So it appears I hit a nerve when I discussed earlier about parting ways with some of our cookbooks. Let’s just say I was definitely feeling the resistance! :) Some of you took up my challenge and some of you are hanging on to those cookbooks for dear life thinking I’m actually going to come to your house and pry them out of your hands…LOL. You can relax, I just wanted to give you something to ponder and thankfully that’s about as controversial as this blog is ever going to get :)
My mom phoned me with a great idea for actually using the cookbooks that invade our shelves. Menu planning! She just recently planned a six week menu plan rotation using all recipes from two different cookbooks. She’s had these cookbooks for years and never used them and now she is using them all the time just by doing a little advance menu planning. Give it a try! Dust those cookbooks off and put them to good use and then I won’t have to pester you again about getting rid of them…he he.
Alrighty have I talked about my love of the Baked Teriyaki Chicken. Oh my goodness gracious! I could so eat this same recipe every single day, it is that good!
Still need some more menu planning help or recipe sources check out my resources page by clicking on the button below.
Monday: Fajitas
Tuesday: Bruschetta Chicken
Wednesday: Beef Stew with homemade bread machine bread
Thursday: Leftover buffet
Friday: Homemade pizza that’s already made and in the freezer ready to go…thanks Terri!
Saturday: Chicken Caesar Salad in Pitas and then hubs and I are off to a Valentine’s Day Dance!!
Simple Supper Sunday
WHAT’S ON YOUR MENU THIS WEEK?
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So nice that you and your husband can go out for Valentine’s Day. I think we’ll just be home watching TV.
I don’t know what the deal is with Mr Linky lately. Tonight it took me 5 times of submitting my link- each time it showed up on the screen and disappeared before my very eyes!
Hope everyone has a great Valentine’s week!
Danelle Ice / Homemaker Barbi
I’ve used a couple of my favorite cookbooks to plan menu rotations, although it’s a little farther out – up to two months (just for ideas and planning ahead on buying). I have never found a cookbook where I would use all of the recipes, but I’ve got several that I like to keep on a regular rotation.
Allie
http://learningtobefrugal.wordpress.com/
Fresh bread sounds really yummy right now! Have a great week!
Bruschetta chicken recipe ROCKS!!! I’ve made it a few times and my hubby says its the best meal I make!
Fran
Don’t worry I know you are not going to come take my cookbooks, you live way too far away, lol! Actually I have many of my recipes on the computer…and that you would have to pry from my cold dead hands :).
Working on purging the cookbooks…. working….
Toni
Great menu this week, and what fun, a dance! I have to say, I am one of those that will not give up my cookbooks. I love them and don’t mind at all that I might be dusting them and that’s the only time they are touched. :)
Ok, I hope I did this right. :) I can’t wait to check out all the good menus posted here!
Mmmmmm…fajitas….
Happy Monday Laura! The Bruschetta chicken recipe looks great, can’t wait to try it some week. I’m trying my best to purge those cookbooks, but it’s not easy. LOL
Good morning all! Have a great week!
Great tips on using the cookbooks:-)
Have a nice date!
Thanks for the website. I always enjoy my Monday’s at work.
Hope you have a great Valentine’s! A dance sounds like fun!
I purged cookbooks a while ago and have about 10 that I use regularly now. I do most of my hunting online, though, so even those aren’t used as much as they used to be. My mom is a cookbook junkie to rival ANYONE! She has thousands of cookbooks and is always buying more. The perk is that she often will buy one she already has and I’ll get the double! ;)
I love the idea of using old dusty cookbooks for meal planning! Great idea!!
Sounds like you have a yummy menu plan for the week. I should probably start looking for recipes to try my hand at but hubs really doesn’t like me to use them as they usually call for items we don’t have or will use enough in the future. We’ll see!
Have a great time at the dance and a Happy Valentine’s Day too.
Wowsers! I can’t believe how many have already linked up! ANd it’s only 9am EST here! Good for you all!
I’ve decided since we are working on our budget and tackling our debt, menu planning is a priority. So this will be my accountability! It sure is a stress reliever, too! :)
Hi Laura! I’m really excited about posting my first attempt at menu planning :). I was extremely nervous trying to make sure I did Mr. Linky correctly and linked everything. So please feel free to share if I didn’t!
Have a blessed week!
Hey there! Sounds good…
Ummm… the sign up sheet is not showing up for me… Is it there?
-Sea
Your menu looks great!
This is funny – I just posted about my meal planning process and going paperless on my recipes. I do still love looking through cookbooks, but I usually just check them out of the library.
yummy as usual!!! have a great week and thanks for the great ideas!!
Sorry everyone seems like Mr. Linky is having spasms again. I can’t even sign into their website. So frustrating!
I’m new, but I posted my menu plan and I am a little lost…I don’t see a Mr. Linky? Anyways, my menu is here: http://alwaysfaith.blogspot.com/2009/02/menu-monday-29.html
I hope I do this correct! Here is my menu plan for the week: http://frommytinykitchen.blogspot.com/2009/02/menu-planning-feb-8th.html
The Baked Teriyaki Chicken sounds delicious – I will have to add that to an upcoming week!
Again, thanks for hosting this! It helps me to have some accountability in planning my menus. Also, I get lots of great ideas so that I can change up our menus.
Hi! Thanks so much for hosting MPM. I love checking out everyone’s menu, and posting my own as well.
Your Bruschetta Chicken sounds yummy!
Quick question….not sure why when I sign in it always bolds my name and adds a smiley face. I thought maybe it did that a few weeks ago when I was new, but it’s still happening?!
