Menu Plan Monday 2.6.12

Whew! What a whirlwind the past two weeks have been! I feel like I’m on a crazy ride at an amusement park and I’m just ready for the spinning to stop…

Hoping this week is a little less spastic and crazy, but who knows!

BUT! I am glad that I have my plan in place for our dinners this week. One of my sanity savers is knowing what we’re having for dinner and not getting caught off-guard with one of those “Uh, oh, what AM I cooking tonight?!?” moments.

Menu Plan:

Here’s what we have planned this week:

Monday: Country Fried Steak, gravy & mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Chicken Quesadillas (made with leftover crock pot Mexican chicken from this weekend – recipe below)
Wednesday: Asian chicken stir fry
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Sloppy Joes
Saturday: Chicken Parmesan
Sunday: Mom’s day off (eat out for dinner after church)

Great Menu Idea for a Gathering:

We had our small group over for this weekend and I made a Nacho Bar for dinner. I had all SIX of my crock pots on the counter (I should’ve taken a picture!) filled with yummy goodness. I made ground beef (seasoned with Rotel tomatoes with chiles and taco seasoning) the chicken (below) and then had another crock with black beans and refried beans (it was a divided crock) and another with a cheese dip to top off the nachos (Velveeta & Rotel)

On the side, I had the following toppings:

shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
diced red onions
cilantro
chile peppers
jalepenos
sliced black olives
three kinds of salsa (including my Tomatillo-Avocado salsa)
shredded cheddar cheese

Everyone LOVED it. I think I’ll be doing it again for another get-together. It was easy because I could do so much ahead of time and then the set-up for the dinner was fairly simple.

I made the cutest sweet “nacho” dessert (found on Pinterest) which was what my baby crock was holding – the chocolate to drizzle over the top…

Crock Pot Mexican Chicken

Here’s the quick, easy and super-yummy crock pot Mexican chicken recipe I made:

1-2 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (or thighs)
1 package taco seasoning (I use the low sodium variety)
1 jar salsa (I use Newman’s Own Mild)

Place the chicken in the crock pot. Sprinkle the taco seasoning on top of the chicken & pour the salsa over it. Then cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Shred chicken, return to crock pot (with the salsa juices) and serve. Makes great filling for burritos, tacos, nachos or quesadillas.

I may even make some chicken tortilla soup with some of the leftovers!