It’s menu time again. My mom was nice enough to bring some BBQ ribs by today, which takes care of one of our meals this week. And today I went ahead and made a pot of chicken tortilla soup. I divided it into two bowls and placed the bowls in the freezer. One will be our dinner for Wednesday, and the other be used later on.

My husband just started a new job a few weeks ago, and he’s working a rotating shift. It makes meal planning a little harder, because I have to work around his schedule. Off days and day shift are easy to plan, but night shift is a little harder because I have to be able to throw things together fairly quickly. To make those days a little easier, I’m making things that don’t take a lot of effort or time to cook, and I’m trying to make things ahead of time (like the soup), or else make those nights our leftover nights. It’s taking a little extra planning on my part, but I know I’ll adjust soon. Wish me luck!

Breakfasts: french toast sticks, Bagel-Fuls, Toaster Strudel, gravy & biscuit, cereal

Lunches: roast meat sandwich, turkey sandwich, hot dogs, tuna sandwich

Dinners:
Monday – BBQ Ribs, Potatoes Au Gratin, and Baked Beans
Tuesday – Hamburger Steak, biscuits, and leftovers
Wednesday – Chicken Tortilla Soup
Thursday – lasagna & garlic bread
Friday – Chicken Pizza (didn’t have last week)
Saturday – Red Beans & Rice, corn, biscuits
Sunday – leftovers

Visit Org Junkie for more menus, recipes, and fun.

-Jerri

Breakfasts – banana nut muffins, waffles, oatmeal, yogurt, bacon & eggs

Lunches – Leftovers, Turkey sandwiches, Tuna Sandwiches, Chili Dogs

Dinners
Monday – Roast, Pinto Beans, Deviled Eggs, Slaw
Tuesday – Leftovers from Monday
Wednesday – Cheeseburger Helper
Thursday – Homemade pizza. I’m going to make buffalo chicken pizza and/or barbecue chicken pizza. (These are new. I’ll be making them up as I go along.)
Friday – General Tso’s Chicken & Egg Rolls (My husband picked these out at the freezer section of the store), in addition I’ll probably whip up a little stir-fry to go with it
Saturday – Spaghetti w/ garlic bread
Sunday – leftovers

Visit Org Junkie for more menus, recipes, and fun.

-Jerri

Last week’s menu totally went out the window, as I was not only sick and not feeling like cooking, but because my sickness kept me from going to the store to get all the supplies I needed. So we ate what we could round up fairly quickly or else ordered out for a few days last week. For that reason, some of the dishes from last week are being moved to this week. (They’re not repeats.)

Also, I’ve had comments and questions about whether I post the recipes from my menu. So I wanted to address that here. I do provide links to the recipes if one exists, and if I use a convenience food, I try to point that out. In recent months, I’ve begun photographing the things that I cook, and I intend to post a lot of these in due time.

So if an item is listed on the menu, chances are the recipe will be posted in the near future. In fact, I encourage everyone to leave comments about the items that interest them most, because this will effect the order in which I post the recipes in the future.

Also, feel free to ask any questions that you may have. I read all the comments that I get, and I visit everyone who comments. I also try to give as many answers as possible in my comments section.

Now onto this week’s menu:

Breakfasts – Cereal, French Toast Sticks, Bacon & Egg Sandwiches
Lunches – Beef Stew, Salad, Mini Pizzas, Turkey Sandwiches, Leftovers

Dinners:
Monday – Shake & Bake Chicken
Tuesday – Tacos
Wednesday – Smokey Mountain Chicken w/ Cheesy Potato Foil Packs
Thursday – Chicken w/ alfredo pasta side, garlic bread, & salad
Friday – Chicken Poulet

-Jerri

After a long day, I finally go around to planning my menu. Usually I like to think ahead about a few things that I want to make, and then after I get everything at the store, I finish making the plan, but I didn’t get to go to the store yet, so I’m having to use my imagination a little. So this plan is sort of tentative.

By the way, I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day. Ours was pretty good. We went to Cracker Barrel to eat. (I know it’s not that romantic, but I love that place!) Then Sunday afternoon we worked at the the annual chocolate festival. It’s a very fun event. Representatives from some of the local restaurants come down, set up booths, and hand out coupons/menus and serve samples of their best desserts. They also have musical entertainment and door prizes, as well as prizes for the competing restuarants. Visitors pay $10 at the door to get in to this all you can eat dessert extravaganza, and all the money goes to the The ARC. My mom sets up the O’Charley’s booth every year, and for the second year in a row my husband and I have helped her set up and serve. (Last year I wrote a post about the chocolate cake and The ARC. Here’s a link if you want to read it: Why Eat Cake When You Can Eat Chocolate Chocolate Cake?)

I wish you could have seen our table! We served chocolate cake, key lime pie, and Magic Fluff (a secret recipe known only to a privileged few and served exclusively at this festival). And the decorations were very pretty. But since SOMEONE (me) forgot to bring her camera, I have no pictures! (urgh) So just imagine, a lovely light green table cloth with a big light green flower arrangement in the middle, some glittery red hearts, red heart garland, a spread of Valentine napkins, and three tiered-trays (two clear glass, and one ruby red) of yummy sweets! It was very nice!

