Weekly Menu - Mar 9

I can't keep counting the weeks - I'm losing track.  But I want to stay accountable to cooking at home.  Special thanks to some of my best cheerleaders - The Risky Kids and Chaos and Craziness.  Plus I've had a lot of support from my Facebook fans - ya'll rock!

Jeff is traveling on business this week and I have some busy evenings so the schedule is a bit different.  Normally, this kind of schedule would mean that I just give up on cooking and go out to eat because it's easier.  Except that I don't think it really is easier anymore!

Sunday afternoon, I am going to cook up about 3-4 lb of chicken.  I'll go with whatever is on sale, honestly - thighs, breasts, whole chicken.  And I'll most likely throw it in the crock pot while we're at church.  And then come home and shred 2/3 of it and cube 1/3 of it.

The cubed chicken will then go into a poppyseed chicken casserole for Sunday's dinner.

Monday I'll use half of the shredded chicken to make mesquite chicken pasta.

Tuesday I'll use the rest of the shredded chicken to make bbq chicken sandwiches.  Last week, I did pot roast in the crock pot.  It was kind of dry so I was concerned the kids wouldn't like it.  Jeff picked up hawaiian sandwich rolls and found this awesome Margaritvaille Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce (it has a great ingredient - I can pronounce all of it and there is no high fructose corn syrup).  So we made shredded beef sandwiches.

Wednesday, as usual, we have church.  This week, our healthy living group kicks off after dinner.  The dinners at church aren't always the healthiest - that's what happens when you are feeding a diverse crowd.  So I'm thinking I will pack my own salad.  My fave salad these days is just a big serving of broccoli slaw, toasted sliced almonds, and salsa ranch yogurt dressing.

Thursday I will make game day meatballs again.  I plan to adjust the recipe a bit by trying a different chili sauce (seeking better ingredients) and maybe a different jelly.

Friday I have an after work commitment and won't be home until after bedtime.  Which means Jeff is on his own for dinner.  He might decide to take the kids out.  He might decide to plan his own menu for the night.  I'm eager to see what he chooses!

As far as sides go for each of these dishes, I'm basically going to wing it.  We try to keep a good amount of fruits and veggies around and will simply serve whatever looks good at serving time.