Food Friendly Friday - Week 1

(haha - pretty cheesy title right!)

A lot of blogs have a 'Menu Plan Monday', and they all have great recipes and weekly menus to check out (some are listed on the right :)), and I do check them out and use them, but for my blogging purposes, I will post on Friday (because I plan on Thursday and shop on Saturday). Hence the cheesy title...gotta name it something!

A little background on our family food habits...the main point being that our (my) two kids are only with us 4 days out of 8, so it really plays a part on what will be eaten that night. Also, our 17 year old starts work at 5 generally and will just eat before us. Some nights are VERY laid back as far as meal prep goes, with only 2 or 3 of us to cook for, although that doesn't stop us from going all out if we feel like it!

Another thing is that we have whatever nights. Lately I've been scheduling this for Wednesday's, which makes for a nice break in the middle of the work week. Basically we all have whatever we want that is in the house. Leftovers, canned soup, cereal, sandwich, cheese and crackers...see, whatever! It's supposed to be a good way to eat up the leftovers, and can be, but we are picky about which leftovers we like, so I'm slack on that. I try not to succumb to takeout on this night based on principal...what principal I'm not exactly sure!

Lastly, we are far from perfect in the food category. Although I find it extremely helpful to plan our week's worth of dinners ahead of time, there are times when takeout is just too convenient. For the most part, it's lack of motivation that causes the need for convenience, but that's where having a plan is all the motivation I need to cook a healthy, home cooked meal most nights, so that's why I bother to plan in the first place. But I don't beat myself up either if I skip the plan one night every couple of weeks.

Okay, on to my first weekly menu post (yay!!!) 

(I'm trying some new recipes this week, hope they turn out!):

Saturday - (no kids today and tomorrow)- (shopping day) - Whole cooked chicken from the deli and buns - believe it or not, it's generally cheaper to buy a whole cooked chicken over a raw one at my grocery store, so that's usually the way we go. We usually have it in chunks on tray buns with miracle whip.

Sunday - Chicken Stir Fry - (using leftover chicken from Saturday) - I just sauté whatever vegetables I have in EVOO and then toss in the cooked chicken, some sort of stir fry sauce and some Epicure stir fry spices and serve with rice.  Easy Peasy!

Monday (kids for 4 days) - *Slow Cooker Ham and Parmesan Potatoes* - *new recipe* - I try to do slow cooker meals on Mondays 'cause it's a hectic day at work :)  Here's a link to the recipe (oh, and the links do work now!):

http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpothamrecipes/r/bl99c2.htm

Tuesday - *Shaker Village Tomato Soup* and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - *new recipe* - a twist on an old standby.  Again, the link:

http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/01/shaker-village-tomato-soup.html

Whatever Wednesday

Thursday - *Slow Cooker Spicy Goulash* - *new recipe - follow link* - I have my own goulash recipe that I will post some day, but this sounds good. I will be swapping the ground turkey for ground beef.

http://debbidoesdinnerhealthy.blogspot.com/2011/04/spicy-goulash.html

Friday - (no kids) - Chicken Burgers and Taters - not the best meal, but what the heck, when all white meat breaded burgers go on sale, you buy them! And I bake them of course, same with the frozen taters :)

Thoughts on Week 2's menu:

There is still ground beef, ham and pork chops in the freezer, so I'll be trying to use those up. Maybe a second try on a newly found recipe and also a couple of tried and true's to make up for all the new stuff this week!

Do you plan your meals? Post a comment and let me know!

Pssst, Amazon has some great calendars to help you plan. I've seen this one being used by a few bloggers out there..

Happy cooking, and have a great weekend!