Weekly Meal Plan 165: When I Don’t Stick to My Recipe Criteria
I have been meaning to share this story with you guys for a couple of weeks now.
It is the validation as to why I KNOW I have to stick to easy recipes or meal planning becomes a daunting task for me.
A few weeks back my meal plan included Homemade Steak Fingers. I saw it on another mom’s meal plan and man it sounded so good. I was loosely going to follow her recipe, but I figured I would do it on a Friday evening so bedtimes and such were not such a factor.
I know myself. I know that if I am going to spend 45 minutes to an hour over a stove frying food I am going to be miserable. I KNOW this. But I ignored it and justified.
I cut cubed steaks into slices. I dipped them a few at a time in the egg batter. I drenched them in the flour. I fried them (as many as I could at a time in the skillet). I repeated. And I repeated again and again until all of the steak was used up. About 30 minutes into this I still had more to go and I was absolutely miserable.
I am not saying this was a bad recipe. I am not saying you should never ever make homemade steak fingers.
What I am saying is that going into this, I knew the recipe did not meet my criteria. Still, I put it on my meal plan. And no matter how delicious these steak fingers tasted, I was mad at myself for doing it. (And I even made gravy. Ugh! I have no idea what possessed me to do this.)
Point in case, stick to your recipe criteria when you are meal planning each week. You will be so much happier if you do.
Here is what I am feeding my family this week.
Chicken Orzo Soup– served with dinner rolls.
Crockpot Candy Chicken– served over rice and with a steamed veggie.
Basil Chicken and Feta in the Crockpot– this is amazing!! I made it at the end of this past summer. We serve it over steamed rice and serve with a salad and bread.
Chicken Angel Hair and Spinach– I am winging this, but making as a copy cat from a local Italian restaurant that I love. Chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach all over a pasta with lemon sauce. I will share the recipe once I make it. (The photo above is from a trip we made over the summer to said restaurant.)
Corny Dogs– with mac and cheese and fruit.
Leftover Buffet– use ’em up!
More Recipes:
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Crystal…I chuckled when I read this. You sound like me when I cook. I always said, I cook because we have to eat to survive. What changed this for me, was my husband became a cook….he was injured while deployed and while home on leave, he took up cooking and has a real LOVE to create in the kitchen. That was 7 years ago (needless to say it was 18 years into our marriage when things changed)…and now we cook together in the kitchen as a family because WE LOVE to cook. I used to never LOVE to cook. What I enjoy now is the social of the family in the kitchen (when hubby travels now, it goes back to cooking for necessity, and I know to plan it that way!). So don’t feel bad….do what works! I find that I LOVE to try new recipes that are quick and easy, he LOVES to try creating brand new things from scratch that take many steps and hours in the kitchen! We blend those together and WALA…it works. :O) Thanks for the story and sharing your meal plan….sounds yummy!!!