Good morning! Can you believe how close Thanksgiving is? It really feels like November snuck up on us this year. I have to admit, a lot of the reason I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving is that we will be able to put up our Christmas decorations! (We’ve got a couple up already… don’t tell!)
I can tell the holidays are rapidly approaching because this week we’ve got several Thanksgiving activities on our schedule. My work has a big potluck-style meal for faculty, staff & students (I’m bringing appetizers and am still trying to figure out what to bring – ideas?) Wednesday. Then the boys’ school is also having a Harvest Meal – for C’s class I’m making cookies, and for J’s we’re supposed to bring pumpkin pie, which he is incredibly excited about.
I have another thing going on this week that I’m looking forward to – have you ever heard of Taste of Home? They have a cooking school in our town every year, and I love it! It’s basically like watching a Food Network type of show live. They give out bags of samples and coupons (which, if you know me, you know I adore) and a cookbook magazine that the audience can follow along with while recipes are cooked. I’m sure I’ll be trying some of the recipes in coming weeks – I’ll let you know of any good ones I find!
On to meals for the week. We’re following the KISS meal plan because of all the activities going on. :) I don’t know that we’ll end up using all of these meals, either – but it doesn’t hurt to have them ready, right?
Monday: Leftover soup – we had our small group from church over last night. I made tomato basil soup and chicken taco soup, and we’ve got enough left over for dinner tonight – especially since the boys won’t eat it and will have nuggets instead.
Tuesday: Chick Fil A night! Lately we’ve been getting surveys on our receipts where we can get a code for free sandwiches, so this makes dinner an even better deal.
Wednesday: My work’s potluck meal – wish us luck with the kids at this thing!
Thursday: Pizza – we’ll make our old standby options – pepperoni & buffalo chicken.
Friday: Leftover pizza. Exciting, I know.
Hopefully your meals are a little more exciting this week. Anything I should try? I don’t want to fall into a rut just because we’re busy this holiday season, so I’m definitely still on the lookout for more meal ideas.
I want to mention before I go that I have several giveaways going on right now, with more to come this week! The $25 Del Monte gift certificate ends tonight, so be sure to take a minute to enter that one. Giveaways are always posted in the upper right corner of my blog, and of course I’d love for you to enter! :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Have you ever tried breakfast for dinner? One of my faves that I force on the rest of the family. Also if I make spaghetti and meatballs the next day we make meatball parm heroes. Last week made a roast beef with potatoes and the next day we turned the leftover meat into philly steaks sandwiches for a quick friday night dinner
Jennifer, we love breakfast for dinner! That’s a family favorite here too. LOVE your ideas for reinventing leftovers – such great ideas! I want to try both of those.
It all sounds great.
Your menu’s for the week look great. I would love your Tomato Basil Soup. Thank you for sharing.
Miz Helen
Thanks, ladies!
Buffalo Chicken Dip a fun appetizer for a group http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/buffalo-chicken-dip/Detail.aspx. We served it at our housewarming with carrots, celery, and pita chips, and everyone liked it, but we definitely should have halved the recipe, it made A LOT for a dip. (Or at least for this girl who doesn’t eat dip!) For extra spiciness, you could get a few slices of buffalo cheddar at the deli counter and substitute that for some of the plain cheddar. I do that when we have buffalo chicken pizza.
And my go-to dinner is Honey Lime Grilled Chicken: ½ cup honey, ¼ cup soy sauce and the juice of 2 limes poured over chicken breasts or tenders. I like to bake it for the flavor to sink it, but it’s good grilled too. I serve it with rice and salad, and always make extra, because with the leftovers, you pretty much have everything you need for fried rice!
Janalyn, I’m totally going to make that dip for my thing at work tomorrow – thanks for the idea! The chicken sounds really good too.