Category Archives: menu plan Monday

menu plan Monday

Getting back to the real world

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We spent Friday and Saturday at Disney World, and it was so much fun. Even Rockford is already trying to figure out when we can go again. But today is Back to Reality day. Coming home from vacation is always tough, isn’t it?

And then, of course, there are the vacation pictures. They really hammered home that I really need to start eating healthier; this week’s menu plan reflects that.

Monday: Grilled chicken & Southwestern quinoa

I’m going to try McCormick’s Southwestern Grilled Chicken and this quinoa recipe from SkinnyTaste.com. Not only have I never tried to make quinoa before, I’ve never even eaten it! I hope it’s good because it looks like this recipe requires quite a bit of effort.

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner

It’s my go-to meal when I can’t think of anything else. Rockford will be making pancakes for the kids. I’ll probably have an omelet.

Wednesday: Mac ‘n’ cheese

Poppy requested that we return to having a kids’ choice night. This is her week to choose, so of course it’s macaroni and cheese. I’m still trying to decide what to make to go with it.

Thursday: Chipotle Bean Burritos

When made recipes from Cooking Light all the time when I had a subscription. If their recipe for Chipotle Bean Burritos is good, I might just have to sign on for a subscription again.

Friday: Pizza

Like I said, back to reality!

Update!

The Southwestern chicken was almost too much spicy for me and Rockford, and it was definitely too spicy for the kids. The quinoa salad, though, was awesome. Pete asked for and devoured two helpings! Our homeschool co-op starts up again next month, and this will be a great, healthy option for me to take for lunch.

I couldn’t find plain quinoa, so I got a quinoa-brown rice blend instead. I don’t like raw onion, and I thought the jalapeno with the spicy chicken might be too much, so I left those out. And so I bring to you, with permission from Gina at Skinny Taste:

Nichole’s Defanged Southwestern Quinoa

1 cup cooked Seeds of Change Quinoa and Brown rice with Cilantro
15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn, cooked
1 fresh mango, chopped
juice from 1 medium lemon or lime
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground turmeric

Mix together the beans, quinoa, corn and mango in a mixing bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, chili powder and turmeric in a small bowl. Drizzle over the mixture and toss. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

menu plan Monday, recipes

How to make the perfect pot roast

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Sundays are our Big Family Dinner day. Rockford’s parents come over, and Don and his family frequently join us as well. I often default to something seriously simple — like Sandwich Night — on Sunday, but I’m going to make an effort to do less of that and more actual cooking in the coming months.

Yesterday we had pot roast, and it really wasn’t all that much more difficult than making a sandwich. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe when Rockford and I were newlyweds. There are only three ingredients, the roast comes out fall-apart tender, and it makes its own gravy. I really don’t know why we don’t have this for dinner every night.

Perfect Pot Roast
Ingredients
  • 3-4 pound boneless chuck roast
  • Lipton’s onion soup mix
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out enough heavy-duty aluminum foil to make a giant packet for your roast — I like to use the extra-wide for this — and put it in the roasting pan.
  2. Put the roast in the middle of the foil. Sprinkle onion soup mix over the roast and rub it in just a bit. Spread the mushroom soup over that. Seal the foil most of the way around, leaving one end open. Fill the soup can about 1/3 of the way with water, pour it into your giant roast packet and seal it up.
  3. Cook at 350 degrees for 4 hours.
  4. Open the foil really carefully; it’s going to be very steamy. Lift the roast out and put it on your serving platter. Seal the foil back up so you don’t accidentally spill gravy on yourself. Get the gravy boat ready. Hold the foil packet above the gravy boat, then use your scissors to snip a hole in it. And voila! Gravy boat full of gravy!

I’m not always brand-loyal, but I think Lipton’s does make a superior onion soup mix. That feels like a dopey thing to say, but it’s true. I’ve tried the off-brands, and they seem to have an off-flavor. So in this case I’ll just stick with the one I know and like.

We usually have this with mashed potatoes and some other kind of veggie. I didn’t have the potatoes thought that I had, though, so I resorted to a box of instant mashed potatoes. They were fine and much simpler to make than “real” mashed potatoes. I also made some of Emeril’s maple-glazed carrots. Poppy told me awhile back that she likes maple-glazed carrots, but yesterday she said she doesn’t like them on Sundays. Go figure.

“But hey,” I’m sure you’re saying to yourself. “It’s Monday! Where’s the menu plan?”

We’re having a Rather Hectic Week, and I’m not sure what our evenings are going to look like, exactly. I’m thinking it’ll be something like this:

Monday: Fast food
I’d like to say we’ll be eating an organic farm-to-table meal, but I’d also like to tell you the truth. It’ll be Taco Bell or McDonald’s, probably.
Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner
Possibly pancakes for the kids! And probably an omelet for me.
Wednesday: Poppy’s birthday!
Exactly what we’re going is up in the air for now, but it’ll be something A Bit Special.
Thursday: Sandwiches
Possibly from Subway. We’ll see.

 

menu plan Monday

One part box-full-of-dinner, one part birthday bash

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This was the first weekend we’d all be home with nothing in particular to do since June, I think. It was rather nice, even though I spent the vast majority of Sunday afternoon sitting at our local urgent care facility, waiting for a doctor to see whether my bronchitis had transformed itself into pneumonia. (It had not. Hooray! And please, bronchitis, go away already! Three weeks is sufficient!)

After I got home from urgent care, I made a blueberry upside-down cake. It was delicious and definitely worth clicking that link to get the recipe.

Monday: Velveeta Helper

OK, some people might argue that Velveeta Cheesey Skillets are a perfect embodiment of everything that’s wrong with modern society. I bought a box in a moment of weakness a few months back, though, and it was good. Great, even. Some days you just need a little partially hydrogenated this and that in your life. (OK fine maybe you don’t but today I do.)

Tuesday: Chicken sandwiches

Rockford’s birthday is tomorrow, and he requested grilled chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob and “skillet fries.” By which I hope he meant something like these skillet-fried potatoes, because that’s what I’m making.

Wednesday: Crispy baked chicken

I was going to make the Crispy Cheddar Chicken recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up, but I had a coupon for a crispy baked kit and it was on sale. So I’m making that. It looks pretty close to the same thing, though.

Thursday: Spaghetti

I have a bottle of marinara at the ready, but I’m hoping to have enough tomatoes in the garden to turn them into a sauce. (And also enough gumption. That’s an important ingredient.)

Thursday: Pizza