Menu Plan Month- A month of meals

Is it really February already??? How time flies when you're having fun. Or something to that effect.

Last months' planning of a month worth of meals worked out so great I'm doing it again. Really, it was so nice to have a plan, know I had all the ingredients (cause I did all my shopping immediately after my planning) and know that things were going to be taken care of. It made my life less stressful and it made things easier on my husband who has to feed kids 3 to 4 of the night out of the week. We won't go into why I have to plan and get everything ready. It's our reality and sometimes it's just easier to go with what works than to fight.

Biggest hit meals last month were the crock pot pulled pork from Living Well Spends Well , and shakshuka from  Nourish Atlier

I figured I should fess up for a moment. While I'm not one to reinvent the wheel, I also don't follow recipes to the T. While I almost always link to others recipes, I hardly ever follow their steps exactly. I tend to view recipes as more as guidelines than rules. I say this because this month especially I'm going to be deviating from what is written on the recipes. I may even take the time to post about how I changed things up and how it was received. We'll see.

Reminder: I have a kid who eats gluten free. So I always substitute corn starch from flour, use GF noodles instead of wheat and make sure that the meal does not contain gluten when I serve it. I realize this doesn't help you if you are new to a gf diet because I'm not giving you instructions on how to do so as well. But it does show that it's almost always possible to rework recipes so they work for you and yours.

February's Menu 
Week 1
Monday: leftovers -clean out the fridge day
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Mexican Rice
Wednesday: Broccoli Cheddar Soup in the crockpot
Thursday: Baked Egg Ham Cups with tater tots
Friday: Fend for yourself
Saturday: Crockpot Pulled Pork, chips, carrots
Sunday: Popcorn Cheese and apples

Week 2
Monday: Frito Taco Pie- use Pillsbury's Gluten Free pizza crust
Tuesday: Crockpot Rice lasagna 
Wednesday: Crockpot Ranch Onion Chicken, roasted potatoes, peas
Thursday: Sweet Potato and Chicken Hash
Friday: FFY
Saturday: Groundnut Stew in the crockpot- original recipe from More with Less Cookbook- going to see if I can convert it to the crockpot. More information to come later
Sunday: Popcorn Cheese and Apples

Week 3
Monday: One Pot Shrimp and Rice 
Tuesday: Crock pot Ham and Bean Soup
Wednesday: Crock pot Coconut Chicken Curry- recipe to come later
Thursday: Lo-mein 
Friday: FFY
Saturday: Crockpot Lentil Casserole - original recipe found here
Sunday: Popcorn Cheese and Apples

Week 4 
Monday: Sweet Potato, Bacon and Sage Pasta
Tuesday: Crock pot Pesto Minestrone 
Wednesday: Crock pot Beef and Broccoli- served over rice
Thursday: Pizza Braid
Friday: FFY
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Popcorn Cheese and Apples

Need more inspiration? Check out Organizing Junkie and all the linked menus there.  Happy meal planning!

Menu Plan Monday March 10, 2014

Despise the lack of posts, I have been menu planning. In fact in the last month alot has happened that I really ought to record here on the blog. We'll see if I find the motivation. For those not in connection to me on Facebook, I have recently moved from a part time position at the local bookstore to full time Assistant Manager. :) I'm very excited about it and really enjoying my work. However this has meant lots of shifting and changing at home, and we are still working out the kinks. One shift has been more use of my crockpot. As I don't come home till after 6pm, dinner needs to be done when I come home. As let's be honest, Mark IS NOT going to cook unless it's maybe spaghetti. While I like spaghetti I don't want it every night. So slow cooker meals has become our saving grace. The internet is a life saver in the area. But I have also recently bought a new cookbook. Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann. So far I'm pretty pleased, Although there are recipes I can't used because they only require a few hours cooking time or require you to add ingredients half way through. For someone else I"m sure that's not a problem but I just can't do that. So here is this weeks menu. I'm off Monday so that meal I'll cook without the use of my crockpot. The rest... well just look

Monday: Black bean and sweet potato taco salad (uses the Simple in Season Burrito filling)
Tuesday: Chicken with Onions and Cheese (Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker) potatoes and peas
Wednesday:  Corn Chowder (Not Your Mother's Slower Cooker)
Thursday: Breakfast Casserole
Friday: Sloppy Joes
Saturday: Left overs or simple meal
Sunday: Popcorn Cheese and Apples

For more menus be sure to visit Organizing Junkie. Happy Meal Planning!!

Menu Plan Monday- July 25th

Well last weeks meals got all switched and changed. It was hot here last week (or at least hotter than normal). And I had no desire to use the oven if I could avoid it. So I ended up cooking other meals that would not require the use of the oven. This week I'm going to try and use the crock pot alot. There are so many good crock pot recipes that I've never tried. So even if today and tomorrow we will have a slight break in sweltering weather I'm going to try not to use the oven this week. That being said blueberry pie is calling my name so I think I'll make one tonight. :)

So here is this weeks menu.

Monday: Fussy Day Chicken (Whole Foods for the Whole Family), green beans, salad
Tuesday: Taco Casserole (Betty Crocker: New Slow Cooker meals)- I'm going to substitute beans for the ground beef
Wednesday: Curried Chickpeas and chicken over rice (using up leftover chicken), veggie side
Thursday: Slow Cooker Lasagna (Betty Crooker: New Slow Cooker meals)

I'm not completely sure what's happening this weekend. Thus there is a chance that I will have to cook. In which case my plan is as follows:

Friday: Salsa Chicken (Betty Crocker: New Slow Cooker meals), veggie side  and rice
Saturday: Chicken Burritos (meal 2 from Salsa Chicken)
Sunday: leftovers or simple pasta meal

We may also make a trip over to the Elkhart County 4H Fair one evening this week. Cause you have to eat fair food while during fair week. We went Sunday morning, but we are thinking of going again. I'm not sure which night though so it doesn't hurt to have a plan for dinner anyway. :)

As always be sure to visit Organizing Junkie.