Menu Plan Monday ~ 7 November

Happy Monday, y’all!

Hope you had a great weekend – we sure did. The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to just hang out together as a family. We didn’t have anything special planned and just enjoyed a relaxing weekend at home – which is special in and of itself, I think.

I’m a homebody. I love to stay home. I love being here, with my family and people I love, just hanging out together and enjoying each other’s company.

Yesterday, we finished up Big Girl’s menu plan week. I have one dish I didn’t make that will roll into this week’s menu and I’m going to work on cooking out of my pantry and freezer this week. I want to see how long I can go without going to the grocery store… challenge myself to see how creative I can get with what we have.

So, while I have a menu in place below, I may shift things around so that I can avoid the store this week. That’s the plan, anyway.

Here’s what I’ll be cookin’ up this week:

Monday: Beef Stew (using leftovers from a roast from Sunday dinner)
Some of these rolls (trying a new recipe) and some hot fudge brownies for dessert (sinful!) (and also a new recipe for the family)
Tuesday: Rotel Chicken Pasta Bake (Big Girl’s menu request from last week)
Wednesday: (not sure yet) Maybe clean out the crisper soup or Pasta Fagioli
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Mexican? or homemade pizzas?
Saturday: Asian Beef & Noodles
Sunday: Spaghetti & Garlic Bread w/ Salad

Lunches for me for the week will include some veggie/taco soup and maybe a salad or two. SuperMan usually has leftovers or whatever soup I make and the girls get some form of a bento box or sandwiches.

I’m also trying something new out this week… I’m trying out Plan to Eat, an online system in which you can store your recipes, build your menu plans and shopping lists all in one place. I have a 30 Day free trial (and you can too, if you sign up) and I thought I’d give it a shot and see how it works.

You may remember that my usual menu planning system involves index cards posted on my refrigerator door. This is way more high tech than that, but I’m willing to give it a shot. I want to see if it helps me to branch out from my “usual suspects” of dinner choices and find some new favorites.

Once I get my menu plan made, I get a nifty shopping list. I can add to it, move thing off of the list (that I already have in my pantry) and edit as I need to.

I am also curious about the option they have where you enter what you have in your pantry/fridge and it suggests menu choices for you. THAT will be way cool when I’m working on my “cook out of the pantry” challenge this week.

I’m also slowly moving my recipes over to the Plan to Eat website, so if you join (or are already a member) send me a friend invite and we can share recipes!

Anyhow, I’ll keep you posted as I fiddle around with the Plan to Eat software and let you know how I like it… and if you’ve used it before, I’d love to hear what you think, too! Please share!

For more menu plan ideas, check out orgjunkie.com.