Meal Plan Monday

I LOVE Julia Child and I love her funny valentines - also wonder who took this pic?!?

I have been among the missing.   My camera card port decided to no longer accept my xd card and I couldn't find the usb cord ANYWHERE - I have a short ribs recipe to post (and it's a good one) and you know how I love me some pics!!   I ripped this house apart trying to find it but came up empty handed so I was forced to order a new cord.  It arrived Saturday and GUESS what I found this morning in my junky drawer???  Now I have 2 cords - hooray!  I also had a NASTY case of the flu and was achy all over that even my teeth hurt.   So that's that.... now onto my unimpressive meals for the week b/c I have so much laundry to catch up on from being sick, I can't imagine I'll get to the store until later this week. 

Monday  - chicken casserole with rice - this is your standard crock pot chicken with sour cream/cream of mushroom soup deals and to be honest, I don't really like it.   My appetite is still sub par from the flu but the kids like it plus it's easy so who am I to argue with this. 

Tuesday - Linguini with Clam Sauce, salad

Wednesday - Hamburgers

Thursday - soup and sandwiches

Friday - London Broil, homemade mac and cheese

Sat - Kev's Birthday and we're having a family party, how is my boy turning 12 already, HOW?! 

Sunday - make your own pizza night and salad

So there you have it, I don't really have time to try something new this week but I will make an extra effort to do so next week - I promise ;)  If you saw the mountain of laundry that awaits me you would understand!  Have a wonderful week :)  I'll try to get that short rib recipe up tomorrow!  xo, Brie

Meal Plan Monday

Menu Tuesday here - I was hoping to try a few new recipes this week but we are having some more winter weather this week.  The snow doesn't really bother me, the snow days from school don't bother me - the schools hesitating to call days off now because we've used so many already DOES bother me and the mania at the grocery stores prior to these weather events is making me mental.  I just refused to do it yesterday - so while I have the stuff to try one new recipe this week, my other one will have to wait until next week when I can get to the store :) 



Basketball is winding down so my driving here there and everywhere is starting to calm down.  We'll get a nice break until baseball time in March :)

Monday - spaghetti and meatballs, salad

Tuesday - Short Ribs in the crockpot (recipe is linked) mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday - Chicken with Broccoli (recipe is linked) with jasmine rice

Thursday - London Broil on the grill, baked potato, salad

Friday - Ravioli, salad, bread

Saturday - out

Sunday - Super Bowl Sunday

I picked up the short ribs at Costco this weekend I'll post this recipe tomorrow.   First time making this, so we'll see.... xo, Brie

Meal Plan Monday

with a twist.... I am trying to plan this week using what I have on hand, my freezers are looking full and I need to take an inventory and use up some things that I have.  I am famous for a BOGO on italian sausage or something similar and then forget that I even have them hidden in there!  If I can get through the week with zero or only one quicky trip to the grocery store, I will consider this week a success!

Monday
activities: holiday and piano
dinner: steaks and salad (I had defrosted the steaks for last night's dinner but then we had too many snacks while watching the Jets game and nobody felt like it) So I'm off the hook :) 

Tuesday
activities: none :)  but it's cleaning lady day so I don't want too much of a mess
dinner:  Linguine and Clam sauce, salad

Wednesday
activities:  none!?!  I'm getting a bad feeling that I forgot to input something on the calendar
dinner:  Roast chicken, some kind of potato and corn.  Hot tip:  Our Stop and Shop has a roast chicken special on Friday where you can get the rotisserie chicken all cooked for 5 dollars each!  I usually buy 1 or 2 and put them in the freezer - take it out in the morning to defrost on the counter and reheat at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  So easy!

Thursday
activities: swimming and basketball
dinner:  hot dog night (we ended up skipping these last week)  Stop and Shop often has a BOGO on these and I've never met a BOGO I didn't like.  Freezer looks like I am about to open a ball park.  Time to make some hot dogs :)  Hotdogs!! Get yer hotdogs heeyah!!

Friday
activities: basketball
dinner: fried chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach

Saturday
activities:  3 basketball games, 2 basketball practices, a birthday party to attend, and a
birthday party to host with 9 girls sleeping over.  If you think of it, please light a candle for me today ;) 
dinner:  take out

Sunday
activities: 2 basketball games, ccd
dinner:  Pioneer Woman's Penne A La Betsy (linked) and salad  - if you haven't tried this you must!!  It's really good!

