Category Archives: menu plan Monday

Ending the year with EZ foods

Menu Plan Monday logoRockford has another short week at work (hooray!). That would normally mean that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday would feature new and daring recipes. But the holiday cooking has sort of worn me down this year, what with the French yule log and all. So we’re rounding out the year with some easy meals.

Happy New Year!

Monday: Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Calzones.
Only ours won’t be grilled, because we don’t have a grill.

Tuesday: Crispy Garlic Chicken

Wednesday: Shredded beef tacos
I might make a salsa or something out of black-eyed peas, but they certainly won’t be taking center stage.

Thursday: Creamy potato soup
Here’s to a mild and delicious New Year.

Friday: At the in-laws’

This is shaping up to be a yummy week

Menu Plan Monday logo

Monday: Poppyseed chicken
I very clearly remember the first time I had poppyseed chicken. We were at Rockford’s sister’s house. The casserole was warm, creamy and delicious. I could’ve eaten the whole thing. This may be my ultimate comfort food.

Poppyseed Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
a cup or so of sour cream
1 tablespoon poppyseeds
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tube of Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir cracker crumbs and butter together in a small bowl. Blend poppyseeds, mushroom soup and sour cream together in a bigger bowl, then stir in shredded chicken. Spread chicken mixture into a casserole dish. Top chicken mixture with buttery cracker crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so, until it’s heated through.

Tuesday: Mongolian beef
Mongolian beef is my fall-back menu item at Chinese restaurants, so I was excited to see this one pop up in a recipe-testing program I recently joined. The program in question is for a woman who’s working on a cookbook, and she’s asked that the testers don’t share the recipes. But if it’s good, I’ll definitely share the name of the cookbook once it’s published.

Wednesday: Chili
We’ve been having chili pretty much every week since the weather turned cold. I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future.

Thursday: Chicken Satay Noodles
Poppy loves noodles, and she loves peanut butter. I’m hoping that’ll translate to her actually eating this meal.

Friday: Pizza
My dad and his girlfriend will be joining us for dinner Friday, which means our pizza will have Italian sausage on it. Because my dad believes Italian sausage is a food group of its own.

The post-Thanksgiving menu blues

Menu Plan Monday logoAfter four days of food!leftovers!eat!eat!eat!, I really didn’t want to think about the menu yesterday. But I figured we’d all be hungry again tonight, so I forced myself. And I ended up with a few dishes that I’m actually looking forward to trying out!

Monday: Maple Dijon Chicken
I’m not so sure about the maple-dijon combo, but I already had most of the parts for this so I thought we’d give it a try. Update! I thought the flavor was a tad bland. But Poppy ate it! The chicken! The rice! The sweet potatoes! I’ll definitely make this one again.

Tuesday: It’s my mom’s birthday, so I’m going out to dinner with her. My mother-in-law has agreed to take in Rockford and the kids for the evening.

Wednesday: Hungarian Meatball Stew
This is another new recipe for us. Rachael Ray has become my go-to source for soup. She hasn’t let me down so far.

Thursday: Veggie pot pie

Friday: Pizza