Sunday, November 05, 2006

Menu Plan Monday


It's that time again! Head on over to Organizing Junkie and get some great meal ideas!

Here at the AAA House, we've had so many birthdays the last couple of weeks that I've had quite a break from the day-to-day cooking. So this week I'm energized to do some special things!

Monday: Tonight is a date night! Every few weeks dh and I have a special date-night in. The kids get to have a picnic in the living room with fun kid food and a movie while dh and I have a really nice dinner off in our room with totally "adult" foods - and some nice private time together. Our date nights are definitely sanity savers - and eating in without paying a babysitter really saves our budget! Anyway, our meal tonight: kids - hamburgers and french fries. Mom and dad: steak, shrimp, salad and garlic bread. I'll fry up the steaks on the stove (can't wait till we get a grill!), I think I'll make the shrimp into a simple shrimp cocktail, we'll have a salad with feta cheese, Italian dressing, tomatoes, cucumbers, and scallions. I think I'll make a nice homemade french loaf, then steal a trick from my father. When he came to visit, he made us a completely yummy garlic break. He combined butter with cloves of garlic, parsley, and a bit of parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. He simmered this mixture for about 15 minutes, then let it sit in the pan for a few hours. Then he strained it, and took the remaining butter (infused with a lovely garlic flavor) and brushed it onto bread, then wrapped the bread in tinfoil and put it in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. I'll call this "TJD Garlic Bread", in honor of my father. Yum!! Oh - and did I mention dh and I get to share a bottle of wine with dinner? :-) What a great way to start the week!

Tuesday: Pork Roast with vegetables, rolls, and mixed greens

Wednesday: Cube Steaks (I coat them in a flour/season salt/pepper mixture and fry in a bit of olive oil and butter), yellow rice, and broccoli & cauliflower

Thursday: Oven Fried Cornflake Chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes and simple gravy (melt 2 T butter, stir in 2 T flour, whisk in 2 C chicken broth, add a bit of poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, cook on medium until thickened), green beans

Friday: Pizza night! I'll make a big salad, and then I'll make 5 individual pizza doughs for each family member (except A2, who hates pizza - he'll get leftover chicken and some bread and butter), we'll make them how we like. This is such a fun family dinner!

Saturday: Hamburger gravy and egg noodles, peas and carrots

Sunday: Chicken Sandwhich Casserole, salad

What a fun cooking week! Make sure you stop by Organizing Junkie and see what everyone else is up to this week - you'll get lots of great ideas! :-)

4 comments:

gail@more than a song said...

Looks like a good week...and date night in, what a fun idea!
www.hambones.org/blogs/gail

Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

I like that idea of Chicken Sandwich Casserole. Tucking it away for the future!

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane said...

What a terrific idea to have mom and dad have a date night in! I hope you guys enjoy the much deserved quiet time :)

Your menu sounds yummy, and fun too. I'm off to check out the chicken drummie recipe!

Have a great day

MamaJen said...

Well, our date night was *completely* yummy, we had a wonderful time tonight! :-) No, I've yet to make that chicken sandwhich casserole - I saw the recipe a few weeks ago and thought it sounded good - I'm really looking forward to trying it! I'll let you all know what I think after we try it!