Weekly Meal Planning

Monday: Chicken rigatoni bake. I found this recipe on a box of pasta years ago and I've been making my adapted version of it ever since. It's one of my favorite fall and winter comfort foods -- I can't believe I haven't shared this one yet.

Tuesday: Chile, cheese and bacon quesadillas, Mexican sour cream rice. (Yes, I make this rice a lot; no, I will never get sick of it, not ever.)

Wednesday: Corn and kielbasa chowder, rolls (and I'm probably going to add cheese, too, because if you look over my menu this week you can clearly see I have thrown calorie counting out the proverbial window. Plus, you know, the baby needs calcium.)

Thursday: Buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese. Oh, yeah. (See: baby needs calcium. He also apparently needs spicy food.)

Friday: BBQ beef and bacon melts, steak fries. I make these melts just like I do my bacon patty melts, except I omit the special sauce and use shredded BBQ beef instead of a hamburger patty and cheddar and/or Monterey jack cheese instead of American. Delicious, and equally as good using shredded BBQ chicken or pork.

Saturday: Meatball subs (inspired by this recipe). This is the second time I've used this meatball recipe. I didn't post about these last time I made them because I wanted to play with the ingredients and preparation a little bit to make them fit our tastes perfectly. That's what I plan to do this time, so I'll be sure to share what I come up with.

Sunday: Saucy slow-cooked chicken thighs, Joe's potatoes, green beans

Weekend Breakfast: Bacon, egg, lettuce and tomato sandwiches (BELTs), applesauce. The more bacon the better right now -- I can't get enough of the stuff. My poor little baby and his slowly-clogging arteries.

Baking: I recently found Peanut Butter & Co. cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter in my local grocery store, so I will be using my precious find to make these oatmeal peanut butter cookies. And then I will be eating all of the cookies, probably in one sitting.