Mealtime Mondays

This week's meals only took 1 hour and 10 minutes to prepare:

• Tilapia Puttanesca x 2
• Taco Rings x 2
• Stuffed Green Peppers
• Crockpot Lemon Garlic Chicken

And at least that long to clean up- partly because I started cooking with a messy kitchen (trust me, it's bad around here!) I did not prep for the steak dinner because I want to get by the local meat market to pick up some really good steaks for Father's Day. Following is the prep/storage/eat schedule for the week.

Monday- Taco Ring- I prepped up until final baking. I stored ring in fridge covered with aluminum foil. Tonight I will take out of fridge and bake.

Tuesday- Stuffed Green Peppers- Peppers are fully stuffed and sitting pretty in fridge (covered with foil) ready for final baking.

Wednesday- Crockpot Lemon, Garlic Chicken- I followed directions according to recipe and browned chicken before placing in ziplock storage bag. I added liquid to storage bag and then stored in fridge. Wednesday morning I will transfer contents of ziplock into crockpot and cook on low all day.

Thursday- Tilapia Puttanseca- To prep for this dish I simply dumped all the sauce ingredients into a freezer ziplock and stored in freezer. Thursday morning I will transfer sauce from freezer to fridge to begin thawing. I will then cook fish/sauce according to recipe Thursday Night.

Friday and Saturday- Pantry Challenge (I am going to try to not go out to eat for the rest of the month)

Sunday- Steak Dinner. Saturday night I will marinate steaks and store in fridge until time to grill Sunday afternoon. Happy Fathers Day!!!

Mealtime Monday

First let me say I really missed having all my meals prepared last week. I hated that last Wednesday I got home from work really late and I still had to get supper on the table. So needless to say I was happy to get back in the kitchen tonight for my marathon of meal prep for the week.

Second, for Mother's Day, DH and the boys joined me in the kitchen for meal prep. I looooved having the extra help and the company.

With the help of DH it only took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to prepare the following:

• 1 Spinach Lasagna
• 2 sets of Beef Kabobs
• 2 French Dip Porks
• 2 Chicken Berry Salads (cooked chicken, cut up vegetables, prepared 2 dressings)
• 2 sets of Crunchy Salmon
• 5 ears of corn ready to grill
• 2 green bean packets

The "help" of my DC (dear children) contributed at least 10 minutes to our prep time.

This really was an easy prep week so I betcha you could get all 5 meals for 1 family done in easily under 1.5 hours.

Here is the storage and eat schedule for the week:

Monday: Beef Kabobs- To prep I dumped kabob sized sirloin into a ziplock bag with marinade and stored in fridge. I have also washed and cut up all vegetables for the kabobs. I prepped corn for grill and stored in fridge. Tonight I will assemble kabobs for grill.

Tuesday: Chicken Berry Salad- I baked (you could grill though) chicken and sliced and stored in fridge. I also cut up green onions for salad and prepared the dressing to store in fridge. Tuesday evening I will go pull some lettuce from our garden and assemble salad.

Wednesday: Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches. To prep I simply put pork loin in ziplock and added onion soup mix and stored in fridge. Wednesday morning I will dump into crockpot along with 1 can of diet coke and cook on low all day. Wednesday evening I will assemble sandwiches.

Thursday: Crunchy Salmon. I fully prepped this dish using frozen Salmon fillets. I will store in freezer. Thursday morning I will transfer from freezer to fridge to thaw. Thursday night I will bake.

Friday and Saturday- Leftovers or Out

Sunday: Spinach Lasagna- I full prepped this dish and stored in freezer. Saturday morning I will transfer from freezer to fridge. Sunday afternoon I will bake.

Mealtime Monday

If everything went as planned our flight was not scheduled to arrive until 10 PM last night, soooo needless to say I did not get to the grocery store last night. Therefore instead of cooking all our meals today I am going to load up the boys and go grocery shopping. This week I will just prepare one meal per day and then next week I'll get back to my marathon cooking day. Another thing different about this week is that the other family I cook for is on vacation. The other family has several health concerns that I am always mindful of when preparing my menu. This week I have allowed more fat and calories to creep in the menu then usual. Although I believe all of these recipes can fit into a healthy lifestyle, I wouldn't usually allow them all to be served in the same week. So just keep that in mind when planning your menu.

