Weekly Menu Plan – 22.0

Hi MincedReviewers!   I was starting to slip, going to the grocery store 3-4 times a week, spending more $ than I should be.  I needed to rewind and go back to you where I started.  I planned my menu for the week, printed my grocery store template off to check off what I needed and off to the grocery store I went.  I bought a TON but I feel better prepared and certainly will save money.  You never really end up leaving with just the one thing you went in for.  The below is what I am planning on preparing this week.  Happy cooking everyone!

Sunday – Cod with Italian Crumbs

Monday – Chicken Breasts with Avocado, Tomato and Cucumber Salsa.

Tuesday – Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella.

Wednesday – Healthy Breakfast Night

Thursday – Spice Rubbed Salmon with Lemon Garlic Spinach.

Friday- No cooking for you!

Saturday – Chicken Souvlaki Gyro Style.

Sunday –  Cod with Italian Crumb Topping.   This recipe by AllRecipes was shockingly delicious.  I am not sure why I had lower hopes for this but I was surprised.   The only thing I changed in this recipe is that I brushed the fillets with olive oil instead of egg whites.  Served with Jasmine rice and green beans. 

Monday– Chicken Breasts with Avocado, Tomato and Cucumber Salsa.  I am making this tonight and am crazy excited for this.    I found this on Cooking Light and really it couldn’t be any more perfect for this time of year.  

Tuesday–  Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella.  I am making this Epicurious recipe for the first time.  I’ve made similar dishes though.  I am thinking I may add pancetta (or super crispy turkey bacon) to this for a little more flavor.   I am going to serve this with salad and fresh bread.  

Wednesday–  Breakfast night!  I am soo hungry for a spinach feta omelet!   The boys love breakfast for dinner so we try to do this every couple of weeks.  Please see the blog link below on how to make the perfect omelet.

The Omelet Blog.

Thursday– Spice Rubbed Salmon with Lemon Garlic Spinach.  This is  a new recipe for me.  I found it on Cooking Light. I’ll let you know how it goes and if I make any changes after Thursday. 

Friday –  No cooking for you (or me in this case)!  Have an easy night tonight.

Saturday–  Chicken Souvlaki Gyro Style.  My SIL and BIL made this recipe from AllRecipes while we were on vacay together this summer.  AmaZing!  The big change on this recipe is to purchase the tzatziki sauce vs. making homemade.  I am all for homemade, in fact I usually prefer it, but the return on investment. The $ to buy all the ingredients, the time to make just does not outweigh buying a small tub of ready made tzatziki sauce.  Trader Joe’s makes an excellent one! **note** the pic above is a pic of my plate on vacation.  Yum! 

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Menu Plan – 21.0

 Menu 21:

Sunday – Blackened Trout

Monday – Peas and Pancetta (with Pasta)

Tuesday – Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken

Wednesday – Grilled Cheese Night!

Thursday – Lobster Rolls

Friday- No cooking for you!

Saturday – Buffalo Salmon

Sunday –  Blackened Trout with Spicy Kale.    This is such a great, healthy dinner to start your week off.  This recipe from The Food Network is full of flavor but not full of fat.  The only thing that I change in this recipe is swapping out black beans for the kidney beans.   Not for any real reason other than I am a black bean fanatic.  

Monday– Peas with Shallots and Pancetta (with noodles).   and.. in opposite news (fat/calorie-wise).. this recipe by Bobby Flay is amaZing.  I turn this delicious side dish into a main dish by mixing it with whatever pasta I have on hand and a little extra olive oil.  I also like to grab the pancetta from Trader Joe’s that’s already diced and ready to  throw into the pan.  This dinner takes 20 – 25 minutes tops.  Really a great Monday night recipe. 

Tuesday– Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken.  Finally a jerk chicken recipe that actually tastes like I remember it tasting in Jamaica!    I found this recipe on Pinterest but it’s originally from a site called Bakers Royale.  I have tried recipe after recipe.  Jar sauce after jar sauce and I think this may be it!  AND it’s a slow cooker recipe.  

Wednesday–  Easy night!  Make your own Grilled Cheese night!  Add ham, add avocados, use goat cheese, use three cheeses.  What ever your heart/taste buds desire!  Serve with tater tots for an all around kid friendly fun night.  

Thursday– Bon Appetit’s Ultimate Lobster Rolls.  Ok.  So this recipe looks delicious and sounds delicious BUT I ain’t killing a lobster.  I’m the ultimate meat-eating hypocrite.  I admit it.  I am a vegetarian at heart and really in my brain too when I think about… well, you know, when I think about it.  However, my taste buds are selfishly winning this argument thus far.  With all that said, I will be using faux lobster or something from the seafood counter that tastes like lobster but does not appear to be staring back at me.  

