Oct 4, 2010

Menu Plan Monday: Any menu plan is better than none!


I strayed from my planned menu for the second half of last week, but we didn't eat out, so I truly believe that any menu plan is better than none. It keeps me thinking about cooking and eating at home, rather than planning to go out. You'll see that I've just moved the meals planned for last week that didn't get made to this week. :)

I drove out to an Asian foods market on Friday, and picked up some sashimi, fresh salmon and condiments. Japanese food is my favorite type of food to go out to eat, but I've gradually begun serving more traditional foods at home. Preparing a delicious meal for a fraction of the cost last week taught me that we don't have to go out for me to get my Japanese food fix, and the leftovers were delicious on Saturday. The market I went to was pretty far away, so I'm going to try to find one that's closer.

Meanwhile, here's what on tap for this week:

Monday - Miso Chicken, Rice, Butternut Squash prepared Kabocha-style

Tuesday - Pasta Bolognese, Artisan Bread, Sauteed Zucchini (and I'm hoping to have some leftover shredded zucchini that I can use to make a Chocolate & Zucchini Cake)

Wednesday - Grilled Pizza

Thursday - Shredded Beef Sandwiches, vegetable from the farmer's market

Friday - Breakfast: waffles or pancakes, bacon, eggs

See more weekly menus at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

4 comments:

Camille said...

I'd love to see your Japanese recipes! That is one area of cooking I'm really wanting to break in to! I think the possibilities with sushi in particular are endless.

ras said...

When you make the butternut squash, do you leave the skin on at all like in the original recipe, or do you skin it? I may try this tonight -- we happen to have a glut of butternuts from the garden and I've been looking for different ways to make it.

I agree, by the way, that just making any menu plan helps decrease the chance that you'll eat out. For me, it's because we at least have enough food in the house that I can throw something together easily, even if it wasn't what I originally planned.

We've also designated Friday night as Spaghetti and Meatballs night. Since DH and the kids adore this meal, there's absolutely no temptation to go out on Friday nights anymore. It's actually a little shocking how much having just one "standing" meal planned makes the whole week easier.

Chief Family Officer said...

@Ras - Hm, I'll have to think of something that could be our "standing" meal. Unfortunately for me, what the boys like is vastly different from what Marc and I like.

As for the BNS, I took all the skin off. I don't even like kabocha skin so I can't imagine I'd like BNS skin at all!

Chief Family Officer said...

@Camille - I don't really have Japanese recipes. I go mostly by taste or use recipes in a Japanese cookbook I have that's in English - I'll see if they have it on Amazon or Google books.