Weekly Meal Plan - May 2020 Week 4

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza

- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Herb & Citrus Chicken

- This is the second new recipe we'll be trying this week and also a recipe that I got from a friend. As the weather warms up, this seemed like another great fresh dish to try.

Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce

- This is definitely a family favorite and I frequently get this as a dinner idea when I ask my kids what they want for dinner the following week.

Italian Salad (A holdover from last week)

-This is another of our families favorite main dish salads because who can go wrong adding salami to anything?! I do love the fresh taste of this salad although I prefer black olives and I roast a fresh red pepper in the toaster oven. Homemade dressing are always good too and this salad has dressing recipe included.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Quesadillas
- These quesadillas have become a family favorite and are a great meatless meal that is still full of protein and vitamins. The sweet potatoes are best when they're roasted as the recipes calls for but if you're in a hurry, you can also cook them in a instant pot.

Tacos

- My husband and daughter declared that every other Tuesday will now be Taco Tuesday in our house. So I'll be putting my homemade taco recipe to good use!

*Take-out from a Local Restaurant*

- We only eat out about once a month so we've been trying to support some local restaurants during this shutdown. Our restaurants are starting to open up for in-person dining again so we'll see how that goes!

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - May 2020 Week 3

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza

- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Hamburgers

- These got skipped last week in place of a fast freezer meal on a night I didn't feel like cooking. Do you ever have those? I'm thankful for backup meals on nights like that. But we will be grilling these up this week. Plus more fresh fruit is coming into season which means great prices and a perfect side dish.

Beans & Cornbread
- This southern/Texas staple comes from my husband's grandmother and one of our meatless meals for the week. It's the perfect meal when you need something to be ready when you get home from a long or late day. The slow cooker works for this meal but a pressure cooker (aka Instapot) really shines in getting this meal done quickly.

French Toast Foldovers

- We're trying something new with this recipe this week. It seems like a combination of french toast and grilled cheese. Maybe a bit like a Monte Cristo? We'll see how they turn out. Although every time I've mentioned the name of this meal, my kids expect syrup with it so it might need a new name!

Meatball Subs

- These subs are an easy go-to on a busy night. Frozen Italian meatballs are the base then mix them with a jar of your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce. I usually spice it up a bit by adding some extra Italian seasonings. I'll try to post the full recipe for these soon but the best part is toasting the sub rolls with garlic butter before you add the meatballs and top them with cheese.

Italian Salad

-This is another of our families favorite main dish salads because who can go wrong adding salami to anything?! I do love the fresh taste of this salad although I prefer black olives and I roast a fresh red pepper in the toaster oven. Homemade dressing are always good too and this salad has dressing recipe included.

Herb & Citrus Chicken

- This is the second new recipe we'll be trying this week and also a recipe that I got from a friend. As the weather warms up, this seemed like another great fresh dish to try.

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - May 2020 Week 2

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza

- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Tacos

- I thought I had my taco meat recipe posted but I guess I don't! One more new recipe to add to the "to-be-posted" list. And besides, who doesn't love tacos?

Hamburgers

- Springtime in the Rockies means we'll have to watch the weather to see which night this week is best for grilling. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and today it hailed!

Cheesy Penne with Broccoli

- Our meatless meal for the week plus it helps use up a very large head of broccoli that I have from last week. And it's a quick, easy prep meal!

Lasagna Soup

- This is a delicious tomato-based soup with Italian sausage and cheese - how can you go wrong? Sometimes we choose to make it with half ground beef, half Italian sausage so it's not too spicy. Using sweet Italian sausage is my favorite way to make it. The cheesy yum absolutely makes the soup.

BBQ Chicken

- Just like the hamburgers, we'll watch for good weather and serve the chicken with watermelon and maybe corn on the cob.

*Serious Texas BBQ* (take-out night)

- Hands-down our favorite local restaurant because have to tried their Texas Taco?! Support a local, small business for dinner this week if you can!

