Use What I've Got Meal Plan

I haven't done a real meal plan in awhile...everything has been haphazard and anti-planned. Its thrown me off my eating plan and everything else so I'm trying to get back on track again.

So to use what we've got on hand this weekend I'm making this:

Cheerio Breakfast Cookies

Carne Adovado with Rice

Layered Eggplant Casserole

Thai Fish Lettuce Wraps

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

Meal Plan: Oct 12-Oct 25

Things are tight so in order to really stay in budget I have to stick to the meal plan during this two week pay period. I only got the things I needed at the grocery store and tried to get things that would use alot of the same ingredients so I could get the most use out of what I already have on hand in the pantry too. We'll see if I can manage to feed 3 on $110 for two weeks. (Mind you I have alot in my pantry so the actual cost would really be more)

Sunday: Asian Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Veggies with Rice Wine Oyster Sauce
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Crockpot Angel Chicken and Rice
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday:Beef Tips and Noodles
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Chili Dog Nachos
Sunday: Pulled Pork, Honey Roast Potatoes, Corn Casserole
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Cottage Cheese Chicken Enchiladas, Mexi Rice
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Chicken Butternut Squash and noodle Casserole, Salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Lasagna, Salad

Weekly Menu Planner: Sept 13-19

I'm late with my menu planner-I spent all night Friday in line at the gas station to buy nearly $5 per gallon gas then came home and just sat and watched Hurricane Ike coverage. I really need to wean myself off the news for a bit-its just making me too depressed.

I'm not feeling inspired-well I am, but I'm so broke that we are sticking to large batch cooking and lots of leftovers this week. This menu sure won't be hard to stick to at all-not alot of planning or cooking required. I really feel like baking-but just discovered I'm out of flour. BOO to that.

Saturday- Corned Beef, Cabbage and Smashed Red Potatoes
Sunday- Leftovers
Monday- Chili and cornbread
Tuesday- Leftovers
Wednesday- Leftovers
Thursday-Pasta Bake and Salad
Friday- Leftovers

Weekly Menu Planner-Just a Little Late...

It was a busy weekend so I didn't get my meal plan done for this week until this morning. I'm feeling kind of uninspired and craving alot of bad food so I hope I'm able to pull off the meals this week. It would be nice if we get some rain to cool things off too. I love to cook when its rainy and cool.

Monday-Grilled chicken and pineapple kabobs, veggie fried rice
Tuesday-Leftovers
Wednesday-Turkish chicken thighs and curried brown rice and lentil pilaf
Thursday-Leftovers
Friday-Twirly Whirly Pizza and Salad
Saturday-Grilled T-bones with chimichurri, smashed red potatoes and roasted green beans
Sunday-Dinner Out!

This Week's Meal Plan: Aug 30-Sep 5

I'm still kind of a in blah cooking funk right now-I have all of the recipes I *want* to try out-but once I get home from work in the evenings I just haven't felt like really getting into the kitchen and creating. Tracy's got a big competition today so we'll probably meet him later and have dinner out somewhere. I'm not feeling all that inspired this week so I'll duplicate alot of what we've had recently.

Saturday: dinner out...plus Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Homemade Pitas to snack on

Sunday: Baked Chicken Parmesan with Whole Wheat Lingine and Fresh Pesto

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Kids Choice Grilled Nutter Butter Nana Sammiches and Triple Berry Smoothies

Wednesday: Cat's Newspaper Chili, Salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Baked Chicken Chimichangas, Elote

Extras: lime-sugar-cookies

Weekly Menu Planner: Aug 23-29

Go ME! I actually stuck to my meal plan this past week and made everything I had planned to make. Really made my week much easier. I'm not really feeling the whole meat and poultry thing this week. Its summer and I tend to get sick of really heavy food this time of year. My husband has a hard time accepting a plate of food without any "meat" on it though so I'll throw some in there just to be nice to him.


Saturday~Ham Steaks, Speedy Spinach Quiche, Salad

Sunday~Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Pita Triangles, greek salad

Monday~Baked Chops, Brussel Sprouts with White Beans, Smashed Red Potatoes

Tuesday~Leftovers

Wednesday~Chicken Florentine Rice Casserole, Marinated Tomato Salad

Thursday~Leftovers

Friday~Oven Baked Chimichangas, Corn and Black Bean Salsa

**Extras~Chocolate Zucchini Bread and a batch of pesto to freeze.

Weekly Menu: Aug 16-Aug 22

I've decided to start my weekly meal planning on Saturdays every week...I know you are just dying to know why right about now -aren't you? Well I'm just all unpredictable and crazy like that! Living on the edge-that's me! RIIIIIGGGHHHT then. So, really I'm doing that because its just more logical for me. Saturday is my first day off, I usually spend it grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, sticking around the house. See-I told you I am like totally living on the edge!

Really though, I get my cooking for the week started on Saturday and have more time to play around with recipes and stuff. I often times make enough on Saturday and Sunday to carry over into Monday meals anyway. So there it is. My FOOD week starts on Saturday.


Saturday: Poached Salmon w/ Creamy Piccatta Sauce, Herbed Couscous w/ Tomatoes, Salad

Sunday: Citrus Chicken with Roasted Green Beans and Red Peppers, Fruited Rice Pilaf

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Salmon Patties w/ Wasabi Mayo, Sweet Potato Fries, Napa Cabbage and Carrots

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Chilaquiles Casserole, Pico De Gallo, Mexican Rice

Friday: Leftovers

Tuesday's Weekly Planner: Aug 4-10

Meh, I'm always a day late a dollar short so the theme might as well carry over into my weekly meal planning too. Hey-at least I'm consistent people-you can at least give me that , right?
Its Tuesday and I am planning my meals for the week now. Mondays are just too depressing to even try to be organized and Sundays-well Sundays are family days for us and frankly, I just don't feel the need to do anything productive on Sundays.

That being said here is the plan for this week:

Monday- Sunday Night Chili Leftovers and a ginormous tossed salad.
Tuesday-Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken, Veggie Fried Rice
Wednesday-Leftovers
Thursday-Crockpot Chicken and White Beans with Tomatillas, Mexican Rice
Friday-Leftovers
Saturday- Tex Mex Pumpkin Patties, Spicy Black Beans and Rice, Mixed Greens Salad
Sunday-Citrus Roast Chickens, Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Lemon Almond Green Beans

Its Chicken and Cilantro Week!

That's right people-in honor of all things chicken-y and cilantro-y this week's menu plan will be full of things that include chicken and cilantro in the recipe. Really-I took a look in the produce drawer and saw I had a bunch of cilantro that really needed to be used quickly and I know I've got a truckload of chicken breasts in the deep freezer.

I'm trying to be as efficient as possible with cooking so it will give me more time to work out in the evenings after work and more time to have my meals prepared and packaged for the next day. The more advance planning and prep I have done, the more likely I will be to stick to my meal plan and not only save money but also lose weight.

Here's the meal plan recipe list for the week:

Trinidad Stewed Chicken,Caribbean White Beans, Red Rice

Chicken and Mandarin Oranges, Greens Beans with Almonds, Soba Noodles

Spicy Cuban Mojo Chicken with Mango-Avocado Salsa, Black Beans with Lime and Cilantro

Chicken Encilantrada-I'm thinking I will stuff this into tortillas with some queso fresco.

Sofrito (making a batch to freeze)

Arroz Con Pollo

All of these recipes are fairly low fat and low calorie-or can be adjusted to make them that way. While I was searching for new recipes to try I came across quite a few delicious Thai recipes-but the calorie count was insane.

Be on the lookout for recipe reviews, adjustments and pictures this week!