Weekly Meal Planning

You'll notice a couple of changes to my meal plan this week as far as the categories go. Now that it's fall and we've put the grill away (while Joe hummed a funeral dirge), I'm changing Wednesday's category to "Free Night." This gives me a little bit of wiggle room to make something that sounds good but doesn't fit anywhere else on the menu, to force Joe to eat leftovers so they don't go to waste, or to not cook at all -- something that is starting to sound more and more appealing to me the further I progress in this pregnancy.

The second change is on Monday nights. The new category will be "Soup or Casserole," since we don't typically eat a lot of salads during the winter months (although we really probably should). I like the idea of preparing a casserole on Sunday and popping it in the fridge, then putting it in the oven when I get home from work on Monday and using the time I'd normally be cooking to just relax and play with Andrew.

I know I've said this before, but we are definitely entering the seasonal realm of MY KIND OF FOOD. And I'm totally not watching my caloric intake at this particular point in time, so I'm definitely going to indulge in some hearty, rich foods this season. You may feel your pants getting tighter just visiting my site. Fair warning.

There's not a whole lot of new stuff this week. I'm feeling the need for some tried-and-true household favorites. (And that also means, only one cookbook recipe this week. I don't know if I'm going to make it in time. Like Lisa, I may need to extend my goal to two years!)

Monday -- Soup or Casserole: French onion soup, roast beef panini. I'll leave the bread off the soup, so this meal will be like a deconstructed version of a French dip sandwich. Yum! We ate leftovers. Of which there were plenty.

Tuesday -- Pasta: Chicken alfredo with broccoli. I use jarred sauce, frozen broccoli, and half a rotisserie chicken, which makes this thoroughly semi-homemade. But it's delicious and ridiculously easy -- a winning combination in my book!

Wednesday -- Free Night: Baked chicken taquitos with creamy lime cilantro dressing, Mexican sour cream rice. As a bonus, both the taquito filling and the dressing can be prepared the night before, so Wednesday should be pretty low-stress for me. I'll use the other half of Tuesday night's rotisserie chicken for the taquito filling to save even more time.

Thursday -- Quick and Easy: Taco joes, Southwestern salad with leftover lime cilantro dressing. For the salad, I just combine iceberg lettuce with corn, black beans, shredded cheese, and homemade tortilla strips. If you're Joe, you add some jalapenos too. If you're me, you stay far away from those so as to avoid the ridiculous heartburn that will surely follow.

Friday -- Burgers and Fries: Guacamole bacon burgers, steak fries. Wow, Mexican food three nights in a row! Can you guess what I'm craving? (Besides Red Robin, which is where the inspiration for this burger came from.) We went to get Andrew's hair cut (his first, my baby is growing up, *SOB*) and ate out afterward. Stay tuned, though -- I will be making this burger soon!

Saturday -- Regional or International: Chicken cacciatore risotto We spent the day at an outdoor festival stuffing our faces with French fries, hot dogs, and spiced nuts (a delicious-sounding combination, I know), and by the time we got home I didn't feel like cooking and neither of us felt like eating. I was really look forward to making this, so I'll be sure to move it to a week in the future.

Sunday -- Comfort Food: Meatloaf, individual potatoes au gratin, green beans. Jessie swears by this meatloaf, so I thought it was high time I gave it a try. It sounds absolutely delicious. After a long day at the zoo (and much unhealthy food consumed), I once again didn't feel like cooking. We weren't really hungry for anything heavy, anyway, so we ate sandwiches and potato chips.

Weekend Breakfast: Egg, cheese, and tomato bagel breakfast sandwiches. I'll probably fry up some bacon for Joe's sandwich, too, just to satisfy his carnivorish tendencies.

Baking: Wait for it...pumpkin pie snickerdoodle bars. Do those not sound like the best thing ever? My mouth is watering already -- I can't wait to try them! Sigh. No time to make these this week, either. But I will be making them very, very soon.