Menu planning

My new year's resolution is to plan weekly dinner menus. When I plan dinner in advance it makes my life easier and cooking more enjoyable. My goal in blogging about it is to take notes of what works and what doesn't and is also a more social way of keeping track of the menus.

I don't usually plan out the vegetables until I go grocery shopping, unless I know that something will be in season or if the vegetable is the main attraction. I also like to note what I can prep for the next day or make extra of something to freeze.

For example, if I'm making brown rice, if I make extra I can freeze it and pull it out on a night when I don't have 45 minutes to make it. A few of my goals with menu planning are to identify menus that work really well, and expand my repertoire of recipes.

Two of the recipes this week are brand new to me, the cabbage rolls and the pork loin. I checked out a book from the library on slow cooking (i.e. Crockpot) by Cooking Light.

Menu for the week of January 23-27th (This week's plan is only for 5 days because on Saturday we leave for a week of vacation)


Monday: Meatloaf with leftover Emerald City Salad and baked sweet potato.

Tuesday: Stuffed cabbage rolls (vegetarian) and salad. Make double recipe of the filling to freeze for another meal.

Wednesday: Slow cooker pork loin with dried fruit and squash. Freeze extra cooked butternut squash.


Thursday: Sweet potato groundnut stew (Recipe from Joy of Cooking)


Friday: Salmon (or trout) with Quick Lemon and Garlic Quinoa Salad. I usually broil the salmon with a rub. We eat salmon once a week and I usually don't sweat how I am going to prepare it.