Menu Plan Monday!

Hi!!  How was your weekend??

Can you believe it is the week of Thanksgiving?? I know a lot of your kids have the whole week off of school...my girls go to school today and tomorrow and then we are off the rest of the week.  SO EXCITED to have a little break!

I always make my grocery list and menu plan on Sunday morning, before church- because we go to Aldi after church.  Well I tell you what- I was NOT feeling it yesterday morning!

I totally felt like since I am making Thanksgiving dinner, that should totally give me a pass on cooking for the rest of the week. HA!  

NOT. THE. CASE.

My husband and kids still want to eat dinner every other night of this week.  The nerve of them! :)

Soo...against my will, I put together a meal plan that is easy- but tasty.  And we are only having leftovers from Thanksgiving ONCE.  I consider that a win! :)

Here's what's for dinner at our house this week!

Monday: Smoked Turkey Sausage, Cheesy Broccoli Rice and Steamed Green Beans

Our family really enjoys smoked turkey sausage- we either put it on the grill or if it is in the dead of winter and freezing I will bake it in the oven.  It doesn't take long to cook since it is already pre-cooked and it essentially just needs to get "re-heated." I am going to take the super lazy easy road and make one of those seasoned rice packets- I thought broccoli and cheese would go nicely with the sausage-

 (I got mine at Aldi!) and steam some green beans for our vegetable.  Definitely a "semi" homemade meal- but it should be tasty!

Tuesday: Shredded Salsa Chicken over Quinoa with lettuce, cheese, salsa and sour cream

Another favorite (and easy) dinner in our house! I am going to make some quinoa (white or brown rice would be delicious too!) and warm up some shredded salsa chicken I made the other day.  I ALWAYS have a couple portions of salsa chicken in the freezer- I make a HUGE batch of it in the crock pot- seriously SO easy- chicken breast + a jar of salsa (or less depending on how many chicken breast you are cooking)- cook on low for about 8 hours and then shred up the chicken once it is done cooking.  I use "salsa" chicken for almost all of my "Mexican" type dinners- tacos, quesadillas, burritos, taco salads, etc. 

Anyway- quinoa + salsa chicken + cheese, lettuce, salsa and sour cream = a super easy, yummy and healthy dinner!!

Wednesday: Meatball Sub Sandwiches and a Tossed Salad

Meatball sub sandwiches are really so easy and they are one of my husband's favorite meals.  I am going to use this super simple recipe for the meatballs and make them ahead earlier in the day.  Then at dinner time, all I will have to do is assemble the sandwiches and melt some provolone cheese over the meatballs under the broiler! 

Thursday: THANKSGIVING DINNER!!! 

For about 8 years now, we have done Thanksgiving with just our little family.  Aaron's family lives in Texas and my parents travel to my grandpa's house for Thanksgiving (which is about 5 hours from us) and with Aaron being in school and now residency- his schedule has been unpredictable for quite some time.  So we just stay put and it really is so nice to have a relaxing day of hanging out and cooking!  Last year he had to work- so this year he has off! YAY! 

We are having turkey, homemade stuffing (I always follow my mom's recipe), homemade mashed potatoes, butternut squash (I just bake mine and then add salt, pepper and a little butter), Paula Deen's Green Bean Casserole, per April's recommendation and Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing for Dessert!

Friday: Pizza Night!!

My original plan was to have this be "leftover" night- but then I decided it might be nice to have a break from the mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy for one night :)  I am hoping we can put up our playroom Christmas tree during the day (we were supposed to get it up this weekend- but it just didn't happen)- and I thought it would be so fun for the girls to have a pizza picnic in front of their Christmas tree!  Fingers crossed we can make this happen! 

Saturday: Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner! 

One of the best meals of the YEAR- leftover Thanksgiving dinner!! YAY! 

Since it is just our family eating a full Thanksgiving dinner, we will have enough leftovers for several meals- but I like to freeze most of the leftovers so we can space out our "repeat" Thanksgiving dinners :)

Sunday: Hot Dogs on the Grill, Macaroni and Cheese, and Steamed Peas

Sunday is my precious Charlotte's birthday and she has requested the above meal for her birthday dinner :)  She has a very refined palate as you can see! HA!  We are having some friends over for cupcakes and an ice cream sundae bar around 6:00 pm, so it is actually very nice to be having an early, simple dinner that can be cleaned up quickly!  Charlotte has requested we make homemade ice cream for the ice cream sundae bar and I am so excited to do this with her!!  We are going to try out Pioneer Woman's Vanilla Ice Cream recipe!

From my turkeys to you...I hope you have the BEST week!!

(I know this picture is kind of blurry- but ALL of my children are looking at the camera AND smiling- so I just had to share it!! :)

I am linking up with Laura today!