Meal Planning: March 1-14, 2016

I'm working ahead this time and have the meal plan set up for March 1 through 14 already. Keep in mind, meal planning isn't set in stone. If you happen to have leftovers that need to be used, there's a really great sale or you come across something that's about to go bad/expire, cook it up. The big goals of meal planning are to save money, which includes reducing waste and avoiding eating out.

Here's what I'll be cooking at our house:


March 1
Egg noodles topped with gravy along with roasted carrots

March 2
Slow-cooker beef roast with roasted potatoes and mixed veggies

March 3
Pork chops with rice, applesauce and corn

March 4
Orange chicken with fried rice and mandarin orange slices

March 5
Pork roast with mashed potatoes and green beans

March 6
Salmon with green salad

March 7
Spaghetti

March 8
Roasted carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes with quinoa

March 9
Herb chicken thighs with mixed veggies

March 10
Marinated chicken with rice and green beans

March 11
Homemade cheese pizza

March 12
Grandma's baked macaroni and cheese

March 13
Gnochi with cream sauce and mushrooms

March 14
Green salad with Italian bread

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Meal Planning for Feb. 16 - 29, 2016

Things have been crazy around here the past few weeks so I've been glad that I've at least had meals planned out! More is coming soon about all the craziness so keep an eye out. A post on how to meal plan is also in the works. I'd love to hear how you're meal planning has been going in the comments below. In the meantime, where's what we're eating the rest of the month:

2/16  Herb pork chops with green beans and batard bread

2/17 Spaghetti with meat sauce and green salad

2/18  Frozen pre-made Chinese for the parents and chicken nuggets, corn and baked potatoes for the kids

2/19 Whole roasting chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed veggies

2/20 Chicken corn chowder

2/21 Tacos

2/22 Lemon salmon with rice and broccoli

2/23 Homemade pizza

2/24 Stuffed peppers

2/25 Leftovers

2/26 Salad

2/27 Beef roast with baked potatoes and carrots

2/28 Chicken tortellini with green salad

2/29 BBQ chicken thighs with parsley buttered potatoes and roast pumpkin


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Meal Planning for Feb. 2- 15, 2016

I'm planning out our dinners for the next two weeks. Here's what we'll be having. Hopefully, it'll give you some ideas of what to add to your own menu. How're you doing with meal planning so far this year?

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2/2 Tuesday 
Cheesesteak sandwiches topped with peppers and with green salad on the side

2/3 Wednesday
Orange chicken, jasmine rice and broccoli

2/4 Thursday
Mixed greens salad topped with chicken strips

2/5 Friday
Ranch chicken wraps

2/6 Saturday
Baked ziti with green salad

2/7 Sunday
Herb baked salmon with mixed veggies and Italian bread

2/8 Monday
Turkey burgers with baked potatoes and corn

2/9 Tuesday
Marinated pork chops with brown rice and green beans

2/10 Wednesday
Roasted pumpkin, carrots and potatoes with quinoa

2/11 Thursday
BBQ chicken thighs with mashed potatoes and leftover roasted veggies

2/12 Friday
Grilled cheese and soup

2/13 Saturday
New Orleans red beans and rice

2/14 Sunday
Tuna salad on a bed of lettuce

2/15 Monday
Slow cooked pork roast with white rice and corn

On the Meal Planning Wagon Jan. 19 - Feb. 1, 2016

It's time to plan the next two weeks of dinners in order to stay on the meal planning wagon! So far, it's going well. Do you do meal planning at your house?

Here's what I'll be serving up to the family for the rest of the month:

Meal Planing Menu

1/19 Orange chicken with brown rice and peppers
1/20 Mixed greens salad
1/21 Pizza (crust from scratch)
1/22 White Belgian Ale salmon with jasmine rice and mixed veggies
1/23 Potato soup with Italian bread
1/24 Italian marinated chicken with quinoa and corn
1/25 Steakumms covered in peppers and mozzarella
1/26 Pasta wheels with sauce
1/27 Leftovers
1/28 Mixed greens salad
1/29 Marinated salmon with French cut green beans
1/30 Three cheese baked ziti
1/31 Pork stirfry
2/1 Herb baked chicken with baked potatoes and carrots

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What's for Dinner April 26-May 2? (and printable)

I realized we haven't had homemade pizza in awhile. I make the crust from scratch, which takes awhile but is so worth it!

Sunday

Sweet and sour chicken with fried rice and green salad

Monday

Beef roast with baked potatoes and mixed veggies

Tuesday

Waffles with fruit salad and sausages

Wednesday

Homemade sausage pizza with garlic bread and green salad

Thursday

Leftovers

Friday

Terriyaki chicken with jasmine rice and broccoli

Saturday

Vegetable medley with couscous

Remember the handy printable weekly dinner menu. It's 8x10 in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board.  Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

What's for Dinner April 26-May 2? (and printable)

I realized we haven't had homemade pizza in awhile. I make the crust from scratch, which takes awhile but is so worth it!

