights (although not as early as on swim nights).
4. As always I try to fit in one meatless, on fish and one venison meal each week.
5. The weather is supposed to be lovely all week. No rain! So if I wanted to use the grill for anything that is an option.
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: Fish, Rice & Peas
I bought some nice looking battered & frozen fish fillets at Aldi’s last week. It’s an easy “bake it in the oven” sort of thing. I’ll make a pot of rice & some frozen peas to go with. This is my fish meal.
Tuesday: Crock pot Chicken Tetrazzini & Salad
I actually plan on cooking up the chicken breasts on Monday night to have them ready for the rest of the week. The Crock pot Chicken Tetrazzini is easy & filling, and I get to toss it together in the morning & forget about it.
Wednesday: Quiche and Sauteed Mustard Greens
Last weeks menu plan got a little sidetracked-there was a lot of food in the fridge so we wound up having a couple of quick leftovers nights. Consequently the Quiche never got made. I’ll rectify that this week. I’ll make my regular Quiche recipe with Rice Crust. I love that it only takes a few eggs! This is my meatless meal.
Thursday: Chicken Pasta Bake with Green Beans
There isn’t really a recipe to this one-I’ll just use some of the cubed chicken, pasta, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, spices, mozzarella cheese and whip something up.
Friday: Homemade Calzones
It’s been a while since we’ve made Calzones-I think the kids would enjoy putting their own together. I’ll use the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe of course for the dough.
Saturday: Blue Cheese Burgers with Potato Salad and Carrots
I’ll make venison burgers and stuff the insides with Blue Cheese (the kids ADORE these. What can I say, I’ve got cool kids) then grill them up. On a burger with some big thick slices of tomato and homemade potato salad on the side. . . Mmmm. I’ll warm up some carrots so I can say we’ve had a vegetable.
Sunday: Flat Roasted Chicken, Baked Potatoes and Dandelion Greens
The recipe for Flat Roasted Chicken over at Shutterbean intrigued me–especially since whole chickens are on of the cheapest ways to buy chicken meat. The recipe sounds like a great Sunday meal (with leftovers to use next week). I’m going to pair it with baked potatoes because they are Yankee Bill’s favorite-and I hardly ever make them. Why? Not because they are hard (they aren’t) it’s more because they take almost an hour and I don’t plan well enough to work them in! The dandelion greens are from our yard-I experimented with them last week (post coming soon) and they were a big hit.
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Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .
For more great menu plan ideas, head on over to Menu Plan Monday at the Organizing Junkie.
I can’t wait to read about the dandilion greens !!! I knew there was a reason I let them take over my yard!!