Monday, March 8, 2010

Meal Plan Monday 3/8/10

Sooo... last week didn't go quite as planned.  I only ended up cooking one of the meals on my meal plan!   I never made it to the grocery store, and just threw created some meals using what I had on hand, and we were lucky enough to have family feed us a couple nights too!  And.... ok, we ate out one night.  But I even did that pretty cheap, and it was a fun playtime for the kids.  So this week, I'm recycling my meal plan from last week.  I made it to the grocery store last night and picked up the few items I needed.  So this week, my Meal Plan blog is what I made LAST week. :-)  I finally made it to the grocery store on Sunday night - for the first time in two weeks!  
Being able to make it through a whole week without grocery shopping was nice enough, but to really make my week, about 20 minutes into the grocery shopping Sunday night, right around the time I was losing patience with trying to keep Kaden & Lincoln wrangled inside the shopping cart and after telling them for the tenth time that they could not buy ANYTHING that's not on my list, Kenny snuck up on us in the aisle!  He was on his way home from work, knew I was at the store with the kids and my Knight in Shining Armor swooped in to take them all home and get them to bed!!  Yes, in my fairy tale, my knight in shining armor sweeps in to rescue me from my own children.  Don't judge.

Monday
Chick Fil A :-)
I hadn't made it to the grocery store, the kids were bored and it was already getting late in the evening and they were starving by the time I got it together.  And I was about ready to rip my hair out of my head!  I have several free item coupons for Chick Fil A, so me and the kids had dinner for under $7 and they ran wild on the play area, while I sat in somewhat quite and let my brain settle down!  :-)

Tuesday
*The only recipe from th eplan that I actually accomplished making last week! And this was an absolute FAVORITE!  I ended up doubling the recipe & using 3 lbs of chicken (didn't need to double the bread crumbs though) and we ate buffalo chicken wraps for lunch the next day!  I'm defintely going to do a large batch of these for the freezer soon!)
 
Oven Baked Buffalo Chicken Fingers from my friend Leilani - who found it on the Whole Foods website
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons tomato catsup
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins
1 1/2 cups dried whole wheat bread crumbs
Vegetable oil cooking spray
Method
Stir together hot sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, and catsup in a wide, shallow dish to make a marinade. Add chicken, turn to coat, cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes, or overnight. Remove chicken from marinade and gently press it into the bread crumbs, rolling well to evenly coat chicken all over.
For Freezer: After coating chicken, flash freeze on a baking sheet, covered in plastic wrap until firm.  Place flat in a Gallon-size freezer bag.
Prep Directions: Thaw (if from frozen). Place on greased baking sheet, being careful not to overlap them. Spray chicken all over with oil and bake for 20 minutes at 375, or until cooked through and golden brown.
Nutrition
Per serving (about 4oz/103g-wt.): 180 calories (20 from fat), 2.5g total fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 55mg cholesterol, 710mg sodium, 15g total carbohydrate (0g dietary fiber, 2g sugar), 22g protein 

with Ranch & Carrots
Romaine Salad 


Wednesday
Fajita Take-out @ Grandma's
Wednesday is Kenny's Sunday. We went to my mother-in-laws house and relaxed outside with the boys by the pool all day. It was gorgeous weather and we had a great relaxing day. Our friend Mikey helped Kenny move a desk into storage (b/c my office is now Kaden's room).  Mikey's been away for a long time so it was nice to visit with him and we just had a nice "day off".

Thursday
My sister & her boyfriend came over with there 3 kids and we all spent time outside playing and enjoying the beautiful day.  By the time I realized I needed to start dinner, I just started going through the fridge and freezer to see what I could come up with.  Here's what I made - that's right, I actually created a recipe! haha, It was certainly nothing gourmet, but it was quick & it was actually pretty good.  I even thought I'd use the leftovers to mix in with scrambled eggs the next day for a big breakfast skillet - but there weren't any leftovers, everyone gobbled it up!
Sausage & Potato Skillet
2 Potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
1 lb. smoked turkey sausage, cut into bite size pieces
4 cloves garlice, minced
I bag frozen Mirepoix Veggies (diced carrots, celery & onions)
1 8oz can tomato Sauce
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1/2-1 cup water
Saute potatoes, and sausage, until browned.  Add garlic, veggies and cook until veggies are hot and tender-crisp, add tomato sauce and seasonings and water as needed, let cook to combine flavors.  Would be good garnished with Parmesan Cheese.
Romaine & Carrot Salad w/Cheddar 

Friday
Turkey w/Cranberry Sauce
With both of our families all here in Katy (& Brookshire) I realize we are often ridiculously spoiled!  My mom called on Thursday and told me they'd cooked a whole turkey and she had a whole turkey dinner, with gravy and cranberry ready for me to come pick up!  Woohoo!  Love having someone else cook for me.  It was a great surprise.  I had big plans to make mashed potatoes and maybe even some quick stuffing.  BUT, if you haven't noticed a running theme, the weather was great last week, I've been busy and unorganized, so my best plans didn't happen!  We had a birthday party to run to that evening, so I made the kids quick turkey dinners and we ran off - no veggies!  Shame on me.... but does jellied cranberry sauce count as a fruit?  That's almost nutritious right?  yea.... ok.

Saturday
Pizza
We had another birthday party, this one was at an ice skating rink.  We ALL skated (hoping the other mom has a picture of me on the ice with both Lincoln & Kaden - it was quite an adventure!!) and then we ate Pizza, soda & cake.  Yes, this week was definitely our most nutritious!! 

Sunday 
Turkey Tacos (or we can call it Taco meat and lettuce!)
Okay, seriously, this last meal just goes to show the ridiculousness in my dinner plans last week.  After getting by all week with luck & mostly other people spontaneously feeding us, I had to cook something last night.  I planned to go to the grocery store, but had to feed the kids first.  Grocery shopping with three kids is miserable enough, but grocery shopping with three hungry kids is suicide.  So I started the taco meat, and then realized I had 2 corn tortillas left, then realized I was also out of cheese.... and tomatoes... and salsa... oh, and sour cream.  I browned ground turkey, seasoned with cumin, chili powder & lots of garlic.  Wanted to add black beans, but realized I didn't have any of those either (but, of course!), I did have a can of Ranch style beans with jalapenos.  So I half rinsed those (so it wouldn't be too saucy) and added them along with a tablespoon of tomato paste and some water, and served it over lettuce.  It was a sad excuse for dinner - but the kids ate it and then I finally made it to the grocery store.

No comments: