Work Week Menu Plan – May 18-22

Hey, y'all!  How has everyone been?  I'm still employed.  (Are we tired of hearing about that yet?  No?  Cool.)  And still loving it.  We had family in town last week so I didn't do much cooking but had a ton of fun.  My niece performed her KC senior ballet solo - which was SO good & gave me all the sniffy feelings - and we also celebrated my brother-in-law's 40th birthday at a Royals game.  Good times! 

But this week it was back to business...  Weekday meals & lunch packing.   A little planning ahead & then maybe, just maybe, we can hit the treadmill & still get dinner on the table before 9pm.  And most importantly, be in bed at a decent hour, am I right?!

To make all that happen, we must make a menu.  < Serious face

Menu planning is sorta my favorite.  (I love making lists & eating the food.  What's not to love?)  I took inventory of the freezer & what we had leftover or sitting around.  With those ingrediences in mind, our menu was made with the following priorities:  A) being able to prep it ahead on Sunday, B) the ability to cook it quick, & 3) the makings for good lunch leftovers.  So here we go...

 

 Sunday

Dinner – Grilled Pork Tenderloin Sliders with Roasted Green Beans

It has been raining in KC, pretty much non-stop.  A brief Sunday reprieve meant Let's-Grill-Pork!  And make a bunch so we can enjoy it all week.  We had ours on Hawaiian rolls with apricot horseradish spread. 

Monday

Lunch – Leftover Pork Tenderloin & Salad

Monday

Dinner – Prepared/Marinaded Ahead – Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Thighs

Does it get better than a slow cooker meal during a work week?  They can be prepped ahead & get cooked low/slow.  Yum.

Tuesday

Lunch – Leftover Tenderloin & Salad

Dinner – Salmon

Salmon is one of my favorite go-to meals.  Lil Emeril blackened seasoning.  Toss it in the cast iron w/ a lemon for squeezies.  Steam some (Sunday pre-cut) cauliflower.  Boom!  Dinner in 15 minutes.  For real.  (Not like when recipes say you can caramelize onions in 10 minutes.)

Wednesday

Lunch – Leftover Chicken Thighs 

Dinner – Marinaded Ahead – Chicken & Stir Fry

Here's something I'm newly fond of – marinading more than one meal at a time.  (You save on time & marinade!)  A week or two ago, I marinaded some chicken thighs & some chicken breasts.  We ate the thighs but I froze the chicken breasts.  So this week, I just had to defrost them for an easy stir fry.  Baked them - while I was on the treadmill, for bonus points - then tossed them in with some doctored-up frozen stir fry veggies.  So easy!

The thighs & the breasts marination...

Stir fry!

Thursday

Lunch – Leftover Stir Fry

Dinner – Going out!

I consider getting through Thursday sorta the week.  (Although if you're interested, I'm thinking leftover stir fry for lunch & maybe a home steak night for dinner on Friday.)  I wish I had saved my receipts because I don't have a total cost for this week's eats & I really wish I did.  I think this is likely a week of Cheap Eats.

Is this similar to how you make your weekly menu?  I feel like this week was pretty streamlined & easy but, as I've learned from Pinterest, there's always a better way!

Sunday Prep

• Season pork tenderloins, make apricot horseradish sauce & trim green beans
• Marinade slow cooker chicken
• Clean & cut head of cauliflower
• Defrost chicken breasts

Week Menu

Sunday
Dinner – Grilled Pork Tenderloins Sliders with Roasted Green Beans 

Monday
Lunch – Leftover Pork Sliders & Salad
Dinner – Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs

Tuesday
Lunch – Leftover Pork Sliders & Salad
Dinner – Blackened Salmon, Steamed Cauliflower, Leftover Green Beans & Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice 

Wednesday
Lunch – Leftover Chicken Thighs
Dinner – Chicken Stir Fry with Uncle Ben's Instant Brown Rice

Thursday
Lunch – Leftover Stir Fry
Dinner – Out!