Dinner Plans: Sept 18th-24th

Sunday September 18th: 

~Movie Night~

Every single Sunday we go to my in laws and eat lunch after church. We don't get home from there until around 3:30-4:00 pm so years ago we started this 'Sunday Night Tradition' of watching a movie and eating sandwiches for dinner. My Sunday meal plan will ALWAYS be this:

Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, Doritos, popcorn, and ice cream. 

Making a grilled cheese is self explanatory so I won't get into detail on that recipe ha. 

Monday September 19th: 

Tomato, Spinach, & Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken, Baked Potato Wedges, Corn, & Salad

Stuffed Chicken

Four large chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

Olive oil 

Eggs

Milk

Flour

Bread crumbs

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 cup roughly chopped spinach

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1. With a large sharp knife, carefully cut the chicken breasts like hot dog buns. Don't cut all the way through.

2. Open the chicken breasts up where you cut them and layer on the remaining ingredients. It's okay if you can't fit all of it in, you can just leave some out. Just squish in as much as you can. 

3. Dunk chicken in egg/milk mix

4. Dip into flour

5. Dunk again in the egg/milk mix

6. Final dip into the bread crumbs

7. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake the chicken on a greased cookie sheet. It usually takes around 20 minutes. Just make sure you cook it until the center reaches 165ºF on a thermometer 

Baked Potato Wedges

Potatoes

Ranch Dip Mix

Olive oil

Real bacon bits

1. Cut the potatoes into wedges and put them in a bowl

2. Drizzle a few tablespoons of oil onto the wedges and mix them around

3. Add in the bacon bits and ranch powder mix 

4. Stir it all up until it's evenly distributed 

5. Lay wedges out onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until the potatoes are browned and soft 

Tuesday September 20th:

Homemade Chicken & Dumplings, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, & Rolls

Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients

• about 3 cups cooked chicken
• 6-8 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups flour
• 2 Tbs. butter
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• salt to taste (I just shake some in)
• about a cup of milk, maybe a bit less

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender. Stir in the milk, mixing with a fork until the dough forms a ball.
2. Heavily flour a work surface. You’ll need a rolling pin and something to cut the dumplings with. I like to use a pizza cutter. I also like to use a small spatula to lift the dumplings off the cutting surface.
3. Roll the dough out thin with a heavily floured rolling pin. Dip your cutter in flour and cut the dumplings in squares about 2″x2″. It’s okay for them not to be exact. Just eye ball it. Some will be bigger, some smaller, some shaped funny.
4. Use the floured spatula to put them on a heavily floured plate. Just keep flouring between the layers of dumplings. If they will be cooked soon, this method works well. If I’m going to cook them later in the day I layer them on a cookie sheet with wax paper between and lots of flour. You can also freeze them like this and then transfer them to a ziplock bag.
5. To cook them, bring the broth to a boil. Drop the dumplings in one at a time, stirring while you add them. The extra flour on them will help thicken the broth. Cook them for about 15-20 minutes or until they not doughy tasting. Add the cooked chicken to the pot and you’re done!

Wednesday September 21st:

I teach 2nd grade girls at church on Wednesday nights so this is our ~Order Out Night~ each week. You can rearrange this night into your own personal schedule that works best for you. Pick a night that you know you'll be busy or maybe just leave it flexible in case there's a night your aren't feeling well. 

Thursday September 22nd:

~Grey's Anatomy Night~

Homemade Pizzas! Our kids LOVE it when we do this. I buy pizza dough, marinara, and all of the toppings then we each make our own personal mini pizza. 

Friday September 23rd:

~Grilling Night~ 

Steak, cheese stuffed/bacon wrapped jalapeño peppers, baked beans, and rolls

Steak

I marinade the steaks over night in 

•1/2 cup soy sauce 

•3 tbsp of worcestershire sauce

•3 tbsp of crushed garlic 

•a decent coating of Cabela's steak rub 

We grill the steak & poppers! 

Jalapeño poppers:

•8 oz of cream cheese

•2/3 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

•12 large (halved and seeded) jalapeños 

•24 slices of bacon

1. Mix cream cheese & cheddar cheese into a bowl. 

2. Fill jalapeño halves with the cheese.  

mix

3. Wrap each half with a slice of bacon. 

4. Grill until bacon is done or place them on a foiled cookie sheet and bake them at 425 degrees for 17-20 minutes. 

Baked Beans

•Large can of Bush baked beans 

•half a package of bacon (chopped into small pieces)

•half a (diced) onion 

•1/2 cup of brown sugar

•1/4 cup of BBQ sauce

1. Fry the bacon and onion in a large skillet

 

2. Once that's cooked add the brown sugar

and mix it all together

3. Add the beans & BBQ sauce

5. Cook on low for 5-7 minutes

Saturday September 24th:

~Lazy Crockpot Day~

Apple, Onion, Honey, & Cinnamon Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Gravy, & Rolls

•1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin 

•3 large apples (sliced)

•1 onion (sliced)

•2 cups of apple cider 

•3 tbsp of honey

•3 tbsp of cinnamon

1. Slice slits 3/4 of the way through the tenderloin every inch or so. 

2. Stuff Apple and onion slices into those slits. 

3. Fill crock pot with apple cider. 

4. Place loin in the crock pot and add the cinnamon and honey to the loin. I also add in apples and onion all around the loin for even more flavor. 

5. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. 

I make sweet gravy with the juices from the loin. I make this to taste as I do with most of my cooking so I'll do my best to give you an accurate recipe for this. 

•1/4 cup of Brown Sugar

•1 cup of Crockpot juice from Apple Loin

•A few tbsp of Flour

1. Make roué with flour, brown sugar, and crockpot 

juice 

2. Thicken gravy by creating the perfect consistency using flour and juice 

3. I make sure to get some smashed up onion and apples into the gravy 

I hoped this helped someone or inspired them. I'm going to start photographing our meals as I prep them so when I make them again I can insert pictures along with the directions.