Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - leftovers

Monday - baked gnocchi

Tuesday - black bean quesadillas

Wednesday - baked mushroom risotto with steak

Thursday - linguine with butter and pecorino

Friday - minestrone soup and homemade bread

Saturday - pizza

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - Leftovers supplemented with fresh corn on the cob.

Monday - Mexican rice skillet.

Tuesday - Penne with beef & arugula.

Wednesday - Lentil sloppy joes.

Thursday - Homemade PIZZA in honor of the NFL season starting.

Friday - Clean out the fridge!

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - Out for a big lunch, so we'll just have leftovers or sandwiches for dinner.

Monday - Beef, mushroom and barley soup. With sourdough bread.

Tuesday - Homemade pizza (or that turkey tart I never have made yet).

Wednesday - Bacon pasta with lots of fresh mushrooms.

Thursday - Black bean soup, if it's cold enough, or black bean quesadillas if the temperature is too high for soup.

Friday - Leftovers/sandwiches/scrounge.

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday -Turkey tart. It's a new recipe for me from the cookbook Great Pies and Tarts. It sounds fantastic, but we'll see how I do at making tart dough.

Monday - Some sort of beef dish in the crock pot. Probably with mashed potatoes or egg noodles and a green veggie of some sort. I'm leaning towards mushroom round steak, although round steak Italiano also sounds good. Really, I must be too hungry right now because there are several least other recipes that sound really tasty. I'll have to ask L if he wants mushrooms or not, or a tomato vs. cream sauce. That'll help narrow it down to which one to choose, because I am just going back & forth on what I want.

Tuesday - Lentil sloppy joes. I actually really hate sloppy joes, but L loves them, so I'm going to see if a meatless version appeals to me more.

Wednesday - Most likely we'll go out to eat as we've got family in town.

Thursday - Sausage, potato, and green bean skillet. We had it last week and I loved it so much I want it again right away. That NEVER happens.

Friday - Pizza!

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - I have lots of veggies in the fridge that I need to get cooked, so it'll probably be a strange assortment of whatever we can find. Definitely not my usual Sunday sort of meal.

Monday - Red beans & rice. Since it got booted off the menu last week (L ended up having a work event & some other stuff going on & I'm not going to make it if he won't be around to enjoy it).

Tuesday - Baked spaghetti, and I plan to freeze half of it to see how well it works, and if it works well, I'll probably make it again before the baby arrives so it'll be ready in the freezer.

Wednesday - Lentil soup if it's cool enough, pizza if it's not. The temperature can only be so high before L declares that it's too hot for soup.

Thursday - Black bean burrito bake.

Friday - Leftovers/sandwiches/scrounge.

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - Vegetable beef soup in the slow cooker. Probably something like this, although I doubt I'll follow that recipe exactly. But I know it'll have tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes in it because I love all of those in soup. And it'll definitely have chunks of beef rather than ground beef because I vastly prefer it that way. Unless it's chili, in which case ground is the way to go as far as I'm concerned. I also plan to serve it with homemade bread, because, well, YUMMM!

Monday - Red beans and rice. L has been craving it. Although truthfully, we could have it every other week and he'd probably still be craving it. This is absolutely one of his favorite meals.

Tuesday - Farmhouse chicken. I'll modify it to our tastes, but I'll start with that version.

Wednesday - Homemade pizza. I hope to make the crust Sunday and then freeze it, thawing it out again Wednesday. Both to save time on Wednesday, and to give it a try and see how it works. For future reference and thinking ahead to possibly start stocking my freezer for after the baby arrives.

Thursday - Black bean quesadillas since they got pushed off the menu last week.

Friday - Leftovers/sandwiches/scrounge.

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - Pot roast in the crock pot. Specific version still to be determined, but it will involve carrots, onions, and potatoes.

Monday - Black bean soup - one of our favorites. Saute an onion, add some garlic, then chicken broth, cans of black beans (rinsed & drained), some diced tomatoes, SALSA & lots of it, and corn. Serve with shredded cheese and/or sour cream and additional salsa.

Tuesday - Leftovers/sandwiches/whatever we can scrounge.

