Menu Plan Monday 2012 ~ Week of May 14th

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday.

Personally, I had mixed feelings about yesterday!  Mainly, because I only had about 2 hours of sleep the night before.  Grace occasionally wakes up in wee hours of the night looking for Joe.  He gets up early to leave for work and she likes to see him before he leaves.  But, she internal alarm clock was way off on Sunday morning...not to mention the fact that Joe wasn't going to work.  Usually when this happens, she falls back to sleep after he sits and talks with her for a few minutes.  Not this time.  As much as we tried to get her to sleep or play quietly while we slept, she just got louder and louder.  Finally, I gave in at 5:00 and turned on the TV in the living room and hung out on the couch while she watched Disney Junior. 

Besides being so incredibly tired, Mother's Day was very nice.  Joe surprised me with a flower delivery on Friday.  Two dozen beautiful roses from my little Grace!  They are so pretty and have are beautifully fragrant! 

In addition to the roses from Grace (and Joe), my Mom and my niece came over and planted some plants in my garden!  You see, I have no clue when it comes to gardening.  Plus, after moving here 5 years ago, we haven't had extra money for plants and landscaping.  Mom helped out by bringing some plants from her beautiful gardens and planting them in our empty flower bed!  Thanks, Mom!  They are beautiful!  (Don't worry friends, I'll share photos here soon!) 

Such a wonderful day, even though I felt like crawling back into bed for most of the day! 

Now onto the reason we're here today:  Menu Planning! 

We didn't follow last week's menu to the letter last week, but didn't do too badly considering I've been away from menu planning lately! 

This week, I'll be making a few of our own tried and true meals in addition to trying a new recipe.  It's been a long time since I've tried anything new and since I've been feeling like we're in a dinner-time rut, I think it's about time! 

Here's what I'm planning for this week: 

• Hot dogs, Baked Beans and baked potatoes.  We've been in the mood for baked beans lately.  I threw a quick batch together and let it cook overnight in the crock pot.  I used some of the leftover turkey bacon from last week's BLTs in place of the bacon crumbles that I normally use in my beans.  Since hot dogs are on sale this week, Joe picked up a pack to go with the crock of beans.  Some baked potatoes will go nicely with this comfort food meal! 

• Spaghetti with All Day Crock Pot Meat Sauce, garlic bread, salad.  Grace has been in a meal-time rut lately, too.  Poor kid is getting bored with the handful of foods that she will actually eat.  I think it's time for a pot of spaghetti!  She really enjoys it and it seems like it's been a while since we've had it for dinner. 

• Chicken, Pinto Beans & Rice Casserole.  I want to start cooking with more rice and more beans.  This recipe is perfect since it uses both!  Plus, we always have chicken in the freezer!  I really can't wait to try this recipe from Family Balance Sheet! 

• BBQ Chicken.  A local organization is hosting their annual Chicken Barbecue this weekend.  This is THE BEST barbecue chicken ever!  Mainly because I don't have to cook!  haha!  Seriously, it's very tasty!  Instead of eating there, we usually order ours to-go.  We usually pick up some potato salad and coleslaw, too. 

• Cheesey Spanish Rice Bake, Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower & Carrots, leftover BBQ Chicken.  Since I know we'll have leftover chicken, I'll make this rice casserole to serve with the leftovers.  I've made this casserole a few times and love how easy it is to make!  I'll probably add some black beans to it to bulk it up a bit! 

• Turkey, Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus.  Since I never did find the time to dig that turkey out of the chest freezer, we never got around to having our turkey dinner.  We didn't really end up having the time to cook it anyway, so I guess it's a good thing I didn't thaw it.  Since I need the room in the freezer, I'm determined to get it out of there this week! 

So, now you know what we're eating this week!  Please share your menu ideas in the comment section of this post! 

Need more menu planning inspiration?  Follow me over to Menu Plan Monday hosted by I'm an Organizing Junkie!  Or, if you like what you see here, you can check out my past menu plans.