Meal Plan Monday: February 22nd - 28th

It's closing week!  We close on our house this week so in preparation our meals are going to be super simple.  It will probably be more of the same next week as we will be moving.  So exciting!!

Monday: Angel Hair with Pesto

Tuesday: Ham, Peppers, Onions and Potato Hash Dinner
The original recipe called for kielbasa but we are going to use the leftover ham my mom brought this past weekend.
Recipe from The Two Bite Club

Wednesday: Breakfast Dinner
This is my mom's night out.  It wasn't last week so hubby is going to get it easy.

Thursday: White Pita Pizza
We have leftover naan in the freezer and left over ricotta from last week's lasagna soup so there you go.  Simple and almost free!
Recipe from Fit Foodie Life

Friday: Pesto Grilled Cheese
Recipe from Fit Foodie Life

Saturday: Dinner Out

Sunday:  Turkey Avocado Wraps

This is one of the meals included in my Clean Eating Challenge.  Contact me if you are interested in joining.

Monday Meal Plan: January 11th - January 17th

What a fun and busy weekend!  Hubby and I had a quick over night get away to celebrate a dear friend's 40th birthday.  His wife can throw one heck of a party!  And I learned that I can not bounce back from a late night like I used to when I was younger.  I really wanted to Christmas down and completely forgot until I was heading to finally sit down Sunday afternoon.  I turned and saw the tree and tackled taking down Christmas at 5:30 in the afternoon.  I know you guys understand that sometimes you just have to sacrifice something you want to do for something you have to do.  My girls and I had a fun time though!  As a thankful for being so understanding that this blog post is being delivered to you late, I have added in two lunch ideas.

Here is what we are having for dinner this week:


Monday: Ham Steaks, Green Beans/Aspragus and Sweet Potatoes
Tonight I am tasting how good and fast frozen vegetables can be.

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes
Recipe from Fixate
I will be having leftovers on a microwave sweet potato for lunch.

Wednesday: Chicken Parmesan Meatball Casserole
Recipe from Buns In My Oven


Thursday: Date Night In: Gnocchi with Spinach and Pine Nuts 
Recipe from Cooking Light
I'm using walnuts because they are better on the budget; even thought I LOVE pine nuts.

Friday: Happy Birthday Hubby!!  Take out  Made at Home: Fried Rice
This is my recipe.  One of my husband's favorites.  Warning: Not 21 Day Fix Approved but with a few tweaks it easily could be.

Saturday: Pats are in the Playoffs.  Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game and celebrate hubby's birthday.

Sunday: Cuban Pork and Black Bean Melts
Recipe from Better Homes and Garden

Bonus Lunch Ideas:

Slower Cooker Chicken and Black Beans taco filling on a salad.  I made just the chicken portion of this recipe to change up my salad protein topper this week.

Stuffed Ranchero Sweet Potatoes

Meal Plan Monday: September 14th - September 20th

How is September half way over?  The only positive thing about that is that we are getting a hang of the school year.  Did you celebrate the start of the football season this week?  The buffalo wraps and cauliflower bites were perfect for watching the game.

Here is what we are having for dinner this week:


Monday: Crockpot Chicken and Rice with Steamed Broccoli
Recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking.com

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes with Sweet Potato Fries
Recipe From Fixate Cookbook

Wednesday: Honey Ham Steaks with Maple Butternut Squash 
Butternut Squash Recipe from Skinnytaste - I mash the butternut squash after roasting it.

Thursday: Chicken Philly Cheesesteaks with Home Fries
Recipe from Skinnytaste Cookbook

Friday:  Pita Pizzas and Homemade Pizza Lunchable for the Kids
Punchable idea from 100 Days of Real Food

Saturday:  Family Birthday Party

Sunday: Pork Tenderloin and Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts recipe from Taste of Home

Meal Plan: April 5th - April 11th

What a great weekend.  Easter, warm weather, opening day of baseball (Go O's), last day of Spring Break.  And the food!...  New recipes for the Easter Egg Hunt, brunch and Easter dinner.

Here is what we are having this week:

Sunday: Brown Sugar Ham, Asparagus Bundles and Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Asparagus Recipe from Trisha Yearwood
Potato Recipe from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook - same

Monday: Hot Dogs for Baseball's Opening Day

Tuesday: Hawaiian Roll Ham Rolls

I admit this is an odd dinner but we have left over ham and hubby requested them.  There are tons of recipes for these on Pinterest.  This is a good one from All Recipes.

Wednesday: Cashew Chicken

Recipe from Wegmans

Thursday: Chicken Salad Croissants

Friday: Pizza

Saturday:  Dinner at the girls Company Showcase

Easter Egg Hunt Dessert: Egg Hunt Dirt Cake

Recipe from Food Family Finds

Easter Bunch: Blueberry Croissant Puff

Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Meal Plan: March 1 - March 7

So last week's test of the Let's Cook recipes went rather well.  We liked all of the recipes that we tried.  The only one that needed some tweaking was the chili.  Next time we probably would not add the chipotle as it almost burned my daughter's tongues off.  They loved the taste just not the heat.

This week we are celebrating my daughter's birthday!!  She chose ribs for her birthday meal!  This made her dad very happy.  I think he is starting to look more forward to our girls birthday's than they are since they both keep choosing ribs.  Wellllll, maybe not.

