January Meal Planning part 1

If you remember, I embarked on a monthly meal planning adventure for the last few months of 2012. I loved doing it because it made dinners and grocery shopping so much easier and we saved a lot of money on food. BUT it took so much time to create and I just didn't have time to plan for January in the midst of all the holiday hoopla in December.

So for this month i'm planning on a weekly basis, and will jump back into monthly for February.

Here is last week's menu:

Tuesday 1/1: Wendys (I know, not the healthiest. But we were driving back from NY and it was on our way. At least I had a salad...)

Wednesday 1/2: Pasta with homemade sauce & peas and corn on the side

Thursday 1/3: Chicken Pot-Pie

Friday 1/4: Out to dinner. We were having a family day and Stephanie suggested we go out to Newport Creamery, a local family restaurant. We couldn't resist her request.

Saturday 1/5: Crock-Pot Sweet and Spicy chicken with brown rice and cauliflower on the side

Sunday 1/6: Sausage and Peppers in the crock-pot

Monday 1/7: Chicken pot-pie leftovers

And this week's menu:

Tuesday 1/8: Take-Out Pizza (Ok so apparently the non-monthly meal planning means we eat out a lot...)

Wednesday 1/9: Soup & Crescent Rolls

Thursday 1/10: Leftover sausage and peppers, supplemented with a bag of frozen vegetables

Friday 1/11: Chili

Saturday 1/12: Birthday party in the afternoon. (Cereal for dinner if anyone is still hungry when we get home.)

Sunday 1/13: Leftover chili for Dan and I, Annie's Macaroni & Cheese w/peas for the kids

Monday 1/14: Baked Italian Chicken with steamed broccoli and pilaf rice

I took the recipe for the crock-pot sweet and spicy chicken from The Frugalette's blog (she did a month of slow cooker dinners and I've gotten some great meal ideas from her!) Here it is: (original blog post for the recipe found here)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Chicken boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 20 oz. Can of Pineapple Chunks
• 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce
• 1/2 cup of reserved Pineapple Juice from can
• 1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 tsp. Ginger powder
• 1-2 TBS. Brown Sugar
• 1 TBS cornstarch to thicken sauce at end

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients in slow cooker, except cornstarch. Mix together. Cook on low for 4 hours.
2. When chicken is done, move to plate with slotted spoon. Pour remaining liquid and sauce in small saucepan.
3. Mix cornstarch with 1 TBS. water until dissolved and whisk with sauce to thicken. Bring to boil, lower and continue stirring until thick. Pour over chicken. Serve with brown rice. (we had cauliflower on the side too)

It was a really simple recipe and came out so delicious!

*I'd love some meal ideas for the rest of the month! Feel free to share :)

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