I have a confession to make. I haven’t followed my meal plans for the last two weeks! This is my busiest time of year with work plus I have two of my kids’ birthdays during the second week of December, not to mention all the craziness that comes with the holiday season. I was feeling pretty down on myself for not making dinner as often as I wanted and failing so miserably at following my weekly menu plans. Then, about a week ago, I decided to give myself a break. I can only do so much and I needed to just let go and stop beating myself up over the lack of dinners being cooked. We still ate food. Everyone is surviving just fine. When it gets crazy like this, I just need to take it one day at a time and prioritize each day based on that day’s needs. Maybe cooking dinner is a priority one day, but maybe not another. Once the new year rolls around and we get back into a normal routine, I’ll get back into the weekly dinner groove. Making dinner for my family is a priority in my life. But, until the crazy is over, I just need to remind myself that it’s okay to let go if I need to.

As a Christmas present to myself this week I’m not going to worry about a weekly menu. This is kind of crazy for me. As someone who isn’t always the most organized in the traditional sense, the weekly menus are a godsend. They really do help me so much each week. But this week we’re going to go with the flow. If we’re out looking at Christmas lights one night and need to hit Rubio’s (again), so be it. If I’m home with the kids one day and we have time to make a nice dinner, then we’ll make a nice dinner.

Here is my mini-plan for the week, with the meals I know we’ll for sure be eating!

• Christmas Eve: Chinese food takeout, a longstanding Maynard family tradition!
• Christmas Day: Swedish meatballs with boiled red potatoes and lingonberries
• All week long: Bulle! (Swedish cardamom bread that we can’t get enough, which is why I only make it once a year!) I have two posts about this bread on my blog. The first is here, where the bread is braided and gorgeous. The second is here, where you get to see a picture of my Swedish grandparents and the bread is made into buns.

If you have a menu planned this week, please share it in the comments! And be sure to tell us what yummy foods your family is cooking up for the holidays!

Hello! It’s birthday week around these parts, so it’s going to be a busy and fun week. One of my “things” as a mom is making fun birthday cakes for my kids, but this year Anna wanted a stack of donuts and Cate wants chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Part of me is relieved, as the cakes normally take hours to make at this the busiest time of the year, but admittedly I am also sad. But if the kids are happy, that’s what matters!

MONDAY:
– BLTs
– Fresh fruit and chips & salsa

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Soup with Rice

WEDNESDAY:
– Steak
– Crispy Rosemary Potatoes and Broccoli

THURSDAY:
– Out to dinner!

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Taco night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for dinner: waffles and smoothies

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

Can’t wait to see your menus for the week, too! Please share!

This is going to sound funny, but I hate it when I diligently follow my weekly meal plan! That means when I go to plan the next week, I have to come up with totally new ideas. This is one of those weeks. What got into me? 😉 Okay, here’s goes…

MONDAY:
– Baked Stuffed Winter Squash

TUESDAY:
– Green Noodles
– Salad and garlic bread

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken Caesar Wraps
– Fresh fruit

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

SATURDAY:
– Take out night

SUNDAY:
– Chicken Soup with Rice

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

Thank you all for posting menus week after week. They are great inspiration! Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got cooking this week!

Wow. Sunday is almost over and I just now realized I haven’t planned this week’s menu. We’ve literally been living off of leftovers. I guess I forgot they don’t last forever!

MONDAY:
– Turkey Boursin Baguettes

TUESDAY:
– Carnitas Tacos

WEDNESDAY:
– Chili

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Teriyaki chicken (crock pot)
– Rice and veggies

SATURDAY:
– Take out night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for dinner: Omelettes and fruit

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

Okay, you know what’s next…share your weekly menu in the comments! And have a great week!

Hello everyone! Well, it’s Thanksgiving week! Which for me means lots of easy dinners the first half of the week then a major feast on Thursday, followed by leftovers for as long as I can drag them out! I’ll put both our weekly menu and our Thanksgiving menu below. When you share in the comments, feel free to leave either your weekly menu, your Thanksgiving menu, or BOTH! 🙂 And, for the Thanksgiving menus, please link to recipes you’re using if they can be found online!

MONDAY:
– Chicken salad sandwiches
– Fresh fruit

TUESDAY:
– Breakfast burritos

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken tenders (from Trader Joe’s freezer)
– Raw veggies and dip

THURSDAY:
– HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (see menu below!)

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Leftovers

SUNDAY:
– Leftovers

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

And here is our plan for the Thanksgiving feast!

• Turkey (This year I am going to dry brine the turkey, then spatchcock it to cook. Also, I’m cooking two smaller turkeys instead of one big one.)
• Classic Mashed Potatoes
• Classic Stuffing
• Gravy
• Crescent Rolls and/or Squash Rolls
• Cranberry Slush (my great-grandmother’s recipe that we have EVERY YEAR NO MATTER WHAT)
• Cranberry Sauce (whole cranberry sauce from the can this year!)
• Sweet Potato Souffle
• Broccoli Casserole
• Butternut Squash (I’m going to cube it then pan fry it in browned butter)
• Rose’s Creamed Onions (this recipe is from Nate’s great-grandmother)
• Pumpkin Pie (buying it!), Swedish Apple Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie (a recipe my mom would make when I was a kid)

Got a lot of cooking and shopping ahead of me! I’m already tired. But I’m also super excited to eat everything! As usual, please leave your menus in the comments! And this week if you want to share your Thanksgiving plans, we’d love to see them!

