Menu Plan Monday

Last week's menu plan went very well, and we enjoyed some awesome new foods. Monday's beef stew was good. I needed some extra seasoning, especially salt. We haven't had beef stew for a long time so Scott and I enjoyed it. It wasn't the kids' favorite. Tuesday's chicken and potatoes were a hit with the kids. I expected it to be which is why I scheduled it. Wednesday's General Tao's Chicken was a big hit. Mika wouldn't stay out of it, and Scott was very happy with it. It starts with coating the chicken with cornstarch before dipping it in an eggy flour mixture for frying. Then you make the sauce which coats the chicken. These coated fried chicken pieces were yummy all by themselves and would make a great base for a variety of flavors. I plan on trying to tweak the sauce to make orange chicken. I don't think it would be too hard. When I make the General Tao's chicken again (which I will), I'll decrease the ketchup and add crushed red pepper for heat. Thursday's shrimp was awesome. Sam and Josh don't like shrimp, but the rest of us really enjoyed it. I think the marinade would go well with chicken too. I didn't make Saturday and Sunday's food; life got in the way so they are being moved to this week. Instead, we had fast food on Saturday and burritos yesterday.

Here's this week's recipes. I'm short on money, so I'm trying to use what we have as much as possible.

Monday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Zucchini

Tuesday: Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

Wednesday: Orange Chicken, Rice, Broccoli/Cauliflower*

Thursday: Chicken Pesto Pizza**

Friday: Spaghetti, Salad, Homemade Bread

Saturday: Southwest Stew with Corn Tortilla Strips

Sunday: Roasted Chicken, Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Peas

* I'm going to use last week's General Tao's Chicken recipe but I plan on substituting orange juice concentrate for the ketchup. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the oyster sauce. I'll have to taste and see what I want to do.

** I'll be using homemade pizza crust, leftover pesto that I froze, grilled chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, and probably onions. I'll simply omit the cheese.