OUR NEW MENU PROGRESS and A FREE BOOK!!

Alrighty, here is how we're doing on our menu plan so far. 

For the sake of space I will share that we eat yogurt, cereal and/or fruit for breakfast.
We eat sandwiches and veggie chips or veggies or fruit for lunch or Leftovers.
For snacks we eat veggies, fruit and/or a 1/2 sandwich.

Things of note:


1. The Grocery list does not include Parmesan Cheese, but you will need that for some of the recipes.  Buy more than one container of it, if your family likes to add more at the table.

2.  You'll notice that all of the dinners I make from the book are also accompanied by what I call "Fillers."  I either make pasta or rice to accompany a meal. That way we eat less of the more expensive meats and everyone is still quite satisfied.

3.  When preparing the chicken breasts, I cut them in half, "long-wise" so that I can use 2 breasts for One meal.  I then use a "meat hammer" (as my kids call it) to beat the snot out of the chicken. This spreads it out so that it fills a large casserole dish.

4. When a recipe calls for Tomato Paste and water I use one can of Tomato Sauce.  When it calls for just Tomato Paste, I use 1/2 can of Tomato Sauce.

Here are the Dinners we've eaten since getting The Book. 

Tuesday: Kitchen Sink Meatloaf on page 33

  

I haven't made meatloaf in forever.  Kole asked me what it was and I had to laugh.  I'm pretty sure that he's the only 6 year old who's never eaten meatloaf. LOL  Everyone devoured it. This is an absolute keeper.  It was gone in no time flat.  I've never put cheese in a meatloaf...so...that may have been the difference for my hubby.  It tasted like an Italian Meatloaf of sorts and will definitely be coming back to our table very soon.  I served it with white rice and tea.

Wednesday:  Chicken Parmesan over Pasta from page 16 of the cookbook

*I cut two large chicken breasts in half...meaning I thinned it out and made 4 fillets out of the two.  This meal fed our entire family. I liked it very much, as did Brian.  The kids ate it up like a house aflame. Very good and a keeper!




Thursday: Homemade Pizza from Page 50 

This was so easy to make.  The dough was a cinch, as was the sauce.  I used a large casserole dish to make the pizza.  It was deep and about 12"x8"  The dough is thick iand I had to use a lot of vegetable oil in the dish to get the dough spread easily.  Be sure to grease the sides of the dish too.

There is a LOT of sauce to put on this pizza.  I thought it was going to be way too much but as it cooked, the dough soaked it up a bit and it turned out just so yummy. It is a Deep Dish, Saucy pizza.

Everyone raved about it.  Even my guys who hate tomatoes ate the thing.  They just picked off the Diced Tomatoes and really enjoyed the taste they leave behind.

This is a definite keeper!
 
Friday: Pecan Crusted Chicken

This one sounds intimidating but it's very easy to make.  It calls for 1/3 cup butter in the list but does not use the butter in the preparation instructions.  I skipped the butter and it turned out very fine and without as much fat. :o) 

It tasted good but wasn't a huge hit with the kids.  There is just something about honey on chicken that makes me cringe a bit.  It was a bit too sweet for my taste, but I'm glad we tried it.  Everyone still got filled up. It was definitely eatable, but not repeatable for our family.

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My husband really enjoyed the first three recipes.  Our finicky 13 year old enjoyed meals two and three.  I'm amazed because they are the biggest critics in the house. They have both resorted to making their own meals in the past, when dinner was not to their liking.  

This weekend is a fishing/camping trip for some of our family so I'm not sure I'll keep up with the full out dinners this weekend.  Smores and hot dogs may be in our future. :o)

I plan to resume full force on Monday.  I'll be back soon to give updates on our dinners.

Would anyone be interested in a Free "70 Meals One Trip To The Store" Book? 

If so, this is your chance to get one!!

Be sure to comment on this blog post and Keep watching! I'll draw ONE random name from the commentators on this post here.  Facebookers, please head over to my blog to comment.

I'll announce the winner on Monday!

Have a great weekend!