Sunday - Chicken enchiladas
Monday - Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches
Tuesday - Prosciutto wrapped chicken (Real Simple recipe) + asparagus
Wednesday - Mini Meatloafs and mashed potatoes
Thursday - Breakfast - pancakes and sausage
Sunday - Grilled steaks (how awesome is it that we are grilling in KC in february)
Monday - Fettucinne with Quick Ragu + Garlic Bread
Tuesday - Maple Glazed Chicken
Wednesday - Stuffed peppers with leftover ragu from Monday
Thursday - Salisbury steak with butter noodles
Sunday - Chicken with roasted vegetables (from this month's Cook's Country)
Monday - Greek chicken pitas with tzaziki sauce
Tuesday - Roasted corn quesadillas + Guac
Wednesday - Fettucinne + salad
Thursday - Slow cooker barbecue pulled pork sandwiches + beans
Ugh, I have been eating whatever I want and even tough I'm running 20 miles a week the scale shows it. Maybe I didn't need to have a cheeseburger, bratwurst AND hotdog at the tailgate yesterday. Time to plan some healthy meals.
Sunday: Going to try making this meatloaf recipe with turkey instead of beef and individual sizes so they will cook faster. We'll see how this goes. + a bag of steamed veggies with rice
Monday: Mustard roasted salmon + couscous with tomato, cucumber and feta
Tuesday: Chicken, artichoke and spinach calzone (from cook's country) with marinara sauce
Wednesday: Chicken Picatta
Thursday: Prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin with herb pan sauce (from cook's country) + steamed veggies
Sunday - We grilled on our new deck (pictures coming soon) to celebrate my mom's 59th birthday
Monday - Anna had a cheerleading clinic so I fed them Subway
Tuesday - Steak Salad
Wednesday - Lasagna Rollups + Garlic bread
Thursday - Homemade Pizza
Friday - Anna is performing at the football game so we will probably eat something quick
Day three of a month of dinners which I started last week was Pork Chops with roasted beets and oranges. I confirmed that I do not like my oranges hot. The kids confirmed they don't like beets. Again I felt like this meal needed a starch so I also made some couscous. The pork chops were actually fine. Thank god. So everyone got to eat something. The kids referred to it as steak and dipped it in A1.
At this point I feel like I have to write that I promise, my kids really aren't picky eaters. They usually try everything, they even like salad, brussel sprouts and soup. I swear I didn't say anything to discourage them on the beets. By this time they had started complaining about dinner. They were forcing themselves to eat it because they know they don't get dessert without eating a good dinner, but even I was having a hard time encouraging them to eat something that I know doesn't taste good.
Strike three and I'm annoyed.
Wednesday I ended up having to go to a soccer game to entertain a client. I believe Kevin made the kids pizza rolls. I'm sure if you asked them it was the best meal they ate all week.
Day four of meal planning was Chicken with potatoes, bacon and cabbage. My first clue should have been that the chicken was only seasoned with salt and pepper.
I now know that I do not like cabbage cooked in three tablespoons of apple vinegar and a tablespoon of whole grain mustard. I must say that my meal did not even closely resemble the picture.
I wasn't having a very good night. I had gotten some unexpected news at work. Kevin was not in a good mood. I burnt the bacon because I was busy chopping cabbage, so I had to do that part over. It tasted better when I mixed all three items together, but of course the kids wanted to eat them separately and alone they were not good.
I believe this is the night Carter commented "Mommy, you used to make good dinners." Yes, yes I did.
At this point I had one recipe left. Tortellini with squash, mushrooms and fontina. How badly could they screw up tortellini I thought. Tonight I felt compelled to use the produce I had bought so I peeled and chopped the squash and mixed it with the mushrooms and started roasting them while I waited for my water to boil. I could smell the mushrooms and to be honest, I don't really like mushrooms. The more I checked them the more I knew no one was going to eat them. I turned the oven off, pulled them out and dumped them down the garbage disposal.
Then I made garlic bread, a salad and added a jar of pasta sauce to my tortellini. Carter told me it was the "best meal ever" although to be fair he has said this many times over (just not in the past week ha!).
So that was that. We are now back on track. I am done with this Real Simple plan. I'm convinced none of the recipes were tested by working moms or on kids.
This week's meal plan:
Sunday: Tortellini with salad and garlic bread
Monday: Turkey tacos with homemade guacamole
Tuesday: Pasta with leftover chicken apple sausage
Wednesday: We are hoping our new deck will be done and we are grilling ribeyes + potatoes
Thursday: Grilled barbecue chicken + sides ?
And I think we are going back to the Cook's Country Recipes we were using more frequently months ago. I may even pay for access to the site so I don't have to keep the magazines piled up.
Day two of A Month of Dinners from Real Simple was Tomato Soup with Paninis. Carter chose to help me make this meal. I edited 45 minutes of video into 9 that I've named "Cooking with Carter." I personally think his commentary on the whole meal is hysterical. He frequently breaks into song. If you can get past the fact that you have to stare at my mid section for most of the video (and that's not my best section) and all the crap on my counter in the background, then I think it's worth it.
If Real Simple's goal is "taking back dinner" then mission accomplished because Carter and I definitely enjoyed cooking together.
Unfortunately the reviews of the meal weren't as good as the reviews of making the meal. Several times Carter exclaims "This HAS to be better than last night" and while Kevin and I agreed it was an improvement over day 1 the kids did not agree. They didn't like the sandwiches grilled - they claimed they were burnt. They weren't burnt but it's clear they prefer their sandwiches cold and if I was going to make cold sandwiches this meal would have been a lot faster and simpler to just make some turkey or roast beef sandwiches. The soup was ok but not as good as Nordstrom cafe's tomato soup and so I would just recommend picking up a jar of that and heating it at home to go with some cold sandwiches if you wanted to make this meal. Or go with simple grilled cheese. Way faster and easier and everyone would have liked it more.
