Menu Plan Monday

I don't know what it is but menu planning to me is a lot of work and time. I just get so aggravated every time I try. It maybe the fact that every time I make a meal my family doesn't like it and I feel like I wasted my time. Anyway, I'm trying out a new system. I am using springpad to type in all my recipes and make a menu plan. It is great as it does make a shopping list easier. The only problem I am facing right now is that I can't figure out how to print up the recipes as it's only printing one page and not my entire list.

Sunday - Stir Fry (favorite)
Monday - BBQ Chicken Casserole (Crockpot) (new)
5 cup fruit salad (play date) (new)
Tuesday - Santa Fe Chicken (Crockpot) (favorite)
Wednesday NEW YEARS EVE- Potato Casserole (new)
London Broil (new)
Buffalo Chicken Dip (Crockpot) (All Time Favorite)
Thursday - BBQ Meatloaf (Crockpot) (new)
Friday - Cornbread or Regular Stuffing (new)
Chicken in Oven (new)
Saturday - Chuckwagon Chili (Crockpot) (new)

Menu Plan Monday

I'm having a hard time trying to keep up with my every day stuff like menu planning.

Monday - Since I had a lot of leftovers from Sunday cold cuts I made the following dishes: Dan's Meat Wrap and Roast Beef Pasta Salad. The wraps were really good. We dipped them in thousand Island dressing. Even the kids ate them. The pasta salad. I made way too much so we will be having this again as a side dish some time later in the week.

Tues - Chicken Rice Casserole (Crock Pot)

Wed - (crock pot) - BBQ Meatloaf

Thurs - Baked Swiss Steak Will probably make egg noodles or rice.

Fri - (crock pot) Smothered Steak Strips with string beans

Sat - EASY ONIONY STEAK AND POTATOES

Sun - Leftovers or take out.

Meal Plan Monday A Bit Late

I'm a bit stressed! I haven't had a chance to menu plan yet. However, last night when I came home from the supermarket I prepared the following meals below for this week. 2 of the meals I froze and one is in my fridge for today. All meals below are new and never tried yet.

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Freezer Recipe Easy. Mix and Freeze. Hope it tastes good.

Caesar Chicken Casserole Freezer Recipe Tonight's Meal. I had left over spiral pasta from last night's meal that I used for this recipe. When I went to put this meal together I went to my pantry to get the caesar dressing and realized I had only ranch. Yikes. What to do. I ran to my computer and searched for CAESAR SALAD DRESSING and guess what a ton came up. I made my own using that recipe. It made a lot so I saved the rest of the dressing in a container to serve with a salad.

Chicken Marsala Freezer Recipe In my freezer. But I tell you this one smelled so yummy last night I was so tempted to eat it then.

Don't know what else we will have. I have to run now as we're going to the ZOO.

Please go to I'm an Organizing Junkie's website for more meal plans.

Slow Cooking Thursday

I have been making this recipe since 2006. I have made it a couple of times. The meat just falls off the bone. I serve it over rice as the sauce is very good too.

Kathy's Delicious Whole Slow Cooker Chicken

Menu Plan Monday

This last week was kind of crazy. Lots of activities so I wound up altering my menu a lot. For Wed we had BBQ Meatballs (using frozen meatballs that I had made at the power cooking event on Monday. This was supposed to be a crock pot recipe but because I had a MOMS night out to go to and had to make an appetizer my crock pot was being used for the Buffalo Chicken Dip from Menus4moms so I wound up doing this on low on my stove for 2 to 3 hours. My husband loved it. I have more meatballs in my freezer so I will be doing this recipe again soon. Has anyone ever had to have 2 crock pots? Wonder if I should invest in another one? Maybe once I get some good recipes for it but at this point I have only a few that we like. I did copy a few from the Thursday posts so hopefully I will be adding more to our meal plan book.

On Thursday when I was supposed to make Beef Roast with Root Vegetables I was crunched for time and wound up doing a different recipe instead. So Thurs I made Coffee-Braised Pot Roast with Caramelized onions in the crock pot. The meat was a little dry but the gravy this made was really good. I probably will make this again. And no it did not taste like coffee.

On Sunday I made Beef Brisket with Smoky BBQ Sauce in the crock pot (recipe below). I really screwed this one up because where it said 1/4 teaspoon of celery seed I put 1/4 teaspoon of celery salt. It was so salty. Oops! We did all eat it though so I will probably make it again but will leave out the celery seed!

