Menu Plan Monday 2012 ~ Week of May 21st

Is it really Monday already?  Seriously?  I am sooo not ready for it to be Monday.  It's going to be such a loooong week since Joe's schedule has him working 6 days this week.  Sigh. 

I know I shouldn't complain and that there are so many things that I should be thankful for, like the fact that we have a steady income and that I'm able to stay home with our daughter.  But just for a moment today, I feel like whining about it being a dreary Monday.  I think I was spoiled with all of the beautiful sunshine we had over the weekend.  The grey skies already have me feeling deprived of vitamin d!  (Or it could be a side-affect of not enough hours of sleep last night!) 

Okay, I think I'm finished whining for a little while.  At least maybe long enough to talk about menu planning. 

I thought I was doing really well and even started to write this week's menu early last week.  But, that was based on us preparing a turkey over the weekend.  For two weeks in a row, I failed to dig that sucker out of the chest freezer.  By the time I found room to thaw it in the fridge on Wednesday, Joe wan't convinced it would be thawed in time to be cooked on Sunday.  Good thing!  The few meals we prepared last week provided enough leftovers to get us through the entire week.  We're even eating them for lunches this week. 

We're probably breaking several rules on how long leftovers are safe to eat when stored in the fridge.  Joe is usually the one to eat leftovers past the recommended time frame, but I'm giving in this week and finishing up the last of a couple of dishes.  I am just so tired of wasting food.  Sure, I could have frozen the leftovers, but then that would just be more stuff piled up on top of top of the turkey!

Over the weekend, I had a chance to browse a few blogs looking for both healthy and budget friendly meals and decided that we'll give 2 new recipes a try this week.  After several dinners consisting of leftovers last week, the new recipes will be a refreshing change!   


Here's what I'm planning to serve this week: 

• Barbecue Chicken Salad Wraps.  Using chicken we picked up at a Chicken Barbecue held in our town over the weekend, I'll put together this yummy chicken salad and serve on wraps.  I think I'll add black beans to it this time!  We have some potato salad and cole slaw left, too. 

• Escarole and Beans.  I want to start including beans to our weekly menu plans.  A lot of times I do this without even trying since we tend to eat a lot of baked beans or chili.  But, since we don't eat those meals every week, I want to prepare other recipes to get more beans into our meals.  There are so many great recipes available online that it shoudn't be too difficult.  Plus, we really like beans.  I found this recipe last week and since I have most of the ingredients on hand, I figured we'd give it a try this week.  I'll need a bunch of excarole, but depending on the price, I might take the writer's suggestion and substitute with spinach. 

• Tuna Salad Club Sandwiches, fries, green salad.  Since I have a bunch of celery, carrots and onions on hand, I think it would be a good time to mix up some tuna salad.  I'll cook up some Turkey Bacon to stack in our club sandwiches. 

• Breakfast for Dinner.  Since we'll surely have leftover turkey bacon, we might as well have some eggs and fried potatoes to serve along with it!  It helps that I have 2 dozen eggs in the fridge, too!  I'll also serve some fruit and yogurt. 

• Polish Cabbage Noodles.  Here's another new recipe that I'm looking forward to trying.  We love cabbage and Grace loves noodles, so I think this will be a perfect match for us.  Of course, I'll have to set aside some plain noodles before I add anything like cabbage or onion to it.  But it's a compromise I'm willing to make so it won't be like I'm preparing 2 completely different meals in one night! 

• Memorial Day Weekend.  Since Joe is working part of the weekend and on-call for the rest of it, we haven't fully decided what we're going to do yet.  We'll probably just wing it for meals for the weekend.  Burgers, dogs, wings...something like that! 

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.