Meal Plan Monday: November 30th - December 6th

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am not ready to go back to work.  I have had a wonderful weekend of online Black Friday shopping.  Did you go shopping this weekend?

Monday: Baked Potato and Chicken Noodle Soup
Mom' s Chicken Noodle

Tuesday: Baked Chicken Fajita's 
Recipe from Budget Bytes

Wednesday: Pork Tenderloin, Sweet Potatoes and Arkansas Green Beans
We ended up having left-over in place of this meal last week.

Thursday: White Pizzas
Recipe is here

Friday: To Go Salads
Parent's Night Out at our church.  We are going to wrap presents while the kids are out of the house.

Saturday: Date Night
The girls are going to a sleep-over.

Sunday: Lightened Up Shepherd's Pie
Recipe from SkinnnyTaste

Simple Thanksgiving

We had this meal for Christmas last year (and probably will again but with cranberry sauce added) but it is perfect for Thanksgiving too.  Using turkey breasts instead of a whole turkey is great for a smaller get together.  We had five adults and three kids.

Roasted Honey-Brined Turkey Breasts recipe from Wegmans

Make-ahead Mashed Potatoes recipe from Betty Crocker

Arkansas Green Beans recipe from All Recipes

Maple Butternut Squash recipe inspired by Skinnytaste

I love the extra shelves I can add to the oven to get everything ready at the same time.

Here's the spread.  I can't wait to make this meal again.

Meal Plan Monday: November 23rd - November 29th

 I feel like I was just commenting on how I couldn't believe that it was November and now here we are at Thanksgiving.  I love this holiday.  Thanksgiving is my simple Christmas.  You go straight to the family time and good meal.  Though now that I don't wait for Black Friday to start my shopping Christmas is getting less stressful.  With all the gearing up for Thanksgiving the rest of the week  can easily get forgotten but you still gotta eat!  Here is what we are having this week...

Monday: Cashew Chicken
Recipe from Wegmans

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday!
I asked for this Taco Rack for Christmas.  I like to buy the soft corn tortillas and bake them in the oven.

Wednesday: Dinner Out for a Birthday Celebration

Thanksgiving Thursday: Cucumber Salad, Kale & Butternut Squash Salad, Turkey Fruit Plate
Obviously I'm not making the main dinner.  This is what I am bringing.
Cucumber Salad Recipe
Kale & Butternut Squash Salad Inspired by Healthy Seasonal Recipes
Turkey Fruit Plate Inspired by Pinterest

Friday: Crock-pot BBQ Pulled Chicken
Recipe from Gimme Some Oven - I'm cheating and using Wegmans Organic BBQ Sauce

Saturday: Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Arkansas Green Beans
Green Bean Recipe from All Recipes - You must make these sometime!

Sunday: Baked Chimichanga 
Recipe from Six Sister Stuff

Meal Plan Monday: November 16th - November 22nd

Countdown to Thanksgiving!  I'm gearing up with having our nutrition being on point!  I even made some Chicken Salad and Turkey Chili from the Fixate Cookbook for my lunches.  I was feeling a little tired of  salads last week so I thought I would liven things up at bit.  Of course we start Monday with a salad for dinner.  Go Figure!

Monday:  Cheddar Baked Potato Soup and Salad
Recipe from From Forks to Fitness
My girls have been loving Potato Soup from restaurants.  I like to duplicate things they like in hope that they will actually eat dinner without the constant reminder to actually eat dinner.

Tuesday:  Pesto Pasta
Pasta is always a good choice when you need a quick dinner and I have a PTA meeting this evening.

Wednesday:  Italian Chicken and Peppers
Recipe from Budget Bytes
Trying a new crockpot meal.

Thursday:   Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnudi in Pumpkin Sauce
Recipe from Fixate Cookbook

Friday:  Dinner Out
Both girls have dance at the same time!  Date night!!

Saturday:  Not sure what is going on this day.

Sunday: Chicken Scallopini with Pesto  

Chicken Recipe from Weight Watchers
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup marsala wine
2 tablespoons pesto
4 slices part-skim mozzarella cheese

Meal Plan Monday: November 9th - November 15th

So of course as soon as I vented about the dance everything fell into place and there was nothing to stress about.  Like calling the IT guy and then figuring out your problem.  By Friday I had so much excited energy it took everything I had to not jump in and dance; but, I had strict orders not to bust a move. It was a success if I say so myself.  I did have to give up my quiet night too myself but it was well worth it!

This Wednesday is my oldest daughters 10th birthday.  She has been waiting for this birthday since she turned 9.  She can not wait to be a preteen!  I have so many mixed emotions about this birthday.  I'm excited to see her grow and mature but she is growing faster than I can keep up.

Monday - Panera Bread Fund Raiser for the School

Not a bad choice as Panera always lands on the clean eating restaurant lists.  I hear the menu changed so I will definitely check it out and decide before we go.  

Tuesday - Black Bean Enchiladas

Meatless Monday on Tuesday!

Recipe from Wegmans / Gluten-Free version 

Wednesday - Cheeseburgers

My daughters favorite meal!

Thursday - Short Ribs and Polenta

We have a few friends at Disney this week and they have inspired me to make one of my favorite meals I had when we were there a couple weeks ago.  

Recipe from Cooking Light

From Chef Mickey's

Friday - Egg Roll in a Bowl

Take out at home!  We love this recipe.  It turned out so well last time.  I hope I can duplicate its tastiness.  

Saturday - Dinner Out

More birthday celebrating!

Sunday - Chicken Spiedies and Roasted Vegetables

Spiedies Pronounced "speedies"
Spiedies were originally from Italy. They are marinated cubes of meat, traditionally lamb, cooked on a skewer like a kebab. Pork, chicken, veal, venison, and beef are also used. The meat is marinated and then grilled. The marinade recipe varies, usually involving olive oil, vinegar, and a variety of Italian spices and fresh mint. The meat is then served on Italian bread. The bread is used to take the meat off of the skewer. I was able to find bottle Spiedie marinade at my grocery store.

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