How am I already feeling worn-down and it’s only Monday? I’m thankful for the motivation of Menu Plan Monday because it makes a huge difference in how our household functions.
I’m going to make it easy on myself this week because it’s the dreaded twice-yearly clothing switchover time. For a recovering slob, it’s pretty rough to have three huge piles of clothes in the living room right now. Eliminating the “What’s for Dinner?” stress will be a big help.
I’m using my rice cooker twice this week. The rice cooker is my absolute favorite small kitchen appliance. I think I’d even put it higher than my crock pot! You can cook any kind of rice or rice mix in it. Just dump the rice and the liquid in, and turn it on. It will cook, and then switch to warm. It will keep your rice until you’re ready to eat it.
Monday – Meatballs in Cream of Mushroom gravy over rice. I usually have this over mashed potatoes, but I got a great deal on 85% lean ground beef this weekend, so supper prep tonight will include cooking up all thirteen pounds of meat. To make things easier, I’ll be putting some rice in the rice cooker instead.
Tuesday – Tacos. This is one of our favorite quick meals that we make from the pre-cooked ground beef.
Wednesday – Jambalaya. I suppose you could come up with a fancy recipe for jambalaya, but I had a college roommate from New Orleans who swore by Zatarain’s rice mixes. Who am I to argue with that? I follow the package directions, and then add an additional full cup of plain rice and two cups of water. This makes it less spicy, and the boys are eating more now anyway. I also use two pounds of Turkey Smoked Sausage, cut into about 1 inch pieces. This is my favorite meal to make when I can’t be stuck at the stove, but I forgot to put something in the crock pot. You dump it all in the rice cooker, and then you leave it alone. After it’s done cooking, it will automatically switch to “warm” and will be ready to eat whenever you are ready. You can eat it in 30 minutes, or in three hours.
Thursday – Baked chicken breasts and pasta.
Friday – eat out
Saturday – Leftovers
Sunday – 3yo daughter won three large pizzas from the local pizza place! We’ll let her treat!
Check out more menu plans at Orgjunkie.com.
