Menu Monday (on Thursday)

     So, after shopping at Albertsons on Monday last week and finding out that they were sold out of all the on-sale products that I had planned my meals around, I have decided to start shopping on Thursdays instead. New sales begin on Wednesdays at Albertsons, so this way I'm more likely to snatch up the on-sale items before they are sold out (particularly meat which is so expensive here that I always double-check the tag to make sure it doesn't cost my first born child). 
     So I will now post our meal plan on either Wednesday or Thursday. Which means I'm now in the market for a new clever, alliterative title. Suggestions would be appreciated. Anyway, now to the point of this post. What we will be eating this week. Most of the recipes were chosen because I have chicken, Italian sausage and shrimp in the freezer already. 


Thursday: Upside down hamburger casserole with a side salad and fries. This is a recipe I found online while I was pregnant. It is really tasty and easy.
Friday: I'm not cooking this night because Tim's work is having a cookout for the younger employees so the management folks can get to know them and mentor them and stuff like that. I get to come mainly so I can wrangle the baby and Tim can show us off to his bosses. Most of the guys there that are Tim's age aren't married and don't have adorable kids so Owen is like catnip to all the old guys. 
Saturday: Ritz cracker chicken with zucchini-corn fritters and green beans. The new recipe for tonight is the fritters. It is a recipe from the newest issue of Food Network Magazine. It reminds me of a recipe that Tim's mom makes with squash, so I'm excited about trying it out. I am really not a big fan of zucchini (unless it's baked in bread or hidden in things like spaghetti sauce), but I'm pretty certain that frying it will help. 

Sunday: Grilled chicken with corn on the cob and black beans. Tim picked out the marinade we'll be using. It's Lawry's Havana Garlic and Lime. It is a Cuban-inspired sauce with garlic,  chives and lime, orange, and grapefruit juices. I will serve it with seasoned black beans and corn to round out the Cuban-themed dinner. 

Monday: Italian sausage with bowtie pasta and broccoli. This is a recipe I found on Pioneer Woman Cooks. It's actually a recipe she found on another website on a post called 3-2-1 pasta where you use three cups of vegetables, two cups of meat, and one package of pasta. That way, you can create supposedly endless combinations of ingredients to make easy pasta dinners. We'll see if this one is a winner and maybe I will use the formula in the future to make dinner when I have a few random things on hand that I don't know what to do with.

Tuesday: Italian sausage pizza with side salad. We have plenty of Italian sausage to use up, so I'm going to try making a homemade pizza. And really, is there such a thing as bad pizza? 


Wednesday: Creamy shrimp with corn and bacon. This is a recipe from Real Simple magazine. After buying some frozen shrimp on sale last week (generally it is outrageously priced so we never buy it), I wanted to make some of our favorite shrimp recipes. This one is so creamy and tasty, with the fatty saltiness of the bacon to balance the sweetness of the corn and cream. A glass of white wine makes this one delicious splurge-worthy meal. 

And in case you were wondering, here's what we ate earlier this week:
Monday: Chicken tikka masala. This is a recipe that I made recently using McCormick Recipe Inspirations premeasured spices and recipe cards. I have been really interested in trying some more ethnic meals, especially Indian dishes, and this was a safe way to kind-of dip my toe into the waters of Indian food. The cool thing about these recipe cards is that if I like it, I just keep the recipe card and the next time I can save money by just using the spices from my spice cabinet. 

Tuesday: Shrimp arrabbiata with sauteed spinach. This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine. It is so tasty and spicy. If you are not a spice-loving person and want to make this recipe, I would for sure cut down on the red pepper flakes. 

Wednesday: Chicken lo mein. This is a really simple recipe that I got from Real Simple magazine. It uses chicken ramen noodles for the noodles and some of the seasoning. I just stir fry chicken with some oil, the ramen seasoning, and some soy sauce. Once the chicken is no longer pink, I add in shredded carrots, sliced onion, and cabbage and sautee until the veggies are softer, though I still like the cabbage to have some crunch. Add the cooked ramen noodles and mix it up and it's done. It takes maybe 15 minutes to make, which is a plus.


And then... I am going to make a special treat this weekend. I found this recipe in Food Network magazine in a special about treats for men. And as a special "I love you" to my sweet husband and the best daddy my baby boy could have, I am making Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-BACON(!) Cookies. And I admit, this might not be an entirely altruistic plan. I've been known to enjoy some bacon as well.