I love meal planning, but have to admit it takes a lot to stick to because I feel like we repeat the same meals so much and I’m bored 2 weeks in!!! So a few months ago a made a new board on Pinterest “Dinner Time”. Last weekend the hubbi and I sat down together, went through the board and planned a weeks worth of dinners (some old recipes and some new recipes)… And we actually cooked every night we planned to!!! Yay go us, lol!
Anyways… my first step was finding a printable weekly meal planning template to make the plan on, and then a recipe template to add to my recipe binder (and not have to go bak and forth to the computer for each step!) here are the links for the templates I used:
For the meal planning template I chose Weekly Planner, Download #4 (I like the streamlined design, so its not too busy when you need to take a quick glance).
For the recipe template I chose Mesa’s Place templates (because I am obsessed with Zebra print!!!)
So once the plan was made and the food bought it came time to try them all out! These were the new recipes on the menu last week (with links, of course!)
A. Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake
B. Italian Crescent Casserole
C. Meatball Bites
As you know, I never follow a recipe properly; I like to add my own “flair” to it. First things first, my own opinions on each of these meals…
A. This was very tasty and hot, which I love, but no one else in my family does. With that being said I most likely will not be making this again, for that reason.
B. This was a hit with my husband and my 5 year old daughter!!!! To quote my hubbi, “This is the best thing you have ever cooked. I don’t know what you plan on making tomorrow, because nothing will be even close to this!” Looks like we have a keeper!!!
C. These we served with some elbow pasta to make it a meal. They were really yummy but I don’t think I will use the string cheese again… fresh mozzarella all the way!!!
Sooo I want to explain how I changed each dish to my liking and I’ll add some picks of the final products!!!
A. Followed this pretty closely except I added a little less of the franks red hot and more ranch (hoping to lessen the hotness factor, which did not work btw!)
B. Used regular sauce (not a big garlic fan here) mixed with a pinch of garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and sugar. Didn’t have Italian blend of cheese so we used the four Mexican blend (non spicy). And definitely used way more cheese than the original recipe called for!!! Lastly about 5 min before it was ready to take out of the oven I brushed the entire top with a mix of melted butter and garlic salt. I don’t know if my changes made much of a difference to the original, but this will be how it’s made in my house!
C. We used turkey meatballs (I like them better). Sprinkled the top with Italian seasoning and, like B, 5 min before it was done brushed each roll with the melted butter and garlic salt mix. YUMMY!!!
Well I would love to hear how everyone’s come out and how the families like the dishes! (Also if you deviated from the originals like me, what you changed and how it worked out for you).
Happy cooking 😉
xKx
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I will cherish the memories of this past summer forever!
have a great week loves <3
