Menu Planning Monday

I am going a lot of cooking from the new cookbook that I mentioned last week. I am really excited to try some new recipes (3 out of six). My weeks are running only Monday through Saturday now because I tend to menu plan on Saturdays now so that we can go grocery shopping after church since it's located so close to Kroger and saves me time during the week. So in case you were wondering what we had last Sunday, it was tacos. And this coming Sunday's meal will be planned later this week. 
     Last week, Heather asked how I was able to cook all these meals with two little ones. Honestly, I don't do too much prep ahead of time and I am fortunate that my boys will play independently in Owen's room while I cook for most of the time. And when all else fails, I put on a thirty minute episode of The Wild Kratt's to occupy them while I get whatever prepped and in the oven or on the stove. Soups are good because you just chop everything up quickly and put it in the pot to simmer. I do make double of some recipes so that I can make meals quicker on week days. For instance, this week I am making the chicken parmesan with a doubled recipe of the marina sauce from my freezer and I will be doubling the meatballs for my meatball soup this weekend so that I will have a second set of meatballs ready for if I make that on a weeknight sometime. 

Monday: Thai chicken lettuce wraps. This is a new recipe from the Seriously Delish cookbook. It looks pretty quick and easy, which is important during the week when Tim doesn't get home until six and the kids are running around my feet crying and fighting.

Tuesday: BBQ chicken chili. This is also a recipe from the Seriously Delish cookbook. I first ran into it though on the Skinny Taste blog where the blogger there posted the recipe because she and the author are friends. Tim and I both really liked it and since the weather is so cold lately, it is the perfect time to make chili. 

Wednesday: Chicken parmesan with roasted vegetables. This is a Skinny Taste recipe that is the best chicken parmesan I have ever made at home. It's baked so it's healthier and I make my own marinara sauce as well to cut down on sugar and extra sodium from jarred sauce. We also don't serve it with pasta, but instead with roasted carrots, red onion, broccoli and cauliflower and then top with some shaved parmesan. It's delicious! The husband gives is two thumbs up and even the kiddos like it (though it helps that I told Owen is it actually called pizza chicken, but you do whatever works).

Thursday: Creamy slow cooker chicken noodle soup. This recipe had me at "slow cooker." I am so interested to see how this turns out. It is from the Seriously Delish cookbook and contains all the normal ingredients for chicken noodle soup. Again, it sounds great during all the cold weather we've been having. 

Friday: Lemon herb chicken romano. This is another new recipe from the Seriously Delish cookbook, but you can also find it on her blog How Sweet Eats. I looks really tasty and although not super healthy, we'll be having it with vegetables again and not pasta to save on calories. Plus, my kids won't eat noodles. They're weird like that. 

  

Saturday: Italian meatball soup. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe that I make all the time now because it is Owen's favorite recipe that I make and he asks for it a lot. It has lots of vegetables so how could I say no? If you want the recipe, you can check back on some of my past Menu Planning Monday posts to find it. Odds are you'll find it pretty quickly. 

And that's it for this week! What are you cooking?