Breakfasts:
Cold Cereal
Smoothies
Cold Cereal
Steel Cut Oat Groats with Walnuts and Raisins
Smoothies
Fresh Orange/Carrot/Apple Juice, Toasted Bagels with Cinnamon and Turbinado
Pumpkin Carrot Cake Muffins with Sweetened Orange Cream CheeseLunches:
Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Egg Roll Burritos
Macaroni & Cheese
Leftovers
Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
Cheese Quesadillas, Grain-Free Healthful Brownies (Healthful Brownies is sort of an oxymoron, isn’t it? But these count as healthful in my book!)
LeftoversDinners:
Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup, Bread Machine Buttery Rolls
Beef Hot Dogs, Sweet Potatoes, Fruit Salad
Turkey Sausage with Potatoes/Cabbage/Carrots in the crock pot, Green Salad, Bread Machine Buttery Rolls
Taco Soup, Best Ever Cornbread (recipe coming next week!)
Dinner Out
Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Fruit, Flat Apple Pie
Dinner at In-Law’s House
Reader Interactions
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Theresa says
The brownies look yummy! I’m going to have to give those a shot. I’ve been wanting to try this recipe as well…..
http://www.simplysugarandglutenfree.com/black-bean-avocado-brownies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SimplySugarGluten-free+%28Simply+Sugar+%26+Gluten-Free%29
Jamie says
Thanks for doing the menu plans again. I’m always looking for new ideas! For lunch, do you just serve PB&J (for instance) or do you give them fruit and that sort of thing on the side? My boys are always starving and it seems like I can’t feed them enough at lunch time. I hate to resort to giving them a bunch of Goldfish just to fill them up. Would love some suggestions. Currently we do some sort of main thing like PB&J, mac n cheese, etc along with a fruit, maybe some cheese or yogurt, and then crackers/chips/pretzels, but they still complain of being hungry. (I make them slow down their eating and try to distract them with other things, so I’m pretty sure they are actually still hungry.)
Lisa Myers says
Crystal, I noticed that Aldi’s has Millvill Steel Cut Oats in their as this week for $1.89 for a 24 oz. container. I haven’t tried steel cut oats before but thought I’d let you know!
Love the menu postings! It gives me some ideas for my family!
Crystal says
I was so excited about this, but I’ve looked high and low at our Aldi and apparently they don’t carry Steel Cut Oats. 🙁
Christie Jester says
I made the black bean brownies today- I liked them, but they’re definitely more like a piece of fudge than like a brownie (very smooth and dense, not “cakey”). They are a little too dark-chocolate for my 6yo’s taste, but the 9yo thought they were “pretty good.” =D
allison says
In reguards to the pumpkin carrot muffins, I am wondering if you can use wheat germ instead of the flax meal, or perhaps is that ground flax seed? I have wheat germ and flax seed on hand…. I am not a big muffin person, but these seem healthy enough.
Trying meal planning, and your site sure helps to get my “juices flowing”!
thanks!
allison m
amy@twobgardening says
Just made the bread machine buttery rolls and they were a big hit. Thanks a bunch!
Crystal says
You are most welcome!
Diana says
I made your bread machine rolls on Sunday and the whole family gobbled them up! 🙂
Crystal says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Katie says
What juicer do you use? Thanks! 🙂
kathy says
Hi Crystal,
What do you eat on the PBJ and mac n cheese lunch days? I know you were following P90X at one time and don’t imagine those fit into their eating plan?
Lunch is the hardest meal for me to be creative and please us all.
I think the sausage crockpot, scones and taco soup sound delicious as well. We have been eating a TON of soup in this cold weather. Love it!
Holly says
Hey Crystal.. I thought about you last night looking over my February copy of Rachael Ray Magazine…. You were asking the other day what to put in egg roll wrappers and she had 4-5 recipes on there for using the wrappers. They might be on her website… some were strange but some sounded good
Lisa Imerman says
Thanks for posting. I really need to start planning menus again.
I think I will work on that right now. For cold cereal at breakfast, are their any particular types you eat? We stopped eating regular cold cereal several years ago after reading about how the extrusion process really takes any nutritional value out of it. However, with going Gluten Free for several family members I bought a bit of cereal this summer and of course the kids like it. Trying to phase it out again, but wondering if there are any healthy cold cereals out there (to purchase or make).
Crystal says
We usually rotate between oatmeal (not cold, but my children often choose that over cold cereal!) and Cheerios, unless I’m able to find a great deal on some kind of health food cereal. Recently, it’s mostly been Cheerios because they were given an enormous box as a Christmas present (my dad knows they love their Cheerios!!)
Not the healthiest breakfast ever, but it’s nice to have something quick and easy besides oatmeal to fall back on. 🙂
Kate @ Our Best Bites says
Thank you so much for the linky love!! Your menu looks awesome and your little girl is adorable! 🙂
Kimberly says
I think you will like the sausage/potato/cabbage crockpot meal. Sounds like a meal I make a lot in the winter. Never tried it with Turkey Sausage, but we use the Hillshire Farm smoked sausage in ours.
Gayle says
Your little girl is adorable!