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - May 2020 Week 1

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

Spaghetti w/Homemade Sauce
- Hands down one of our favorite family recipes and great for serving when you're having friends over for dinner because you can easily add more tomato sauce and cook more spaghetti to take care of a larger crowd. We'll serve it with a green salad & garlic bread.

Turkey Broccoli Meatballs
- The original Pampered Chef recipe calls for ground beef but I've found that it works just as well with ground turkey and cuts down on the fat. I've topped the dish with whatever long green vegetable I have on hand - snow peas, snap peas or green beans.

Lime-Salsa Chicken
- This meal is super easy and full of flavor! The original recipe calls for the chicken to be grilled but it could easily be done in the pressure cooker or even baked. I have some leftover green enchilada sauce so I'll use that in place of the green salsa.

Rice & Bean Pot Pie
- I'm looking forward to making this meatless dinner but I'll use more ingredients from scratch this time. I'll cook the beans ahead of time in the pressure cooker and prep a batch of dough in the bread maker instead of using the store-bought refrigerated breadsticks. True this will time more time and a bit more effort, but without evening activities right now I have the time. Plus most of the time, the more you cook from scratch, the more money you save.

Steak & Baked Potatoes
- We still have one last meal's worth of Omaha Steaks in the freezer and the weather has been so nice lately. So we'll fire up our little grill for the steaks and hopefully sit outside to eat too. We like to cook our baked potatoes in the microwave then brush them lightly with oil and bake them in the toaster oven to crisp up the outside.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
- This recipe was sent to me by a friend and I love trying new recipes. I bought sliced swiss because it's often hard to find a block of swiss cheese and we can use the leftover slices for sandwiches this week. If you have a recipe you'd like to share, please share it with me via direct message on Facebook or Instagram.


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - April 2020 Week 4

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

White Chicken Chili
- I love white chicken chili as a nice change from traditional chili. I plan to use a poblano pepper instead of the jalapeno pepper that the original recipe calls for so that we still get some good flavor without too much spice. I also like to cook my white beans from dry beans before I start instead of buying a can of beans. If you're not a fan of white chili, try my Easy Chili instead.

Italian Meatloaf
- I love my mom's meatloaf recipe and I just realized that I've never posted it on the blog (but I do have my mother-in-law's recipe, oops!). I'll work to get the Italian Meatloaf recipe posted this week. We'll serve this with mashed potatoes and I'll make it early in the week since temps are supposed to rise as the week goes on and I won't want to use the oven later.

Bean Tostadas
- My kids love this simple, meatless meal made with a can of refried beans spread on a flat tostada shell then topped with cheese, salsa, taco sauce, lettuce, tomato, cilantro and anything else we can think of.

 Chicken Tender Salad
- I'll used the linked recipe except that I will cook the chicken pieces as larger chicken tenders instead of smaller pieces. I also might use Panko in addition to the seasoned bread crumbs. While my husband and I enjoy the chicken in the salad, the kids prefer to eat the chicken tenders separately with salad on the side. As long as they're getting veggies and protein, they can eat it any way they want!

Grilled Loaded Nachos
- Who doesn't love Nachos for dinner? Plus these add another meatless meal to our menu this week. What makes these so good is the beautiful mix of fresh, chopped, grilled veggies that top the chips and give them a great flavor. We have a tiny outside grill so I'll make these in the oven but per the original recipe, they can also be done on the grill.

*Pick-up from a Local Restaurant*
- Because we operate on a tight monthly budget, we usually don't eat out for dinner more than once a month. But even during this time of pandemic, we are trying to continue doing that so we can support at least one of our favorite local restaurants. This week we plan on getting burgers from The Pine Cone because they do a lot to support our little community.


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - April 2020 Week 3

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

Chicken Enchiladas
- I rarely use a recipe when I make enchiladas but I will try to post my recipe after I make these this week. Enchiladas are so simply because you really just fill the tortilla with your choice of filling (I will use chicken and Colby Jack cheese this week), roll them up, place them in the pan and pour enchilada sauce over them. 

