Menu Plan Monday

I am a huge fan of planning my meals for the week. I am also a huge fan of being flexible with your plan. Here in Northern VA we got hit with a nasty winter storm on Wednesday afternoon. Started as a wintry mix (ugh) and soon changed to snow at the rate of 1-2 inches an hour. So beautiful (and, my first time experiencing THUNDER SNOW!) but a total mess. It started right around 3:30, and even though schools were already closed (there was an icy mess in the morning from the first wave of the storm) and the Federal Government closed early, everyone hit the road around 4 - just when the heavy snow started. You may have seen the monster commutes on the news - I hear that we made national headlines with the 10+ hour commutes that my friends suffered through. Some were smart to leave early - thank goodness my husband came home at lunch - and others saw the mess and got a hotel room close to their offices. But most were just stuck. My friends with four hour commutes were lucky. One friend left his office at 4:15 and got home after 1:30. His commute back the next day? 14 minutes. And then there were the power outages. Again, we were lucky (especially since I don't know what we would have done with a cold toddler) but my parents weren't, and headed over here (and we promptly ordered pizza). And last night? We had my entire family here for lunch, and both of us were too stuffed to eat anything. My daughter ate 3 clementines for dinner (this is her thing lately - all she wants to eat are noodles and clementines) and we just had a snack. So there are some repeats on our menu from last week.

They're predicting two more storms this week, but hopefully our meal plan for the week is:
Monday: spinach, artichoke, & penne pasta - was going to make this over the weekend, but it's now for Monday. Not a horribly bad idea, since there will be enough leftovers for us all to have for lunch on Tuesday.
Tuesday: chicken and dumplings (a Let's Dish dinner, and another hold over from last week)
Wednesday: meatloaf muffins and green beans. I love making meatloaf like this. It's yummy, it's portion controlled, and it cooks so much faster than a regular meatloaf. And, again, there will be enough for leftovers for lunch.
Thursday: shrimp scampi with linguine (Let's Dish), salad, rolls
Friday: spaghetti (did I share my "secret" sauce recipe last week?), salad, rolls
Saturday: chicken picatta, noodles, salad. The recipe for chicken picatta is from the Dinner Doctor cookbook by Ann Byrne. We've made several recipes from her book (and she is a go-to with her cake doctor recipes), but this is really one of our favorites.
Sunday: Super Bowl Sunday! We'll be ordering a pizza in between rooting for the Packers!

For more menu planning ideas, check out Menu Plan Mondays at orgjunkie.com