Last week, I had a great menu planned. I managed to cook the pork roast, which was tender, juicy, and delicious. The rest of the week, I somehow ended up eating out quite a bit.
Here’s what happens. I get home from work very hungry. I see a kitchen with dishes that need to be washed. I’m tired. I don’t want to bother with cooking. Then, I end up eating out, because it’s easier (not on my budget, though).
This weekend, I decided to make sure that I would have food to eat when I got home from work. We (my husband, 2 visiting family members, and myself) were going to go hiking on Saturday (which we did, and it was a lot of fun), so I purchased 1 pound each of turkey and ham on Friday night. I came home and made 10 sandwiches. We used four sandwiches, so the rest will be for our lunches this week.
On Sunday, I went ahead and cooked our dinners for the week. I ended up cooking some of the foods that I had planned to make last week! I made spaghetti with chicken, chicken noodle soup, and chicken fajitas. I also steamed broccoli with an orange bell pepper to go with the pasta, and sauteed an onion and orange bell pepper with garlic, cumin, and paprika for the fajitas. The sauteed veggies will still be left when the fajita meat is gone, so I’ll probably use them with remaining tortillas and a can of black beans that I have on my pantry shelf.
In an effort to make dishes that follow my diet, I’ve found that I need to use more meat than what others might use. With the sandwiches, I tried to use about 4 oz of turkey or 3 oz of ham per sandwich. I also used 2% cheese and light bread. I doubled the amount of chicken I normally use in the chicken noodle soup (I used 2 chicken breasts this time), so that I would get about 3-4 oz of chicken in a bowl. The same applied to the spaghetti. I used 1/2 pound of ground chicken and 1/2 pound of sliced chicken tenders that I had in the freezer.
Anyways, here is my menu for the week of March 31:
Dinners:
Chicken fajitas with sauteed onions and orange bell peppers
Chicken noodle soup with salad
Spaghetti with chicken
Lunches:
Turkey or ham and cheese sandwiches with fruit and veggies on the side
For more menu ideas, see orgjunkie.com