Menu Monday 6/8

[toadandbuggie]

Hey ladies ! In an effort to be more organized/eat healthy/waste less food, I want to resurrect menu Monday and we can share recipes. Please join me!

Monday: balsamic chicken with string beans and cherry tomatoes
Tuesday: skinny shrimp scampi made with zucchini pasta
Wednesday: eggplant pizza topped with tomatoes and broccoli
Thursday: veggie no pasta "baked ziti"
Friday: burgers - going to try bubba veggie burgers

Also, I whipped out my nutribullet, and if anyone has any great recipes to share post them!

[cginge]

We bought stuff for grilled chicken sausages, turkey burgers, taco salads, and blackened chicken salads. Yay for grill season!

[miniwheat]

toadandbuggie, Do you have a link for your Thursday meal? No pasta baked ziti sounds interesting!

[lilyelayne]

Going to the grocery after lunch

Monday: cuban-marinated steak, roasted carrots, ?potatoes? Or grilled corn
Tuesday: pork chops in slow cooker (never tried this recipe) with spinach salad
Wednesday: at my grandma's
Thursday: leftover pork chops
Friday: with in laws
Saturday: pulled pork sandwiches
Sunday: leftovers or pizza

[toadandbuggie]

Jun 8, 2015 10:27:45 GMT -5 miniwheat said:

toadandbuggie, Do you have a link for your Thursday meal? No pasta baked ziti sounds interesting!

It's actually my own creation... I sauté a bunch of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, carrots and then mix it with a ricotta mixture (ricotta, oregano, basil, egg, salt pepper, garlic, Parmesan cheese) and then toss it in a pan. I sprinkle mozz cheese over and then bake to let the cheese melt.

[mamabisme]

M- stuffed peppers, roasted veggies
T- BBQ chicken, salad, garlic knots
W- M leftovers
Th- T leftovers
F- grilled pork chops, homemade apple sauce, veggie
S- going out
Su- F leftovers

[aggiebug]

M: garlicky spinach sausage gratin and a veggie
T: repeat
W: nachos
Th: tacos

[michelle142]

M: Baked Pizza Casserole
T: Marinated Chicken & Green Beans
W: Mini Parmesan Meatloaves and salad
Th: Turkey Bacon Braid
F: BBQ Ribs & Baked Potatoes

[misshart00]

I have absolutely no ideas for this week. Which sucks because H is actually going to be home most evenings. Ugh.

[miniwheat]

Tonight we are having turkey meatballs on spaghetti squash. The rest of the week I have no idea....

[michelle142]

Am I the only crazy person that plans meals a month at a time?

[cginge]

Jun 8, 2015 13:28:36 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

Am I the only crazy person that plans meals a month at a time?

I am so not at that level of competence yet.

[misshart00]

Jun 8, 2015 13:28:36 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

Am I the only crazy person that plans meals a month at a time?

I want to so bad. But I sit down and meal plan and can't even come up with something for that night. I don't know why this is so hard. You just write down what you want and put it in days of the week. Why do I fail so bad at it? lol.

[MommyOfAMiracle]

I'm with you misshart00. I have a good idea for a week, but that's about it. It's so hard to not repeat the same menu items every week. I'm not the most creative cook.

As for our menu this week...so far I have....

nothin.

[michelle142]

If it helps, I can share my process.

Basically I have a list of meals/recipes that I've made and are good. I have about 30 things in rotation currently.
Each month, I try to make 1 new thing that we haven't tried before - this month is a Chicken Parmesan Lasagna.

I use print-a-calendar.com/ to type out my monthly menu.

Armed with my list, I head to that website and then start typing things out. I try to have 1 chicken, 1 beef and 1 pasta meal each week. The other days are filled in at random. I just try not to have similar dishes in the same week (like spaghetti and lasagna). Weekends is usually leftovers.

Once you have one month made up, the next month is easy - just take week 2 and move it to week 1 of the next month and rotate every thing by a week. Mix it up by moving only Tuesdays and Thursdays and leaving the other days as they are.

Having a big plan like this makes grocery shopping and budgeting a breeze.

[misshart00]

Jun 8, 2015 13:54:18 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

If it helps, I can share my process.

Basically I have a list of meals/recipes that I've made and are good. I have about 30 things in rotation currently.
Each month, I try to make 1 new thing that we haven't tried before - this month is a Chicken Parmesan Lasagna.

I use print-a-calendar.com/ to type out my monthly menu.

Armed with my list, I head to that website and then start typing things out. I try to have 1 chicken, 1 beef and 1 pasta meal each week. The other days are filled in at random. I just try not to have similar dishes in the same week (like spaghetti and lasagna). Weekends is usually leftovers.

Once you have one month made up, the next month is easy - just take week 2 and move it to week 1 of the next month and rotate every thing by a week. Mix it up by moving only Tuesdays and Thursdays and leaving the other days as they are.

Having a big plan like this makes grocery shopping and budgeting a breeze.

This is pretty much exactly what my grandma told me. I just need to sit down and do it. Thank you for letting us know your process.

[aggiebug]

Jun 8, 2015 13:28:36 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

Am I the only crazy person that plans meals a month at a time?

I used to and I loved it. I haven't in a while but am looking to get back on track. I also want to plan a monthly/ bi monthly fill my freezer day.