I have all the basics on hand already to make all these meals so wish me luck :)  My grocery bills have been off the charts high lately so it's time to organize these pantries and freezers!  xo, Brie

Meal Plan Monday

Another busy weekend down and another busy week lies ahead.   Lots of sports, piano, a birthday, and another snow storm all on the schedule this week. 

Monday - I am going to try Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Chicken (linked) from my new How Easy is That?  Cookbook! 

Tuesday - Beef Stew over Egg Noodles

Wednesday - sports night - hot dogs and fruit - we are expecting a big snowstorm Tues into Wed so I am seriously thinking about flip flopping Tues/Wed because in all likelihood sports will be canceled that  night and beef stew would be the better snowed in night kind of dinner.

Thursday - mucho busy sports night and an open house at the high school (how is my oldest starting high school next year??!) but.... my oldest is turning 14 today so we're having Baked Stuffed Shrimp (her choice).  I'm going to have to have my act together BIG TIME today to pull this one off. 

Friday - sports night - Make your own pizza with a REALLY easy homemade dough recipe that I am going to blog later this week, so DO stay tuned. 

Saturday - Steaks on the grill, salad, baked stuffed potatoes

Sunday - Spaghetti and Meatballs, salad

I'm compiling a list of my quick "sports night" dinners so when I have a decent collection, I'll put them up!  Have a great week!  xo, Brie

Stromboli

As promised... here is the recipe for our incredibly complicated stromboli!

First up - the ingredients.  Pillsbury french loaf, pizza sauce ( I wish I had the pizza quick sauce b/c I love singing that old commercial) mozzarella cheese, and whatever you normally like for toppings.

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a cookie sheet with some cooking spray.  Your might want to throw some tin foil over the cookie sheet to make clean up a little easier.  I forgot to do this!    Open up your french loaf and find the seam and carefully unroll the dough - this can occasionally go horribly wrong, so take your time and do it right.

Next up is the sauce - this is the perfect recipe to recruit a child worker if you have one who loves to help with dinner!

Add your cheese and toppings

Fold over each of the sides a little

Start rolling it up from top to bottom until you have something resembling a loaf - it doesn't have to look beautiful but I feel certain you can do a better job than this ;)

Make up another one depending on how many hungry people you are feeding - we have 6 in our house and there was not a piece left.   Some turkey chili simmering over there on the right for my lunches this week - nothing to do with this recipe :)

Bake in the over for 25 - 30 minutes.  Slice into 1 inch slices and serve with a salad and voila you are a hero with the kids. 

These also make great appetizer snacks if you are having a Super Bowl party or something! 

Here you can sing this old 80's commercial while you make it - Mangia!  xo, Brie

Menu Monday....errr Tuesday

Got all the Christmas decor down and put away yesterday so there was no time for the Monday meal planning which I continue to do but sometimes forget to post (like almost always!)    I even forgot to use my new favorito crest white strips which I had on my Christmas list and am slightly obsessed with them, so please believe me when I tell you getting this decor down was no small feat! 

Here's our Meal Planning for the week

Monday - scrambled eggs, bacon, toast - I highly recommend breakfast for dinner!  My husband isn't all that into it so we tend to do when he is out and last night he went to a basketball game in the city.  Kids ALL loved it and it's "our" special dinner club.  Try this sometime.

Tuesday - Stromboli and salad - we have basketball practice tonight at 6:30 and I can't be bothered with a huge mess.  It is also cleaning lady day here which I LIVE for and I do NOT cook anything to over the top on cleaning lady day.  I like to keep the kitchen clean for at least 12 hours after they come.  Tomorrow it will be a mess again.   This recipe is EASY and another one the kids love.   I'll post the embarrassingly easy recipe tomorrow as my New Year's gift to you.

Wednesday - London Broil, mac and cheese (might be homemade, might be stouffers - we'll just have to see how I feel) and broccoli

Thursday - Sloppy Joes (another basketball night at 6:30 and also swimming lessons for Ms. C- these sports schedules are insane)

Friday - Chicken Pot Pie - my quick and easy go to.  The recipe is on the blog here somewhere and while we're on the topic... why isn't the search button up there working anymore?  Totally annoying!   I'll try to find the link and throw it up later. Found it!! Here you go :)

Saturday  - American Chop Suey bread salad - basically pasta, red sauce, and hamburger

Sunday - Ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans


If you meal plan - hit me up with a comment por favor.  I need some new ideas!!! xo,  Brie

Menu Monday

Happy Labor Day!  Sports schedules are in full swing and school starts tomorrow!  I am sad to say goodbye to the summer of 2010, but I am definitely ready to try to form a more structured fall routine.  Here's what's cooking this week......