Happy Sunday! My day has been very busy with soccer tournaments, and then Nate and I are going to see Matisyahu tonight (so excited!), so basically I’m squeezing in doing the weekly meal plan with 10 minutes I have to spare! Here we go!

MONDAY:
– Trader Joe’s mac n cheese from the freezer section
– A really good garden salad to make up for the lazy entree 😉

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Tortilla Soup

WEDNESDAY:
– Turkey Boursin Baguettes

THURSDAY:
– Soccer team party at Pizza Port

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Carnitas Tacos

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

I just walked in the door from a weekend camping with my girls at Joshua Tree National Park. My friends Tracey Clark and Catherine Connors hosted a Girls Adventure Weekend. There were 6 moms total with 7 daughters between the ages of 8 and 12. It was a magical weekend.

In addition to all the awesome girl power magic, we saw the trident missile that the Navy tested last night over the ocean off the coast of San Diego. There is no cell coverage in Joshua Tree, so after we saw the strange light in the sky we decided that aliens had finally come to Earth. We learned the next morning, however, from neighboring campers with a radio that the light had been a classified Navy missile test, but that’s all we knew. When I got home Nate said that Twitter pretty much exploded last night when it happened. All the videos and photos that are online don’t even come close to how amazing and strange and beautiful it was. We suddenly saw a large, very bright, defined white light with a tail traveling horizontally across the sky, which lasted maybe a minute or two. The light left an effervescent blue-green trail behind it, and surrounding the entire area was a huge white circle, with a defined edge and yet completely foggy looking in an otherwise very clear sky. The white circle faded after about 10 minutes and the fuzzy bluish streak glowed for about 20 minutes. It was CRAZY. We feel lucky to have had such an amazing view, in the desert with its dark and massive sky.

Okay, back to Earth. Menu time!

MONDAY:
– Loaded Nachos

TUESDAY:
– Naan Pizzas (margherita)

WEDNESDAY:
– Pancakes (Nate’s gonna be home late that night…he hates pancakes for dinner, but the kids love it!)
– Bacon and fruit

THURSDAY:
– BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
– Coleslaw

FRIDAY:
– Leftovers

SATURDAY:
– Leftovers or take out night (if not enough leftovers!)

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast burritos (didn’t do these last week!)

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

You know the drill…please share your menus!

Happy Day of the Dead! Hope everyone is enjoying some good Mexican food today!

Let’s cut right to the chase…menu time!

MONDAY:
– Bertucci’s Tortellini

TUESDAY:
– Loaded Nachos

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken Stir Fry

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– BLTs

SATURDAY:
– Take Out Night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast Burritos

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

Your turn! Please share your menus! (As usual, last week’s menus were so helpful when planning for this week…thank you!)

Hi everyone! Before we get to today’s menu, I want to share some news. Drumroll…dundundundundundundun….I am launching This Week for Dinner: The Podcast the first week of November! I can’t WAIT to share it with you! Each episode will feature an interview with someone awesome sharing favorite recipes and kitchen tips…and often much more than that! I keep saying the word “excited” in reference to the podcast, but it really is the perfect word. I am, quite simply, excited! Whenever I walk away from working on the podcast (which is a lot lately!), I feel happy and uplifted and PUMPED about it all. The podcast is just so much fun and pretty soon I’ll be able to share all of the fun with you, too! So, stay tuned. Launch date is coming SOON!

Okay, let’s get to the matter at hand…the weekly menu!

MONDAY:
– Rotisserie Chicken (from store)
– Veggies

TUESDAY:
– Chili
– Tortilla chips

WEDNESDAY:
– Easiest Ever Chicken Pot Pie

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Take out night

SATURDAY:
– Happy Halloween!
– Pesto Tortellini Soup (super easy recipe!)

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for Dinner: Eggs, toast and fruit

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

Okey dokey, let’s see what you’ve got! Share your menus, no matter what shape or size it may take!

I have a confession to make. I have been in a real “I don’t want to plan my weekly menu” funk for the last month or so (hence me posting at 8 pm tonight!). Each week I’ve been moaning and complaining to Nate about it, but I do it anyway, 100% because of the blog. And, I have to tell you, I am SO grateful that the blog keeps me on track. I am always so glad that there is a meal plan and shopping list in place. After all, we’ve gotta eat no matter how much I don’t want to plan it out! Anyway, just thought I’d confess, in case anyone else feels the same way…I do, too! And I wanted to thank you all for keeping me coming back each week to plan because it really does make life better! And, as always, thank you for posting your menus each week. They are tremendously helpful when I sit down to plan every Sunday!

Okay, so let’s just get down to business. Here’s this week’s plan!

MONDAY:
– Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
– Salad

TUESDAY:
– Chicken Piccata
– Mashed potatoes + veggie

WEDNESDAY:
– Boozy Beef Stew
– Crusty bread

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Bean and cheese burritos

SATURDAY:
– Take out night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for Dinner: Omelettes and Smoothies

Click here for the free printable of this week’s menu plus the shopping list!

Okey dokey! Your turn! Tell us what you’re having for dinner this week!