Mealtime Monday

I'm not sure exactly how it happened but I totally busted the whole 1.5 hour food prep budget this week. I felt like I was in that kitchen ALL DAY LONG! Now, a big contributor to the overtime was the pizza crust- it alone took over 1.5 hours. But really I think I just wasn't focused. I kept getting distracted. I mean normally I would use the time while I waited for the pizza dough to rise to work on the other meals, but not yesterday. I piddled. Regardless, meals are done and I think we are in for a tasty menu this week. Following is my prep and storage suggestions for this week's meals.

Monday: Sausage and Rice Casserole. I fully prepped this dish up until final baking. I stored in fridge.

Tuesday: Jalapeno Chicken. I fully prepped this dish up until final baking/grilling. I stored in fridge.

Wednesday: Crockpot Tamale Pie. I dumped all the dry ingredients for the "cornbread topping" into a ziplock bag. I put all the "filling" ingredients into another ziplock bag. I stored both bags in the fridge. Wednesday morning I will dump all the "filling" ingredients into my crockpot. I will then add the milk and egg to the cornmeal mixture and then add to crockpot. Cook on low all day.

Thursday: Shanghai Pasta. I sauteed the green beans and pepper and then dumped them into a freezer ziplock. I added the remaining ingredients to the ziplock (minus the pasta). I did NOT thaw the shrimp. I then stored the bag in the freezer. Wednesday I will transfer from freezer to fridge. Thursday night I will make pasta and stirfry contents of ziplock.

Friday: PARTY!!!

Saturday: Family Reunion

Sunday: Homemade Pizzas. All I did to prep for this dish was to make the pizza crust. I went ahead and baked the crusts for about 8 minutes to hold shape. I then wrapped crusts in aluminum foil and stored in freezer. Saturday I will transfer crust from freezer to fridge. Sunday after church we will top pizzas and bake.

Mealtime Monday

Gotta admit I was not in the mood for cooking yesterday- but alas I got er done. Once again I am not sure of the final prep time because I piddled.... a lot, BUT I have zero doubt it could have all been done in under 1 hour and 30 minutes. I actually just prepped for 4 dishes (although I will still provide 5 recipes for you) because we never ate the Manicotti last week (went out so we wouldn't mess the house up the night we showed it). The dish I chose to exclude from our week's menu was the omelets. Can I just tell you that I am already regretting this decision because the recipe is soooo yummy! But anyways here is a list of what I DID prep last night:

2 Pecan Crusted Fish

2 Pepper, Squash, Zucchini Packets

2 Taco Pot Pies

2 Dixie Pork Chops

2 Vegetarian Chilies

2 Cornbreads

Here is the menu and storage schedule for the week:

Monday- Pecan Crusted Fish with Peppers and Squash. I fully prepped this dish up until final baking and stored in fridge. I chose to do the vegys in an aluminum foil packet. Tonight I will simply take fish and vegys out of fridge and bake according to recipe.

Tuesday- Dixie Pork Chops. I ran out of baking dishes so I did not brown pork yet, but if I hadn't run out of dishes I would have completed steps 1 and 2 of the recipe and stored in fridge. I have already cut up apples and measured ingredients so it shouldn't take too long to brown pork and finish up recipe Tuesday night.

Wednesday- Vegetarian Chili. I dumped all ingredients into a freezer ziplock. I stored this in fridge BUT it could have easily been stored in freezer. Wednesday morning I will dump into crockpot and cook on low all day.

Thursday- Manicotti/Omelets- I am going to have the Manicotti from last week BUT if I was to do the omelets I probably would not have preprepped for this dish. I would have just prepared the night of.

Friday and Saturday- Out or leftovers

Sunday- Taco Pot Pie. I fully prepped up until final baking and stored in freezer. Saturday I will transfer dish from freezer to fridge. Sunday after church I will pop in oven for final baking.