What we are having for dinner this week:

Sunday: Herb Broiled Chicken, Boiled Herb Potatoes and Arkansas Green Beans
Chicken Recipe from About Food
Potato Recipe from Wegmans
Green Bean Recipe from All Recipes.com







Monday: Green Eggs and Ham  
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Tuesday: Copycat Red Robin Bonzai Burgers

Recipe from Six Sisters Stuff - We are going to use brioche rolls because I love a burger on a brioche roll.








Wednesday: Ribs and Mac and Cheese

Thursday: Copycat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza

Recipe from Eat and Exercises.net










Friday: Wegmans Frozen Pizza
Mozzarella and Pesto for Mom and Dad
Cheese for the Kids

Saturday:  First Competition of the Year! Dinner out somewhere.

Meal Plan: January 25 - January 31

It looks like the snow season is upon us.  Our church State Dinner got snowed out this weekend so we are going to try again this Saturday.  Are you a snow fan?

Sunday - Chicken Kelley, White Rice and Steamed Broccoli
This is a childhood favorite of mine.  There are probably a lot of recipes just like this.  This one is named after a my parents friend are her chicken dish.  It's delicious and my girls LOVED it.

Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
Pepperidge Farm Stuffing Crumbs
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
Fresh Mushroom
1/2 Cup White Wine
Milk, as needed
Butter, melted

Directions:
Heat oven to 350.
Place chicken breasts in a casserole dish.
Mix soup, wine and mushrooms.
Pour over chicken.
Bake for 30 min.
Stir melted butter and stuffing together.
Place stuffing in mounds on chicken breasts.
Continuing baking for 30 min.

When plating spoon sauce over the chicken.  The sauce is good on the rice too!

Monday - Hawaii Loco Moco

Tuesday - Honey Ham and Maple Butternut Squash
Butternut Squash Recipe from Skinny Taste

Wednesday - Aunt Liz's Chicken Spaghetti Casserole - Frozen Meal
Recipe from Cooking Light

Thursday - Tuna Melt

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - State Dinner - Virginia and Connecticut Representative

Meal Plan: November 16 - November 22

About a month ago I started doing the 21 Day Fix.  1. Because I had a wedding coming up.  I have always said one of the best motivators for losing weight is a wedding.  2. With the help of this blog I saw how much cheese was in our diet and I wanted to "fix" our diet.  It is always nerve wracking to start a diet when you also have a family to feed.  I have to say I have not had any complaints about the new healthy meal plan .  Well, except for the brown rice but I get that.  The texture is very different.  Here is what we are eating this week:

Sunday - Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes (Crock-pot Meal)
Recipe from My Recipes
Update:  This took longer than the 3.5 hours that the recipe said it would.  It was more like 5.  So we had spaghetti and will have this for leftovers on Wednesday.  Other than that, the little taste of potato and carrot I had was delicious.

Going into the Crock-pot

Monday - Maple Cinnamon Glazed Ham with Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
Ham Recipe from Best Clean Eating Recipes
Butternut Squash Recipe from Skinny Taste
Ham steaks are great quick night dinner meal.  We used to make these all the time.  It's nice to bring back a family fav.  We would pair these with pre-made sweet potatoes but I'm going to make this butternut squash instead.  My kids have been asking for butternut squash after loving it at a friends house.  I may tweak this Skinny Taste recipe and mash the squash. This would make a good Thanksgiving side.

Picture from Skinny Taste

Tuesday - Hawaiian Chicken Skewers
I forgot to note where I got this recipe.  The original recipe was for a sandwich but I'm nixing the bread and making a kabab instead.

Ingredients 

4 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken cutlets
4 (1/2-inch-thick) slices fresh pineapple
1/4 cup salt free teriyaki marinade

Directions

1. Preheat Grill
2. Brush chicken and pineapple with teriyaki marinade. Place on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill chicken and pineapple 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until chicken is done and pineapple is caramelized. 

Wednesday - Tacos
"Bring them a meal" idea from Peanutblossom.com.  I will be making some for us and some for a friend.

Thursday - Kielbasa and Pierogies (One Dish Meal)
I will admit when my husband asked for pierogies the 21 Day Fix in me panicked a little.  So this will have to be a good lesson in moderation. ;)  I plan on using Turkey Kielbasa.
Recipe from Foodie with Family

Picture from Foodie with Family

Friday - Pizza and a Slumber Party
Some of my daughter's dance friends are coming over to spend the night.

Saturday - Test Recipe from America's Test Kitchen
I got another test recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  Looking over the ingredients this one is definitely a go!

50 States; 50 Meals: Virginia

We finally made it to my home town!  When most people think of food from Virginia they instantly think of Smithfield Ham and peanuts from the Virginia diner.  A state as large as Virginia as more cuisine to offer.  Southern Virginia has Brunswick Stew and Coast brings Virginia oysters, clams, blue crabs and soft shell crabs.

What we had for dinner:

Virginia Ham Biscuits
Pretty self-explanatory.  Biscuits and Smithfield Ham served with a Dijon mustard and homemade peach preserves that were gifted to me the day of our dinner.    Side note: There is actually a law that says Smithfield Hams must be cured within the Smithfield town limits. 

Quiche with Virginia Ham
I turned our dinner into a breakfast dinner and made quiche to go with the traditional Virginia Ham biscuits.  I used one of our favorite quiche recipes, Cheese and Sausage Quiche, but substituted ham for the sausage.  It was still very good; however, I then realized I basically made a Denver omelet quiche.  That would totally awesome if it wasn't supposed to be about Virginia.  

And of course we had Virginia peanuts

Next State: Washington