What's for Dinner - Week of 3/14/11

Well, daylight savings time continues to kick this family in the behind!!  I'm not kidding when I say that it will take us a full week to recover.  Who ever came up with this idea?!

Both of my older boys had to be physically removed from their beds 10 minutes before they were to leave for school today.  Of course, they will have to go to bed earlier tonight.  We will see how that goes.

I am in full swing of trying to clean out my freezer a la "freezer challenge".  My problem isn't so much that we have full meals that need to be consumed as that there are so many bits and pieces.  A couple of pork chops here, some frozen soup there.  You know how it goes.  Ultimately, I try to challenge myself to eat something/anything out of the freezer during the course of the day.  And hopefully not replace it with something else that doesn't have a planned exit.  So, yes, I will be shopping to finish/round out those bits and pieces!

Interestingly, with all of the left-overs we had last week, I tried something new that the boys loved.  If you have children that watch the show iCarly, you may have heard them talk about "spaghetti tacos".  Well, we had some spaghetti left over, so I decided to surprise the boys and make them some of those infamous spaghetti tacos!  Essentially you put sauced spaghetti noodles into hard taco shells and cover with cheese.  Easy peasy and a huge crowd pleaser.  My only hint would be to get the wide "stand and stuff" shells to make putting the spaghetti in a little easier.

For the dinners:

Monday:  Beef and Bean Chimichangas, corn, nachos
                  I had the chimichangas in the freezer, but will need to supplement.  Corn from the freezer.  Enchilada sauce in the pantry.  A good start!

Tuesday:  One Pot Italian Rice and Beans, salad
                  This is actually a meal that I had planned for and had all the ingredients.  It is supposed to be meatless, but I will add a pound of ground beef (from the freezer) to make it a bit hardier for the lads.

Wednesday:  Frozen pizza, salad
                   Our Wednesdays have been crazy with our evening group run, so this will fit nicely.  I will be glad to get rid of the bulky frozen pizzas.

O'Thursday:  Guinness-Braised Corned Beef, green beans, Irish soda bread
                   The corned beef and green beans are from the freezer.  I have a great crockpot recipe for the corned beef.  I will spare the children the cabbage and do green beans instead this year!
                
Friday:  Caesar Spaghetti, Texas toast
                   We do meatless on Fridays during Lent, so this will fit nicely.  It is a Rachael Ray recipe from her new cookbook Look and Cook.  Other than the Texas toast, nothing is from the freezer.  I made an exception to try this recipe.

Saturday:  Dinner out

Sunday:  Chicken with Sweet Corn and Potato Saute
                This is another Rachael Ray recipe, this time from her Express Lane Meals cookbook.  The corn and chicken will come from the freezer.

Enjoy your week and good luck cleaning out your freezer and pantry!  Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free bottle of Purex Complete Crystals Softener!

I am participating in Menu Plan Monday over at http://www.orgjunkie.com/!