What's on the Menu—April
/So…for the last two months I have made a monthly meal plan. This is new for me because I usually plan one week at a time (and that’s how I grocery shop too). I wanted to try out planning for the whole month, though, to see if it would give me a better view of the whole month, keeping our overarching grocery budget in mind. It was hard to get started, but once I sat down and looked at our schedule, I was able to plug in different meal ideas, taking into account ingredients I could use for more than one meal. Obviously there ends up being some flex from week to week, depending on what we are wanting to eat or what we didn’t get to the week before, but it’s definitely simplified my Sunday night weekly planning/grocery list because I just see what was on my menu, see what else is left from the prior week, and then plug it into my grocery list. Here’s what I came up with for this month….
Image via Anne Sage
Week of April 6
M—Chicken Mushroom Pasta (a combo of this recipe and this recipe)
T—Tuna Cakes with Jalapeno and Cilantro
W—Homemade Pizza and Salad with some Talenti Gelato for Penelope’s Birthday
TH—Brats and Strawberry Cupcakes for Finn’s Birthday
F—Slow Cooker Chicken Tamale Chili
S—Leftovers or Eating Out
Su—Braised Pork and Mashed Potatoes for a special Easter dinner. And if you need a good dessert idea, we love Pineapple Upside Down Cake for a refreshing spring dessert!
Week of April 13
M—Pasta Carbonara with Peas and Spicy Sausage
W—Sweet Asian Chili Chicken Stir Fry + Store-bought Eggrolls
TH—Leftovers or Eating Out
Su—Leftovers
Week of April 20
M—Unstuffed Spicy Tomato Basil Shells
TH—Eating out or Leftovers
F—Mexican Stuffed Peppers (I add ground beef)
S—Leftovers
Week of April 27
T—Calzones (I usually use Italian Sausage, Green Peppers, and Mushrooms as my filling.)
TH—Eating Out
P.S. This is a favorite of ours if you are looking for a different salmon recipe—Honey, Garlic, Butter Salmon served with Angel Hair Pasta and Roasted Broccoli. It’s sooo good!
