Meal Planning Monday

melissa0726

What's for dinner this week?  I'm trying to get organized...better planning, more crock pot, less for me to actually prepare and cook when the kids are whining to eat.

And....I just looked over and DD2 is spilling a tube of puffs onto the floor and eating them.  Guess breakfast is taken care of

melissa0726

M: Crock pot salsa chicken, rice, and I think broccoli.
T:  Stuffed peppers (frozen leftovers), stir fry veggies, rice
W: Quesadillas
Th: Crockpot Italian Chicken, pasta on the side, salad
F:  Order out, since we're not going out for Valentines Day
S: Pasta, veggies, chicken in cheddar ranch sauce
S: Dinner w/ my parents

angiek1

I haven't made it that far in life yet... all I know is I have to bake cookies for decorating tomorrow... once I get the cookies done I'll start to think about real food

amywalt1684

In no particular order...
Panko Chicken legs with noodles, a bread and veggie.
Oven baked Fajitas (we eat these like every other week, so easy and sooo yummy)
Fajita leftovers made into quesadillas (even better as leftovers!)
Tacos
Chicken breasts (not sure how I'll prepare them yet) with sundried tomato rotini noodles, bread and veggie.
Ravioli bake (I bought enough to make dinner for us and freezer meals for SIL with new baby and DH elderly grandpa.)
For fresh veggies I bought: asparagus, stuff for salads, zucchini, broccoli.

Apparently I was in the mood for comfort foods and Mexican when I went shopping! Lol

melissa0726

Kimbus22 I usually have some plain or lightly seasoned pre-cooked chicken strips or cubes on hand.  I guess I use about 1 cup of chicken (1 small chicken breast) for the recipe.  This recipe serves about 3 people.

Boil water to cook 1/2 pound of pasta of your choice.  A small pasta is best with this recipe, we like penne or shells.

While the pasta is cooking, heat a little butter and oil in a skillet, and add about 2 cups of frozen veggies of your choice.  We like asian stiry fry.  Cook until heated throughout, stirring frequently, about 5-7 mins.  Put the veggies aside on a plate.

Add the pre-cooked chicken to the skillet and warm for about 2 minutes.  Sprinkle 1 TBSP flour and 1/2 packet (1.5 TBSPs) of dry ranch dressing  mix over chicken.  Pour 1 cup of milk over everything and stir.  Warm on low-medium heat until milk begins to thicken and bubble lightly.  Add 1/2 cup cheddar cheese to the sauce and stir until melted 

Add pasta and veggies back to the skillet, mix everything up.  That's it!  The sauce is pretty good, you can add more or less ranch mix or cheddar cheese to your taste.  DH usually says it needs some salt, but I let him add his at the table.

melissa0726

amywalt1684 tell me more about these oven baked fajitas....

amywalt1684

Ingredients:
3 boneless chicken breasts
2 green peppers (you could use red or yellow)
1 large onion or more
Can of Mexican style tomatoes diced or stewed
Packet of fajita seasoning or easily make your own
2T oil

Directions:
Cut chicken, peppers and onion into strips.
Mix oil and fajita seasoning.
Put chicken in 11x13 pan, pour seasonings over.
Mix in the peppers, onions and tomatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 min, uncovered.

Eat on tortillas topped with sour cream, cheese and rice.

This recipe makes a ton for our small family, we put the leftovers with any leftover rice into a Baggie overnight. We make them in to quesadillas the next night by cooking the leftover fajita mixture in between tortillas with cheese on the griddle. I'm telling you... It is even better the second time around!

The ranch chicken recipe you shared sounds yummy and easy... Totally going to try it!

melissa0726

amywalt1684 that sounds good, I'm going to try that next time I have fresh peppers.

The recipe I shared also works really well even if you don't have chicken.  The pasta and veggies and sauce are plenty filling, and I usually like to throw a salad on the side. 

amywalt1684

How do you prep your chicken breasts? Do you keep them in your fridge or freezer?

BnchaNums

I've been using The Fresh 20 meal plan for the last 5 mos, so this week their list includes: herb roasted chicken and spinach bean salad, roasted cod with zucchini and tomato ragu with brown rice, sausage with potato carrot gratin, spinach stuffed pork chops with sautéed tomatoes, vegetable barley soup with salad

melissa0726

amywalt1684 said:

How do you prep your chicken breasts? Do you keep them in your fridge or freezer?

When perdue short cuts are on sale, I stock up on those.

When I am forced to actually cook the chicken, I cube the breasts and then pan fry in a little butter and oil with a little salt, pepper, garlic salt.  It's kind of boring, but I don't care too much what the chicken tastes like because it's covered in cheese sauce   I do make and freeze extra so I don't have to make the chicken every time.