April 12 - 18

Well I did pretty well for my first full week of meals after a month off. Some friends invited us over for dinner one night and we ended up eating out another (nothing like remodeling the kitchen for a good eat out excuse!). Now I have one roll-over for this week! Here we go! Turkey Meatloaf Spaghetti Pizza Chicken Tacos Grilled Chicken & Orange Skewers with Zuccini Rice (from my latest Real Simple) Roast Sausage and Potatoes Special Treat: Orange Rolls

Back in the Saddle - April 5 - 11

Well, it's been a month with our new baby and I've definitely been spoiled. We had family in town for almost 3 weeks straight and during the in-between times our lovely church family provided meals for us. There was a night or two here and there that I needed to provide a meal for my family, but I was able to pull together something quick using freezer and pantry supplies.

Now it's time to get back at it. I'm not sure how this is going to go with t-ball 3 times a week and a month old baby, but we'll see. I already warned Keenan there may be some impromtu take-out nights :)

• Greek Pasta Salad with Chicken


• Baked Tofu with Rice and Sugar Snap Peas


• Orange Marmalade Chicken and Rice


• Tacos


• Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes


• Hot Dogs with Baked Beans


• Breakfast - Trail Mix Breakfast Bites

Jan 4 - 10

Time to get back at it! Somehow this week's menu wasn't too tough to pull together. I had some roll-overs from last week (that I forgot to post) and a couple of old stand-bys we haven't had in a while. Here we go!

Smothered Bean Burritos

Spaghetti with French Bread

Turkey Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Italian Wedding Soup

Roast Chicken and Veggies with Bread Machine Dinner Rolls

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs with Crunchy Veggies

July 12 - 18

Our unexpected 2 week menu turned out great! Unfortunately I don't have the energy tonight to make another one. We have a trip coming up at the end of the month so I'll make my next menu gets us through until we leave - just shy of 2 weeks.

Five-Spice Burgers with Warm Mu-Shu Topping, Pineapple and Exotic Chips

Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

Burgers and Hot Dogs - Meal Night with Home Group

Turkey Meatloaf with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Salsa Verde Steak Burritos

Veggie Pie

Honey Mustard "Fried" Chicken with Mac 'n Cheese and Veggies (for K's 2nd b-day!)

Special Treat: Lemon Ice Cream

April 19 - 25

Let's see...reviews. The Baked Lemon Pasta was nice and light especially for a spring meal. It was just missing a little something. I used fortified pasta to make up for the fact that it was a meatless meal, but it needs some more herbs or something. When I figure it out I'll let you know. For now I'm pairing the leftovers with smoked sausage hoping to balance things out.

The Jerk Chicken was a big hit. I changed it up a bit by using boneless, skinless chicken thighs and having Keenan grill them along with the fresh pineapple. I think that really helped bring the dish to the next level. Yum!

Keenan's going to be busy most evenings this week and all weekend helping with our church's high school retreat. I've planned a lot of easy, kid-friendly meals in preparation. I usually have the luxury of Keenan being home to help with the kids when I need to cook dinner so this will be a challenging week (not to mention going solo on bedtimes as well). We know it's well worth it, though.

Smoked Sausage with leftover Baked Lemon Pasta

Mexican Bean Wraps


Mac 'n Cheese with Fish Sticks and Peas


Hamburgers with Sweet Potato Fries


Spaghetti with Meatballs

Turkey Meatloaf with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Dip Night! (I plan to make all the dips listed except for the Enchilada dip)

Breakfast: Slow-cooker Oatmeal

Turkey Meatloaf

Here is the original recipe from Real Simple Magazine.

Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

My modifications are more with the prep and baking than anything. The sauce I use is from Alton Brown's meatloaf recipe. I reduced the amount of turkey because it comes in 1lb packages. Next time I plan to make a 2lb version so we can have leftovers :)

Meatloaf:

1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, cut into quarters
1/2 - 2/3 of a bag baby spinach
1 cup flat leaf parsley (I usually forget to add this)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 T dijon mustard
1 egg
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

In a food processor, pulse-chop the onion into large bits. Add the spinach (and parsely) in batches until finely chopped. In a bowl, combine ground turkey, onion, spinach, bread crumbs, mustard, egg, salt and pepper. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan. Form mixture into a 1" thick rectangular slab (ok...so it's not really a loaf, but it cooks faster and keeps it moist!) not touching the sides of the pan.

Sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup
dash hot sauce
dash worcestershire sauce
1 t cumin
1 - 2 T honey

Combine ingredients and spread over meat"loaf".

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 30 minutes (depending on your oven).