Red Pepper Rotini
- This is a fun, fresh pasta dish that looks so pretty with the diced red bell peppers. The recipe calls for added chicken but I might leave that out and make this our meatless meal this week.


Taco Salad
- Taco Salad is always a family favorite and the homemade dressing is the best! I'm not sure yet whether I'll use ground turkey, beef or venison for this meal.

Garlic Pork Chops
- It doesn't get much simpler than a pan roasted pork chop with fresh garlic. We'll probably make mashed potatoes or noodle as a side dish along with some canned green beans.

Venison Stew
- So far I haven't found an exact recipe I want to follow for this stew so I'll make it up as I go along and let you know how it turns out! Most likely I will make either my Baking Soda Biscuits or fresh bread in the bread machine.

Hamburgers
- No, this isn't a holdover from last week but a request from my hubby for weekend hamburgers. We'll make some oven-baked potato wedges and add a can of baked beans and fresh cantaloupe.


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured. 


 

Weekly Meal Plan - April 2020 Week 2

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

Skinny Mac n' Cheese
- We ended up getting takeout once last week so this meal got held over for this week. This is a great microwave macaroni and cheese with cauliflower and carrots added in for a nice healthy boost. Don't let the cauliflower scare you - my kids love it, even knowing it's in there! And once everything is cooked it's hard to see the cauliflower anyway. It also uses plain yogurt for some extra creaminess.

Turkey Stuffing Roll-Ups
- This is one of my hubby's favorite meals. It gives you the taste of Thanksgiving without all the work. If you're feeding a large family, be sure you buy a large package of turkey.

Split Pea Soup
- This is another family favorite recipe that is easy and meatless. Plus my mom used to make it when I was a kids so I've been eating it for a long time. I'll make Baking Soda Biscuits to go with the soup.

Garlic Lime Sheet Pan Chicken
- This is a recipe we're trying for the first time but I loved all the veggies that it calls for especially since fresh vegetables seem to still be readily available at the store even when some pantry staples are hard to find.

Hamburgers
- These were actually our nontraditional Easter meal this year. Sometimes these crazy times call for something new. We had a great day with delicious burgers and a fun family egg hunt after online church. Lord willing, we'll be able to all go back to our traditional Easter celebrations next year!

Quiche
- I don't follow a specific recipe when I make quiche but I will try to post how I make it after this week. I basically add in any mix-ins that I choose like ham, broccoli, spinach, cheese, etc. And I have to make two quiches for my family of five. 


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured. 

Weekly Meal Plan - April 2020 Week 1

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

Skinny Mac n' Cheese
- This is a great microwave macaroni and cheese with cauliflower and carrots added in for a nice healthy boost. Don't let the cauliflower scare you - my kids love it, even knowing it's in there! And once everything is cooked it's hard to see the cauliflower anyway. It also uses plain yogurt for some extra creaminess. And yes, we're repeating it again after just having it two week ago since we still have cauliflower left over.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Quesadillas
- These quesadillas have become a family favorite and are a great meatless meal that is still full of protein and vitamins. The sweet potatoes are best when they're roasted as the recipes calls for but if you're in a hurry, you can also cook them in a instant pot.

Frito Pie (made with Easy Chili) 
- This is a fancy name for chili served over Fritos. I was lucky to get Fritos in my grocery pick up order this week. I find that the lightly salted Fritos are best with Frito Pie since chili tends to be on the salty side to begin with.

Butternut Squash Pasta
 - I have some cubed butternut squash in the freezer so I decided it was time to use it before it gets too freezer burned. This meatless recipe is a great way to add a very healthy vegetable into your dinner especially since it's pureed into the sauce.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
- These are one of our family's favorite quick & easy meals. It works great in both the slow cooker or the pressure cooker. We like to top the sandwiches with a slice of cheddar cheese and red onion. I also make this Coleslaw to serve with it and we often add it on to our sandwich. (One note if you make this coleslaw, I cut down the dress by about 1/3 so that my coleslaw doesn't get too soggy.)

