Weekly Meal Planning, Week of 1.23.12

Sorry for disappearing there for a few days. I can't remember the last time I didn't post a full week's worth of recipes here on the blog. Thursday I was incredibly busy, and then on Thursday afternoon I got some kind of winter crud that's been going around. I suppose it was too much to ask to go through the entire winter without getting sick. I spent all day Friday in bed and finally started to feel more human yesterday.

When I planned our menu on Thursday night, I was definitely feeling crappy, and all I wanted to eat was comfort food. As a result, that's what our meals are full of this week -- lots of comfort and, incidentally, lots of cream. Not so good for my waistline, but definitely good for my soul! :)

Monday: Cheeseburger lettuce wraps, chips. I'll do my own thing with these, adding pickles and some diced tomatoes directly to the meat mixture, and probably drizzle them with Thousand Island dressing.

Tuesday: Southwestern English muffin breakfast sandwiches, hash browns. This recipe idea came from things we have on hand (English muffins, bacon) and things that are on sale this week (avocado, eggs). I'm already looking forward to this meal!

Wednesday: Chicken with paprika cream sauce, egg noodles. The recipe calls for chicken legs, but I'll use a couple of chopped breasts since I have them on  hand. I'll make the egg noodles this afternoon and let them dry for the next couple of days until this meal. That worked out really well the last time I made them.

Thursday: I may have mentioned this before, but for whatever reason I am totally burnt out on cooking on Thursdays. This is the night I'm most likely to ditch my meal plan and serve cereal or chicken nuggets or Chinese take-out for dinner. I'm embracing that this week, and leaving this night open for whatever I feel like making (or ordering).

Friday: Crescent pizza rolls, salad. We love these simple and delicious pizza rolls, which are made by rolling up a piece of string cheese and some pepperoni in a crescent roll and baking them. There's really not much of a recipe involved, but I'll post my version soon.

Saturday: Pasta alla norcina, crusty bread with olive oil and dipping spices. This pasta pretty much made me drool the instant I saw it on Pinterest. I cannot wait to try it. Dipping crusty bread in seasoned olive oil always seems so luxurious to me, so I'm pretty excited for that too.

Sunday: Shrimp enchiladas verdes with jalapeno cream sauce. I can promise you that I will be looking forward to these enchiladas all week long.