At the beginning of every month, I sit down, think about what we want to eat and compile it into a monthly meal plan. Being a family of six, four of whom are kids, I try not to overcomplicate or over plan and I always keep a few emergency meal ideas for just such days. I keep it all organized in my monthly meal plan printable; I check meals off as we have them and that way it’s easy for me to see if I need to roll anything over to the following month to utilize ingredients I already bought. Super simple.
Here’s what we’re having at our house this month!
Breakfast
Double Chocolate Muffins (recipe below!)
French Toast
Overnight Eggnog Brioche Cinnamon Rolls
Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal
Dinner
Tandoori Chicken
Herb and Butter Roasted Turkey
Parmesan Baked Pork Chops
Burgers + Hot Dogs
Breakfast for dinner
Pulled Pork (I use this general recipe, replacing the rub with this recipe)
Pizza Pasta (kids’ favorite!)
Snacks
Chex Mix
Copycat Lil Bites Muffins
Dessert
Cranberry Eggnog Cheesecake
Pineapple Crisp
No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars
Blackberry Lavender Naked Cake
No Bake Berry Trifle
Double Chocolate Muffins
(I have had this recipe soooooo long – I legitimately have no idea where it came from, but I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare muffin tin with nonstick spray or liners and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, sour cream and vanilla until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well.
I
n another mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, alternating with milk.
Divide batter evenly among muffin tins.
Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
I typically only plan cooking breakfast on Sunday mornings – we eat leftovers or other quick options during the week. Lunches are also typically quick things like salami and crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, homemade pizza lunchables or (gasp) McDonald’s. Quick meals I like to keep on hand should we go through our entire meal plan before the month is up (we usually don’t) or we need something quick because of a scheduling change: freezer pizzas, pasta and sauce for spaghetti, Just Bare chicken nuggets (so good!) and Costco frozen panko shrimp.
