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Monday Meal Plan May 19th

After an amazing trip to San Francisco, it’s back to reality and making dinner. Last year this post for easy summer dinners was a big hit and we are starting to work of this list again. I can see our dinners slowly moving into the pattern of something grilled and a salad on the side.

The kids favorite meals involve “making” something themselves. I’m going to try out some new taco themes and see if they work for everyone. This week will have a fish taco night, future weeks will include a greek and mexican themed dinners.

On the Menu…

Monday~ Cobb salad. The kids like hard boiled eggs so I’m going to see if this could be a new summer dinner for us. It’s an easy meatless meal for a summer night if you leave out the chicken.

bbq chicken cobb salad

Isn’t this salad beautiful?! {source}

Tuesday~ Fish Taco Night.

Wednesday~ Pulled pork sandwiches. The kids are always ravenous after swim class so I need dinner ready. Now.

Thursday~ Grilled Chicken with Barley Corn Salad. The perfect recipe to use up the red onion, avocado and cilantro in the fridge.

Friday~ Pizza night!

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

 

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Weekly meal plan with a dose of PBS Kids Fun

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How can my week ahead not be fun when my itinerary includes Cookie Monster? What’s sillier is that my kids won’t even be with me. I’m off to San Francisco for the PBS annual meeting. As a PBS Kids blogger, I was lucky enough to be included.

In order to prep the household for my departure, I planned lots of the kids favorite dinners. Plus the prep is easy enough for Grandma, who thankfully is filling for me.

M- Hamburgers, corn and coleslaw
T- Honey Balsamic Drumsticks, steamed zucchini
W- Meatballs in crock pot, spaghetti and spinach salad with strawberries.
T- Chicken cutlets. Chef’s choice!
F- Playgroup pizza party!

Have a great week!

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Monday Meal Plan April 14th

slow cooker honey pulled pork

S- Pizza night. Sausage and mushroom, bacon and blue cheese.
M- Grilled chicken and asparagus, salad
T- Pulled pork sandwiches (Image and recipe from Just A Taste)
W- Chicken Nuggets
T- Fish tacos- we are taste testing some recipes from Healthy Habits Kitchen in Wellesley this week.
F- Pizza night

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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Monday Meal Plan March 31

Oh, March. You have been such a lion. At least we got our fix of cute little lambs this weekend at Drumlin Farms Woolapalooza. Otherwise let’s just turn the page on the calendar and hope for warmer days ahead.

A few of this week’s dinner recipes come from the Dinner: A Love Story book I mentioned in last week’s books I’m reading post. I’ve made two so far (Emily’s Meatloaf and the Pork Roast Ragu) and they were both delicious. I’m most looking forward to seeing how the kids like Spiky Meatballs!

Meal Plan Monday March 31

S- Pork Roast Ragu from Dinner: A Love Story. (Awesome dinner with friends, post kids bedtime. Felt like grown ups for awhile.)

S- Lemon Chicken Stew

M- Clean Out Refrigerator Night

T- Breaded Chicken Cutlets (from D:ALS) , Roasted Asparagus

W- Spiky Meatballs, Salad

T- Dinner Out

F- Pizza Night

S- UCONN Game Night!! Their night at the Final Four calls for Chili and Cornbread. Go Huskies…I have to say that as my husband is a Husky. 😉

Kids are going to love these spiky meatballs!

Kids are going to love these spiky meatballs! Source

What’s on your dinner plan this week? Come back next week to see what’s cooking in April!

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans. Affiliate links are included here. 

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Monday Meal Plan March 24

I love Sunday mornings when I get to catch a few minutes reading the latest Cooking Light. It’s such a great way to get my meal planning started off on the right foot. Sometimes I want to make everything new, but I realize that one new recipe a week is usually a good place to start.

This week I downloaded the Digimark App and scanned some of my favorite recipes from the magazine to instantly pull up the recipes on my phone. Then I pinned them to my Dinner board so that I can refer back to these new recipes next time I do my meal plan. It really is more efficient than dog earring half the magazine and then ripping pages out later. Note~ There are tons of great chicken breast recipes in the March issue of Cooking Light that I hope to make in future weeks.

Meal Plan March 24-family dinners

Sunday- Burgers on the grill (yum!), spinach salad and coleslaw

Monday~ Chuck roast with sweet potatoes, onions and cinnamon in slow cooker. Egg noodles on the side

Tuesday~ CORN

Wednesday~ Parmesan Pine Nut Chicken Breasts, Green Beans and Rice

Thursday~ Omelets

Friday~ Pizza night

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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Monday Meal Plan March 17: Saint Patrick’s Day Menu

Hello March…won’t you let winter go already? Who’s ready for some spring weather and grilling on the menu? Me, me, me! But it looks like we will be waiting it out for another week so there’s some cozy crock pot dinners and of course, the traditional Saint Patrick’s Day menu planned for this week.

