Weekly Menu Plan – September 14-20

On our way into the city this morning, The Neighbor Wife and I were talking about menu planning and the merits of it. This is now the third week of consistent menu planning for me, and while I haven’t been following it letter for letter, I have kept to it about 80% of the time, which, for me,  is huge. For it to work, I have to have the flexibility to be able to swap around days. Last week, I forgot about a school meeting on Monday night, so since Tuesday was an open day, I just made that Monday instead and made Monday’s menu items on Tuesday. Because I already had the menu formulated, the recipes pulled and most of the ingredients purchased, it takes away a lot of the guesswork and 6 pm-what’s-for-dinner stress.

When pulling together the menu for the week, I’m trying to make it a mix of new recipes I’ve clipped to try, recipes from cookbooks on my shelves and tried-and-trues. If I make 50 new recipes a day between now and the day I die, I will never make all the recipes I’ve clipped. But at least with this plan of attack, I feel I’m putting the ridiculous amount of recipes I’ve collected to use, we’re getting a nice variety and things are running a bit more smoothly. Or that’s the plan.

Alright, onto this week.

If I know the recipe is available online, I’ll try and link to it here, that way if you feel inspired to make it, you can play along … at least until I can get the recipes added here myself. Here goes:

Sunday:Banana Sour Cream Pancakes from Barefoot Contessa’s cookbook, Family Style. Tortellini with the kids (The Husband working tonight, so keeping it easy for early-bedtime-school-work-tomorrow).

Monday: Baked Cod and Potatoes from Family Circle magazine for dinner. Snack: Spicy Chickpea Mix from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Tuesday: Dinner: open. Baking with Nicholas: Barbara Bush’s Shortbread from Christmas Cookies magazine. No political agenda here, I assure you. This recipe is from the last election season – in 2004.

Wednesday: Cuban Black Bean Stew with Rice from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food. Green Salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing from the February/March 2006 issue of Eating Well magazine.

Thursday: Deep Dish Pizzas from Everyday Food, Tomato Fennel Salad from Barefoot Contessa. Baking with Nick: Banana Rum Coconut Cookies from Cooking Light.

Friday: Kitchen closed.

Saturday:Cipriani’s Famous Pasta from the March 2006 issue of InTouch magazine, of all places. Cipriani is a popular restaurant in New York City, frequented by celebrities. Baking with Nick: Peanut Butter Bars from Better Homes & Gardens.

Now what about you? What’s coming out of your kitchen this week?

Hungry for more menu planning inspiration?
Check out Kristen’s Dine & Dish menu (she usually posts on Mondays) and the Organizing Junkie site, where you can find more menus than you’ll ever need.

A year ago today… Grilled Peanut Chicken.
Two years ago today… guilty pleasures.
Three years ago today… nothing but muffins.