Lesson Learned

Did you notice I didn't post a meal plan last week?  Well, let me tell you - it was a lesson well learned.  I had one sketched out on a piece of paper along with my grocery list..... which is how I meal plan.  I make a list of my meals each day, looking at my schedule, and make a grocery list off of that.  BUT, I never got around to making it "official" and going "official" grocery shopping.  Boy, did I regret that when Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday rolled around and I had an IDEA of what I wanted for dinner..... but not the ingredients.  Then I end up in the store - buying things I don't need or want!  So..... to avoid another week like that:


Monday - Easing back into meal planning with the easy stuff.... Shake 'n Bake pork chops and PW's Baked Lemon Pasta.  KK especially likes that pasta, as she is a huge fan of the lemony things.  I usually use orzo. 


Tuesday - KK's softball team is making up for a game that got canceled last week due to the 65 mph winds we had here (uh... yeah, that wasn't much fun - thanks for asking!  LOL).  SS is starting into Little League practice - so as you guessed, not rest for the wicked!  And of course, that means I'm pulling out the crockpot.  I have no less than 7 whole chickens in the freezer right now (uh... yeah, I do have a problem - thanks for asking! LOL). So we will marinate it overnight in my favorite chicken marinade and set it in the crockpot pot tomorrow morning on top of some potatoes in tinfoil.  Don't forget to use the groovy slow cooker liners from Reynolds.... they are AWESOME! 


Wednesday - We are going to ramp up into the unknown on Wednesday with a Chicken Curry dish.  It calls for a mango chutney, which I couldn't find in my store.... but did find this Mango Chutney recipe that I'm going to scale to 1 cup to use in the dish.  I just happened to have 1/2 a bag of frozen mango's that need a home too.... 


Thursday - Today is SS's 11th birthday!  How did my baby get to be 11????? Who said that could happen?  LOL She has Little League practice tonight.... but I'm making her what she requested:  Mexican Lasagna.  She requests it all the time, but I rarely make - I thought it was OKAY before, but she loved it... enough to request it for her birthday dinner!  I think it is the refried beans she likes so much... she is a sucker for squished beans!  LOL


Friday - So, you may have noticed that a cake was missing from SS's birthday dinner?  Well... never fear - I'm not a terrible mother, I'm just saving it for tonight when she has her little friend's over for a sleepover!  I'm making this (probably on Thursday night so it has time to get yummy for Friday) Yellow Cake with Fudge Frosting.  Isn't that picture just insane?  It makes my mouth start to water just looking at it!! Plus we are having a copy-cat version of White Castle Sliders.  We don't have White Castle around here.... but I hear they are pretty yummy little sliders and I hope all the little girls think they are cool!


Saturday - Since we will have a plethora of little hungry mouths to feed on Saturday morning.... I might just actually have to make a breakfast that involves more than just cold milk and bag 'o cereal.  LOL My mom used to make a dish similar to this.... but never used exact measurements, so I can't say if this is really like it or not.  We called it Goop and it was a staple of our weekend breakfasts.  SS requested it for her sleepover breakfast and I'll make Never Fail Biscuits to serve it over.


Sunday - We are out of spaghetti sauce and chicken stock!  That will never do.  We'll make a day of having big ol' pots of goodness simmering on the stove.  I think we'll just have spaghetti since it'll be easy!  :)


Have a wonderful week and I promise to not let my meal plans slide anymore!  (uh.. yeah, for my sake more than your- thanks for bringing it up! LOL)