Wednesday - Spaghetti. Because I've been craving it. I'm completely lazy with it - jarred sauce over angel hair. L loves it when I make sauce with ground beef, but I actually prefer just the jarred sauce (the natural or organic versions because they don't have all the sugar & other stuff of the regular versions). So usually I alternate, and this time it's my turn for my favorite. Actually, we may have some of his preferred sauce in the freezer, which is the best of all - we each get it the way we like it best.

Thursday - Repeat Tuesday.

Friday - If we need something, then the cheesy potato skillet dish or grilled cheese or cheese quesadillas. Lately though we haven't needed anything on Friday for varying reasons, so I'm not really going to plan anything.

Weekly Menu Plan

Sunday - Layered enchilada casserole in the slow cooker. It's a new recipe, but it's from Taste of Home so I'm pretty confident that we'll like it.
Update: we loved it with lots of salsa and sour cream. It was very easy to make and tasted great. Lots of leftovers too!

Monday - Colcannon soup. That isn't the recipe I'll be using, but it's awfully close.

Tuesday - Leftovers/sandwiches/scrounge.

Wednesday - Reuben mac & cheese. The other week when I was sick I watched her make it and it just sounded so good that I knew I'd have to make it soon. I sure hope it lives up to what my taste buds dreamt of that afternoon.

Thursday - Repeat Tuesday.

Friday - Cheesy potato skillet with mixed vegetables. Yup, the stuff I made last week. It was super quick and easy, and more than tasty enough to want it again.

Weekly Menu Plan

Maybe, possibly, I'm going to be able to start planning menus again. At least I don't gag at the thought which is progress.

Monday - Sausage & lentil casserole. It's a new-to-me recipe.

Tuesday - Leftovers/sandwiches/scrounge.

Wednesday - Cheesy potato skillet with mixed vegetables. Another new-to-me recipe.

Thursday - Repeat Tuesday.

Friday - Black bean quesadillas. Our old standby.

I know, a seemingly ridiculously simple plan for the week. But considering that it's been months since I cooked 4 times in one week (yes, I'm counting this past Sunday night when I cooked beef stroganoff & mashed potatoes), this is definitely an improvement. And I'd rather start small and slowly get back into it than try too much and not succeed at all.

Weekly Menu Plan

I have no idea how much we'll be able to follow this, but I'm going to try.

Saturday - I'm meeting some friends for lunch, so probably won't want much for dinner, so it'll be a clean-out-the-fridge night.

Sunday - Something in the crock pot though I haven't yet figured it out.

Monday - Southwestern corn & cheese soup.

Tuesday - Skillet meatloaf. I'll be teaching L how to make it. Wish us luck!

Wednesday - L gets to take me out to eat somewhere.

Thursday - Pizza, homemade if I have the energy, or else Papa Murphy's if I don't.

Friday - Scrounge whatever we can find.

Weekly Menu Plan

Back into the swing of planning and cooking after a weeks break.

Saturday - Ribeye steaks, scalloped potatoes, and broccoli. The steaks were on sale at the store and I couldn't resist. And I've got some milk that's about to go bad so the potatoes will make use of that.

Sunday - Chili and cornbread. The weather is quite cool so it's perfect chili weather. I may try a new recipe, or I may pull out an old favorite from last season.

Monday - Pizza if I get home from work in time to get the dough made, and I usually do on Mondays.

Tuesday - Baked potatoes and leftover chili.

Wednesday - Spaghetti! It's been ages since we had it and it's one of my favorite meals.

Thursday - Vegetable soup and rolls.

Friday - L will probably not be home, so I'll eat leftovers or a pb&j or whatever else I can scrounge up from the fridge.

Weekly Menu Plan

Last week's menu was slightly more successful than the week before that, but not but much.

Saturday - I'll finally make the tortilla soup I planned to make last week.

Sunday - Mock beef burgundy in the crock pot. It uses cranberry juice in place of the wine, and it's really tasty. I'm not sure yet if I'll serve it with egg noodles or mashed potatoes. I'll ask L which he prefers.

