Menu Plan Monday 5/18/2015 and Weekly Recipe Review

These are the beautiful flowers I was given for Mother's Day from my oldest son's girlfriend, Jesse, and they've stayed this fresh and pretty since last Sunday. Flowers brighten a room so much don't you think?

I know I've said this recently, but I have been cooking a lot of good stuff! I'm not certain if it's inspiration {or that someone is eating my creations} or the luck of picking great recipes to try. Shoot, it may just be that I've been hungry lol. Whatever it is, I'm enjoying the creativity of cooking on a daily basis which is something I haven't done in quite some time. {due to surgery, a picky eater, and no one home to eat}

I will say my favorite thing that I made all of last week is this salad from Good Cheap Eats. I have exceptionally good luck with the recipes I find on this site. I know that the success of the recipe typically has a lot to do with the fact that your tastes {culinary} are similar. Regardless look at the result..yum.

I didn't have any avocado...we ate them earlier in the week..and I didn't have strawberry jam....I used homemade cherry.... even so it was delicious!! I'm going to be making this weekly throughout the summer and I might even use it as a main course adding the suggested chicken for the top.

I skipped this recipe last week because the kids made a delicious dinner for me on Sunday {Mother's Day}..... so I'll carry it forward to this week. I'm working over this weekend {really early} which means that I do a large amount of prep work for the menu at home since otherwise {if I went out somewhere} I would be sleep deprived. Also a two hour special of When Calls the Heart is airing on the Hallmark channel on Saturday.....and yes I'm a geek and I'm totally planning my weekend around this.

Instead of adding the chicken to the salad {my most favorite ever...right now}, I decided to make this recipe instead as I have a hard time convincing my youngest that baby spinach is a viable option versus romaine {which is his one and only favorite for salads}. We enjoyed this immensely and in fact when my oldest son said he was eating with his girlfriend's family.... and then I sent him pictures of the finished dish. He quickly decided to come home and eat...that sure makes this "cooker" smile.

The other dish I made last week that stood out was a pesto pasta with ham sausage which one kid loved and the other kid thought was so-so. I thought it was really tasty but depending on who is home at the time will determine whether or not I make it again. There wasn't a true recipe just one of my many pasta jumbles that I put together with bits and pieces from the frig. I bought the ham sausage when it was BOGO never having tried it before and everyone seems to like the flavor. I just hope I can find it again.

We also made Maw Maw's Hamburger Surprise without the bacon {I forgot} and a family favorite of ours, Ham and Gruyere Quiche {I used ham sausage, swiss, and green onions} We enjoyed them both and will frequently make some sort of rendition of these in the not so distant future. Oh and I loved, loved, loved Mom's Macaroni Salad and will make this one my go to picnic food.

Here is what I'm planning for the next week, using what I have in my frig with again minimal shopping required...Yay!

SUNDAY

Hummus Sesame Noodles

Grilled Chicken or this marinade

Grilled Broccoli

To Do: Work, make blueberry cobbler using homemade self rising flour, put meatloaf in the frig, lay in the sun at Mamaw's, cook bacon, finish up any extra laundry.

MONDAY