Lemon Chicken  
- This meal is one that my youngest asks for as a favorite meal. It's super easy with fresh lemon, spices and chicken pieces in the pressure cooker or crockpot. We like to serve it with egg noodles and a vegetable side (green beans work great).



If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured. 

Weekly Meal Plan - March 2020 Week 5

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house during cooler weather! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

Steak & Baked Potato
- My dad sends us Omaha Steaks from time to time since he knows that good steaks are rarely in our budget. So we'll enjoy some excellent grilled steaks this week. We also like to bake the potatoes in the microwave then brush them with a small amount of olive oil and put them on a tray in the toaster oven to crisp up the outside.

Teriyaki Chicken w/Pineapple
- This chicken recipe is simple and easy. My original recipe calls for the chicken to be baked in the oven but I'll probably try it in the pressure cooker this time. I couldn't find canned pineapple at the store this week but fresh pineapple was available so I'll use that and substitute chicken broth for the pineapple juice that would have come out of the can.

Rice and Black Bean Bake
- This is the only meatless meal that made it in my meal plan this week but it is good and hearty. Since it uses a lot of staples, you might have them on hand already. I couldn't get the diced tomatoes & green chilies at the store this week so I'll sub them out with extra salsa or a single can of green chilies.

Hamburgers
- My youngest has a birthday this week and this was her dinner request. We have some Omaha Steak hamburger patties so that makes things easy. But since she changed her mind after I got groceries (and I'm not running to the store for one item right now), I'm going to use the $5 Dinner Mom recipe for homemade buns.

Mini Calzones
- It's been so long since I last made these that I don't even remember them but how can you go wrong with calzones. I plan to make the dough in my bread maker rather that using store bought biscuits. And I'll use my Pampered Chef Cut n' Seal to cut the dough circles and seal the two pieces together.

Baked Potato Soup
- You might be tempted to leave the bacon out of this soup to make it a meatless meal but I encourage you not to. The bacon flavor is not overwhelming but give just the right amount of extra flavor. I also am subbing some of my dairy ingredients with dry milk right now since we never know if milk will be available when we go to the store. Feel free to sub milk for the whipping cream or even use water in place of chicken broth - you'll still have a delicious soup! 


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured. 

Weekly Meal Plan - March 2020 Week 4

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house in the winter! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night. (If you have a tradition like this, it helps keep a sense of normalcy for your kids in this time of craziness.)

Spinach Artichoke Pasta
- With grocery shelves a bit bare these days, recipes with unique ingredients like marinated artichoke hearts should still be easy to find and we have a stockpile of pasta. Plus this counts as a meatless meal for this week! (Yes, this is a holdover from last week that we didn't make.)

Beans & Cornbread
- This southern/Texas staple comes from my husband's grandmother and one of our meatless meals for the week. It's the perfect meal when you need something to be ready when you get home from a long or late day. The slow cooker works for this meal but a pressure cooker (aka Instapot) really shines in getting this meal done quickly.

Skinny Mac n' Cheese
- This is a great microwave macaroni and cheese with cauliflower and carrots added in for a nice healthy boost. Don't let the cauliflower scare you - my kids love it, even knowing it's in there! And once everything is cooked it's hard to see the cauliflower anyway. It also uses plain yogurt for some extra creaminess.


Chicken Rice Bowls
- These are so good & flavorful plus it uses a lot of ingredients that you probably have on hand. I will use salsa instead of enchilada sauce and cook both the chicken and the rice in the pressure cooker (instant pot) at the same time.


Cheesy Penne with Broccoli
- Another meatless meal this week as well as adding in some fresh broccoli or frozen is fine too. You could easily add chicken too if you want to add extra protein.

Chicken Pot Pie
 - What I love about this recipe is that the creamy sauce is made from scratch as opposed to cream of chicken soup that a lot of other pot pie recipes call for.



If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - March 2020 Week 3

My apologies for how late I'm posting this week but since none of these meal plans need to be done in any order, I figured anyone could use it at anytime.