Thanks
:)
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but the past two weeks when I come here to post my menu Mr. Linky isn’t here….how do I post my menu? It finally showed up last week, but why am I not seeing it now? Can anyone help me with this? I’ve tried refreshing, I’ve tried opening in another tab, in another window, still no Mr. Linky.
Thanks!
Blessings,
Lori
My menu is at http://scottdomain.servehttp.com:8080/lwordpress/?p=792
I’m fine without my cookbooks, but may it never be that I am asked to part with foodnetwork.com and/or allrecipes.com!!!!!!!
Holli
Mmmm it has been way too long since I’ve made beef stew. That just might show up on next week’s menu!
It’s so rare to find another gluten, dairy and egg free person. I’ll be back to read your recipes.
For this weeks menu I noticed that lots of the meals have flour in them. Does your son eat something else at meal times or has he moved out of the house?
It was fun making the menu. Thanks for coming up with this idea.
This is my first time participating in Menu Plan Monday, and I LIKE IT!!! It was so much easier, doing it this way, than what I normally do! :)
My first time posting my menu. I have no kitchen right now, you can read all about it at my blog. Makes for interesting meals!
The cookbook challenge is a solid idea. I have one shelf of cookbooks, which is often unruly and not so useful all the time. I should really start pulling them out to plan mega menus and get some fresh ideas.
The question … how does one balance creative menu planning in the long term (like more than 2 weeks at a time) with frugal living and cooking/eating what is least expensive in the short? Hmmm.
Sounds like a great blog topic … if I ever figure out the answer. :)
Can you post the homemade frozen pizza recipe? I’ve tried this before and I had problems when I would reheat the pizzas.
Thanks!
Elizabeth, I either adapt what I’m making or make my son’s meal separately similar to what we are having. For instance with the bruschetta chicken I’ll just cook his chicken on it’s own separately and he’ll have the same sides. As for the beef stew I use a gluten free flour blend in place of the flour and use safe beef broth. Hope that helps!
Laura
Kristi, it’s just my usual homemade pizza recipe and it reheats fine. Here is the link:
http://orgjunkie.com/2008/01/pizza-dough-recipes-for-the-bread-machine.html
Simply Sara, only you see the smiley face. I believe it happens because you are signed into Mr. Linky yourself (??)
Lori, I wish I knew why that was happening for you. I can only imagine how frustrating it is.
Thanks for all the meal planning tips and ideas. I’m so glad I found this.
Ooh I like the chicken caesar salad in pitas idea. Might have to add that one in for a lunch.
Thanks for another great week of menus! All my recipes came from blogs linked here this week. I like this method of menu planning…
I’m in. Fifty-six comments and 329 participants! Someone’s not playing by the rules.
I’m a huge cookbook collector. But I actually use them all! I’m not an organized person at all, but I have a Google spreadsheet with a list of all my cookbooks, the recipes I’ve used from them and I rate the recipes. If I find that I’m not using a lot of recipes, I try to make more recipes out of the book.
I’ve used this site in the past on my old computer with no problems, but with my new laptop I can’t see the list of everyone else’s links to their menus. Obviously it must have something to do with my new browser settings, but I just can’t figure it out. If anyone else has run across this and has a solution for me, I would REALLY appreciate it. I miss seeing other’s menus.
I love this meme. I am so glad that I found it.
good heavens child your just turning this circle on its ear with enthusiasm.
Wow. Lots of menus this week. Since I purged my cookbooks, I go to the library for my fix.
That’s a good idea! – I purged my cookbook “collection” last year and since then I’ve used one book once! I know there are good things in them – after all, that’s why I kept the ones I did! Thanks for the reminder that they are still useful! :)
Problems w/Mr. Linky? I was able to link my post last night but I wanted to check other menus today via the links and Mr. Linky isn’t appearing…
We are down to the last items in our pantry this week so it’s going to be a struggle to eat the same thing multiple times this week. We can do it!
Happy Valentine’s Day week. I hope you have a Blessed week.
I love Bruschetta Chicken — but I opt for a much simpler recipe. :)
I’m so glad you told me I could release my cookbooks! I emailed my friends and they are going to come and take my cookbooks away.
I have been watching your site for some time and now and I’m just getting to the point where I’m organized enough (:p) to participate in the menu planning Monday. Hopefully I did everything right! Thanks for helping us all get organized!
I just got my menu for this week up- thanks so much for the motivation to keep up the planning each week, I love your site!
Holy cow… it just keeps growing, doesn’t it?? :) On Valentine’s Day: we have gotten away from going out to eat as well – the long lines and high prices, are just not worth the hassle! We’ll be at home and probably have some chocolate fondue for dessert, a rousing game of Monopoly with dear son, and a quiet evening for Mom and Dad. ;) As always, thanks for hosting.
This is my first Menu Plan Monday. I love reading everyone elses!
Hey, that teriyaki chicken sounds great. We’ll have to try it sometime!
Thanks so much for hosting this. I so enjoy browsing everyone else’s ideas! And it keeps me motivated to be creative too. Low budget this week, but I think it will do.
The chicken caesar salad in pitas sounds great!
Hello there, found your website and MPM through your namesis @ Heavenly Homemakers. Am going to try to post a menu each week, maybe this will help stick to the task :)
Hello my friend Laura. I have to say, I agree with you on getting rid of the books, however I do have some clients (and friends) who just love them. Either way, it’s just nice to “stir up the pot” a bit and get people thinking… I am going to try your chicken recipe next week… thanks for sharing!
I tried the Baked Teriyaki Chicken recipe tonight and it was a hit. Thanks for recommending it.