Mealtime Monday

Once again I can't give you an exact time on the meal prep today. I will tell you that I was in the kitchen for over 3 hours but a big chunk of the time was spent cutting off fat and bagging up my chicken into meal size freezer ziplocks (I bought enough chicken to last 6 meals at the Kroger sale this week) and cleaning up the ginormous mess I made during my cooking marathon. I would think that all of the recipes could easily be prepared in under an hour and a half- the only wildcard is the Manicotti- kinda tedious stuffing those shells. Here is what I did to prep and store this week's meals:

Monday: Spicy Seafood Stew. To prep I cut up vegetables and stored in a ziplock. In another ziplock I mixed the tomatoes and spices. Both ziplocks stored in fridge. Tonight I will finish up recipe and add fish.

Tuesday: Chicken Fajitas. I stored the marinating chicken in the fridge and simply cut up the vegetables for prep. Tuesday night I will saute peppers and onions while grilling the chicken.

Wednesday: Apple, Cheddar Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. The meatballs are formed and stored in the fridge. Wednesday morning I will add meatballs to crockpot, cook on low, and cross my fingers.

Thursday: Chicken Manicotti- I fully prepped this dish without adding cheese. I stored in freezer. Wednesday I will transfer dish from freezer to fridge. Thursday night I will bake.

Friday and Saturday- At Moms House

Sunday: Black Bean Soup? This dish was fully prepped and stored in a freezer ziplock in the freezer, HOWEVER.... I am thinking black bean soup, although quite yummy, is not special enough for Easter Lunch therefore I will probably fix the soup earlier in the week for lunches and go by the meat market to pick up something fun for Easter Lunch. We'll see....

Mealtime Monday

I am excited to report that ALL prep work for this weeks meals was easily completed before my 1 hour 30 minute deadline! I would say I cleared it by at least 15 minutes. Let me break it down for ya:

• 2 Crockpot Roast Dinners
• 2 Mexican Casseroles
• 2 Blackened Chicken Salads
• 2 Vegetable Pizzas
• 2 Salmon Teriyaki Meals
• Side Salads for 2 families

Most of the recipes this week are tried and true and those that I have not tried look pretty safe- so I am thinking we are in for a yummy week. Here is my recommendations for meal prep, storage, and serving:

Monday Night- Blackened Chicken Salad. To prep for this meal I went ahead and prepared the chicken, sliced it up, and stored it in the fridge. I prepared the lettuce (washed, chopped, and spinned) and stored in gallon size ziplock in fridge. I also cut up the sun dried tomatoes and mixed the dressing and stored separately in fridge. Tonight I will chop up avocado and toss all ingredients together and serve.

Tuesday Night- Crockpot Roast. Normally I like to do my crockpot meals on Wed but this Tuesday I have a women's event at church so this will be a great meal the boys can serve up without me. To prep I simply dumped all of the ingredients except the water into a ziplock bag and will store in fridge until Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning I will add water and contents of ziplock bag to crockpot and cook on low all day.

Wednesday Night- Salmon Teriyaki. To prep I did NOT defrost Salmon but simply added frozen salmon to a freezer ziplock bag and mixed all other ingredients into the bag. I will store in freezer until Tuesday Night. Tuesday night I will transfer salmon from freezer to fridge to allow the Salmon to thaw over the next 24 hours. Tuesday night I will take salmon out of marinade and grill.

Thursday Night- Mexican Casserole. This dish was fully prepped and placed in freezer. Wednesday night I will transfer casserole from freezer to fridge. Thursday night I will take casserole out of fridge and bake.

Friday Night- Out or Leftovers

Saturday Night- Out or Leftovers

Sunday Afternoon- Vegetable Pizza. After pizza was fully prepped I placed several layers of foil around pizza and placed in freezer. Saturday I will transfer pizza from freezer to fridge. I'll bake up and serve after church next Sunday.

Mealtime Mondays

Ok, once again I didn't quite make my 1 hour 30 minute goal for all meal preparation. Nope- it took me 1 hour 37 minutes. Darn! And no drama to blame the overage on this week. But everything looks pretty yummy so I am sure it will be worth the extra 7 minutes. The following describes the prep steps I took and how I plan to store each meal until final preparations:

Monday Night: Spinach Calzones. I am most anxious to try these and I am not sure how the bread dough would do for an extended time in fridge sooo I am going to eat these tonight. I prepared up until the baking step and stored in fridge until time to bake.

