Menu Plan Monday (just a tad late)

It's officially 11:30 pm my time, and I have 30 minutes left to post Menu Plan Monday. =)

Here's the menu for this week:

Monday: Spinach and potato fritatta

Tuesday: Chicken parmesan, homemade french bread, salad

Wednesday: Ethiopian corn and mashed potato curry and oriental salad (I can't believe I found a copy of this online! It's exactly how I make it. My favorite salad of all time)

Thursday: Dinner with the in-laws. (We do this every week, and this week is my sister-in-law's birthday! Happy Birthday!!!)

Friday: Pizza, doritos, cookies, snack foods, etc. (see comment below)

Saturday: Ratatouille bake (using my FREE Schwan's order of cheese-stuffed tortellinis)

Sunday: Ethiopian Chickpea Wat with Injera (Ethiopian flat bread)

This week is kind of different for a couple of reasons...

First of all, we are having my little 8 year old brother-in-law over for a sleepover Friday night. We do this every so often. It's such a blast. We make a tent, play video games, cook pizza, make cookies, and watch movies. So Friday night's meal plan will consist of "junk food."

Also, you will notice that I actually have meat in one of the meals (the past two meal plans were vegetarian). My husband and I recently made a joint decision to quit buying meat. I cook all vegetarian meals, with the occasional seafood mixed in (we still buy seafood). Chicken parmesan is on the menu this week, though! This is because we still have two chicken breasts left over in the freezer from when I stocked up about 4 or 5 months ago. Seeing that chicken on sale for $1.99/lb at Publix this week was pretty tempting! What a great buy! So, that is the explanation for the chicken on the menu. My husband's favorite meal that I cook is chicken parmesan, so I figured this would be the best way to make use of the last of the chicken in the house. =)

Finally, you will notice a couple of Ethiopian meals as well. Vegetarian cooking requires quite a bit of experimenting in the realm of foreign cuisine. I have a newfound love for Indian and African cooking (thanks to my awesome friend, Blake). This week, however, I have more specifically chosen Ethiopian cooking. Our church is sponsoring a refugee family from Ethiopia, and we will be taking some meals to them over the next couple of weeks. I wanted to get started with experimenting and learning to cook some of their foods. =)

Want some more inspiration for menu planning? Visit Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie's website! 200+ bloggers gather there every Monday to share their ideas!