*Follow me on Instagram (@recipes.for.moms) and Facebook (@RecipesforMoms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house in the winter! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Smoked Sausage & Peppers
- Although the original recipes calls for brats, I prefer to used turkey smoked sausage to cut down on the fat a little. For our family of 5, I typically use 1 1/2 packages of smoked sausage. I will buy 3 packages when they go on sale, use 1 1/2 of them for that week's meal and freeze the other 1 1/2 for another time. I rarely have white wine on hand so I'll use a splash of cooking sherry instead.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta
- With grocery shelves a bit bare these days, recipes with unique ingredients like marinated artichoke hearts should still be easy to find and we have a stockpile of pasta. Plus this counts as a meatless meal for this week!

Sausage & White Bean Soup
-With snow still in the forecast for our part of Colorado this week, it feels right to have soup on the menu. We'll serve these with Baking Soda Biscuits. Also, there are a lot of pantry staples in this soup so if you're not going to the store right now you might already have what you need for this soup.


Single Serve Meals - The kids & I were gone for a few nights this week so I planned a few meals that Hubby could make quickly and easily when he got home from work. And yes, these meals are as simple and easy as they sound.

Steak & Baked Potato

Baked Potato & Canned Chili

Frozen Tortellini & Alfredo Sauce


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - March 2020 Week 2

*Follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/recipes.for.moms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza 
- A weekly staple in our house in the winter! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Homemade Spaghetti
-  Hands down one of our favorite family recipes and great for serving when you're having friends over for dinner because you can easily add more tomato sauce and cook more spaghetti to take care of a larger crowd. We'll serve it with a green salad & garlic bread.

Split Pea Soup
- This is another family favorite recipe that is easy and meatless. Plus my mom used to make it when I was a kids so I've been eating it for a long time. I'll make Baking Soda Biscuits to go with the soup

BBQ Chicken Salad
- As long as we haven't burned ourselves out on salads, we try to have a salad as dinner once a week. This salad has black beans and corn in addition to the chicken so it's a great change from a traditional green salad.


Cheesy Spaghetti Squash
- Spaghetti squash makes a great base for a meatless meal and it's hard to go wrong when you mix it with cheese. I use cow's yogurt and cheese instead of goat like the recipe calls for just to keep the cost down.

Enchilada Casserole
- I plan to use venison in this casserole and we'll have it on a night that's not so busy since it will take time to bake in the oven.


Chicken Quesadillas 
- Nothing special about these quesadillas but they will make their appearance on Wednesday which is our busiest night of the week with Awanas and youth group. I'll pre-cook a chicken breast and shred it, then add shredded colby jack and cheddar cheese plus a small amount of salsa in between two tortillas. The quesadilla will be grilled on the grill pan and served with sour cream.

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - March 2020 Week 1

*Follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/recipes.for.moms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping.

Homemade Pizza 
- A weekly staple in our house in the winter! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Pineapple Chicken
- We do a lot of chicken in our house and this recipe makes for a nice change with flavors of pineapple, ginger and green pepper. The original recipe calls for this to be cooked in the crockpot but I might try it in the instant pot this time and we'll probably serve it with rice.

Black Bean & Corn Burritos
- As usual, burritos are making an appearance as our Wednesday night meal so we can eat quick and get out of the house. These vegetarian burritos give us a filling meatless meal on our menu and are a nice change from regular bean & cheese burritos. My family also is not super fond of tomatoes so I'll use half a can of petite diced tomatoes and a small can of green chilies in place of the single combined can.

Tuscan Soup
- Our second meatless meal for the week and although it does call for chicken broth, I still consider it meatless. Obviously, an easy substitution of vegetable broth will make this meal completely vegetarian. I will cook the beans from dry white beans in my instant pot before I start to make the soup. We'll serve the soup with Baking Soda Biscuits, which is the most popular recipe at Recipes for Moms.

