Dirty Dishes: Weekly Meal Plan

Phew, doing a weekly meal plan for a family of 6 is hard work. Keeping it interesting and new is even harder. Since starting my weekly meal planning I’ve compiled over 120 weeks of meals. WOW. Impressive, I know right?  But when you’re cooking for 6 people, you can’t get home at 5pm from music class or dance and look in the fridge and say, “what am I going to make tonight?”

I use a lot of different resources to compile my meals from websites to cookbooks to emails from friends and family and of course, Pinterest.

After all the quick response to my Facebook page a lot of you want to know, so here’s what’s on the table in my house this week. I’m sorry I don’t have pictures of all the dishes but trust me when I say, the first 3 are YUMMY! (the last 2 are new but are sure to be hits as well.)

 

Monday:

Chicken pot pie and salad (my own recipe shown below)

I’ll prep it in the morning and put it in the fridge so that it can be popped in the oven later. Make it ahead is just as good as putting it in the slowcooker.

 

 

 

Tuesday:

Smothered Pork Chops (click HERE for the recipe from www.recipetips.com)

This will also be prepped ahead and put in the fridge. There’s nothing bad about having meat sit in the sauce all day before it goes in the oven. I’ll serve it over a brown, wild rice, quinoa mixture.

 

Wednesday:

Spaghetti & meat sauce w/Spolumbos sausages in slow cooker (my own recipe shown below)

 

Thursday: 

Avocado Chicken Parmesan (click HERE for the recipe from elenaguan.blogspot.ca that I found on Pinterest)

 

Friday:

Pizza Roll-ups w/marinara dipping sauce (my own recipe shown below)

I purposely didn’t register any kids in activities for friday’s to keep it loose and casual. We alternate between tacos, pizza or even hot dogs on Friday nights. Although I’ll opt for a salad or sushi for myself and Brent if the kids are having hot dogs or tacos.

I hope this weeks meal plan helps inspire you to plan your week. It will save your sanity and your pennies to plan ahead.

Leave me a comment and let me know if you try any of these recipes and if you want me to keep posting my meal plans.

 

 

Chicken Pot Pie

1 roast chicken (skinned and boned)

1 large can of Chicken Corn Chowder soup

2 cups of steamed broccoli (drained and cut in bite size pieces)

1/2 cup frozen corn

2 frozen pie shells

Pull the frozen shells out and sit them on a cookie sheet while you prepare the filling.

Pre-heat oven to 350F degrees

Pour soup in a medium mixing bowl. Add broccoli. Add enough chopped chicken to make the mixture very chunky. I usually use both breasts plus a little extra dark meat. If you like your pie more runny then add less chicken. I like my pie chunky so I add a lot of chicken. Pour mixture into 1 pie shell. Take second pie shell and remove foil pie plate. Invert over the top of filled pie and use water to seal the edges with your fingers. The top will likely crack but that’s ok. Cut some slits in the top crust to let the steam out. Brush with an egg wash if you want. (I don’t)

Bake in a 350F oven for about 40 minutes or until crust is brown and cooked fully.

Serve with salad.

 

Spaghetti & meat sauce w/Spolumbos Sausage

1lb lean ground beef (cooked and drained)

3-4 of your favorite Spolumbos sausages (raw)

1- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1- 16 oz can of tomato sauce

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 medium carrots (peeled and finely grated)

1/2 onion (finely grated or chopped if your family is OK with seeing their onions)

2 tbsp Italian herb mix

Using a large slow cooker, add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, herb mix and stir to combine. In a skillet combine onions and carrots and cook until tender. Add tomato paste to skillet and caramelize the mixture for 3-5 minutes. Add carrots and onions to slow cooker and stir. Add cooked beef and raw sausages and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high from 4-6 hours or until sausages are cooked thru.

Serve over your favorite pasta or gluten free pasta!

 

 

Pizza Roll-ups w/Marinara sauce  (I just made this one up)

1 pkg of your favorite full sized wraps

2-3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

5-10 slices of your favourite pizza meat (pepperoni, ham, salami, etc) cut with pizza cutter into strips.

1 jar of your favourite marinara sauce or make it from scratch and use the extra later in the week.

Lay out 1 wrap and sprinkle evenly with a thin layer of cheese. Layer meat on top of cheese. Add another sprinkling of cheese. Roll from one end to the other and use toothpicks to hold in place. Repeat with other wraps. Bake all wraps in a 375F oven for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and wrap is slightly crispy. While wraps are in the oven, heat marinara sauce on stove top until warm but not boiling so the kids can dip right away.  Let the wraps sit on top of the stove for 5 minutes once done. Slice on an angle. Serve with a side bowl of marinara sauce for dipping.

This is one of those recipes that you can customize to your taste. You could add goats cheese and cooked mushrooms or roast some peppers and onions and add to your wrap. Fun, Fast and Easy!