Meal Planning

For the last couple of years I have been pretty bad about meal planning, but latley after chats about staying on budget and watching trips to the grocery store, Andrew and I have agreed to try the once a week shop to cut down on the frequent triops with hungry impulse buys.

This weeks meal plan with hyperlinks when possible goes like this

Sunday-Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Fennel, mashed potatoes and green salad
Monday -Thai Chicken Soup (with leftover chicken from Sunday)
Tuesday-Perogies and farmer sausage
Wednesday Goulash, rice and green salad
Thursday Baked Potato Soup, and green chef's salad
Friday- Capatavi pasta with Alfredo sauce, chicken and bacon (Andrew's favorite-no recipe as the sauce comes out f a jar, its pretty much a heat and serve dinner).

I don't usually predecide which days will be which meals, usually I pick 5 recipes based on ingredients I currently have so that I don't need to pick up as many ingredients when I shop; I also shop the fliers and usually manage to save 30% off my bill each week with sale items or coupons. In this case I had to cook the chicken first as it was fresh so that decided meal order a bit. In general we're not big on leftovers in our house, but I do try to have some leftovers for the next days lunch.
I like to have at least one new recipe and a few quick dinner ideas for the nights when I don't have much time (Perogies or pasta).

Recipe Exchange

Recently I participated in a recipe exchange (which never work for me), and I actually got a recipe (for the first time out of about 5). It looks super easy tasty,  and I am very excited to try it. I thought I would share.

Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole

• 4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 4 slices swiss cheese
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups stuffing mix
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

lightly grease crockpot with cooking spray. place chicken breasts in crockpot. top each breast with cheese. spoon soup over cheese and sprinkle with stuffing mix. drizzle melted butter over stuffing mix. cook on low 6-7 hours.

Super easy and quite yummy. Serve with a salad and/or steamed broccoli. Makes great leftovers.

Beth’s Fave!

(Best of Bridge’s Classy Chicken)

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
1/4 t pepper
1 T oil
1 minced clove of garlic
3 C chopped broccoli
1 - 10 oz. (284 ml) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 C light mayonnaise
1 T. curry powder
lemon juice from half a lemon
1/2 - 1 C grated cheddar cheese
Cooked Rice
Instructions:Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle with pepper. Saute quickly with garlic in oil over medium heat just until opaque. Cook broccoli until crunchy (boil or steam until just green). Drain and arrange in bottom of casserole. Place chicken on top. Mix together soup, mayonnaise, cheese, curry and lemon juice and pour over chicken. Bake uncovered, at 350F for 30-35 minutes. Serve over rice.
Serves 4