Meal plan monday March 17th

Sunday: Corned Beef and Cabbage with Carrots, Potatoes and Irish Soda Bread.

Monday: Saint Patrick’s Day leftovers!

Tuesday: Swordfish piccata, rice and roasted asparagus

Wednesday: Meatloaf, butternut squash and egg noodles

Thursday: Ham and cheese quiche with spinach

Friday: Pizza night with homemade dough! No pepperoni during Lent so we are doing lots of veggie pizzas with red peppers, broccoli, and mushrooms. Maybe a zucchini and feta one this week too.

Irish Soda Bread Recipe

Have a happy Saint Patrick’s Day! If you are looking for some recipes or craft ideas to celebrate the day, head over to my Pinterest page for more idea..

 

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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Monday Meal Plan March 3rd

Welcome back to the meal plan. After not writing one last week I’m back and happy to have the week of dinners figured out. Even though it wasn’t written down and we didn’t go hungry as we are still working through our 1/4 of a cow. I did realize that I still appreciate having the dinners planned out in advance, and the time it takes on Sunday is totally worth it.

I have two new meal planning resources to share with you today as well. The first is an article in Boston Globe magazine written by fellow Boston blogger Christine Koh, also the author of one of my latest reads, Minimalist Parenting. The article shares 4 great sites to check out for more dinner ideas. I would agree with #4–my Pinterest boards is one of my first stops as I plan the menu for the week ahead.

Second tip is from The Kitchen Hour podcast hosted by Megan Francis of the blog, The Happiest Home. I love listening to podcasts while I’m doing dishes at night or folding a load of laundry. It can be a great way to learn something new, or just get a good laugh. In the most recent podcast, Megan interviewed Jenny Rosenstrach of Dinner, A Love Story. Jenny’s blog and book of the same name shares her love for the family dinner, and appreciates the challenges of getting it all done. I love her easy recipes that don’t take a ton of effort, but instead leave more time for relaxing at the dinner table.

On the menu this week…

Meal plan March week 1

Got a favorite podcast? Leave a note in the comment section.

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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Monday Meal Plan February 17th

I recently heard someone talk about menu planning as the place where “Creativity meets practicality.”  This sentiment certainly rings true in my kitchen.  Menu planning helps us create healthy meals, but not spend wasted time in the kitchen trying to figure out what to do.

This week I’m reading In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed  and the chapter about food is eye opening. I know we are a little different taking the time to make home cooked meals each night, but I can’t help but hope more families will go back to spending more time in the kitchen. Hopefully you can get some quick dinner ideas for your family to make your menu plan come together a little faster.

On the menu this week…

Meal plan February 17th

Sunday~ Chicken piccata, orzo and salad

Monday~ Meatloaf, baked potatoes and peas

Tuesday~ Minestrone soup and garlic bread

Wednesday~ Chicken nuggets, corn and Annie’s mac and cheese

Thursday~ Clean Out Refrigerator Night

Friday~ Pizza night

Saturday~ Date night with friends

What are some of your favorite meals to make in your family? 

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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February Meal Plan- week 1

Back from vacation. Back to meal plan. Back to reality. Now time to get back to unpacking.

Feb Menu Plan

T- My favorite slow cooker meal- Coconut Ginger Chicken and Vegetables from Simple Bites. Served with rice.

W- Madison requested “fish nuggets…since I like chicken nuggets and I like fish.” Will try making them the same way and just reduce the cooking temperature and duration. Served along with Alexis french fries and steamed green beans.

T- Veggie Frittata

F- Sloppy Joe’s in slow cooker.

S- Pizza night

What are some of your favorite slow cooker dinners?

Slow Cooker Coconut Ginger Chicken and Vegetables from SimpleBites.

Favorite recipe- Slow Cooker Coconut Ginger Chicken and Vegetables from SimpleBites.

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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Monday Meal Plan Jan 20th

Oh how I love long weekends. They can be so lazy I forgot Sunday was when I usually write my meal plan. After watching the Patriots lose, it just didn’t feel right to be online. Holed up under a blanket was more like how we were feeling. At least we have friends over to watch the game and had a nice dinner.

As we get our ducks in a row having three young kids, I’m trying to make dinner plans again with friends. We really love entertaining and it was a joy to have friends over for dinner both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. If it means spending less time online and more time face to face, then yes, sign us up. Relationships are what matter and I want to make sure we make an effort to spend more time with friends in 2014.

Here is the dinner menu for the week ahead… Meal Plan Jan 20 via Random Recycling

Also on deck is making strawberry fruit roll ups…which I over baked last time. Kids still ate them but they were more like brittle candy.

For lunch, I may just have to send this one to school and see if I get any questions. Guess why???

disney bento lunch

For more inspiration, see my past menus here, or the Pinterest board here, or OrgJunkie for a link-up of meal plans.

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