Strike two.
With my recent traveling I picked up the latest Real Simple magazine that touted it's Month of Dinners on the cover. I followed a similar article nearly 10 years ago that I loved so I was excited to try this one.
As soon as we got back from our trip to Colorado today I grabbed the preprinted grocery list and headed out. Day one is Salmon With Gingery Green Beans and Bok Choy
Real Simple is blogging about it here as well.
I would not make this recipe again. Granted I bought frozen salmon and I think that was my first mistake but the fresh salmon had all been cut up and only had ends left over that didn't look appealing. And I think I overcooked it. I drowned it in soy sauce in order to eat it. The kids wouldn't touch the vegetables. And I thought it needed a starch so I made a box of rice which was the only thing anyone ate.
Let's hope day two is better!
Sunday - leftovers from company picnic
Monday - Chicken fried steak
Tuesday - Country Captain Chicken with White and Wild Rice
Wednesday - I can't remember now...
Thursday - Corn Chowder from Help My Apartment Has a Kitchen
Last week I was in Indianapolis so Kevin was on his own all week with the kiddos. I imagine they had frozen pizza, chinese food and take out pizza.
Sunday - Kabobs + Salad
Monday - Taco Soup
Tuesday - Steak Salad
Wednesday - Brats + sides
Thursday - TBD
Friday - Eat Out
This week I have some traveling for work so we need quick and easy dinners.
Sunday - either homemade or frozen pizza
Monday - cheeseburgers and/or hot dogs and/or brawts + chips and dip
Tuesday - tortellini + garlic ciabatta bread or salad
Wednesday - BLTs + fries
Thursday - Tacos or taco soup? still deciding
I only have to plan 3 meals this week due to weekday activities.
Sunday - Stuffed shells with bruschetta
I have a secret ingredient when I make bruschetta: cream cheese. First I mix up a can of petite diced tomatoes with basil, red onion and olive oil. Slice a baguette, brush with olive oil, spread a layer of cream cheese, top with the tomato mixture and toast in the over until warm. Deliciousness! I buy the frozen V's shells, top with a jar of sauce and mozzarella and bake. Easy peasy so I can do a little work on the bruschetta.
Monday - Eat on the go
Tuesday - Grilled chicken and corn salad
Wednesday - Royals
Thursday - Turkey Taco Salad
Friday - Eat Out
Sunday - Spaghetti with meat sauce + salad
Monday - Order pizza
Tuesday - Fajitas + Guac (using steak we had frozen)
Wednesday - Greek chicken pitas + hummus (I have greek seasoning I add to chicken, top with tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives except for kevin. Then I'll make a tzatiki sauce with plain yogurt, cucumber, garlic and a little citrus in the food processor)
Thursday - TBD
Sunday - Ravioli with zuchinni + salad (we have zuchinni from the garden)
Monday - Homemade tomato soup (made Sunday, served cold) + Grilled cheese sammies (we have LOTS of tomatoes in the garden)
Tuesday - Salmon + Green beans + couscous (we have salmon in the freezer from when I bought extra when it was on sale)
Wednesday - Grilled buttermilk chicken
(we have chicken thighs in the freezer) + tomato-mozzarella salad
Thursday - Royals game
I realized I should mention that while I plan each week's meals, things don't always go according to plan. Things frequently don't go according to plan. I will switch days around, or insert a take out meal if the day gets bad. Sometimes there are bad days if you know what I mean.
For example, last week I forgot I had to go to Colorado and back on Tuesday so I didn't get home until around 6:45 that night. Since I left the house at 4:30 am I didn't start the pork in the crock pot :) So instead of pulled pork sandwiches on Tuesday Kevin made the kids hamburgers. That meant we didn't have sliders on Wednesday. Instead I made BLTs and the corn tomato avocado side from Tuesday's plan. I think we had the chicken parmesan earlier in the week rather than later. Bottom line - we didn't have the grean bean side at all and we didn't have the pulled pork sandwiches until yesterday (Sunday of this week)
All of the recipes were okay. Would I make any of them again? Probably not. I find that with most recipes I make. They aren't bad. They just aren't amazing. At least they are something different.
I had high hopes for the pulled pork. It was good but it was hard to pull it. Kevin said that meant it probably got too hot too fast. The coleslaw was good on the sandwich but I wouldn't eat it by itself. With a tablespoon of tobasco it tasted too much like tobasco by itself to me.
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This week's menu has already had an adjustment :)
Sunday - those pulled pork sandwiches planned for last week
Monday - planned steak salad (leftover from steak with Kevin's parents when they visited on Saturday) but I had to go to an appointment and didn't get home until after 7. My mom picked up and fed the kids and Kevin made frozen pizza for us
Tuesday - will actually have the steak salad
Wednesday - Chicken enchiladas + guac
Thursday - spaghetti with sausage sauce
Friday we always eat out. Saturday we usually grill with friends. Those are my standing weekend meals :)
What are you eating this week? Do you have any great sites you use for recipes?
I think I will start posting my meal planning recipes as a blog entry on Sunday and then keep it on the side of the blog to follow along for the week. This could be a recurring Sunday post then and I could follow up on recipes from the previous week. I'll try it and see how it goes :)
Sunday
Steak Salad (using leftover grilled steak from late last week)
Monday
Roasted corn quesadillas
Tuesday
Pulled pork sandwiches
+
Corn tomato avocado salad
Wednesday
Sliders + Green bean salad
Thursday
Chicken Parmesan but I will use some breaded chicken tenders I have from Schwanns to save time
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Found and saved for later
BLT Pasta side
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/blt-pasta-salad-recipe/index.html
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