[misshart00]

Jun 8, 2015 15:08:05 GMT -5 aggiebug said:

Jun 8, 2015 13:28:36 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

Am I the only crazy person that plans meals a month at a time?

I used to and I loved it. I haven't in a while but am looking to get back on track. I also want to plan a monthly/ big monthly fill my freezer day.

I miss my freezer meals. When our freezer went out a few weeks ago, I lost all of them.

[michelle142]

Jun 8, 2015 15:08:05 GMT -5 aggiebug said:

Jun 8, 2015 13:28:36 GMT -5 michelle142 said:

Am I the only crazy person that plans meals a month at a time?

I used to and I loved it. I haven't in a while but am looking to get back on track. I also want to plan a monthly/ big monthly fill my freezer day.

I need to do more freezer meals. I just used up the last one last week!

[aggiebug]

Jun 8, 2015 15:24:03 GMT -5 misshart00 said:

Jun 8, 2015 15:08:05 GMT -5 aggiebug said:

I used to and I loved it. I haven't in a while but am looking to get back on track. I also want to plan a monthly/ big monthly fill my freezer day.

I miss my freezer meals. When our freezer went out a few weeks ago, I lost all of them.

That really sucks.

[lilyelayne]

Jun 8, 2015 11:19:22 GMT -5 toadandbuggie said:

Jun 8, 2015 10:27:45 GMT -5 miniwheat said:

toadandbuggie, Do you have a link for your Thursday meal? No pasta baked ziti sounds interesting!

It's actually my own creation... I sauté a bunch of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, carrots and then mix it with a ricotta mixture (ricotta, oregano, basil, egg, salt pepper, garlic, Parmesan cheese) and then toss it in a pan. I sprinkle mozz cheese over and then bake to let the cheese melt.

That sounds amazing.

[lilyelayne]

michelle142 thanks for sharing your process. Now that I'm not working, I have a better grasp on what each week is going to look like, so maybe I could get ahead like this.

[missys]

Jun 8, 2015 11:19:22 GMT -5 toadandbuggie said:

Jun 8, 2015 10:27:45 GMT -5 miniwheat said:

toadandbuggie, Do you have a link for your Thursday meal? No pasta baked ziti sounds interesting!

It's actually my own creation... I sauté a bunch of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, carrots and then mix it with a ricotta mixture (ricotta, oregano, basil, egg, salt pepper, garlic, Parmesan cheese) and then toss it in a pan. I sprinkle mozz cheese over and then bake to let the cheese melt.

I'm stealing this! Thank you for sharing!

[osumegs]

Tonight: one pot chicken, potatoes, carrots
Tuesday: slow cooker cranberry pork, oven roasted green beans
wednesday: balsamic chicken breasts, carrots, baked potato
Thursday: pasta and salad
Friday: probably grill out depending on how the weather looks

[misshart00]

Today we have pan-fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, and corn. I ate three pork chops. Whoops.

[toadandbuggie]

Jun 8, 2015 19:50:44 GMT -5 missys said:

Jun 8, 2015 11:19:22 GMT -5 toadandbuggie said:

It's actually my own creation... I sauté a bunch of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, carrots and then mix it with a ricotta mixture (ricotta, oregano, basil, egg, salt pepper, garlic, Parmesan cheese) and then toss it in a pan. I sprinkle mozz cheese over and then bake to let the cheese melt.

I'm stealing this! Thank you for sharing!

No prob! I forgot to say I add marinara when I am sautéing for the "baked ziti" feel!

[missys]

Jun 8, 2015 20:36:55 GMT -5 osumegs said:

Tonight: one pot chicken, potatoes, carrots
Tuesday: slow cooker cranberry pork, oven roasted green beans
wednesday: balsamic chicken breasts, carrots, baked potato
Thursday: pasta and salad
Friday: probably grill out depending on how the weather looks

Can you share your one pot chicken recipe?

[michelle142]

Jun 9, 2015 10:02:57 GMT -5 mumomma13 said:

michelle142, How often do you go to the store? More than once/month, right? I am wondering about keeping fruits/veggies good for that long.

I buy meat and canned items once a month. Sometimes once every 2 months if there was a good deal on something that I can toss in the chest freezer.

I shop for fruits, fresh veggies, milk and other items that spoil quickly once a week.

So I have one trip that's about $120 and then 3 smaller trips that run about $50ish. Since starting monthly planning, I average less than $300 a month for groceries. That's with 3 of us, since DD doesn't eat food yet.

[osumegs]

Jun 9, 2015 7:35:00 GMT -5 missys said:

Jun 8, 2015 20:36:55 GMT -5 osumegs said:

Tonight: one pot chicken, potatoes, carrots
Tuesday: slow cooker cranberry pork, oven roasted green beans
wednesday: balsamic chicken breasts, carrots, baked potato
Thursday: pasta and salad
Friday: probably grill out depending on how the weather looks

Can you share your one pot chicken recipe?

I use this recipe: letthebakingbeginblog.com/2014/05/one-pot-chicken-potatoes/

Sometimes I do seasoning salt instead of regular salt for a change. I've also done green beans in this for a change. I make it once a week because it takes about 5 min to put together.

[osumegs]

michelle142 that's awesome! We run about $100/week for 2 of us. Thanks for sharing your techniques.