Well, Hello! How are you, Long Lost Blog?
We have been having a great summer. We've been spending long days at the pool, hanging out with friends or going on adventures. But the summer schedule has taken a toll on my meal-planning efforts.
I'm determine to get back in a rhythm. I'm actually going to go to the grocery store, stock up my pantry and plan my meals for the next few months.
Here's my idea: I'm going to enter my meal plan into my iCal so I get a daily reminder of what's for dinner. I have about 55 dinners listed below, so I should be able to plan for the next few months. We'll see how that goes!
Since people seem to ask me a lot about ideas for dinner, here's my BIG LIST. Please leave any ideas for YOUR favorite meals in the comments so I can add them to my list.
The list includes simple stuff, like lunch meat or a rotisserie chicken from the deli, because I still like to schedule those meals, even though they don't involve cooking. We also eat breakfast food for dinner at least once a week, so that category is actually DINNER!
A few other notes: When I make taco meat or Sloppy Joe, I cook 5 pounds at a time and freeze it in small quantities for a quick meal. I also cook about 10 pounds of chicken at a time and freeze it in small bags so I can make the chicken meals quickly. If I make manicotti or stuffed shells, I double the recipe and freeze an extra meal or two.
You will find links to many of the recipes below. The new meals I'm trying this month are: fruity breakfast burritos, taco roll-ups, ham and potato pockets and End of Summer Harvest soup.
THE BIG LIST
Breakfast
Pancakes
Chicken
Kluski noodles (cook in chicken broth with shredded chicken and carrots)
Chicken enchiladas (my favorite recipe is in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.)
Chicken and dumplings (I usually find a recipe on allrecipes.com and use refrigerated biscuits for the "dumplings".)
Chicken club wraps (shredded chicken, bacon, green onions and ranch dressing, wrapped in tortillas)
Crock Pot
BBQ chicken thighs (chicken thighs, a bottle of BBQ sauce and about a cup of water)
Roast with veggies
Easy/No cooking
Lunch meat sandwiches
Chicken patties from freezer
Hot dogs
BLTs
Rotisserie chicken (from the grocery store). I either serve this as it is, or put it on salad. The leftover meat is great for other meals.
Ground beef
Meatloaf (I use the recipe on the McComick's seasoning packet.)
Hamburgers on grill
Impossibly Easy Hamburger Pie (recipe on the box of Bisquick)
Italian
Manicotti
Spaghetti with homemade meatballs
Homemade pizza
Lasagna
Stuffed shells
Fettucini Alfredo
Mexican
Frito tacos (taco meat, with cheese, sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes served on Fritos)
Quesadillas
Tacos
Pork
Pork roast
Soup
