Tag: menu planning

Menu Monday 7

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menu Monday

It’s time for Menu Monday, hosted at Mary Ellen Barrett‘s corner of the Internet.

I’m still substitute-teaching, and with the “fall back” to Standard Time (can’t we just pick one and stick with it?) I’m setting up an easy plan for the next few days.

chicken pepper paprikaSUNDAY:  Chicken and Pepper Paprika over noodles. I’ll be writing this one up. Here’s a teaser photo.

MONDAY:  Chicken with Lemon and Garlic, rice, roasted asparagus.

TUESDAY:  Pork Carnitas Tacos and salad.

WEDNESDAY:  Chicken Caesar Sandwiches in the slow cooker. Our over-the-stove microwave is being replaced, since its mysterious demise when Little Brother was using it as a timer 2 weeks ago. I can put the slow cooker someplace else in the kitchen, to give the late-afternoon installation guy room to get the job done.

THURSDAY:  Spaghetti and meatballs.

FRIDAY:  Seafood Surprise. Translation:  I have 1 or 2 servings each of various fish fillets like tilapia, swai, cod and whiting. 3 of us need to eat. The surprise is what type of fish each person will get. I have a Meatless Friday fish recipe coming up at CatholicMom.com this week, so I might use that one for whatever fish I wind up cooking. That recipe will go live Friday morning at 8 or 9 AM (I’m not sure. The time change is messing up my sense of the schedule, especially since the site is based on Pacific time to start with.)

SATURDAY:  Leftovers, now that I’ll have a working microwave to warm them.

Menu Monday 4

franciscanmom2 Comments

menu Monday

I’m linking up with Mary Ellen Barrett’s Menu Monday feature.

It’s Columbus Day morning, and there’s no school today! I subbed 3 1/2 days last week and (so far) am down for one day this week. I’m going to savor this day “off,” do lots of laundry, clean up around here, FINALLY roast the chicken I FINALLY got, and maybe even bake a little.

2014-09-11 18.22.54
Not-So-Spicy Peanut Chicken

SUNDAY:  I realized yesterday that between my rehearsal for the Festival of Lessons and Carols (coming in December!) and the Kid’s audition for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (also coming in December!) there was no way I’d have time to roast a chicken. Plan B was magically delicious and super-quick:  Not-So-Spicy Peanut Chicken (but with a twist. I had no bell peppers, so I just used a whole onion and served the stir-fry over broccoli.

MONDAY:  Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots.

Miss Jill's Chicken
Miss Jill’s Chicken

TUESDAY:  From the Department of We Didn’t Have This Last Week, Pork chops with fennel and oregano, Portuguese rice, vegetable. I still have to write up that pork recipe. It’s based on a Frugal Gourmet recipe and tastes like Italian sausage!

WEDNESDAY:  Spaghetti and meatballs. Pasta Night is back to Wednesdays, at least for this week. I still have to see how the Kid’s rehearsal schedule is going to affect things.

THURSDAY:  Miss Jill’s Chicken, roasted potatoes with zatar seasoning, vegetable.

Pan-Seared Cod
Pan-Seared Cod

MEATLESS FRIDAY:  Pan-Seared Cod with Mandarin Orange Sauce. I’m still figuring out the side dishes.

SATURDAY:  Fiesta Chicken Tacos, cilantro-lime rice, raw vegetable platter. I’ll be doubling or maybe even tripling this recipe so I can have quick and easy taco filling in the freezer for dinner emergencies!

Fiesta Chicken Tacos
Fiesta Chicken Tacos

SUNDAY:  The Kid and I BOTH have rehearsals at nearly the same time. I have to work out his transporation to his rehearsal and we’ll need an easy-to-prepare dinner afterward. Hamburgers, baked beans and a pasta salad might do the trick!

Now that I have this week’s plan figured out, it’s time to work out how we’re all going to get through the next 2 months of rehearsals times two. I foresee a lot of triple batches and Survival Dinners in our future! Stay tuned!

Small Success Thursday: Sticking to the Plan

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Small-Success-Thursday-400pxThursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

Around here, it’s been a busy week, what with a playground injury Friday that kept Little Brother away from soccer for a week (and included a trip for an x-ray that showed no permanent damage to his foot), an appointment with Little Brother’s new endocrinologist, and TheDad’s 2-year cancer checkup (so far so good!)

So…a lot of running around happened. And I managed not to let it ruin my plan.

Either that, or I’ve learned to make the plan flexible enough so that it won’t be ruined when my kid gets kicked in the back of the ankle while playing soccer at recess.

IMG_0237-0What’s worked this week?

  • I stuck to the meal plan (how do you like my spiffy Catholic Sistas meal-planning calendar? I’ve even remembered to write down necessary ingredients when planning way ahead.) And yes, I definitely use pencil to plan. It’s easier to shuffle things around this way when life gets in the way of the calendar.
  • We tried a new recipe! And I wrote it up! I’ve got a new recipe on the calendar for next week too.
  • In a nonfood success, I found a great sale on golf shirts for TheDad (he wears them to work) and a few things Little Brother needed, and spent a total of $125 (thank you, coupon code and free shipping) on over $300 worth of clothing. Bargains for the win!
  • And I’m starting to put my calendar to work for me, little by little cleaning out my overflowing email inbox and saving items to my calendar rather than keeping them in the inbox where they get forgotten.

2014-09-11 18.23.01Speaking of meal planning, I’m all about Mary Ellen Barrett’s upcoming linkup, so I’ve got to get next week all figured out! I used to post my menu plans, but I got away from that. It’ll be fun to pick that up again.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!