Chelsea says
I was planning to serve regular tacos tonight, but after looking over the recipe for your taco soup, I think I’ll do that instead! While tacos are fun for little hands to make, its not always easy to get it to their mouth in one piece!
Deb says
What a cutie pie! Reminds me of my great neices. Kids are so fun at that age! Enjoy them!!!!
Thanks for the menus. Encouraged me, as I see it has many, to make up my own. My hubs and I are needing to do this for us as our diets have changed, and it is nice to know what I am fixing in advance with working nites and all. Thanks so much for all you do Crystal!
Blaire Ruch says
love her pigtails! super cute!
i’m going to try that taco soup next week! yum and thanks!
Jana says
I am really craving the cinnamon scones!
Please send recipe as soon as you can, you showed a pic and I can’t find a recipe! Love scones!
Just found your weekly plan, looks like i may have to give it a try. I have twin 3yr old foster children keeping me busy and need the help!
Thank you!
Crystal says
Here’s the recipe: https://moneysavingmom.com/2011/01/glazed-cinnamon-scones-recipe.html
Kelly says
O.k., I think we need a post about how you get your kids to eat all this food and if you’ve ever dealt with picky eaters! I’m sure with 3, you’ve had at least 1 of them give you a hard time about food, right? My kids are my biggest challenge with menu planning for this very reason.
Crystal says
Did you see this post? https://moneysavingmom.com/2011/01/free-ebook-the-happy-housewifes-guide-to-dealing-with-picky-eaters.html
We encourage them to try at least a few bites of things which are new/they don’t particularly care for. They pretty much will eat most any fruits/veggies and breads, so if they aren’t fond of the main dish, they just have to eat a few bites and then can eat the sides.
Kelly says
@Crystal,
Thank you! I totally missed that post – wasn’t online much over the weekend. I’m downloading the book now. My girls complain about almost EVERYTHING I make. It’s very frustrating. Even though my 7 y.o. WILL eat most things, she feeds off her super-picky 5 y.o. sister’s attitude. I feel like dinner is only enjoyable if we’re eating pizza!
Vee says
That nice big bowl – how many quarts? I need a stainless mixing bowl. BIG! This looks perfect!
dani says
What a darling helper! The Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite cookbooks – my husband is a huge fan of the food as well!
Melissa Williams says
Taco Soup is one of my family’s favorite meals. It is very filling and cheap to make. However, my recipe is a little different. Instead of using 2 cans of kidney beans I use 1 can of kidney beans & 1 can of pinto beans. Also, I use 1lb of shredded chicken in place of the ground chuck. Yummy!!
sandy says
Help! I’m looking for the egg roll burritos recipies but the link is not working.
Crystal says
Try this link: https://moneysavingmom.com/2010/12/yesterdays-walmart-trip-spent-8-94-saved-32-38.html#comment-437514
(It’s a comment on my blog with a simple recipe.)
Bonnie says
I am loving the return of the menus. It’s always so nice to have some inspiration! Thanks!
Deirdre Wulf says
I see you are making some things from the Pioneer Woman Cookbook! Love that cookbook. I was thinking about making the Flat Apple Pie this week too! Have fun cooking and baking!
Dana S says
@Deirdre Wulf,
I’ve made PW’s Flat Apple Pie. A few things to keep in mind: The crust needs to set out longer than 20 mintues or it will tear and didn’t piece back together very well. I let it set in the sun on the counter for about half an hour and it rolled out easily.
Also, I used canned apple pie filling that I’d canned myself. Easy peasy! DH loves this pie, and the crust was easy to handle if you let it thaw long enough. It’s my “go-to” crust recipe from now on.
HTH!
Blessings–
Dana
Charlotte says
Thanks Crystal for putting out your weekly menu….it’s always helpful to me to get new recipes and also your post encourages me to plan my menus.
Susan (FrugaLouis) says
I echo the review request for the “brownies”. Perhaps I’ll give them a try too!
Erin Branscom says
Thanks for the great ideas!
Melinda says
Please write a review on the steel cut oatmeal, I’m curious to see the results
Honey Smith says
Sounds like you are getting more adventurous in your menu! Yay!
Jen@FrugalFreebiesandDeals says
Have you had the black bean brownies yet? I don’t really think they taste like brownies, but they are interesting in their own way.
Stephanie says
@Jen@FrugalFreebiesandDeals,
I would like to know if you and your family like them MSM too.
Jen@FrugalFreebiesandDeals says
@Stephanie,
BTW- my kids did really like them
Adam says
@Jen@FrugalFreebiesandDeals, I would agree. I tried them, they definitely taste different. Definitely not a direct brownie substitute. You can taste the beans in the finished product, which I was hoping wouldn’t be the case.
Tami says
Looks like your lil’ cutie is cooking something from Pioneer Woman. : )
zena says
@Tami, I was thinking the same thing! I don’t have the cookbook, but the borders look like her website.
Crystal says
@Tami, Yes, we made her Sour Cream Pancakes last week. I substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream and they didn’t turn out too great, unfortunately. 🙁
michelle says
She’s a mini-Crystal 🙂