Stuffed French Toast (Ear Wax Cafe) (Photo credit: Kim Scarborough)

I’m tackling this week’s plan a little differently, taking an inventory of what I’ve got on hand and then selecting recipes to use up as much of it as possible. This approach is inspired by the feeling I get when I stare into crowded cupboards and still feel I don’t have anything I want to eat! So my goal for the week’s plan is to make as many recipes as possible for which I have all/most of the ingredients already.

Breakfasts: Used some overripe bananas and made banana-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip muffins yesterday

Grown-up Lunches: last week’s planned chicken-white-bean chili with Greek yogurt

Kid Lunches: these barbecue beef biscuits I got from Every Day with Rachael Ray years ago; a family favorite, and yes, they use Pillsbury biscuits as the base. No shame in my meal-planning game.

Sunday: Super Bowl party with friends; Go Ravens!

Monday: homemade marinara sauce, with angelhair and garlic bread

Tuesday: Old-standby baked/breaded chicken breasts with Parmesan Baked Potato Halves: I made this recipe once before but added salt, which was a mistake, and I’m looking forward to trying it again

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: stuffed French toast, another old standby recipe– I make it by making cream-cheese-and-jelly sandwiches, using a biscuit cutter to make them heart-shaped, and then cooking them in milk/egg/cinnamon, just like French toast. Serve with bacon or sausage and fruit.

Friday or Saturday: Ina Garten’s lemon and garlic roast chicken, probably with corn and potatoes on side, mashed potatoes if I have the time!

Notes: Definitely developing some patterns over the past few plans; most plans include one pasta dish and one breakfast-for-dinner, and chicken seems to be very popular. Muffins with some kind of fruit content are always a hit, and my girls like having some main item in their lunchbox that isn’t a sandwich (a big change from years past).

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