Beef Brisket with Smoky BBQ Sauce
1 2 to 3 pound fresh beef brisket
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp celery seed
1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbs vinegar
2 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp dry mustard

1. Trim fat from brisket. If necessary, cut brisket to fit into crockery cooker.
2. Combine chili powder, garlic powder, celery seed, and pepper; rub evenly over meat. Place meat in crock pot
3. For sauce, combine catchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and dry mustard. Pour over brisket.
4. Cover; cook on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours. Remove meat and cut into thin slices. Skim fat off juices in cooker. Serve juices with meat. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Now for next week:
Monday - Beef Stir Fry from 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes book borrowed from my friend.
Tues - Green Chile Beef Empanadas. Since I have left overs from the roast from Thurs dinner I might as well reuse the meat.
Wed - Swiss Chicken and Corn Casserole
Thurs - Pizza (Dinner with Triplet Moms)
Fri - Easy Meatloaf in Crock Pot
Sat - Left Overs
Sun - Easter Dinner at restaurant

Thanks Laura from I'm an Organizing Junkie in hosting the Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday

I am going to try to do this quickly, yeah right! No, really I am just exhausted and need to get this done. Today I did power cooking with some friends. We made 800 meatballs and 300 stuffed shells. I have 50 shells and 133 meatballs in my freezer as there were 6 of us. Cost for all this was $25. Oh, I also had one pound of ground beef that we fried up so we had that for tonights dinner.

Review of last weeks meals:
As I mentioned in my last weeks post I'm getting fed up with my crock pot. If any of you have any good recipes please share because everything I seem to make in mine comes out really crappy. Baked Honey Pecan Chicken was really yummy. I liked the honey sauce. The Broccoli with creamy lemon sauce was really good. My kids actually dipped their chicken into the lemon sauce. I didn't put the honey pecan on their chicken. Chicken Burgers came out yucky. The Beef and Veggie Stir fry is a keeper. My husband loved the sauce so it made it to the monthly cook book. The cowpoke BBQ sauce was a disappointment. Somehow I didn't make the chicken Burritos, chicken fajitas or swiss chicken. I think we wound up having left overs. I did substitute sweet and sour meatballs for one of the nights (husband's favorite as it was his birthday.)

Now to this week:
Monday - Chili - used cooked chop meat that I had left over from power cooking today.
Tues - Stuffed Shells (frozen from power cooking)
Wed - Meat balls and Spaghetti or pasta (frozen from power cooking)
Thurs - (Crock Pot) Yes I'm going to attempt again! Wish me luck. I'm going to try a recipe from Robin Miller from Food Network called Beef it Up. She cooks one meal and then uses it 2 other times. Beef Roast with Root Vegetables and Mixed Greens with Raspberry-Walnut Dressing
Fri - Green Chile Beef Empanadas
Sat- Asian Beef Salad with Cilantro, Scallions and Sesame Seeds
Sun - leftovers or eat out

Menu Plan Monday

Sorry I didn't post my menu plan for last week. It was a bit spur of the moment and right now I don't have the time to post it sorry. This week there is a big sale on chicken at my supermarket so most of the week we will be having chicken.

Monday - Italian Style Beef Sandwiches (Crockpot). I had a late play date so again I attempted my crock pot. I am so fed up with this crock pot cooking. It just is not working out for my family. Every time I make something from that thing the meat is dry and my family hates it. Please if you read my blog and use a crock pot and have a recipe that you know is good please send me the recipe. I so need help.

Tues - Baked Honey Pecan Chicken and Broccoli with creamy lemon sauce (pg 64 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend)
Wed-Chicken Burgers (pg 52 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend) and potatoes au gratin (pg 62 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend)
Thurs-Chicken Burritos recipe on page 42 of 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend)
Fri-Beef and vegetable stir-fry (pag 49 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend)
Sat- chicken Fajitas with cowpoke bbq sauce (pg 54 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend)
Sun-Swiss Chicken and Green Pea and Rice Almondine (pg 68 101 Delicious Diabetic Recipes (borrowed from a friend)

Free Cookbook

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Menu Plan Monday

Oops I forgot to post my menu for last week. I went on vacation for 3 days and now I'm forever trying to catch up with the 3 days I was not on the computer.

Unfortunately, I was a little overwhelmed when I got home from my vacation that I fell behind and did not plan my meals. I was back in my "WHAT'S FOR DINNER MODE". Talk about stress! Anyway, here was what we ate this past week.

Mon - BBQ Meatballs (a favorite of ours. Unfortunately, this time I tried the recipe with chicken chopmeat and it wasn't very good. Will have to stick with regular chop meat).
Tues - Sausage Supreme from "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook pg 156 (Won't make this again)
Wed - Eat Out
Thurs - Chicken Parm (family favorite)
Fri - Meatloaf, Corn Cassarole (by Paula Dean. This recipe I have made numerous times. It's very good) and Potatoes (yes I went to the box. I bought those Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes.)
Sat - Rory's carbonara(a big thank you to Bonnie for this great recipe. I'm adding it to my tried and true recipes. When I saw a photo of this on her blog I had a craving for it. I'm such a sucker when it comes to pasta as that's my favorite type of meal.)
Sunday - Stirfry beef. (Luckily I had some stir fry package of frozen veggies that I used for a quick meal)

While cleaning my kitchen cabinets I came across an old binder of mine filled with recipes. Some recipes were probably made before and others are recipes I'd like to make so I'm going to use this book for the upcoming week.

upcoming menu
Mon - Honey Mustard Chicken (yuck won't make this again) with rice and Sesame Green Beans.