Monday - Salsa chicken. Take chicken breasts, cover them with salsa, and bake. Yummm! I like it with baked potatoes or rice.

Tuesday - I'm thinking now that spaghetti and meatballs sounds fantastic.

Wednesday - Homemade pizza. I am loving the homemade pizza, it's super easy as long as I plan ahead since the crust takes a little time to rise..

Thursday - Clean out the fridge because we're heading out of town, so, leftovers or sandwiches or cereal ...

Friday - Repeat Thursday to leave the fridge as empty as can be before our departure in the morning.

Update - The tortilla soup was good, but not the end-all its-so-good-I-can-stop-looking fantastic soup I was hoping for.

The beef "burgundy" was delicious as always (though L asked if we'd had it before; it's my mom's recipe so I've had it since before I knew him and have made it a LOT of times, but I guess it'd been awhile). And I served it with homemade rice-a-roni. Delicious!

Menu Planning

I've already written about my personal cookbook (or, more accurately, both of them), and the portable file folders I use to store recipes I want to try.

What I didn't mention was the rest of my menu planning method.

Our weekly menu follows a rough plan - Sundays I generally cook something that provides leftovers. Often it's in the crockpot. Now that the weather is cooler, we'll have soup once a week, often on Wednesday. Friday is always an easy easy meal (or it's leftovers) because by the end of the work week I'm TIRED. I try to only have one meal a week that's beef-heavy, and aim for one if not two vegetarian nights. I usually only plan 5 nights worth of meals because we'll have sandwiches or go out or scrounge something other nights.

Oh, and I try to always check the weather forecast; if it's going to be really cold and drizzly one day, that day becomes a prime candidate for soup, etc. I also scan my calendar at the same time to make sure I remember if we've got anything coming up that will have an impact on our dinner plans. Last week, for instance, L had a work event Thursday night so wasn't home for dinner. I certainly don't want to plan a favorite of his if he won't even be around to enjoy it!

So, with all that in mind, when I start figuring out our menu for the week, I first look in the file folders to see what sounds good. I'll usually pick 3 new recipes a week, then go to my personal cookbook and fill in the other two from tried-and-true favorites.

This all sounds much more complicated than it really ends up being; I can usually plan a week's menu in 15 minutes, and create a shopping list from it in only 5 minutes or so after that.

A recent addition to my planning is adding the menu plan to my Google calendar; this way I can be at work and easily remind myself of what's on the agenda for that night or later in the week. I used to hand-write it on a calendar in my planner, but I find I prefer the Google calendar because I can easily move things around when we change the plan. And since there hasn't been a single week that we've followed the plan exactly, this is a huge plus. The electronic calendar has also let me find recipes on websites or blogs and just link to the page - I've got some ideas planned ahead that I found during blog reading and internet surfing.

Weekly Menu Plan

Last week's menu was kind of a bust - for various reasons we didn't really follow it much at all and ended up scrambling to find something for dinner most nights. Hopefully this week will be better!

Saturday - We'll be going out mid-afternoon for a relative's wedding reception (I'm not sure what it's called exactly; they got married out of the country and are having a party here for everyone who couldn't make the trip).

Sunday - I'm planning on a big cooking day that'll give lots of yummy leftovers. I've never made a recipe by Guy Fieri before, but I'm going to try two of his - Braised Pork Ribs and Italian Sausage over pasta, and a great looking Italian Deli Salad.

Monday - Durkee's chicken, because it sounds really easy.

Tuesday - Tortilla soup. I'm hoping to use some of the chicken leftover from Monday, assuming the flavors work (I've never had Durkee's sauce before so I'm not 100% sure it'll work).

Wednesday - Out to dinner with some in-laws who will be in town. No idea where we're going.

Thursday - Homemade pizza.

Friday - L won't be home for dinner, so I'll just eat whatever leftovers I can find.

Weekly Menu Plan

Fall weather arrives this week and I am thrilled. Soup's on the menu as well as baked casseroles and such. I'll also start baking more as it's no longer such an appalling thought to turn on the oven.