Tuesday Night: Chicken Quesadillas. The quesadillas were fully prepared, wrapped in foil, then stored in the fridge. I will just throw the quesadillas wrapped in foil in the oven Tuesday night.

Wednesday Night: Crockpot Pork Pineapple Tenderloin. I prepared Pork in a freeze ziplock bag. I dumped all ingredients except the peppers and pineapple into bag to let pork marinate. (My pork was actually still frozen so it will have from Sunday night until Wednesday morning to defrost in marinade in the fridge). I went ahead and chopped peppers but I chose not to add to marinade. I stored both pork and peppers in fridge. Wednesday morning I will dump contents of pork bag into crockpot followed by the can of drained pineapples and peppers. Cook on low all day.

Thursday: Salmon-Potato Cakes. I formed my salmon patties and then placed them in a freezer safe dish in the freezer. I will try my best to remember to transfer patties to fridge Thursday morning to begin thawing. Thursday night I will just spray my electric griddle down with Pam and sizzle these cakes up!

Friday - Saturday: Out of Town

Sunday- After browning beef, I dumped all ingredients into a freezer safe ziplock and stuck it in the freezer. I am going to try to remember to get chili out of freezer Friday to let thaw in fridge over weekend. Sunday I will put chili in crockpot before church and then come home to a nice bowl of hot chili!

Mealtime Mondays

Well if you saw my previous post you know I busted my time budget. I did, however, prep for all 5 meals and 1 side dish (x2). The following describes the prep steps I took and how I plan to store each meal until final preparations:

Monday Night: Crunchy Oven Fried Tilapia and Hashbrown Casserole with green beans. I completed both the Tilapia and Hashbrown recipe steps up until the actual baking. I placed foil on both and will store in fridge until tonight. The two dishes call for two different baking temperatures, however, I will just meet in the middle at 400 degrees and let the hashbrowns get about a 30 minute head start on the fish.

Tuesday Night: Cherry Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I baked the chicken and placed the whole chicken breasts into a ziplock to let it cool in the fridge. I could have went ahead and chopped the chicken but I personally like chopping a cold chicken instead of a warm chicken. I find the chicken tends to "shred" instead of "chop" when I cut it up warm. I placed the shredded carrots, green onion, and almonds in a storage container, and mixed the liquid sauce together in another container (both stored in fridge). Tuesday night I will simply chop the chicken (using my handy dandy Pampered Chef food chopper) and toss the carrot mixture, chicken, and sauce mixture together.

Wednesday Night: BBQ Pork. All I did to prep for this meal was dump the pork into a freezer ziplock and pour the BBQ sauce in to marinate. I then stored in fridge. Wednesday morning I will transfer pork and sauce into crockpot and cook on low all day.

Thursday Night: Eggplant Parmesan. I prepared this meal up until the final baking step. I then stored in Freezer. I would have not stored this dish in the freezer (second to raw egg substitute) had not the recipe called for baking the eggplant chips prior to casserole assembly. I will do my best to remember to transfer this dish from freezer to fridge on Thursday morning so it will be partly thawed before baking Thursday night.

Friday and Saturday Night: Out or Left-overs

Sunday: Mexican Chicken Pizza. I fully prepared this recipe up until the final baking. I then placed foil around pizza and stored in the freezer. I have baked this pizza straight from freezer to oven before and it worked out fine so I am not worried about forgetting to transfer from freezer to fridge before baking.

Mealtime Mondays

2 Oven Fried Chickens

2 Squash Casseroles

2 Green Beans

2 Marinating Shrimp Bags

2 Asparagus Packets

2 Spaghetti Pies

2 Chicken Tortilla Soups

1 Trip to Kroger

1 Destroyed Kitchen

______________________________________

Less then 1.5 hours

I decided I really like getting my prepwork done on Sunday nights so I don't have to use any of my "Mommy Day" in the kitchen on Monday; therefore I knocked it out last night while the boys went to Awanas. I'm not positive on the exact time it took to do all the prepwork because I had to stop midprep to run to Kroger to pick up 3 important ingredients I had forgotten on my big grocery run. I am positive the actual prep time was less then 1.5 hours and honestly think it was probably closer to 1 hour. I chose not to do any preprep for the beans, cornbread, greens meal because all I will have to do is throw the beans in the crockpot with a few spices the morning we plan to eat them- shouldn't take 3 minutes. Plus I like my cornbread hot out of the oven- yummy!

