Menu Plan Monday: February 1 2021

 What  I love about menu planning is that I have all the food on hand, a plan, but that everything can be flexible.  We had a lot of left overs at the end of last week so I took Thursdays meal (Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken) and moved it to Saturday and Thursday ended up being "left over day".  Wednesday's meal of mini meatloaves and mashed potatoes got turned into shepherds pie due to the fact that the slow cooker mashed potatoes were over cooked.  Although things don't always go as planned, everybody ate.

I was disappointed in the slow cooker mashed potatoes.  I've never had a slow cooker meal fail so miserably.  The potatoes burned to the side of the slow cooker.  I tried to mash them anyway, and I had to pull out the burned parts.  The potatoes themselves were thick and gummy.  But I turned the whole thing into shepherds pie and the family loved it.  I had never made shepherds pie before and they asked that I add it into rotation.

Friday:  Naan Bread Pizza

I made a white pizza with banana peppers and Kalamata olives, a white pizza with banana peppers, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese (the husband I don't eat meat on Fridays), and a traditional pepperoni for the 8 year old.  The middle son had his gluten free pizza.

Saturday:  Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Everything started off fine (first photo), but again the entire dish was just over cooked.  The chicken was so dry (it was so dry that I choked on it and it got stuck.  Things were a little scary but I'm ok).  So we figured out that the slow cooker is broken and just cooking everything on high instead of the low setting that I programed it for.  So now I'm on the hunt for a new slow cooker.

Sunday:  Garlic butter chicken, baked potatoes in the air fryer, and honey glazed carrots
No slow cooker involved so dinner turned out great.

I rubbed the potatoes with avocado oil and sprinkled with kosher salt.  I cooked them in the air fryer at 400 degrees F for 50 minutes. 
The chicken breasts were HUGE but I also had smaller thighs and legs.  I started the breasts 20 minutes ahead of the smaller pieces.   I melted butter and mixed it with chopped garlic then I brushed the chicken pieces front and back with the butter mixture and sprinkled with our favorite Greek seasoning.  I cooked the chicken at 400 degrees until it reached the internal temperature of 165 degrees. I steamed the carrots and melted 2 tbs of butter and mixed with 2-3 tbs of honey and poured it over the carrots.

Monday:  Red beans and rice with andouille sausage
I will use the ingredients I have on hand but this is the recipe from a Pinch of Healthy that I'm basing it on.

Tuesday:  Slow Cooker Lentil Soup
I have a small slow cooker (my larger one is now in the trash) that I think I can use for this.  I have made this dish for so many years that I just do it from memory.  The recipe that is close to what I do is this recipe from All Recipes.

Wednesday:  Tater Tot Casserole (Cowboy Casserole) from the Cutting Edge of Ordinary.  This one is a family favorite.  I got this recipe over 10 years ago from Menu Plan Monday.  

Thursday:  Tacos

So that's our menu for this week.  It's a good thing I only had one slow cooker meal planned for the week.  If anyone has a slow cooker that they love and that works great for them, please let me know in comments.

For more menu plans and dinner ideas see Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie