Menu Plan Monday (ok, it's only Sunday)

It's Sunday afternoon, and Frances and I have just finished preparing the last of our meals for this coming week. Since we only prepared four dishes (three main dishes and one side dish/dessert), you'd have thought everything would have been ready in a snap. I don't know, maybe we just moved slower than usual today; no matter, we're done now and all week we can enjoy the "fruits" of our labor!

Two of this week's dishes are "new" recipes we're trying out. The vegetarian chili recipe comes from RecipeZaar, where it's the #1 rated chili recipe. For us, it's a "must try" since it's

• low-calorie
• low-fat
• loaded with vitamins (over 100% RDA of Vitamin C alone)
• AND made in the slow cooker! How great is that?!

Like lots of chili recipes, though, this one has a high sodium content. To reduce the salt, Frances and I drained the red beans and the chick peas, then rinsed, drained again, soaked in water, rinsed and drained them a THIRD time. Also I substituted frozen corn for the canned corn, which further reduced the salt content. Will let you know how the chili turns out. It won't finish cooking until 8:30 tonight.

I found the Italian chicken recipe last week when snooping around the Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday to see what some of the other ladies were dishing up last week. Thanks to Christy (Eat Well), who shared this recipe -- another "must try" for us because it's a one-dish meal with only four ingredients.

Monday: Granny's Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili ; corn muffins
Tuesday: Chicken Breasts with Italian Dressing; tossed salad
Wednesday: Lasagna (leftover from Sunday); corn on the cob
Thursday: Chili-topped baked potatoes (using leftover chili)
Friday: Leftover chicken and veggies
Saturday: Turkey picadillo tacos; Spanish rice
Sunday: Slow-cooker Italian Spaghetti Sauce; Spaghetti; tossed salad

And for dessert this week: Light Sweet Potato Casserole

Sad news

Some sad news: my sister-in-law Bobbie died yesterday. It was sudden, and unexpected. She was 65. Her daughter, my niece Felicia, found her. Please keep Felicia and her brothers, my nephews Jim and Bill, in your prayers.

Although Bobbie lived in greater Atlanta, she wanted to be buried beside her husband, my brother James, who died 13 years ago in Michigan. The funeral will be Wednesday (in Michigan). Since Bobbie was a Christian, we take comfort that her spirit is with the Lord now.

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday afternoons my sister Frances and I are in the kitchen, fixing most, if not all, of the dishes for the coming week. Although it takes a couple hours of our treasured weekend, we think it's time well spent, since it makes it a "snap" to get dinner on the table weeknights after work. Other than tossing a fresh salad or cooking some rice, all we have to do weeknights is take the food out of the fridge and warm it up.

It's been a year since we made a lifestyle change to reduce fats in our everyday diet, and to eat between 5-7 fruits and veggies every day. Having dinner ready to heat and eat means we eat healthy meals, rather than reaching for convenience foods or going for take out if we're "too tired" to cook after a hard day's work. Here's what's on the menu this week. Since I didn't publish our plan last week, this week I'm starting with tonight's dinner:

Sunday: Fragrant spiced vegetable curry ; rice; garlic-roasted carrots
Monday: Szechuan beef stir fry ; rice; Indian-spiced green beans
Tuesday: Chinese chicken fried rice ; leftover green beans
Wednesday: Fresh corn on the cob; leftover vegetable curry
Thursday: Leftover beef stir-fry and chicken fried rice
Friday: Take-out or eat out
Saturday: Last of the leftovers!
Sunday: Sausage and herb lasagna (Mayo Clinic recipe)

And for dessert this week: Apple cranberry crisp

For more meal ideas, click here! to go to the Organizing Junkie's blog. Scroll down to "Menu Plan Monday" to see her menus for this week, and for links to see what some of the other ladies will be dishing up.