As always, Here is the schedule for storage and final preparations:

Monday: Oven Fried Chicken with Squash Casserole and Green Beans. All three were fully prepared up until the actual cooking step and then stored in fridge until tonight.

Tuesday: Shrimp Kabobs with rice and Asparagus Packets. All I did to prep for this meal was to toss my frozen peeled and deveined raw shrimp in a ziplock bag with the other ingredients to marinate while thawing in the fridge. I also went ahead and prepared the asparagus packet. Tuesday evening I will place shrimp on skewers to grill.

Wednesday: Spaghetti Pie and Side Salad. I fully prepared the spaghetti pie up until the final cooking step and then placed foil over the top to store in fridge until Wednesday Night. I will still need to put together a side salad on Wednesday night to complete this meal.

Thursday: Beans, Cornbread, Greens. I will do my best to remember to put the beans and spices in the crockpot on Thursday before heading off to work. I will prepare the cornbread and open the can of greens on Thursday night.

Friday: Out or leftovers

Saturday Night: Sunday School Social

Sunday: Chicken Tortilla Soup. I placed all ingredients in a freezer ziplock bag and stored in freezer. I will transfer ziplock to fridge on Saturday morning to start defrosting. Then I will place contents of ziplock in crockpot before heading off to church Sunday morning. It should be ready to eat by noon on Sunday!

I don't know why I always feel I must show you my destroyed postprep kitchen. I think it just makes me feel better knowing you know my dirty little secret- I am a very messy cook! Thank goodness I just cook once a week!

Mealtime Monday

I'm pretty excited about this week's meals. If you read my late post from last night you know that I actually cheated and cooked last night because I have a busy day planned for today. So I am happy to report to you with confidence you can prepare all but 1 meal in 1 hour and 9 minutes. I think I could have been done a lot sooner but I got distracted (see earlier post "Busted). Here is the schedule for storage and final preparations.


Monday: Pecan Encrusted Salmon with Cranberry Spinach Salad. I think this would have froze nicely but I wanted to go ahead and have it tonight. I went ahead and prepared Salmon and salad dressing so tonight all I will need to do is take Salmon out of fridge to bake and toss salad.


Tuesday: Spinach Lentil Soup. I put all but the water and olive oil in a freezer gallon size ziplock bag and placed in fridge. Tuesday morning I will add water and olive oil and let cook in crockpot all day on low.


Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings. To prep all I did was place frozen chicken in a freezer ziplock and added all but the water and biscuits. I will store in fridge and then transfer contents of ziplock into crockpot Wed morning, add water and go.


Thursday: Southwest Eggrolls. I decided to have these this night because I wanted to experiment with freezing them. I followed recipe up to the "brush with butter" step. I placed in baking dish with foil over the top and placed them in the freezer. Thursday morning I will transfer to fridge and then brush with butter before baking.


Friday Night: Date Night- Valentines with DH


Saturday Night: Out Valentines with family


Sunday: Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches. I thought the bread would get too soggy if I went ahead and prepped the sandwiches. So, I plan to put these together on Saturday night- that way all I'll have to do is pop them in the oven after church. I don't think it will take longer then 5-10 minutes to make.

Mealtime Monday

Welcome to the first week of February Mealtime Mondays. This week is going to be a little different in that I am not home to prepare the meals to let you know how long it takes to prep for the week. However, looking at the recipes I think it is safe to say you will easily be able to prep for all 5 dishes in less then 1.5 hours. I do apologize that I neglected to look at the nutrition information for 3 of the recipes before I left, so I will get that information to you when I get home.

If I was to prep for the week here is the order and storing guide I would follow:

Monday Night: Taco Roll- Prepare ring and loosely place foil around pizza pan and place in refrigerator until ready to bake.

