Menu Plan Monday — February 23-March 1

The Cheesy Spaghetti Bake from last week was a fantastic hit! I honestly can't say enough good things about this recipe. My original intent was to make one and freeze one, since it makes two 9 x 13 sized casseroles, but since I didn't have the freezer space I just cooked them both up and planned for leftovers.

We basically ate one casserole one night and then warmed the other one up the next night and ate it. There was a tiny bit left each night, but really just maybe enough for Hubby to take for lunch the next day. I personally liked it better on the leftover day. It was a tiny bit runny the first night and not at all as a leftover. As usual, I left out the onion and pepper the recipe called for, but I did sprinkle a generous amount of onion powder over the ground beef as it was cooking. Here's how much meat there was before I transferred it over to add the soups and cheese (it's one of those larger pans):

Here are my two casseroles with the cooked spaghetti:

It looked that skimpy when I was making it too. I had thought after eating it the first night I might put in more spaghetti next time, but after eating the leftover pan, it would have been too dry. So to find a mix between night one and night two, maybe making a few more noodles and getting them into the night one pan...

Here is the soupy mixture before adding it on top of the noodles. The recipe called to keep it separate for each casserole pan, but I just threw it all together and then eyeballed pouring half on each pan.

Here is the finished product. I probably put more cheese on the top then it called for, but I never measure my shredded cheese for the top of stuff. I just throw a bunch on — the more, the merrier!

So this week we're going to try a few new things again and mix in some old:

Monday — Clean out the fridge and pantry night. I'll make Kraft Mac & Cheese for my pickiest, I have some potatoes I'm using for fried potatoes (with Mrs. Dash garlic & herb), maybe some eggs...it's sounding a little more like breakfast for dinner.

Tuesday — Tangy Beef Barbecue Sandwiches. I'm going to try a different recipe than this one I used a couple of weeks ago. We'll see if this has the "tangy" I'm looking for.

Wednesday — Hopefully we'll have enough for leftovers!

Thursday — Mexican Beef Casserole. My mom makes this a lot when we've been to visit because I love it so much, but I've never made it. I'm giving it a go...recipe below.

Friday — I'm not going to have time to cook, but I don't want to eat out and I can't find a slow cooker recipe I'm crazy about right now. I give up and will have to decide later. Maybe there will be enough leftovers from Thursday night.

Saturday — I'm fixing Crispy Chicken Tenders for lunch instead of dinner, since all but myself and Chatty are going to church for a Wild Game Dinner. Caboose is going because they have cake. Hope it was worth the $5. But these Crispy Chicken Tenders are the ones my Hubby loves! I have to decide between now and Saturday what I really want to ask him for...

Sunday — If we're good and eat in all week, we'll go out after church. Woo hoo! I really need a plan for Friday night.

Mexican Casserole
from my mom

2 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/2 lb grated American cheese
1 pkg Doritos
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Rotel
2/3 cup water

Brown beef, crumble, and place in the bottom of a baking dish. Sprinkle onions and garlic over beef. Sprinkle 1/2 of cheese over this. Crush Doritos; add 1/2 of them over the cheese. Mix soups, Rotel, and water together; pour over chips. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the soup mixture, then sprinkle the rest of the chips on top. Bake at 350 degrees until brown.

Since I haven't made it, I don't know how long that is. And just so I don't break tradition, it is highly possible I just season the ground beef with onion powder.

For more menu ideas visit The Organizing Junkie.