This Week's Plan

I started my new job this week. It's a great job and I'm loving it, but it really threw a wrench into dinner. Until this week, we've eaten between 6 and 6:30. The boys have their bath at 7:30 and go to bed at 8:00. This worked out well in my past life, when I got home with the boys between 5:30 and 5:45. But now, I'm walking in the door at 6:45 PM. By that time, we're all grumpy and ravenous. I don't have 30-45 minutes to get dinner on the table, unless I sacrifice bath time and homework. Or start putting the boys to bed at 9, which will leave them sleep deprived. Plus I really need that time of peace and solitude that comes when the boys have settled down for the night and I can sit and relax.

I really don't want another week where the plan goes out the window at we eat hot dogs or TV dinners most nights. So I have a new plan for this week: meals that are very nearly heat-and-eat. I'll accomplish this by doing most of the prep the night before, and through liberal use of pre-cut fruits and veggies.

Here's the plan, both for meals and how I'll prep them.

Saturday: Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Herbs, Root Vegetable Gratin

Sunday: Minestrone & Bread

Monday: Minestrone, bread & salad

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Coleslaw and Sweet Potato Fries

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Rollups & salad

Thursday: Warm Chicken Salad (I don't know if the kids will eat this, but I'll serve it a little deconstructed for them, and I'll have lots of fruit on the side)

As for how I'll do this and make it work:

• Saturday, I'll put some effort into making the Roasted Chicken dinner, because I actually have time to cook.
  
• Sunday, I'll make the minestrone. I'll divide it in half just before adding the pasta, and I'll add pasta to the half we're eating that night. I'll save the other half for the next night, adding pasta when I'm reheating it on Monday. That will allow the flavors to develop in the fridge overnight, without the pasta getting soggy. I'm also going to cut up fruits and veggies for most of the rest of the week.
  
• Monday, while the soup is reheating, I'll poach enough chicken breasts and thighs for the dinners on Tuesday - Thursday. I'll store them unshredded.
  
• Tuesday, I'll shred enough chicken for 2 nights, heat it up in a homemade barbeque sauce, throw together a packaged coleslaw while the sweet potato fries are baking. (I'll cheat by using frozen ones - there are some good brands out there.)
  
• Wednesday is really easy because I'll just throw heated up leftover BBQ chicken and some veggies in warm tortillas, and I'm done! Plus I'll cut the veggies for the next night's salad.
  
• Thursday, I just saute the veggies for the salad, shred the remaining chicken and heat it with the veggies, and I'm done for the week!

That's how it should work, anyway. I'll let you know what really happens next week, when I post that plan. This weeks' recipes will be posted by Sunday morning, in case you want to make any of these dishes yourself.