Skillet Freezer Meal
- Hubby will be on his own with the kids for a night this week so I'm using up a Birds Eye Garlic Chicken freezer meal that I bought on sale a few weeks ago and was saving for a night just like this!

*Applebee's*
- We'll be enjoying a gift card we got for Christmas and treating the family to Applebee's which happens to be one of the only chain sit-down restaurants in our town.

*Quick dinner out*
- We don't do this often but we have a day with two doctor's appointments after school and a 4-H meeting that evening so we'll grab something quick like burritos or Subway. I already told the kids no drinks since that can add almost $10 to our dinner bill. (When dinner is a treat or for a special occasion, then we all enjoy getting a soda since we don't drink it much at home.)

If you need other meal ideas to cover the days that our family is eating out, click on the Weekly Meal Plan tab at the left (on desktop) and look back over some of the previous week's meal plans.


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

Weekly Meal Plan - Feb 2020 Week 4

*Follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/recipes.for.moms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping

It was a crazy week last week so some of our planned meals didn't happen and that's why you see them repeated in this week's menu. If you're following these meal plans in your house, I know that makes it a bit hard since you might have already had these meals. But I've decided that to share my weekly meal plans with you is to share real life and that just how it happens sometimes! So if you've had some of these meals already, look back at the meal plans from earlier in the month or substitute your family's favorite meal this week. Happy cooking!


Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house in the winter! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Beans & Cornbread
- This southern/Texas staple comes from my husband's grandmother and one of our meatless meals for the week. It's the perfect meal when you need something to be ready when you get home from a long or late day. The slow cooker works for this meal but a pressure cooker (aka Instapot) really shines in getting this meal done quickly.

Chicken Stir-fry
- Stir-fry is a quick easy meal and a great way to add veggies straight into your main dish. If you want to save time and not have to cut up fresh veggies, pick up a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies to add in.

Frito Pie (made with Easy Chili) 
- This is a fancy name for chili served over Fritos. I already have the Fritos that I found on sale a week or so ago. I find that the lightly salted Fritos are best with Frito Pie since chili tends to be on the salty side to begin with.

Corn Dog Bites
- These are perfect for a quick dinner night or even in place of pizza for a family movie night. I broil the hot dogs in the toaster oven then cut them into 5-6 pieces each. Using my regular Cornbread recipe, I put a small spoonful of cornbread batter into a mini muffin pan then add a piece of hot dog and top it with a little more cornbread batter. Bake them at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes and serve with your regular hot dog condiments. These will be our Wednesday night meal when we need dinner on the go.

Shepherd's Pie
- Typically Shepherd's Pie (also called Cottage Pie depending on the meat you use) calls for ground meat but I'll substitute venison round steak this week cooked first in the instant pot then added in. I will mostly likely make it slightly differently than the recipe linked above but that is a good place to start. You can also check out this Shepherd's Pie recipe that I've used in the past.

*Date Night*
- Obviously this doesn't help anyone in their meal planning but if you're married or dating, take this as a reminder to have nights out together just the two of you. We got lucky to have all 3 kids with activities on the same night so we took advantage of it!

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

* In the coming weeks, I will be working to provide a shopping list to go with these meals. For now, I'm just easing back in slowly.

Weekly Meal Plan - Feb 2020 Week 3

*Follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/recipes.for.moms) to see posts & stories about our family's meals and grocery shopping

Homemade Pizza
- A weekly staple in our house in the winter! We make the dough in the bread maker and everyone gets to choose their own toppings. Then we let the kids sit on the living room floor and we have a family movie night.

Taco Salad
- This recipe came to me at my bridal shower almost 20 years ago and it has been a family favorite ever since. Be sure to make the homemade dressing because it makes the salad. Usually we use ground turkey but this week we'll be using ground venison since that's what we have in the freezer from my daughter's fall youth hunt.

