Sunday - Swedish Meatballs over buttered noodles - tossed salad
Monday - Boo's Apricot Chicken
Tuesday - Indonesian Satay
Wednesday - pizza bagels
Thursday - Crepes with turkey and swiss filling
Friday -homemade chicken nuggets
Saturday - Moo shu beef? chicken? with spring rolls

Boo's Apricot Chicken:

4 chicken breast fillets
french onion soup mix
14oz can of apricot nectar.
flour
frozen stir fry veggies
2cups cooked rice

cover chicken in flour. Mix soup mix and nectar together.
spray oven dish with oil
place chicken, veggies and rice in dish and cover with nectar soup mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40min or until chicken is cooked thru.

I ended up serving the rice on the side as I wanted to get this cooking in the oven. All I can say is you have to try this recipe! If you're worried about it tasting too fruity, it's not. In fact you don't really taste any fruit, Just a delicious sauce. I almost wish I had doubled the sauce. Mental note for next time. Thanks for the idea and recipe Boo!

I've learned a wonderful money saving trick for your kitchen/pantry. I will no longer buy my herbs at a store in a pre-packaged bottle. I buy them at the health food store near us for a lot less money. They are fresher... organic.. and amazingly cheap! In general I pay less than $1 to fill a regular tall spice jar. Bay leaves cost me $.15... fresh nutmeg? about the same. Today was a real surprise though... I needed vanilla which I hate buying because it's so darn expensive. I didn't feel like going to the regular store so I decided to see what they charge. Now I don't know about where you live, but here a 1oz bottle of real vanilla costs me about $7 at the grocery store. At the health food store it was $5.25 for 2oz of organic real vanilla! Yup.. that went into my cart really quick. I thought for sure it would cost $9 or more.

Sunday - Stuffed shells with tossed salad or broccoli rabe and mushrooms and homemade cherry pie
Monday - grilled chicken and nectarine salad - going to make this one up as I go, lol
Tuesday - raw chili - fruit slices drizzled with agave nectar and cinnamon
Wednesday - chicken salad wraps with cucumber/onion salad
Thursday - spaghetti and meatballs with tossed salad - homemade italian bread - try #3, lol
Friday - malaysian bbq chicken with spring rolls and ginger dipping sauce
Saturday - take out or leftovers

I'm also doing something different this time. I'm doing all the heavy cooking today so the oven is run once. I'm tired of overheating the house, lol.

Since I've gone back to menu planning I've started getting back into baking and experimenting. Earlier this week I made pretzels that were yummy. Today's adventure is homemade Italian bread.


Sunday - Spaghetti and meatballs/tossed salad/homemade italian bread/ cinnamon walnut ice cream for desert - also homemade.
Monday - Moo Shu chicken - Joe worked a double so we never had this Saturday and I froze it
Tuesday - Hot dogs and corn salad
Wednesday - quick and easy mac and cheese (frozen mac and cheese - with a few extras to beef it up)
Thursday - Rawtatouille - this is a raw version of ratatouille- so much more flavorful and colorful
Friday - herbed chicken breasts over tossed salad with italian dressing and fresh rolls
Saturday - meatloaf/green peas and carrots/mashed potatoes

So last week I was lazy and didn't plan .. or at least adhere to my menu plan. I'm back this week to write it down.

Sunday: homemade pizza's. 1- pepperoni and mushroom 1- onion and pepper
Monday: spaghetti and meatballs - recipe below
Tuesday: Pierogi casserole see review below
Wenesday: malayasian fried chicken - recipe below
Thursday: arepas with an italian shredded beef and cheddar filling
Friday: taco bake
Saturday: Moo shu chicken

Meatball recipe:
1.5lbs ground beef
1cup breadcrumbs
1Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1Tbsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 egg

mix well with hands, form into desired size meatball and bake. I usually make them slightly larger then golf balls and bake for 20-30mins.

Malaysian Fried Chicken
3lbs chicken - we use bnls chicken breasts
4Tbsp Oyster sauce
2Tbsp curry powder
6 cloves garlic -minced

mix oyster sauce, curry powder and minced garlic, place in dish with chicken and marinate for 30 min minimum. Saute, broil or grill till done.

Peirogi Casserole - I was hoping for a different vegetarian type dish for a change. Granted it's not figure friendly and I knew that, but I was in the mood for something different. I just did not care for this that much. It basically seems like a mashed potato deluxe type thing... with some pasta thrown in. Next time I'll just make the pierogi.