Saturday - Out for lunch, scrounge for dinner. I don't expect we'll be too hungry after lunch. It'll probably be some sourdough french bread from yesterday along with cheese & sausage.

Sunday - Minestrone soup. I'm still looking for a recipe that's good enough to make me stop looking for others.

Monday - Veal marsala.

Tuesday - Beef stroganoff. Maybe this version.

Wednesday - Macaroni and cheese. Homemade hopefully in honor of it being October and a forecast high of 62 degrees. I think this version sounds good.

Thursday - Clean out the fridge night - we should have lots to choose from after this week.

Friday - Sandwiches or quesadillas or possibly homemade pizza if I get home from work in time to start the dough. After making it last week, I am motivated now - it was soooo good.

Weekly Menu Plan

Last week's plan was good, at least what I made of it. L's work hours + me having the worst headache ever made for a couple of days at the end of the week where we winged it rather than cooking what was planned.

Laura has a theme this week of family favorites, so I tried to cut back on the new recipes and concentrate on some favs.

Sunday - Pioneer Woman's Lasagna. We've had this once and it was fantastic. But I still am counting it as a family favorite because lasagna in general certainly is one and this is probably L's favorite of all the versions I've made. I like mine with less meat and more mushrooms, something like this double mushroom one but made with a white sauce instead of the cream soup.

Monday - Skillet meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas. Because, according to L, peas must always be served with mashed potatoes. I had no idea there were such strict rules about such things. This is definitely a family favorite. The recipe is from Desperation Dinners but the concept is simple - make your regular meatloaf, but instead of forming it into a loaf, make it into patties and cook them on the stovetop. After cooking them on one side, flip them and pour some ketchup/tomato sauce/glaze of your choice over the top and allow to finish cooking. One pound of meat makes 6 nicely-sized patties and they get a delicious sear which is my favorite part.

Tuesday - Veggie pizza. I'm going to try and make my own pizza crust for the first time ever, but I do have some pitas that can be used in a pinch if the crust doesn't look like it's going to work. I'm using a recipe from Marcy Goldman's A Passion for Baking. She gives instructions for using a stand mixer so I'm going to give that a try. You don't have to have the book though - this version is available for free from her site, BetterBaking.com. Toppings will be whatever veggies I can find in the fridge - most likely peppers and mushrooms.

Wednesday - Leftovers - I think we'll have a lot from the previous nights. If we don't, we'll probably have sandwiches.

Thursday - Chicken fingers. If we're not pasta'd out from the lasagna, most likely we'll have them with macaroni and cheese and broccoli, our usual sides. This is a favorite, but I may try a different version of the chicken just to get some variety in the week's menu - I'm very tempted by the firecracker chicken from America's Test Kitchen, but it sounds like it may be too much work for a weeknight.

Friday - Black bean quesadillas. Because they keep getting bumped off our menu and they truly are the perfect end-of-the-week meal as far as I'm concerned; ingredients mostly from the pantry, quick and easy to make, and not too much cleanup.

Personal Cookbook

One of the best gifts my mother has ever given me is a copy of her recipe book. She typed all the family favorites, printed them off, put them into a binder and presented it to me when I moved away from home. Even better, she gave me an electronic copy of the recipes too.

It's now been so many years since the gift that the original binder is long since trashed; I managed to break the back of it and had to replace it. I've also reprinted most of the pages after adapting them to fit my tastes; I like my food SPICY and my mom has a very tame palette. I even deleted a few of the recipes which I never liked (shhh, don't tell her.)

Even more than just modifying my mom's recipes, I've added to it. So much so that I split it up and now have two binders - one for savory dishes and one for sweet. Both binders live next to my microwave and there isn't a week that goes by that I don't refer to at least one of them.

New recipes that I find and like enough to make again get added to the appropriate binder. Sometimes it's a page torn from a magazine, sometimes it's a printout from the internet. Occasionally it's my scribbled notes from a conversation at work, or a TV show. Every so often I get really motivated and take all the odd sizes and pages and type them up and print it out again, but I'll usually save any pictures that I might have of the dish and add them to the printout. Page protectors make it super easy to just drop items in no matter their size.

