Meal Plan Monday: February 8th - February 14th

The Super Bowl is over.  I hope everyone is fairing well and not too sleepy from staying up watching the commercials game.  I'm excited for this week's meal plan because I feel like I actually get to cook this week instead of throwing something together.  We still didn't get the final word on my big news so I'm not sharing yet.  It all started on Christmas Eve so hopefully we will be able to celebrate on Valentine's Day!  Speaking of which, I have barely thought about Valentine's Day except to know we are going to have our traditional heart shaped pizza.  Do you have plans?


Monday: Penne and Chicken Tenderloins with Tomato Sauce
Recipe from Cooking Light

Tuesday: Pancake Dinner at Church for Shrove Tuesday

Wednesday: Taco Tuesday on Wednesday
Recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning.  This recipe is all over Pinterest but Family Fresh Meals.com tells you how to cook with it as well.

Thursday: Beef Negimaki (Steak and Scallions) Dinner
I'm turning one of our favorite appetizers into an entree.  We used to always order this appetizer when we order sushi in.  Loved it and we have not had it since we moved.  I am going to use a flank steak cooked with the scallions and asparagus because I have seen that used in some recipes as well.  I need to nail down the marinade.

Friday: Take out at home: Chicken with Mixed Vegetables aka Stir Fry

Saturday:  Left-overs

Sunday: Happy Valentine's Day - Heart Shaped Pizza from Papa Murphy's.

Visit my Facebook page to see how I prepped for this week's Meal Plan. Prepping definelty saved me yesterday.  Our Super Bowl guests left around 9 and I still needed to pack lunch.  Thanks to my meal prep I was able to throw lunch together, which will save me time in the morning and save my wallet from having to buy lunch.

Meal Plan Monday: November 2nd - November 8th

This week is going to be mad crazy.  I have been planning a Father Daughter dance for the girl's school and it is this Friday.  I have helped plan lots of events for our church so I'm not sure why this event is causing me so much stress.  To be honest I'm ready for it to be here and done.  One minute I tell myself to keep it simple and it's going to be great. Then I think about the To Do list that never seems to get shorter.  As soon as I think I can cross something off my list another something gets added.  Like ordering dresses on Wednesday because you have no time to shop and finally have UPS update to say they will be delivered the day AFTER the dance.  Or emailing parents to let them know they won a prize only to have their emails be returned.  Ugh nothing checked off the To Do list.  In the end I know everything will work out and it is going to be great I just don't know why the road to get there is not cooperating.  Such is life I guess.  I'm telling you this because the meal plan this week is a bit wonky so I thought you might want to know why I'm not doing that much cooking.  I'm giving myself as much extra time as I can.

Monday: Crockpot Baked Potatoes and Salad
These are prepped and ready to be thrown in the crock-pot before we head out to dance.  Hubby has a meeting he will be heading to shorty after we get home.  We will be topping the potatoes with black beans and salsa and I have a southwest bag salad ready to serve with it. I'm wishing I had picked up an avocado now.
Potato Recipe from Food.com.  There are tons on Pinterest too.

Tuesday: Steak, Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
My youngest has a craving for steak so we picked up some perfect portioned New York strips.  These are very thin and used to make my husband very sad  but he has come around and was actually full the last time we had them.

Wednesday: National Eating Healthy Day! 
Pasta and Sauce
Pretty much this is spaghetti night but my oldest doesn't like spaghetti noodles.  Likes every other pasta shape! I have a planned dinner out with my Mom's Group.

Thursday: Sushi
The night before the dance!  I'm banking on last minute To Do errands so hubby said that he would pick up veggie sushi from Wegmans.

Friday: Sandwiches
Pretty much this night's dinner is eat something sometime.  Sandwiches are pretty easy.

Saturday: Hubby's Plan
I asked Hubby to make dinner or plan on eating out because I plan on shopping for my daughter's birthday on this day and don't want to have the stress of having to be back in time to cook dinner.

Sunday: Football Potluck
We are having some Patriots and Redskins fans over to watch the game.  So far I have come up with Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (maybe as a slider) and smashed red potatoes.  See what I did there? ;)
Meatball recipe from Skinnytaste
Red Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman

Enjoy your week!  I'll see you on the other side.  lol

Meal Plan: July 19th - July 25th

This weekend my husband and I dropped our girls off to visit with their grandparents for 2 WEEKS!  What part about being kid free are we most excited about?  Eating foods that the kids would hate.  Are we foodies or what?  Besides an empty house, I also came home to the Fixate cookbook!!  I read it cover to cover.  I'm so excited to try so many of the recipes.

Sunday: Wegmans Prepared Foods Meals

Monday: White Pizzas on Pita
Recipe inspired by Cooking Light
1 green, 1/4 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 orange, VG

Tuesday: Zoodles and Italian Meatballs
Recipe from Fixate Cookbook
2.5 green, 1 red, 1 blue

Wednesday: Left overs
MNO church group for me!

Thursday: Grilled Steak, Zucchini and Squash, Fixate Caesar Salad
1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange, GF

Friday: Scallops with Risotto
Recipe from Skinnytaste.com
1 red, 1 yellow

Saturday: Date Night!

50 States; 50 Meals: Oklahoma

What we had for dinner:

I nicknamed this meal the Cracker Barrel meal.

Chicken Fried Steak
Cube steak coated in flour, fried, and served with thick gravy.  We had never had this before and we all liked it.  The gravy reminded me of one of my favorite breakfasts and another Oklahoma fav, Biscuits and Gravy.

Biscuits and Gravy
Biscuits covered with a sausage gravy.

Both of the recipes were from the Pioneer Woman.
Chicken Fried Steak

Biscuits and Gravy - You should know by now that I used can biscuits. HA!

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What is your favorite Cracker Barrel meal?

 

 

 

50 States; 50 Meals: Nevada

Well it's a good thing that we weren't actually in Nevada for this meal because it didn't have the "stay there".  Get it?  Bad Joke.

So obviously when anyone things of Nevada they think of Las Vegas and when they think of eating in Las Vegas they think of All-you-can-eat buffets.

Our buffet included the basics you would see on any buffet.  I wanted to keep everything an appetizer size because we were decorating our Christmas tree at the same time.  It is our family tradition to have an appetizer dinner (aka Pickies; aka Appy's; aka Mrs. Flax dinner, Mermaids movie anyone) while putting up our tree so this worked out perfectly.  We had:
99-Cent Shrimp Cocktails
Steak Bites to stand in for Prime Rib
Grilled Mushrooms
Veggies
Summer Sausage - This was to fulfill another Christmas tradition


I filled the green dish with ice and then placed the shrimp on top in effort to make it look like a buffet chafing dish. 

I used Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond's recipe for the steak bites.  They were amazing.  Butter and Steak.  What could be better?  To add on to the steak I also cooked up some button mushrooms in some butter too with a splash (or two, or three) of red wine.  I have to say as we get closer to New Year's Eve those steak bites I have been on my mind. 

It was a  very delicious dinner.  We all got to keep our money but I would have liked to catch Britney Spears residency show or the Blue Man group. ;)

Next, we head back to New England for a mapley dinner.