Meal Planning Etc.

Man, life goes so much more smoothly when I menu plan. I was laughing the other night as I was going back over Jodi's menu plans (cheating) - on one of her first menu plan posts she said that she had read somewhere that if you want your blog to be interesting, you shouldn't post about what you're having for dinner. She wrote how she likes reading about what other people are eating. And well, I do too! It helps me, gives me inspiration, ideas... and we all need that every once in a while.

I rarely plan for just one week. I usually plan from pay period to pay period but I've been a little off in the meal planning area for a while. We also don't have a lot of outside commitments (actually any) that dictate our evenings (we do this on purpose) so we're home most nights. Because of this I don't have to take into account where we'll be, what time we'll have to be there, etc. It makes meal planning a little easier. The only thing I do consider is what types of activities we might be doing during the day - skiing, farmer's market, church, possible guests... I am also very similar to Stacy in that, while I like to plan meals, I enjoy the freedom to be able to change them up based on my mood, the weather, my hormones, etc. I usually buy the ingredients for the entire week and then I have them on hand for when I want them. It works for me.

So here you go:

Thursday: PW's Spicy Shredded Pork, Cabbage Slaw with the Leftoverist's creamy lime dressing

Friday: Trader Joe's Hotdogs (thanks to Jodi), melon and kettle chips

Saturday: Pepperoni pizza with TJ's dough, fruit

Sunday: Tostadas (using my refrieds, although I like Martster's post-up on them better)

Monday: Pork Verde, Green Rice

Tuesday: Burritos (using leftover beans)

Wednesday: Stacy's Seafood Chowder and homemade bread from this book

Thursday: Sticky Ribs from Fix, Freeze, Feast (not my fave but we have them in the freezer) baked beans, cornbread (will probably use Bob's Red Mill GF mix - super yum)

Friday: Grilled fish, roasted vegetables

Saturday: BBQ'd hamburgers, potato salad with chives from Katie Brown's Weekends

Sunday: I am SO excited! Remember my Mexican friends down the street? They invited us to their older sons' first communion and celebration. I'm hoping for lots of yummy Mexican food!

Monday: Tortilla Soup

Tuesday: Orange Chicken from Renee, rice, vegetable (I decided last time that I don't need to bread the chicken. Less calories, less work... and just as yummy)

Wednesday: Oven Ham Sandwiches (cheated from Jodi's menu plans)


To finish up, let me just say a word about the Weekends Book. I cannot for the life of me remember where I read about it, but I checked it out from the library and I absolutely love it. So much so, that I ordered it from Amazon (along with 8 or 9 other books) with some birthday money I got. I cannot figure out what it is, but everything about this book is beautiful and inspiring to me. Around here, because of Justin's schedule, we never have normal "weekends. But I love her idea of making the most of our days. Every recipe looks yummy. Every craft looks do-able and fun. I can't wait for it to arrive on my doorstep.