Category Archives: menu plan Monday

I just want a Disney food court installed in my kitchen

Dancing with BelleWe spent last week at Disney World, where the dining plan spoiled me entirely. We just picked our meals and scanned our little wristbands and shazaam dinner was on the table!

This week’s planning took a little more effort on my part. Between the having to cook and clean and the not spending hours at the pool in the afternoon? I think I might be feeling a good bit of Disney nostalgia this week.

Monday: Baseball food!
We went to our first baseball game of the summer this evening. The kids had pizza, Rockford had chicken tenders and I had a hot dog.

Tuesday: Red Beans & Rice
Pete and I were reminiscing the other day about how I used to make a big pot of red beans & rice when Rockford was out of town and the two of us would eat it every night for dinner. I realized I hadn’t made any in a long time, so we figured it was time to revisit one of our favorites.

Wednesday: DIY Big Macs
Every now and then I get the urge to try to recreate a “restaurant” dish at home. Last time it was the Taco Bell crunch wrap. They were really, really good. I’m hoping the Big Mac is great, too.

Thursday: Chicken sausages & macaroni and cheese
You know what’s great about Memorial Day? All of the sausages are on sale.

Friday: Pizza
We’ll either be ordering pizza or going the frozen route.

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.

That’s no moon. It’s a cheeseburger!

Han Burgers for May the Fourth

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Rockford asked me if I’d ever seen “Star Wars.” I think he was hoping I hadn’t seen it so he could make me watch it. But of course I’d seen it, I told him. Who hadn’t seen “Star Wars”? But he made me watch it anyway. And boy, was he shocked when I asked him when we’d get to the part with the robots in the desert.

Whoops. So maybe I hadn’t actually seen it before. With a son who’s become our home’s master of “Star Wars” fandom, though, I have plenty of knowledge on the topic these days.

Pete was supremely excited to learn that today was Star Wars Day, so he and I decided to stick with the theme for all of this week’s meals. Most of the naming ideas came from “Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes,” a cookbook that Rockford and I can’t agree as to who among us gifted it to whom. (It was me. I gave it to him. It just makes sense.) I am also rather proud to announce that I came up with “Hamdo Sandwichian” all by myself. Although maybe I shouldn’t be; judging by people’s reaction it might not be quite the Lando Calrissian sound-alike that I thought it was.

Sunday: Han Burgers
I made oven-roasted Han-burgers, Tuscan Raider Taters and Jabba Jiggle for our weekly dinner with Rockford’s parents. The “taters” were garlic fries from Trader Joe’s, and the Jabba Jiggle was Jell-O with mandarin oranges and crushed pineapple. We finished the meal off with Dark Side Sundaes made with chocolate ice cream, hot fudge and crushed Oreos.

Monday: Greedo’s Burritos
It’s Cinco de Star Wars! (That doesn’t make any sense! I know!) We’ll be enjoying bean-and-rice burritos, also from Trader Joe’s.

Tuesday: Hamdo Sandwichians
I’ve been wanting to try this hot ham & cheese sandwich recipe from King’s Hawaiian for some time. I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to make them. They spend the night in the refrigerator after they’re assembled, so they’ll be a great addition to our Busy Night arsenal if they’re good.

Wednesday: Twin Suns Toast
It’ll be an out-of-this-world breakfast for dinner, for sure.

Thursday: Hoth eats
I suppose you could call it “The Night We Move Things from the Microwave to the Freezer,” but that just isn’t on-theme, is it?

Friday: Imperial pizza
a.k.a. homemade pizza with bacon, pepperoni and pineapple. Surely you wouldn’t suggest that’s a stretch.

Did you celebrate all things “Star Wars” today?

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.

Introducing a new addition to our table: The Festival of Frozen Foods

This weekend was busy and nice and busy. My brother and his family came for a visit, the kids had birthday parties and playdates and an Easter egg hunt to attend, we bought groceries for the week, we saw “Rio 2,” Rockford mowed the lawn and planted the garden, and I tried on but did not buy swimsuits, made a giant outdoor Twister board for our upcoming homeschool co-op field day, planted a bucket of potatoes and made Easter dinner.

I think I need a nap and a snack.

"Camp Scene. Cooks at work." photo by Matthew Brady, courtesy National Archives.
“Camp Scene. Cooks at work.” photo by Matthew Brady, courtesy National Archives.
Monday: Scalloped ham & potatoes
Yesterday we had The Easter Dinner, with ham and potatoes and carrots and salad and deviled eggs. Today we will revisit the ham and potatoes, in a slightly different configuration.

Tuesday: Festival of frozen foods
The kids are doing their annual standardized testing tomorrow, so I thought it might be good to make it a super-simple dinner night. I told everyone to pick their frozen food of choice at the grocery. Rockford will be having cheese enchiladas, I’ll have Palak Paneer, Pete will have Indian Butter Chicken and Poppy will have a cheese pizza.

Wednesday: Oven-roasted cheeseburgers
I’ve been trying to make a return to Kids Choice Night lately. Last week, Poppy chose butternut squash lasagna. This week it’s Pete’s Choice, which means we’re having cheeseburgers.

Thursday: Lemon chicken
We tried Stephanie O’Dea’s orange chicken recipe a few weeks ago, and it was good. (I thought it was OK; Rockford and Pete loved it.) Rockford is a big fan of lemon chicken, so when I noticed that she also has a lemon chicken recipe, I thought we’d give it a try. It has frozen lemonade concentrate in it, so I’m a little dubious. We’ll see.

Friday: Pizza!
On Saturday night I made pizza using garlic-herb pizza dough and fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe’s. It was delicious. That’s probably what we’ll do again this week.

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.