Tuesday Night: Simple Spinach Lasagna- Cover unbaked lasagna and place in fridge until ready to bake.

Wednesday Night: Pumpkin Pancakes- If I did prep for this meal I would simply prepare batter and store in fridge; however this is a meal that is so quick to put together that I would probably just prepare the night I serve.

Thursday Night: White Chicken Chili- I would mix all ingredients into a freezer Gallon Ziplock bag and place in freezer. I would transfer chili from freezer into refrigerator Wednesday morning to thaw.

Friday Night: Out or leftovers

Saturday Night: Out or leftovers

Sunday Afternoon: Tuna Casserole: Prepare and place unbaked casserole in freezer. Transfer from freezer to fridge on Saturday morning.

Mealtime Monday

This week I have 2 recipes (spaghetti squash and spinach pork tenderloin) that are a little more timely to prepare then usual. Therefore, I am going to HOPE to finish in 1.5 hours but I may be pushing it today. I am also going to try to provide some step by step photos of the 2 more involved dishes to make sure we all feel comfortable with the preparation. Following are the designated days I plan to serve the meals and how I will store until final preparations.


Monday: Spaghetti Squash. This is the wild card recipe of the week. I am a little nervous about this dish so I am not going to attempt to prep and store, rather I will prepare and serve tonight. The only prep I will do this afternoon will be chopping up my onion and tomatoes. I will also go ahead and grill one chicken breast to add to our side salads. (I know this was supposed to be my vegy meal but it just doesn't look hearty enough to satisfy my boys.)


Tuesday: Spinach Pork Tenderloin. Today I will stuff pork then wrap in foil and place in refrigerator until tomorrow evening. I will go ahead and mix sauce ingredients but will wait to boil until tomorrow night. Tomorrow night I will unwrap pork and place in oven for final preparations.


Wednesday: Fish in Foil. Today I will prepare foil packets with frozen talipia. Then I will place packets in the refrigerator until ready to bake or grill on Wednesday night. If I wasn't serving by Wednesday I would put foil packets in freezer ziplock bags and store in freezer.


Thursday: Southwest Stew: I will combine all ingredients into a gallon size ziplock and store in refrigerator. I will then transfer stew into crockpot on Thursday morning.


Friday Night: Leftover Stew


Saturday Night: Out to Eat.


Sunday: Rosemary Chicken: I am going to prepare marinade in freezer ziplock bag and add the chicken. I will then place marinating chicken into the freezer. I hope to remember to take frozen chicken out of freezer Friday or Saturday and place in refrigerator to allow the chicken plenty of time to thaw.

Mealtime Monday

Welcome to your first Mealtime Monday!!!! I have all your recipes ready to post and they will be coming up in the 9am hour. After reviewing the recipes I believe I can make all the meals today in about 1.5 hour. I'll time it and let you know. Below I am going to explain how I will store the meals until the designated day I plan to serve them to my family.


Monday's Meal: Skillet Lasagna (I will just put entire skillet in my refrigerator until time to cook tonight)

Tuesday's Meal: Breakfast Casserole (I will just place foil on top of casserole dish and place in refrigerator until tomorrow night)

Wednesday's Meal: Chicken Elegante (I will prepare with frozen chicken and then put all ingredients into a ziplock to be kept in refrigerator until I transfer to crock-pot on Wednesday morning)

Thursday's Meal: Raspberry Pecan Salmon with Mandarin Orange Salad (I am going to prepare with frozen Salmon and then put all ingredients into a large freezer ziplock. I will then place the salmon into the FREEZER until Wednesday night. Wednesday night I will transfer salmon to refrigerator so that it will be thawed by Thursday night. I will pre-prepare the dressing for the salad, but will probably wait to chop up my lettuce until Thursday night)

Friday night is Date Night- I ain't cooking

Saturday night- unsure

Sunday Lunch- Black Bean Soup (I will probably freeze soup in ziplock just because if it sat in my refrigerator I would probably eat it before Sunday- its that yummy!)

Aren't you so excited you will only have to destroy your kitchen once and you won't have to worry about cooking the rest of the week!!!