Mashed Potatoes

2lbs red potatoes, quartered
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk mixed with 1 T vinegar)
1 T olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Boil potatoes until tender (15-18 minutes). Drain. Add buttermilk, oil, salt and pepper and mash to desired consistency.

Enjoy! :)

March 1 - 7

As promised, a review! The Chinese Orange Chicken with Broccoli was a huge hit! The kids absolutely inhaled it (I'm not sure if it was really that good, the fact that dinner was later than usual or the 2 hours we spent at the park, but I'm still impressed at how much they ate.) Next time I do plan to swap the amounts of lemon juice and orange juice and decrease the sugar. The sauce makes more than enough so I have half in the freezer for another time.

I bought some new cookbooks today (Kids Can Cook and Kids Can Bake - sorry, I can't find links right now) for my sous-chef and me to try out. A couple of recipes will be tested this week.

Taco Pizzas

Chicken Teryaki with Pineapple and Rice

Salmon Bites with Yogurt Sauce

Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Quinoa Burgers

Texas Black Bean Soup and Easy Bread

Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan

Jan 4 - 10

Time to get back on track! Between travelling and the holidays I've been out of my usual menu making routine. While we had fun, I'm glad to be home and getting back in the swing of things. Ari will be back in school, we'll go back to the Y and we'll all need to eat some good food! It's supposed to be really cold this week so I've tried to plan some hearty, feel-good meals to keep us warm and cozy.

Creamy Green Chilie Enchilada Casserole

Turkey Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Beans and Piquant Cornbread

Smothered Bean Burritos (using leftovers)

Double Chicken Dumpling Stoup

Salmon Cakes with Steamed Broccoli

Hearty Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Nov 16 - 22

I have a new plan for menu planning (is that redundant?). The last few weeks I have struggled to pull together a menu. It really shouldn't take that long. As I was thumbing through my recipe file for dinner one night it suddenly dawned on me that I should use it to help me each week! I have quite the collection of meals we enjoy in there and some I haven't made in a long time. So instead of coming up with ideas off the top of my head or pouring over website after website for new recipes or at least an inspiration or reminder of something we like, I'm going back to basics. I made this week's menu in record time and didn't even have to beg Keenan for a suggestion :)

As far as reviews - the Spiced Honey Lemon Chicken with Carmalized Onions and Brussel Sprouts was a huge hit and the Cheesey Chorizo Strata was delicous as well. I'm planning to make the strata for a brunch we have this weekend.

Jamacian Chicken with rice and veggies (didn't get to this one last week)

Shrimp Pad Thai

Mac 'n Cheese with Cauliflower

Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Orange Beef with Cilantro Rice

King Ranch Chicken

Sept 13 - 20

We had a couple impromtu invites to dinner this week so I have some roll-overs. We're also going to have the Paella again when Keenan's parents come in for Ari's birthday - it's really good! The 3 cheese baked ziti was also a hit and will be featured tomorrow night as leftovers.

Leftover-palooza

Shake 'n Bake Chicken Nuggets with Sweet Potato Fries

Tofu Stir Fry with Brown Garlic Sauce

Garlic Hanger Steak with Sage Butter Gnocci

Burgers with Baked Beans and Chips

Easy Paella

Ari's Birthday Dinner (his fav) - Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Aug 17 - 23

Another rough week. I really need to get back on a structured routine. I think that will help. Maybe :)

Keenan and I each have a meeting on Thursday and the kids will be at a friends house so it'll either be frozen pizza or sandwiches one night.

Sauteed Fish with Cheesey Rice and Veggies

Jambalaya

Ravioli Bake

Burgers with Chips and Baked Beans

Taco Salad

Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Menu for March 18 - 22

My parents and sister are coming for a visit this weekend so I'm pulling out some of our new favorites even though we've had them recently.

Wednesday - Grilled Tuna Steaks with Asparagus and Wild Rice (gotta love the sale ads!)

Thursday - Italian Sausage Spaghetti with Salad and Garlic Bread

Friday - French Dip Paninis with Carrot Sticks and Chips

Saturday - Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes

Sunday - Eat Out (BBQ!)

We'll also be enjoying "KeenMcMuffins" and Breakfast Burritos along with chocolate cake this weekend. Yum!

Week of March 9 - 15

Monday - Tuna Noodle Casserole with Peas

Tuesday - Creamy Green Chilie Chicken Enchiladas with Rice and Beans

Wednesday - Indian Chicken Curry

Thursday - Orange Beef with Cilantro Rice

Friday - Baked Chicken Parmesan

Saturday - Miso Soup with Springrolls

Sunday - Turkey Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes