Weekly Menu

Y'all know I love to cook. Sometimes, though, I'm just too lazy. This comes from the fact that I don't want to do all the dishes from cooking, and Matt comes home at different times everyday, so it's hard to even guess when I should have dinner ready. That I also usually had a work shift, walked the dog, and went to the gym. Some days I'm just too tired. However, I don't want to start buying a whole bunch of frozen foods ladled with preservatives and sodium and who knows what else. I still want to have the pride that I cooked it, I just don't want to do it ;)

This past week, I decided to make my whole menu for the week on Sunday. Or at least do most of the prep work, so I had minimal effort on the day of. I left a few menu items not done, so if I decided I actually wanted to cook, I had a few options to choose from. :) Here's what Matt and I have been/will be eating this week:

Pot Roast: I found this recipe on Pinterest. I would copyright it here, but the link was just a picture. So please note this isn't my recipe. All you do is buy a pot roast (I bought beef, but you could use pork I'm sure) and packets of Ranch, Zesty Italian, and Brown Gravy. Mix those with 1/2 water. Place pot roast in the crock pot. I added chopped onions and celery to the bottom for extra flavor. Pour the liquid mixture over the pot roast and cook on low for about 8 hours. BEST POT ROAST EVER. Seriously. It was perfectly cooked and very moist. And for all you beginner cooks out there, it's really hard to overcook a pot roast on low heat in a crock pot, so don't be scared!

Taco Soup: One of the recipes I did not prep for the week, but soup is generally really fast and easy to make. Who doesn't love taco soup?

Tandoori Chicken Bites with Cucumber Raita: My first attempt at Indian food. It was pretty good, I thought the chicken came out a little dry, though. This was super easy. On Sunday I cut all the chicken up, made the marinate, and just froze it. The night before I took it out of the freezer, so by dinner the next day I could just pop them in the oven and make the raita while they cooked. Yum yum! Matt really liked them, too. And he even used the raita instead of his usual ranch.

Sunday Chicken: Also found on Pinterest, also just a picture. You take chicken tenders, wrap them in bacon (YUM!), cover the dish with foil and bake on 225 for 4 hours. Remove the foil, turn the oven up to 350 and cook for 15 more minutes. HOW CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE BAD!? BACON! Also very easy, which I like for this week.

Burritos: I made my own frozen burritos this week! I found the recipe on my favorite blog, Budget Bytes. I just put refried beans, jalapenos, and cheese on a tortilla, wrapped it up, wrapped in plastic wrap, and froze them! That way Matt couldn't complain about "having nothing to eat in this house." Just pop it in the microwave for 4 minutes and yummy! And you control the ingredients! I will probably be doing this quite regularly now. Endless possibilities!

These last recipes came from this blog. I made the Oh So Easy Pork Chops, Marinated and Baked Pork Chops, Sesame Chicken, and Chicken with Honey Sauce. You make all the sauces, cut all the meat, then place them in freezer bags. When you want to make them, just throw them in the crockpot and you have only one dish to clean up! But you still made dinner! Fantastic.

Man I am so excited. I'm looking forward to this week and being able to spend more time with Matt when he comes home, instead of being in the kitchen for a half hour cooking. Even though I love doing it, sometimes it just feels more of a chore than stress relief. Especially after a hard day of work, only to come home to a hyper dog and still need to fit in time to go to the gym and play with said hyper dog. Yay for being strategically lazy!

Happy cooking!