Beans & Cornbread
- This southern/Texas staple comes from my husband's grandmother and one of our meatless meals for the week. It's the perfect meal when you need something to be ready when you get home from a long or late day. The slow cooker works for this meal but a pressure cooker (aka Instapot) really shines in getting this meal done quickly. I'll post the recipe once I write down the measurements. (I've been making it for so long that I usually just throw everything in the pot.)

Chicken Stir-fry
- Stir-fry is a quick easy meal and a great way to add veggies straight into your main dish. If you want to save time and not have to cut up fresh veggies, pick up a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies to add in.

Steak & Baked Potatoes
- My dad sends us Omaha Steaks from time to time and since it's in the upper 40's here in Colorado we're going to call it grilling weather!

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Quesadillas
- These quesadillas have become a family favorite and are a great meatless meal that is still full of protein and vitamins. Plus it will make its appearance on Wednesday night when the kids have church and often need to eat dinner on the go. The sweet potatoes are best when they're roasted as the recipes calls for but if you're in a hurry, you can also cook them in a instant pot.
Chicken Tortilla Soup
 - Since it is still winter, soup is always a good addition to the weekly meal plan. I save the chicken carcass from a roast chicken from Costco or the grocery store and add it to veggie scraps that I've saved to make my own chicken broth. It's a great budget saver and homemade chicken stock has a lot more nutrients than it's store bought counterpart.

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

* In the coming weeks, I will be working to provide a shopping list to go with these meals. For now, I'm just easing back in slowly.

Weekly Meal Plan - Feb 2020 Week 2

Homemade Pizza

Bean Burritos

Souper Chicken (aka Chicken & Rice)

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Salmon

Cornbread Taco Pie

Chicken Tortilla Soup


Notes for the Week
- During the winter you will find homemade pizza on our menu almost every week. Check the recipe to see how we make our pizza healthier and for less money than the pizza parlor.
- Burritos or quesadilla are a go-to for our family on Wednesday nights with all my kids having church activities.These allow them to eat quickly or even in the car if needed. I try to change it up a little each week but this week is basic. Flour tortillas & canned bean burritos with shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and any other toppings we like.
- Typically, I try to avoid meals with processed ingredients like cream soups.  However, my husband is out of town this week and won't eat cream of mushroom soup so we have two meals that are my all-time favorites on the menu. He also won't eat fish so salmon makes a one-in-a-lifetime appearance since my kids love it!


If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

* In the coming weeks, I will be working to provide a shopping list to go with these meals. For now, I'm just easing back in slowly.

Weekly Meal Plan - Feb 2020 Week 1

Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Homemade Pizza

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Cornbread Taco Pie

Saucy Pork Chops

Barbecued Chicken Quesadillas

Green Chile Frittata 


Notes for the week:
- There are many ways to purchase ham steaks for the scalloped potatoes and ham. I prefer to purchase a large one that looks like a large slice of ham with a small ham bone in the middle. I find that it is the best value and I can usually save some of it for an additional meal since ham freezes nicely.
- We love homemade pizza at our house! I will post our homemade bread maker pizza dough later this week. We also use turkey pepperoni to make our pizza a slight bit healthier.
- The barbecue chicken sandwiches are great for a night when you need a quick dinner or know you'll be home late. We also love making homemade coleslaw with these and even put some inside the sandwich.
- Quesadillas or burritos are a go-to for our family on Wednesday nights with all my kids having church activities.These allow them to eat quickly or even in the car if needed.
- The pork chops have only a few ingredients plus the cook in the crockpot so I can have them ready for one of our two basketball game nights this week. And I have them in the freezer since they were on sale a few weeks ago.
- The taco pie will be made at our house with venison from my daughter's fall hunt be can easily be made with ground beef or ground turkey too.
- The frittata is my token vegetarian meal this week. I usually aim to have at least 2-3 meatless meals each week.

If you make any of these meals, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or post them to Facebook or Instagram and tag me. I will try to share my meal pics too (mostly on IG, @recipes.for.moms) if I can remember to snap a photo before the food is devoured.

* In the coming weeks, I will be working to provide a shopping list to go with these meals. For now, I'm just easing back in slowly.