Sunday

Sweet and sour chicken with fried rice and green salad

Monday

Beef roast with baked potatoes and mixed veggies

Tuesday

Waffles with fruit salad and sausages

Wednesday

Homemade sausage pizza with garlic bread and green salad

Thursday

Leftovers

Friday

Terriyaki chicken with jasmine rice and broccoli

Saturday

Vegetable medley with couscous

Remember the handy printable weekly dinner menu. It's 8x10 in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board.  Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

What's for Dinner April 19-25? (and printable)

What's on your meal plan for this week? Here's what I've got planned.

Sunday

Chicken pot pie 

Monday

Homemade chicken nuggets with peirogies and mixed veggies

Tuesday

Club sandwiches and soup and tortilla chips

Wednesday

Steaks with baked potatoes and corn

Thursday

Spaghetti with three cheese sauce and green salad

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

 Herb crusted pork chops with jasmine rice and a  cauliflower/ broccoli mix topped with cheddar cheese

Remember the handy printable weekly dinner menu. It's 8x10 in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board.  Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

What's for Dinner April 12-18? (and printable)

Let's get right to it this week.

Sunday
Slow cooker apple honey pork roast with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and broccoli

Monday

Baked dried tomato and olive oil chicken thighs with green salad

Tuesday

Oven roasted corn, peppers, and mushrooms with quinoa

Wednesday

Turkey burgers with French fries and corn

Thursday

Baked herb crusted tilapia with couscous and carrots

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

 Ravioli with green salad

Remember the handy printable weekly dinner menu. It's 8x10 in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board.  Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

What's for Dinner April 5-11? (and printable)

Happy Easter! Today, I am trying something different for my Three New Dinner Challenge. I wanted to do something a bit different than our traditional Easter dinner.

Sunday

Honey glazed ham with rolls, potato salad, deviled eggs, cauliflower and broccoli covered in cheese, and yellow butter cake with buttercream frosting--all from scratch--for dessert.

Tip: Ham is usually expensive. Buy an extra large ham, divide it up, and freeze what you don't need for Easter. That way, you have ham for later that's at the Easter sale price.

Monday

Mixed greens salad with leftover rolls

Tuesday

Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and green salad

Wednesday

Lemon crusted tilapia with rice and mixed veggies

Thursday

Bacon chive chicken with baked potatoes and corn

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

 Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, and green beans

Remember the handy printable weekly dinner menu. It's 8x10 in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board.  Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

What's for Dinner March 29-April 4? (and printable)

Check out what's for dinner this week.

Sunday

 Hamburgers with French fries and green beans

Monday

 Tuna salad wraps with green salad

Tuesday

Grilled chicken strips with couscous and carrots

Wednesday

Pork chops with rice and mixed veggies

Thursday

Baked Tilapia with quinoa and peas

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

Beef roast with corn bread and broccoli

Don't forget the printable weekly dinner menu to help your planning. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

M's Three New Dinners Challenge

My kitchen has become way too boring and hum drum. Cooking dinner every night gets stale after awhile. All the same recipes, over and over again. Even with a large variety of dishes to cook, I still get burnt out after awhile. I end up with cook's block -- no idea what in the world to cook because it seems like (because I have) cooked it all so much. Chicken, beef, pork, pasta -- it all seems the same no matter how you cook it. Blech.

Enter the Three New Dinners Challenge. Over the next month, I'm challenging myself to try three new meals to make. Each must be one I haven't done before and has to be at least somewhat healthy (no corndogs, mac and cheese, tatertot casseroles, that sort of thing). Right now, I'm still figuring out all the recipes I want to try. Of course, I never take recipes at face value. I always tweak them to make them my own. They're most likely fine as-is. I simply like to be creative with cooking and put my stamp on it. Hopefully, the dishes turn out to be good so that I can add it to my recipe stash in order to spice things up a bit. If the recipes are good, I'll share them at the end of the month in a wrap up. If they're not good...well, then we'll just pretend those don't exist.

As an added bonus to the challenge, I'm going to bring back recipes I haven't made in awhile, for whatever reason. My rut needs to be gotten out of and that'll help, too.

To recap, the Three New Dinners Challenge is:

1. Three new (at least semi-healthy) dinners over the next month.
2. Each dinner has to be something you haven't made before.
3. Extra credit: Bring back a few recipes you've made before, but haven't had in awhile.

Are you up for joining me on this challenge?

What's for Dinner March 22-28? (and a Free Printable)

What's for dinner at your house this week? Here are some ideas for you, based on what we're having.

Sunday

 Ranch chicken strips with peas and baked potato

Monday

 Chicken salad on bread with mixed greens salad

Tuesday

 BBQ bacon chive baked chicken with brown rice and mixed veggies

Wednesday

 Toddler-made pizzas

Click fore recipe.

Thursday

Roasted fresh mushrooms, green peppers, corn and carrots over quinoa 

This one is part of my Three New Dinners Challenge. Read about it tomorrow!

