Menu Plan monday 1/17 & Recipe Review

Last week I skimped on the menu mainly because of the winter storm that we had! It was fun but I was ready for everything to melt (and some areas are still thawing out!). I decided to try a new recipe that I read on Rachael Ray's blog. It was one of her top ten recipes of 2010. I decided to try her Cheeseburger Chili Mac and Cheese because it looked easy and like something we'd like. It was easy and really good! It tasted similar to Hamburger Helper but is WAY better for you considering you are using real food. The only changes I made was that I only used 1 lbs of ground beef (and it was plenty) and I used water instead of beef stock. Unless you have homemade beef stock, I wouldn't recommend using store brand (most contain MSG and this sodium is out the roof!). I also used whole wheat spiral noodles because I couldn't find whole wheat elbow macaroni! All in all it was yummy! Next time I will definitely freeze half! It made a huge 9x13 pan and we just couldn't finish it. The boys weren't interested in it at all! They had buttered noodles sprinkled with cheese. I served it with a side salad.

Here is our menu for the week:


Pancakes, Bacon, Oranges

Tacos

Chicken Fried Steak Strips, Green Beans, Potatoes

Chicken Chili, Corn Bread

Chicken Parmesan, Salad


I'm trying something different with our grocery budget next pay period! Hopefully I can share about it soon and also let you know how it works out! I've got to get a handle on what I spend and learn to be more creative!

Have a great week! Remember to feast on the Word this week! Jesus is the Bread of Life!