Menu Plan Monday: May 3-8

I have to admit that this week’s menu was planned pretty hurriedly. We went out of town this weekend with some friends, and got back yesterday evening. It was a great trip. Our friends also have two small children – girls, though – and J and their older daughter had a blast playing together. J has decided recently that it’s fun to declare, “I want to play ROCK BAND!” over and over again (we don’t know where this came from; Brian plays Rock Band but J hasn’t “played” with him in months). When you picture this, you have to understand the way it’s said. He’s not whining (this time) – he bellows it out and really amps up the last two words of the statement. He apparently passed his love of saying this on to our friends’ daughter, because yesterday morning as we sat enjoying our continental breakfast they took turns shouting it back and forth to each other with huge grins on their faces. Ahh, the fun of toddlers.

Back to my point, though… we got back last night, and you know what comes with returning from a trip: a) tiredness; and b) unloading the car. Oh, and feeding two hungry little boys since we arrived at dinner time. By the time we got all settled in and had the boys ready for bed, I really didn’t feel like planning our meals for the week, let alone making a trip to the grocery store. If I waited until today to go, I’d have to take both boys with me, and that mental image was enough to get me motivated. I kept it simple this week. The good news is I also kept our grocery bill down  – $50 again this week!

Here’s what we’re having:

Monday: Chicken stir fry with broccoli, carrots, onion, and rice. I use teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, chinese five spice, and a little bit of red pepper flakes to season our stir fry. My brother and his girlfriend are coming over again, and he requested something Asian.

Tuesday: Chick-Fil-A Family Night. Definitely looking forward to not cooking! Brian won’t be able to eat with us tomorrow night, so for the cost of just my meal the boys and I will all get dinner (free kids’ meals!!). Plus, that means no clean-up. LOVE that.

Wednesday: Mexican food, of course, for Cinco de Mayo! I am going to make my mom’s recipe for Chicken Enchilada Casserole. It’s a favorite of mine – very easy, and makes a ton of leftovers too.

Thursday: We’re grilling out hot dogs and will bake some sweet potato fries to go with them. Honestly, I don’t really love hot dogs, but Brian and J do, so I’ll go for them every once in a while.

Friday: Margarita chicken with black beans & rice – I got the chicken recipe from the Copykat cookbook I wrote about a while back. Brian’s going to cook the chicken on the grill – I love spring and summer because that means we grill out all the time. So good!

Saturday: Burritos. This is a nice go-to meal for us. I cook some lean ground beef with fajita seasoning, and then we add black beans, rice, shredded cheddar, lettuce, cilantro, and salsa. It’s our version of Qdoba or Chipotle burritos at home – sometimes we’ll change up the filling, but this is our stand-by combination.

I realize that yet again I’ve procrastinated in trying a fish recipe… I think I might actually be a little nervous about it! I’m resolved to actually follow through and make seafood next week. I’m kind of glad I have my Menu Plan Monday post to hold me accountable!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! As always, if you have any recipes to suggest I try next week, share them in the comments section and I’ll include them in an upcoming post.

P.S. – Don’t forget to enter my giveaway that runs through this week! Who doesn’t want a free wallet?