I can't imagine not having my cookbooks; they keep me organized and make it simple to find that dish I loved. They make menu planning easy too; often I'll have planned out most of the week but end up looking for a particular type of entree to round out the week; dividers I've established make it simple to turn to the section featuring whatever it is I want (whether it's chicken or beef or beans or soup...)

To go along with the cookbook binders, I have a plastic tub that holds file folders. I used to use the tub in lieu of a file cabinet but eventually had to graduate to a real cabinet. Now I've got it filled with files of recipes I want to try. Yes, I said files. Again, I've got them divided by category and refer to it when menu planning.

I like trying new things (and usually aim for 2 - 3 new recipes a week) so I really do work through the files. They've got recipes I want to cook and bake as well, and there are plenty of days when I've gone looking through them for a new cookie recipe to try. It used to be that most of the recipes I found to try were from magazines, but nowadays I find more recipes from the internet - especially food blogs!

I find having the tub is helpful to keep me from getting completely out of control with recipes to try - I've got this much space to fit new ones, and no more. And it's easy to sort through and find interesting items when I'm planning my menu for the week.

See more Works-for-Me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

Weekly Menu Plan

I've realized that I need to start planning my weekly menu earlier in the weekend, so I can get the shopping done and can plan Sundays better.

I like to think ahead for my Sunday cooking and either make something that will give nice leftovers for lunches, or that I can use as a component for future dinners. This week uses the latter strategy.

Sunday - Italian Cream Cheese Chicken with rice and peas.

Monday - Chicken Spaghetti Bake. Recipe is hidden under "Sample Recipe 1." I'll be using the leftover chicken, peppers & onions from Sunday.  I'll probably add the cream cheese sauce too, just to use it up.  

Tuesday - Ham fried rice, using the leftover rice from Sunday.

Wednesday - Mexican pizza.

Thursday - Black bean quesadillas.

Friday - Burgers on the grill. Probably with potato salad & baked beans.  This is likely to be our final time grilling burgers for the season, and I do want to get another time in before we call it quits for the year.  

Weekly Menu Plan

Monday - Chicken enchiladas. Leftover chicken from the Santa Fe chicken I had on the menu for last Monday, but didn't actually make until Saturday. Put the leftover shredded chicken mixture into tortillas, cover with salsa, bake & enjoy.

Tuesday - Cowboy chili. I'm not sure what makes this cowboy chili versus regular chili.

Wednesday - Leftover soup from Sunday (potato, cheese & broccoli).

Thursday - Chicken & veggie kabobs.

Friday - Chicken fried rice (using leftovers from Thursday).

Update: Cowboy Chili = pork sausage, onion, kidney beans, chili-style diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Mexicorn, chili powder & pepper. So apparently cowboys eat pork.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Santa Fe Chicken in the crock pot. Maybe not the most traditional Labor Day dish, but L requested it. Served with baked potatoes and peas (all L's choice). This may be the easiest dish ever. Chicken breasts into the crock pot. Cover with salsa (a lot of salsa). Cook until done. Add some cream cheese to make the sauce creamy and cheesy. Leftovers make great enchiladas.

Tuesday - Salad and fresh corn from the local farmer's market. Probably with a black bean patty (Morningstar brand).

Wednesday - Rachel Ray's Inside-out Pizza-dilla Margerita. I'll be going out to lunch and won't want much for dinner and these are super easy and super tasty. It's just a quesadilla made with fresh mozzarella, diced tomatoes, and fresh basil.

Thursday - Mexican pizza. This may change if I don't want tortillas two days in a row, but the flavors are really so different I don't think I'll care. Tortillas as the pizza base, topped with refried beans, green chilis, chorizo, and of course lots of cheese.

Friday - Macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers. I am always so tired by Friday that I have to go with something easy. And it doesn't get much easier than this since L can make it. Yes, I'm talking boxed mac & cheese and frozen chicken fingers.

Yes, this is an easy easy week. I've been so lazy lately when it comes to cooking I'm hoping that by planning some simple things, I'll actually fix them and avoid the pb&j / frozen pizza routine that have been our dinners for way too many nights this last month.