Now onto this week’s menu:

Breakfasts: Biscuits, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Bagel-Fuls.

Lunches: Grilled Chicken Salad, Baked Potato, Spinach Dip w/ chips, Spaghetti Os, Leftovers from dinner

Dinners:
Monday – Pepper Fried Chicken w/ leftover sour cream gravy, alfredo pasta sides, peas
Tuesday – Shake & Bake Chicken w/ peas & corn
Wednesday – Red Beans & Rice, corn, & crescent rolls
Thursday – Tacos
Friday – Chicken Stir-Fry with Asian Fried Rice (homestyle bake)
Saturday – Beef Stew
Sunday – Chicken Poulet

To post your weekly menu, head over to Org Junkie.

Reminder: Don’t forget to come back later in the week for my 300th post & giveaway!

-Jerri

I’m putting this week’s menu together at the last minute. I quickly looked through my recipe binder and picked out some things that I could make with stuff I already have. So today when I went to the store, I only had to pick up few items. It was great to get to go to the store and only spend $36! Yay! The other good news this week is that my husband has now requested Baked Chicken Salad for every lunch. This is going to be a part of his new weight-loss effort. He told me today that he gets excited when he sees all the stuff that I make for him, and the only solution will be for him to have a salad every day for lunch. So being the supportive wife that I am, I am complying with this request. (Besides that, salad is one of the easiest things you can make!) My dinners won’t change much, except that I’m supposed to limit the portion sizes. Wish me luck!

Nothing much to banter about tonight, other than to say that things are looking up this week! I’m happy to say that my hubby made it home safely, and I’m happy to say that his team won the Super Bowl. Go Steelers! And best of all, my husband is starting his new job this week, so please join me in wishing him good luck!

And now for this week’s menu:

Breakfasts: Cereal, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Fruit, and Honey Buns
Lunches: Chicken Salad, Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwiches, leftovers

Dinners:
Monday – Cheeseburger Macaroni
Tuesday – Smokey Mountain Chicken w/ fries and pork-n-beans
Wednesday – Chicken Tetrazzini & Garlic Bread
Thursday – Leftovers
Friday – Lemon Pepper Chicken, green beans, corn
Saturday – eat out
Sunday – Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-Up & Fries

Visit Org Junkie for more MPM.

Reminder: If you’d like to submit a dessert for my February edition of Sweet Thursday, you have until this week to do that. You can send your stuff to: simplysweethome@hotmail.com. For more information, click here.

-Jerri

As you’ll see it’s a very easy week for me in the cooking department. I had a whole week planned out, and then my husband reminded me that he’s going out of town for a couple of days, so I had to take a couple of menu items off, and I moved the poulet to Monday & Tuesday. On Wednesday we’re supposed to go to a business conference. And then he’ll be gone Thursday and Friday, so I’ll just kind of be winging it those days, grabbing something that’s quick to make, or else driving up to Subway. Luckily he’s back on Saturday. (I hate it when he’s gone!) And then hopefully we can get back into a good routine for next week!

Happy Monday!

Breakfasts: waffles, banana nut muffins, cereal
Lunches: Leftovers from last week, chicken noodle soup, chicken salad sandwiches

Dinners:
Monday – Chicken Poulet
Tuesday – Leftover Poulet
Wednesday – going to a conference, will probably eat out afterwards
Thursday – Husband’s out of town—I’ll round up something quick.
Friday – Husband’s out of town—again something quick.
Saturday – Cheeseburger Macaroni
Sunday – Superbowl; we’ll probably have appetizers or order out whatever my husband wants to eat, probably chicken fingers, pizza, or subs

Join us for MPM at over at Org Junkie.

-Jerri

MPM time again! I had a time picking out all of this week’s items. It’s so funny how some weeks I struggle to come up with stuff for the entire week, and then other weeks I have so many ideas that I have to narrow it down and postpone some of the ideas till later. Hope you like my final choices for this week! Happy MPM!

Breakfasts: cereal, strawberry muffins, waffles & bacon

Lunches: tuna sandwiches, hot dogs, chunk ham sandwiches, vegetable soup

Dinners:
Monday – Easy Chicken & Dumplins, black eyed peas, and Spoon Bread (new recipe)
Tuesday – Sloppy Joes w/ chips or fries
Wednesday – Crockpot Roast Chicken w/ potatoes & carrots
Thursday -Chicken Stirfry (I’m experimenting) with Asian Fried Rice (banquet homestyle bake)
Friday – 15 Bean Soup
Saturday – Eat out
Sunday – Leftovers

Visit OrgJunkie for more MPM!

-Jerri

Breakfasts – cereal, buttered biscuits, Bacon & Egg Sandwiches

Lunches – tuna sandwiches, Spaghetti Os, soup

Dinners –
Monday – Mexican Chicken Casserole (did not make last week)
Tuesday – Ranch Chicken, and I’m experimenting with some Ranch-Rice. I’ll post the recipe later.
Wednesday – Buffalo Chicken fingers
Thursday – Pork Potatoes
Friday – Chicken Fettucini Alfredo
Saturday – pizza
Sunday – not sure yet…but it’ll probably be something with hamburger meat.

Stop by Org Junkie for more MPM.

-Jerri