Friday, January 15, 2010

What's the Plan?

Do you plan your meals?
I definitely don't plan breakfast. I rarely eat breakfast. Well more recently I have been but in the past and in general I don't.
My boy likes him some breakfast. And we aren't talkin' bout no pop tarts neither. He request such things as French Toast, and Pan Cakes. Who has time for that? Last summer I instituted a plan wherein he gets himself breakfast. All summer he went without breakfast. The plan still stands. Most of the time he claims this is too hard and I end up making him toast (with butter and a cinnamon and sugar mixture sprinkled on top), two minutes before we need to be out the door and he eats it in the car on the way to school and probably once he's in class too a couple of times. He is so lazy!
He gets it from his MOTHER! I don't eat breakfast most of the time because I don't want to think about what to eat, make it, or clean it up. The same goes for lunch and dinner. Though I do eat those. Everyday.
If I tell the truth I don't mind making dinner. I have come to enjoy cooking. (It hasn't always been so.) It's deciding what to make and making sure we have all the ingredients before I start. Sometimes I start and get halfway through when I realize we don't have everything it takes to make the meal right. I hate that! So most of the time we make a "menu" for the week and then go shopping for what we don't have for the menu, hitting the store once a week. It works pretty well, but I am in a total rut.
Here is the menu for this week:
Th- Homemade pizza
Fri- beef pot pie
Sat- spaghetti
Sun- Pork ribs w/ rice
Mon.- tacos
Tues.-pasta primavera w/ shrimp
Wed. - I got nothin'.
The pizza, while delish, is wearing on us. I am so sick of spaghetti and tacos I could scream. Normally we always have some type of recipe that includes chicken and it almost always requires cream of chicken soup as an ingredient. This too makes me want to scream. Thus, no plan for Wednesday.
I shook things up a bit when I added pot pie, pork ribs, and pasta primavera to the list. The pot pie will be an experiment. I've never made one but stew meat was on sale and I have some frozen veggies in the fridge that I think will make it good. We'll see. The pork ribs were also on sale and I will be using a tried and true recipe of my mom's for those. The pasta primavera will be interesting. I tried to get the recipe from my sister before shopping day but it didn't happen (she is so busted) so I doubt we will get it this week. The shrimp was also on sale a few weeks ago. I never buy shrimp. We love shrimp. But it rarely fits in our budget.
So tell me, what is your family's favorite dish? What do you eat the most? What menu item makes you want to scream?

14 comments:

Holley said...

Spaghetti makes me want to scream and pull my hair out. I make it almost every week because everyone else in the house still likes it and its cheap and filling. But I'm starting to HATE it. I think I need a new sauce recipe.

I've been experimenting with Once a Month Cooking. There are several recipes and tips online. Last Weekend I went to Sam's Club and got the ingredients I needed to make two weeks worth of meals for the freezer. It has been amazing how easy meal time has been this past week.

I made two lasagnas, two pans of enchiladas, Two meat loafs,I cooked up a big roast in my crockpot and shredded it for one taco meal and one beef stroganoff meal. I also made up a batch of mexican chicken that is great heated and poured over rice or chilled in taco salad. I made up two bags of marinated chicken breasts that I will grill on my George Forman grill one was with italian dressing and the other was with BBQ sauce (this is great because all you do is pour the sauce over the raw chicken and put in the freezer then while you are defrosting it...it marinates itself.

Meg said...

We have soup & grilled cheese a lot. Also, why not have breakfast for dinner? We do that sometimes too. We don't always get breakfast around here (it's usually cinnamon toast) and so we use dinner to have French toast, pancakes, or the whole bacon/eggs/toast deal.

Sandy said...

How about chicken oriental salad and french bread.
How about a cookie sheet full of cut up bar boiled veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, colored bell pepper slices, sliced onion, asparagus, etc.) spread shredded cheese over the top, cheddar or swiss and then broil until the vegies are completely covered with cheese (like notchos) and then serve with french bread. I love french bread
Slice french bread and then top with cheddar cheese and broil, put tomato and sliced onion under the cheese, serve with salad. You make the best green tossed salad.
Beef strogenoff over noodles or rice.

Sandy said...

I meant PAR boiled

Sandy said...

Julie, since I am trying to lose weight I am getting some great ideas from Hungry girl. hungrygirl@hungry-girl.com

Kathy said...

Oh my goodness - is this not the dilemma of my life?! thus the name of our blog. I totally feel your pain!

I was just about ready to give you a chicken recipe we had this week but *it* has cream of mushroom soup in it...

I love Holley's idea - but I'm too lazy - too lazy to think about cooking - too lazy to want to go to the grocery store - too lazy to clean up the mess. And let's face it - cooking just leads to my next dilemma - wanting to lose weight.

I've been in a cooking rut since before I left my childhood home. While in college, I dated a guy who gave me a recipe book for Christmas as encouragement to get over my cooking animosity. (Interesting, that chicken recipe I was talking about is from that book!)

So yeah - "What's for dinner???"

I'm going to check out that site Sandy mentioned.

Kathy said...

OK, I've decided to be more helpful -

Sheppard’s Pie

Be warned – there is a can of soup in here but it is tomato soup

1 lb hamburger
1 can tomato soup
1 can corn
1 can green beans
cubed onion
Mashed potatoes
Shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the hamburger with onions (I use dry minced if I’m too lazy to chop onions so guess what, we almost always have the dry…) drain corn and beans, add to meat, add the soup. Put in casserole dish. Top with mashed potatoes (I use instant). Top potatoes with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

I made this recipe this week and used two brown gravy packets of add water gravy instead of the soup and left off the cheese.

Or - there's always fondue...

Kathy said...

I should post about this - I have too much to say.

I think Nancy does this or used to do this. She would make double of whatever it was she was making for dinner. So similar to what Holley is doing. So if it's enchiladas tonight...make two batches - one for tonight and one to freeze.

Whitney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Whitney said...

I posted about it.
http://whitneyandpeteralger.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-to-eat.html

Anonymous said...

I know your sick of cream of chicken soup, so use cream of mushroom soup =] I love meatballs with cream of mushroom soup over rice. For just me, I use a lb of hamburger and make up 12 meatballs. I cook them all together and make up a bunch of rice, and I have dinner for that night, plus 2 other nights. Its great. I don't have a problem eating the same thing for 2 or 3 nights in a row (yet), and that is one of my favorite meals. I also love making fried noodles. Just boil some ramen (its so cheap!) use a bit of oil to fry up some cabbage and carrots, bean sprouts, whatever veggies you like, then dump in the noodles and fry away! I always add seseme seed oil and soy sauce and a little of the package seasoning. And I love it. I generally make 2 packages for me, so that I have some left over. Its one of the easiest things to make! But really, other than those two things, I don't make much else...

L said...

REAL SIMPLE has two or three cookbooks out now that truly ARE real simple...they are delicious and easy; no freaky ingredients either!

The Wells said...

Austin's favorite is Beef Stroganoff. Sydney's faforite is Mac & Cheese (not from the box). Jason and Allynn always ask for steak - but they don't get it. I like fondue. Kelsey likes salad right now.

Jen said...

I'm a pasta fanatic.. in other words, I'm a carb addict. I've started weight watchers so I'm on a whole new menu plan now. I'm a big fan of breakfast.. I usually eat oatmeal with some protein and yogurt when I'm in a hurry.. but when I do have time, I like to cook a good hearty breakfast meal with eggs, bacon, the works! I'm usually starving in the mornings. My favorite dinner dish is pasta, with some grated cheese, little chicken, and white or red sauce. I also really like macho nachos! The more "macho" the better.