Friday –  Stop cooking, will ya?   Take a break!  Order take-out.  Drive-thru.  Have a dinner out.  Something.  Anything.  Just stay out of your own kitchen.  🙂

Saturday–  Buffalo-Style Salmon.  Yess!!!!!!!  Finally I found a new salmon recipe.  Love all of the savory (soy/brown sugar) recipes out there but I really needed something different.   This has a  little kick and delicious greens on the side.  I will admit though, that I am not an arugula fan at all so I swapped out for a different leafy green.   This is a perfect grill night recipe.

Don’t forget to click on the link below to use the printable grocery list!  This will help keep you on track as you shop.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.  It is super cute!!

Menu Planning Template

Happy cooking and have a great week!

Menu Plan 8.0

Week 8:

Wednesday – Fajitas!

Tuesday – Ham and Green Beans

Monday – Sweet and Sour Chicken.

Sunday Side – Creamed Spinach.

Sunday Side – Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Sunday – Baked Salmon

I hope that everyone had a great week!  Here is next weeks menu:

Sunday–Baked Salmon. Such a great Sunday night dinner.  I love to serve this with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach.   It takes a bit of work but the results are amazing and I just love hanging out in the kitchen when it’s starting to get cold outside.  🙂

Monday–Sweet and Sour Chicken.  This is such a crazy easy recipe that I had to put it as a mid-week dish.  I don’t change a thing! Serve with Rice and Edamame for a perfectly Asian inspired dish.

Tuesday–New Potatoes, Green Beans and Ham. Wow!  This is exactly the same recipe that my Mom used to make when I was a kid.  Talk about comfort food.  So delicious on a cool Fall night.  This recipe does say that you can use frozen green beans but if you can, really try to get fresh.  If you have extra time, serve with Cornbread.  Delicious!!

Wednesday–Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas.   AmaZing.  So flippin’ easy.  I throw all ingredients in to a freezer bag the night before and throw in the crock pot in the morning.  Serve on corn or flour tortillas with black beans on the side.  Kids:  Quesadilla night!

Thursday -Leftover night/Breakfast night.  If you have lots of leftovers (like I did last week) you will need to have a night to ‘catch up’ so to speak.  I can’t stand leftovers in the fridge for more than a couple of days. If you are leftover-less, have a fun breakfast for dinner night.

Friday– Faux Chicken Parmesan. I say ‘faux’ because sometimes you just need to take the easy way out.  I buy chicken patties and cook in the oven according to directions.  Cook spaghetti noodles accordingly as well.  Heat up pasta sauce.  I layer on the plate as follows:  Pasta (tossed with a little olive oil and garlic salt) ->Chicken patty -> slice of mozzarella cheese-> sauce all over the top ->sprinkle parmesan cheese all over the top.  Serve with a salad and garlic bread.  Done and done.

Saturday– Take-a-break night!!!

It’s finally here!  A printable grocery list that you can check off what you need and add what I’ve left off the list.  Hope this helps streamline your grocery store trips! The goal is for you to go to the store ONCE this week. Save time. Save $$.

Grocery List Template

and as always, here is your menu planning template to print out, write your menu and stick on your fridge.

Menu Planning Template

Happy Cooking!  Fall is almost here!  Yippee.

MincedReviews.

Taking risks.

As we approach Easter, I have had eggs on my mind.  Hard boiled eggs, deviled eggs, chocolate eggs, candy filled eggs.  Eggs.  Eggs.  Eggs.  Everywhere.  Literally.  Really.  They are all over my living room floor. Behind me as I type this.  Well, plastic ones. Empty plastic ones post-neighborhood egg hunt.

About ten minutes before my husband was heading home from work today,  I was irritatingly lackadaisical in trying to figure out what to make for dinner.  My first thought, always in this predicament, is to make breakfast.  I love it.  The boys love it.  Husband though?  Not so much.  For those of you that know my work out/protein-loving-husband, you know that he eats scrambled eggs (6 egg white/2 yolks) EVERY morning.  For TEN YEARS.  EVERY DAY.   “Most important meal of the day” he says.  Ok, well this most “important” meal has to be at DINNER for the rest of us.  Short story long, I decided to spice it up a little.  I decided to make omelets for dinner.  The intimidating omelet.  I had attempted many times before but was painfully disappointed every time and always ended up turning them into faux scramble eggs.  I had just read the April issue of Food Network Magazine (sigh… love) and Alton Brown breaks it down.  I was willing to jump in head first and risk another omelet failure.  There’s only four adorable men patiently (im) waiting for dinner, right? I did mention I was running behind, didn’t I?  I followed it to the letter and they tuned out perfectly  (they looked exactly like the picture above)!  Wahoo.  Success.  I had to share this with you all.  While not a typical product review blog, file this under Tips and Tricks.   The link below is to the recipe for the Perfect Omelet.  I highly recommend you try it.  Silly little feats of accomplishment are the best, aren’t they?

Perfect Omelet on the Food Network.

I am going to try a few other Egg tips in the next few days, I’ll be sure to pass along any other helpful info.

Happy egg cooking everyone!