Menu Plan Monday ~ July 21

Last week I had 3 new recipes on my list to try. Since my menu's start on Tuesday's now, I actually haven't tried 2 of them. One because I am making it tonight and one because it's rolling over to next week.
So here's this weeks menu (below is a 'review' of one of the new recipes I tried):

Spinach Noodle Casserole (from last week), Salad

Turkey Sandwiches, Carrots w/ Ranch Dressing

Mexican Tortilla Pie, Salad

Chicken Parisienne (crockpot- recipe link below) Over Noodles, Green Beans

Tacos, Spanish Rice

I was blessed yesterday to receive LOTS of bananas, so I'll be making banana bread and banana oat muffins this week to eat and freeze!

Breakfast this week: cereal, banana oat muffins, fruit, yogurt

Lunch: chicken fingers, tuna salad, PB and J, leftovers and the usual fruit, carrots w/ ranch and a new favorite for Luke: string cheese!

Snacks: Raisins, Popcorn (for me), fruit, yogurt, cheese, banana bread

I bought a new cookbook recently and am trying a new recipe out of it. The book is: Don't Panic Dinner's In the Freezer. I have often thought about trying to do some 'cook ahead' meals for the freezer but just never gotten around to it. Plus, I can't do much since we only have the refrigerator freezer. Since Eli is on his way, I thought this might be a good time to try a few recipes out. So this week the Chicken Parisienne is a new recipe I'm trying from the cookbook. I am going to make it, without freezing first and if we like it I can make it ahead and freeze for when Eli comes. Since it can just be thrown into the crockpot it will be an easy dinner from the freezer! (The link is to a recipe on Allrecipes but it's the exact same on in the cookbook- I'll be using chicken broth instead of white wine)

I may even attempt to freeze 3 of the chicken breast to test it out. The book gives great instructions on how to properly freeze these types of things and how long they will last in the freezer.

We had the Tuscan Pork Chops, Saturday night. Umm.. they were ok. I think I'm just not a huge fan of that much balsamic vinegar. I love a little drizzled on salads or roasted asparagus. And lots of recipes call for a TBS/tsp of it for sauces but 1/3 c (and I didn't even use that much, I scaled it down to 1/4 c) was just too much for my taste! I ate it, Hubby ate it, Luke took a bite and spit it out but this time I actually didn't blame him. It got a lot of high reviews off of the website so I guess it just wasn't for us!

Well, that's about it. I tried a new recipe today for banana bread. I've got to stop doing that though. I need to just find good recipes for certain things and stick with them! It turned out really well. I did use 3/4 c of whole wheat flour instead of all white. And instead of 1 & 1/2 c of sugar (which seemed like too much to me!), I used 1 c sugar and 1/4 c honey and it was perfectly sweet. I may try it with 1/2 c sugar and 1/2 c honey next time... because you know I can't leave it alone.. and subbing some of oil for applesauce isn't a bad idea too. Oh, and mine was completely cooked at 1 hour. :)

Check out OrgJunkie for more menu planning and recipe ideas! Have a great week!