Menu Plan Monday

The tree is down, the holiday season is officially over and I just had to have something other than Sharing Christmas up on my blog.


I have much to share about our Christmas as well as thoughts for the New Year. I also need to get post up dedicated to my now six years and one month old Ella!

But this week I am hanging out with the cutest little six month old ever, as a favor to a good friend whose regular care-giver is out on maternity leave. By the end of the week I'm sure I'll be a pro at juggling school pick up and drop off with the needs of a little one, but at this moment I'm not sure how much extra time I'll have for blogging. Because, you know, I typically blog so much without a baby around! (I have to laugh because I wrote the bulk of this post after 8pm tonight, when my kids are in bed and I could have totally taken the time to document some memories from the past month...oh well, I'm hoping they stick for another few days)

I wanted to be organized so I made sure to get my meal planning done with some easy crock pot meals to get us through busier days.



So of course I'm going to do a quick Menu Plan Monday!

It's a new year so I'm trying a bunch of new recipes this week...

Monday - Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup Slower Cooker Recipe I got this recipe off of A Year of Slowcooking and since I made it tonight I figure I should post my thoughts. I have to say that I was a bit skeptical based on the ingredients and the little tastes I snuck throughout the day. It just seemed like it was going to be bland. But in the end I really like it. Definitely NOT your typical chicken noodle soup - I would probably come up with a totally different name for it because the flavor is different from what you'd expect from a chicken noodle soup. It was enjoyed by three out of the four of us (take a wild guess who didn't enjoy it!) and we all had seconds. I did season my bowl with salt and pepper as well as add a bit of fresh Parmesan to garnish as suggested. An easy, healthy and comforting meal - perfect for this cold week!

Tuesday - Potato Pie with Tomato and Fontina (in my case, Gouda) I picked this recipe thinking it was a good meatless option, only to find out that it has pancetta in it. Oh well, it looked to interesting to pass up. If you're curious, click on the link to see what it looks like and what's in it. I'm hoping I like it!

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon - Getting out the crock pot again with high expectations for this simple beef dish. I'm using stew meat instead of a roast so I'm hoping that it turns out more like a stew (hence, the stew meat!).

Thursday or Friday - Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich, one of those days will be leftovers. If you haven't had this sandwich, I don't know what to say other than you must. We usually use turkey bacon just to keep it a little lighter, but it is easy and yummy and something Matt requests that I make and if I don't make it, he will!

So that's it for this week's meals. As always, let me know if you try any and if you like/dislike them, I'm always curious.

I hope where ever you are you are snuggled up and staying warm - I think I can safely assume that's it cold outside!