Sesame Green Beans
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed (I used canned)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt to taste.

Place beans in a saucepan and cover with water bring to a boil. Cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes or until crisp. (I skipped that part since I used canned green beans). Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute the sesame seeds and garlic in oil. Drain beans (I did do this); stir into garlic mixture. Season with salt.
Blogger: Creative Triplet Mom - Create Post
Yield: 6 servings

Tues - BBQ Steak Strips (NEW) and Oven Roasted Carrots (NEW)
Wed - Burgers and Fries
Thurs - Sweet and Sour Meatballs (husband's favorite.)
Fri - A Good Easy Garlic Chicken (NEW) Spinach and Strawberry Salad (NEW)
Sat - Best London Broil Ever (NEW) and Eggplant con Queso
Sunday - Crock Pot Roast (NEW) and Asparagus and Parm Crust (NEW)

Why oh why does it take me so long to create my menus? This week I went by what was on sale at the supermarket but I tell you it took me over an hour to plan the above. Now, praying it works out that I get to the supermarket tomorrow night to get some items.

Many thanks to Laura at The Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Mondays!

Menu Plan Monday

First a review from last weeks menu. Tuesday I made meatloaf. I unfortunately ran out of breadcrumbs so I put 3 or 4 slices of break in my food processor. I also used chicken chopmeat. It came out really good. The first time I had no leftovers. Wed we had Whisky Steak. It was not very good. Will not make that recipe again. Garlic Prime Rib was okay and the homemade chicken soup came out okay. I actually had lots of leftovers from these two meals. Some of the soup I actually froze. The Prime Rib my husband chopped up the leftovers and made another meal out of it. Unfortunately I did not make the lemon broccoli pasta. I will have to make that another time. While I was watching food network the other day the recipe Personal Penne Primavera looked so good that I wound up using the broccoli for that instead. It came out really well so it's now in my binder.

Oh, did I mention I now have a menu planning binder? While decluttering my kitchen I wound up going in my basement to get something and then wound up decluttering a box of old papers and found some tabs. In my binder I have tabs 1-10 (need to get 2 more). I'm using this for the monthly menus. Then behind that I have tabs a-z. This is where I am putting the recipes that are keepers. Behind the a-z right now I have recipes that I'd like to try one day. I just bought a new file plastic container that I plan on using to sort my want to try recipes into. The meal planning book will only have tried and true recipes. Ones that I can repeat. If the recipe is not worth keeping I will just toss it.

I am leaving on a mini vacation on Friday. I will be away Friday, Sat and Sun without my husband and without the kids. It's my birthday on the 13th and I'm going away to a scrapbooking weekend. Can't wait! Now to my menu for the week

Monday - Leftovers and Blueberry Crumble for dessert (I purchased 2 containers of fresh blueberries as they were on sale.) This recipe is definately a keeper. The kids loved it.
Tues - BBQ Meatballs (carried over from last week)
Wed - French Dip Sandwiches and Creamy Mac and Cheese
Thurs - Hashbrown sausage bake
Friday - Away
Sat - Away
Sunday- Away

Meals & Project 365

Fri Blog Prompt 1/4 - Is there a new food you want to try this year? Or a new recipe you want to make?

Since I suffer from the nagging question, "What's for dinner?" every day I have started to accumulate a ton of recipes that I want to try. New Years Eve I actually sorted them by category. I get a lot of recipes from All Recipes and Food Network. Recently I joined Menus for Moms. They send a weekly menu that helps most days. Of course, my family is very picky and I can't make everything from that sight but it does help for days when I just don't know what to make.

Recently a friend of mine sent me some new websites for recipes but I haven't yet been able to check them out. I will share them with you.
www.epicurious.com
www.mealtime.org
www.recipeland.com
www.recipezaar.com

Oh by the way the recipe I made yesterday in my crock pot (see yesterdays post for recipe) was a keeper. It made a very good gravy even without the mushrooms. It tasted really good on the egg noodles. I will make it again using fresher meat next time.

Now for the photo of the day! Project 365 for 2008 - photo 4

Have you ever had a gift certificate that you just could not use because you can't get to the mall with 3 toddlers? It is an impossible task. I had gotten a gift certificate for Macy's from my in-laws for my birthday which was almost a year ago (February 2007). I finally sat down and did on line shopping at Macy's website. I got this black shirt, a pair of jeans and a new pair of sneakers. When the box arrived my husband was surprised that I shopped for clothing on line. He said, "Aren't you taking a chance by ordering clothes on line?" I said, "I know." What he meant was how did I know the correct size? Well, I am back to my original weight before pregnancy. However, my body is not back to prepregnancy size. I seem to have gained in my hips, my stomach and in my rear! So I went from a size 5 prepregnancy to a size 9 today. Luckily everything I ordered did fit. I was very lucky that I didn't have to return anything.