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

Whole roast chicken with French bread, green beans, and lettuce salad

Don't forget the printable weekly dinner menu to help your planning. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

What's for Dinner (and a Printable)

Here is a printable weekly dinner menu to help your planning. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning. 

I am loving our new range. I look forward to testing it out with baking this week for St. Patrick's Day. Even more exciting, I am trying out a new product to help me do that baking. Next week a review (my first blog video) goes up along with a giveaway of the product (also our first).

Monday

Baked herb chicken thighs with carrots and green beans

Tuesday

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 
Corned beef with parsley buttered potatoes, white corn, and cupcakes

Wednesday

Green salad topped with leftover chicken, shredded, and French bread

Thursday

Soup and grilled cheese with green salad

Friday

Baked spiced tilapia with baked potato and corn

Saturday

Slow cooker pork roast with jasmine rice and mixed veggies

Sunday
Fettuccine Alfredo mixed with broccoli and cauliflower

What's for Dinner? and Printable

New this week is a printable weekly dinner menu. It's a handy 8x10 size in case you'd like to frame it and use it as a dry erase menu board. All you need to do is put in the dates at the top, fill in your main courses and sides for each day. As an added plus, there's a spot to note leftovers you have from last week so you can incorporate them this week, and another spot to note leftovers from this week for next. Find out about the benefits of meal planning.

Monday

Bean burritos with cheese, green salad, and jasmine rice

Tuesday

Beef roast with mixed veggies, corn bread, and garlic butter red potatoes

Wednesday

Baked Old Spice Tilapia with brown rice, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots

Thursday

Spaghetti with meat sauce (using leftover beef roast) and green salad

Friday

Italian pork chops with baked potato and corn

Saturday

Leftovers

Sunday
Roast chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and stuffing

What's for Dinner?

Check out what's cooking in M's kitchen this week.

Monday
 Chicken fajitas with refried beans, rice, and green salad

Tuesday
 Steaks with mashed potatoes and corn

Wednesday
Fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli

Thursday
 Sweet Italian sausages in a bun with baked potato and mixed vegetables

Friday

Ranch chicken with couscous and green beans

Saturday
Beef stew with French bread

Sunday
Leftovers

Cooking with M: What's for Dinner?

 I've been getting tired of the usual stuff we make. The grocery store yielded some new ideas in the ethnic section that I'm going to be trying this week.

Let's see what's for dinner!

Monday

Indian butter chicken with white rice, broccoli, and cauliflower

Tuesday

Cheeseburgers with French fries and corn

Wednesday

Breaded pork chops with baked potato and green beans

Thursday

Sweet and sour chicken with mixed grain salad and mixed vegetables

Friday

Waffles with mixed fruit and turkey sausage

Saturday

Three cheese turkey lasagne with garlic bread and green salad

Sunday

Turkey legs with stuffing, mashed potatoes and peas

What's for Dinner?

Here is what we're having at our house this week for dinner. Hopefully, it'll give you some inspiration for what to cook.

Monday

Chicken Cordon Bleu with mixed veggies

Tuesday

Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, and green salad

Wednesday

Lemon citrus steaks with baked potatoes and corn

Thursday

Baked herb tilapia with couscous and green salad

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday

Bar-be-que pulled pork on buns with French fries and green beans

Sunday

Baked herb chicken with egg noodles and broccoli

What's for Dinner?

Monday
Cubed baked chicken mixed with egg noddles and green beans smothered in cream of chicken soup

Tuesday
Apple honey pork loin with corn bread, green salad, and carrots

Wednesday
Baked herb tilapia with rice and green salad

Thursday
Sloppy Joes on buns with French fries and corn

Friday

Todler-made pizza 

Watch for recipe Wednesday

Saturday
Chinese carry out

Sunday
Bar-b-que chicken with baked potatoes and cheese-covered cauliflower, broccoli and carrots

What's for Dinner?

This week I looked through the freezer to plan around the Freezer-Only Challenge. What's in your freezer to help you stick to the challenge this week?

 

Monday

 Sweet and sour chicken with rice and Asian mix veggies

Tuesday

Bun-less turkey cheeseburgers with French fries and corn

Wednesday

Rosemary and onion sirloin pork chops with baked potato and green beans

Thursday

Beef and pepper fajitas with refried beans

Friday

Baked tilapia with green salad

Saturday

Spaghetti with meat sauce and green salad

Sunday 

Leftovers from the week

What's for Dinner?

Mmm mmm mmm look what's for dinner! You may have noticed that I'm sticking to simple, filling, easy-to-make recipes. Doing that is much easier with a newborn right now. The fancier dinners, including things I've never made before, are coming once life settles down more.

Monday

Bar-b-cue chicken thighs and baked potatoes

Tuesday

Baked tilapia with broccoli and rice

Wednesday

Steaks with corn and mashed potatoes

Thursday

Waffles with mixed fruit salad

Friday

Green salad with shredded chicken on top

Saturday

Dressed-up black beans and rice

Sunday

Jamaican Allspice pork chops with peas, carrots and baked potatoes