Menu Plan Monday 2013 ~ Week of January 14th

Oh my goodness!  I made so many changes to last week's menu plan that I really started to confuse myself!  I had everything written out on my dry erase calendar with notes scribbled in where changes were made.  It had gotten to the point that it was one big scribbled mess and I erased the entire thing!

Last Monday, I was sure it was going to be a good week in the kitchen.  I was up early, showered, dressed and had dinner in the crock pot before Grace even woke up!  Off to such a good start on a Monday morning is unheard of in my house!  At least for me, since I'm not a morning person at all!

The Crock Pot Taco Soup, which was the result of that short-lived bout of productivity was delicious and provided dinner for us for two nights!

After forgetting on several occasions to thaw the ground meat for meatloaf, I finally managed to get meat loaf on the table on Friday night.  This was my first time using a ground beef and pork mixture for meat loaf and I wasn't disappointed.  In fact, I don't think I'll use plain ground beef for meatloaf again!

I prepared a whole chicken in the crock pot last week.  I didn't include it in the menu plan, but I knew I needed to cook some chicken for Grace.  This was a perfect meal for one of the nights I forgot to thaw the ground meat!  I used the leftover chicken to make a pot of Chicken 'n' Dumplings for my brother for his birthday.  We don't exchange gifts, but have started to make and deliver meals for each other for our birthdays.

Over the weekend, I did a lot of cooking ahead:

• Minestrone Soup (link in menu plan below).  I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot and set it on low for 8 hours before I went to bed on Friday night.  This gave me plenty of time to allow it to cool before dividing into containers and putting into the fridge.  
• Chicken.  I boiled a whole chicken on Saturday.  I'll use the meat for dinners this week.  
• Meat Sauce.  There was about 3/4 lb of ground meat left after making the meatloaf on Friday.  I browned it with some carrots, onions, celery.  After draining the fat, I poured in 2 jars of sauce and seasoned with Italian Seasoning and crushed red pepper.  I divided that into 3 containers for future meals.  One for this week, the other 2 will go in the freezer for next week.  

So, this week should be pretty easy as far as dinners are concerned.  I'm glad because I still have about half of the Christmas decorations to take down.  Easy dinners will allow me to focus on the huge task of fitting everything back into the storage containers so Joe can get them up into the attic.  Grace is anxious for us to decorate for Valentine's Day.  

Here's a look at what I'll be serving up for dinner this week:  

Monday 

Minestrone Soup

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches 

Tuesday 

Spaghetti with meat sauce

salad, crusty bread 

Wednesday 

Chicken Pot Pie

Salad

Thursday 

Ham and Potato Soup 

Biscuits 

Friday 

Leftover Night 

Saturday 

Crock Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches 
Oven Fries
Salad

Sunday 

Family Dinner 

Now that you know what we're eating this week, let us know in the comments what's for dinner at your house this week! Or, if you 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.

You can also find this week's menu plan linked to On the Menu Monday hosted by Yvonne at Stone Gable.