Monday - Sausage Pasta by Sara Moulton (tip: I don't use breakfast sausage, just regular italian) and salad

Tuesday - Tacos

Wednesday - Hot Dogs and fruit - (crazy football schedule)

Thursday - Stuffed Shells, rolls, salad

Friday - Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken, tomato mozzerella salad, potato packets on the grill

Saturday - out

Sunday - Pioneer Woman's Penne A La Betsy

So there you have it - I feel so much better to have it down in print before I lose the list :)  xo, Brie

PS Monday and Sunday's meals are linked to the recipe

Menu Monday

It's that time of year again - after a wonderful summer, I need to create a schedule here!
(Peperonata pasta from Real Simple Magazine - August 2010 issue)

Monday - spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread

Tuesday - lemon chicken, rice, peas

Wednesday london broil on the grill, salad

Thursday Ravioli, bread and salad

Friday crab cakes

Saturday pasta pepernota from Real Simple magazine this month

Menu Planning Monday

Have you tried this yet? I've been trying to continue with it, makes life SO much easier to have everything planned out and ingredients on hand. I have a great habit of losing the piece of paper I write the menu out on and that kind of defeats the whole purpose :) If I put it here, I won't lose it! So here we go....

Mon - spaghetti and meatballs
Tue - white chicken enchiladas
Wed - stuffed shells
Thur - steak and seafood risotto
Fri -penne a la betsy

Sat - going out

Sun - French Onion Soup

Mon - tacos

Tues - chili

Wed - hot dogs

Thur - chicken pot pie

Let me know if you do this too! xo, Brie

Menu Planning Monday

I didn't do this again last week and it was hard without the trusty list and all the ingredients on hand!

Monday - Hamburgers

Tuesday - Corned Beef sloppy joes

Wednesday -lemon chicken

Thursday - beef stew

Friday -linguini and clam sauce (meat free for Lent)

Saturday - pork chops

Sunday - chicken pot pie

Happy Monday :) xo, Brie

Menu Planning Monday

I'm officially rising from the ashes of a most unproductive last week. I'm back with vengeance :)

Menu planning is complete....

Monday - spaghetti and meatballs

Tuesday - sandwiches and fruit (cleaning ladies are coming :)

Wednesday - Hamburgers - tonight I have to be in about 10 places at once, should be fun!

Thursday - fried chicken

Friday - homemade mac and cheese (meat free meal for Lent)

Saturday - date night! Dinner out and Slum Dog Millionaire (can't wait to see this!)

Sunday - Pot Roast

In other news:

• Snow day today!!!! We are expecting 6-12 inches - love it!


• I am working on a particularly hellish project. I'll tell you more about tomorrow - I'm pretty sure I'm in Purgatory on this one
  


• Remember that fabulous little sock monkey I hosted at the Cape this summer? Well, he's officially a celebrity and even has a fan page on facebook. Won't you join him? I'd love to see him with 100 fans by the end of the month!!!! Click here to join :)xo, Brie

Menu Planning Week 7

Week 7 - can you believe it?? I struggle every Sunday coming up with this weekly plan and try very hard not to do too many duplicates. I take into consideration busy nights of the week when I am carting the kids all over town for various activities etc! I'm not going to lie - some of my meals are met with rave reviews and others get 2 thumbs down. My kids (one in particular who shall remain nameless) can be super picky. This has honest to goodness been such a good thing for me, one less thing to fret about each day. I grocery shop on Mondays and the week is all taken care of!

So here it goes... I am going to try to post these every Monday (in the event that anyone may be interested ;) Be sure to check out a contest running over at Organizing Junkie with a fab prize of a year of menu planning through a company called Relish!

Monday - Crock Pot Adobo Chicken (super easy crock pot recipe), rice, broccoli

Tuesday - make your own pizza (mine will be bbq chicken - I love it but nobody else in this house does

Wednesday - tacos

Thursday - spaghetti and meatballs (I make a ton of meatballs at a time so they are all made and prebagged in the freezer)

Friday - Chicken with mascarpone marsala sauce it's a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis that I have made several time before - it's delicious! disclaimer: I am having company this night too :)

Saturday - London Broil, baked potato and salad

Sunday - (family bday party for Kev) hot dogs/hamburgers, yummy pasta salad (will post the recipe next week) and salad

Happy President's Day!!! xo, Brie