Weekly Menu – December 3rd, 2012

This is a short week for me…I’m headed to Las Vegas early Wednesday morning to speak at a conference and won’t be home until late Thursday evening. Now the truth is, Mr W is amazingly capable of feeding the kids just fine while I’m gone…but I’d rather he not have to worry about it, so I’ve planned the schedule to leave him plenty of leftovers while I’m gone.

Monday

Since last weekend got a little shaken up on me due to the last minute decision to drive into the city for a Saturday night dinner and show with the kids, I didn’t actually get to make last week’s crockpot cube steak until Sunday. On top of that, Hair and her Mr Amazing decided to come hang with us Sunday evening. Since the crock pot cube steak wasn’t enough for all of us, I put it in the fridge to use for Monday’s dinner and got to work making Chicken n Dumplings instead.

As it turns out, Mr W and I actually have a date tonight. We have our annual meeting for church and had to get a babysitter for that, plus Tuesday marks the 2 year anniversary of our first date, so we decided to head out early Monday to hit up a local Hibachi place to celebrate two years of being together.

That means you all get a recipe from my “Tried and True” Pinterest folder.

Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
Fresh fruit
Potstickers

Tuesday

Tuesday will mark a busy day for me. Last minute packing, wrapping up some projects before two days out of the office, plus a meeting with my kids’ principal to discuss a new program we’re bringing to the school. Since she’s out on sick leave following surgery, I’m also taking dinner over for her and her family. That’s the perfect excuse to use up more chicken and make a boatload of my favorite crespelle manicotti with shredded chicken added to the filling.

Crespelle Manicotti
Brussels Sprouts
Tossed Salad

Wednesday

Mr W and the crew will likely be running on leftovers at this point. There should be plenty of manicotti, chicken n dumplings and probably even some crock pot cube steak leftover. If that fails, there’s also some leftover Taco fixings in the fridge to keep them going. On the other hand, Mr W doesn’t mind cooking and if he does, there’s a good chance it will be a pasta we love like this one:

Salerno Style Pasta
Tossed Salad
Steamed Broccoli

Thursday

I’ll be headed home on Thursday after spending less than 24 hours in Vegas. (My kind of Vegas trip!) I’ll be home around dinner time, but chances are I won’t feel like cooking much. We’ll probably go with a super quick weeknight option like this:

Frozen Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
Cilantro-Lime Rice
Sweet Peas

Friday

We’ll be on the road Friday evening taking the kids to Columbus. There’s a good chance Hair might be riding over with me so we can stay the night and hang out with her sister before doing a little Christmas shopping and heading home on Monday. Since Hair’s sister doesn’t cook much, I’ll probably throw together a late night dinner for her. We’ll probably stick with the pasta and shrimp theme that has been ruling the week.

Pasta with Shrimp Scampi
Fresh Salad

Saturday

Chances are high that I won’t actually be around on Saturday evening either. (Mr W is going to have a LOT of time to work on his own projects this week…) I’ve got an event with the women of my church that evening and will probably leave Mr W to leftovers again. I may cook lunch though and since he’s been craving soup, it will probably be something warm and hearty like Broccoli Cheese Soup.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Sourdough Bread

Sunday

If I haven’t collapsed by Sunday, I’ll get around to putting something in the crockpot.  I have some beef ribs in the freezer from the Amish raised grass-fed side of beef we bought over the summer. Seems like as good a time as any to break that out and cook something low and slow…

Beef Short Ribs
Mashed Potatoes
Roasted Carrots and Onions