Weekly Menu

This week is a super busy for us. Actually I think every week is going to be pretty busy this month, but I am trying to concentrate on just one week at a time. Chase is preparing to make his First Communion in a couple of weeks. Blake and Chase have both officially begun their baseball games on top of practices. Andrew as always is busy every day with baseball practice/games. And Karli is in her last month of dance practice before her recital the first week of June. Only 3 more practices after last night. Yikes!

It’s hard to plan extravagant meals when everyone is eating at different times or we only have 20 minutes to eat. I know many families with busy schedules often wait to eat dinner later in the evening- like 7-8pm once activities are ending, but my kids are not accustomed to that. The younger kids come home from school at 4pm starving so I would rather feed them a decent dinner at that time and in the evening they can have a bowl of cereal or something light before bed. I am a bit lucky that I work at home so I can prepare the meals earlier in the day so we can eat earlier as well.

This is my plan for this week. Quick easy meals, will the exception of a couple of new things I would like to try.

Tonight I am going to make Scalloped Potatoes and Ham..nothing fancy, just this simple recipe:

SCALLOPED POTATOES & HAM
(recipe found here)
Cook Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Ingredients:
* 1 pound fully cooked ham slice, 1/2-inch thick
* 5 cup thinly sliced potatoes
* 1 can (10 1/2 ounces) cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery soup
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
* dash pepper
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, optional

Preparation:
Directions for scalloped potatoes
Cut ham in bite-size cubes. Place half of the potatoes in a greased, shallow, 2-quart baking dish. Cover with ham pieces. Top with remaining potatoes. Combine soup with milk, onion, green bell pepper, and ground black pepper; pour over potatoes. Dot with butter. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Remove covering; bake 30 to 45 minutes longer, or until potatoes are done. If desired, sprinkle shredded Cheddar cheese over the top of scalloped potatoes the last 15 minutes of baking time.
Scalloped potatoes serves 6.

Then later this week I am going to pick up some ingredients for the kids to make their own mini pizzas topped however they choose. Plus we can eat up the Little Caesars Crazy Bread Kit that I bought awhile ago. On Saturday I am planning on making Pigs in the Blanket (Cabbage Rolls), which is one of the things Ken selected. I will share the recipe and our end results & opinion afterward. I am not a fan of cabbage myself and I can bet neither are Chase and Karli, but I like the taste of the insides. I figure I better have some yummy side dishes, just in case the kids don’t like them at all.

Are you making anything tasty this week? Please share!