I continually struggle with how to best organize my recipes and make meal planning easier and quicker.  Currently my system is to try to plan out my meals over the weekend for the following week, Monday through Friday and  then make my grocery list according to what I have scheduled for dinners for that week.  Then I go to Sam's/Costco/grocery stores on the weekend.   I try to avoid grocery shopping during the week because I don't have  much time between homeschooling and evening activities.  So my recipe books that I refer to for meals are all lined up....

But, then I have a stack of recipes from magazines and written on papers and stuffed in boxes (very unorganized so I think this post could be called Dis-Organization Saturday!)
So like chore charts and lesson planning, I know there are a million ways to organize meal planning and recipes, but I just haven't found the system that will work for me and that I can be consistent with.  I have written and re-written a meal planning "schedule" a hundred times, it seems, to try to decrease the time I spend on my weekend meal planning, but I get distracted (with the kids or another "project").

My "goal" is to be able to write out a month's worth of meals for each week and then just recycle this list the following months, but for some reason I always end up spending time each weekend flipping through books, magazines, and papers trying to figure out what will be for dinner the following week.  I have a list of recipes that we have tried and liked that I tend to make over and over again so this helps with planning, but not for trying to have a good variety.

Do you have a good way you organize recipes and meal planning?  Please tell.  I would love to get some ideas and tips!  I am determined to get this area of my life under control :)

Since I am posting about my (dis) organization with meal planning and recipes, I thought I would share a great, quick and yummy Peanut Butter Apple Dip recipe that I got from an older Collector's Edition of Taste of Home's Quick Cooking magazine.

Mix together:
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened (I use an 8 oz. container of whipped cream cheese because it's easier to mix with other ingredients)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk ( I usually use 2%)

After you mix the above ingredients, cut up red/green apples into wedges and serve.  This recipe is so easy and yummy and someone always ask for the recipe when I serve it. (I am someone who looks at a 20+ ingredient recipe and gets easily overwhelmed with having to track down all those items in my house or in a grocery store, so I'm a big fan of any (delicious) 5 ingredients or less recipe, like this one.   Enjoy!

So what did we cook to feed such a big crew? For the main course, I made something that was EASY and YUMMY!  I made this Baked Ziti and took this advice from a comment written below the recipe to make it a delicious dish that was a hit for both adults and children:   

"Try RICOTTA CHEESE instead of sour cream and skip the provolone for a real Italian version of Baked Ziti. Mix an egg into a pound of ricotta to make it nice and creamy, and toss with the ziti. Layer sauce first (so you don't need to butter the pan), then ziti/cheese, mozzarella, sprinkle with parm and a little dried oregano or basil, then repeat layers. For a really nice look, slice a brick of mozzarella for the top layer instead of using the shredded kind. This is SO MUCH BETTER than the sour cream version!"

With the baked ziti, we served a garden salad made by my friend and I made an oriental slaw salad.  Here are the ingredients I used for this EASY and YUMMY oriental slaw salad that my mom passed on to me:

Oriental Slaw
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup toasted sunflower kernels
1 package Ramen Noodles-chicken flavored (the seasoning packet will be used for the dressing)
1 bag of slivered cole slaw (cabbage)
4 green onions, chopped

For the Dressing I used:
chicken seasoning packet from the noodle package
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons vinegar (white or red, but not balsamic)
1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Break up Ramen noodles on cookie sheet.  Add almonds and sunflower kernels.  Brown in 325 degree oven for 5 - 10 minutes.  Cool and set aside.


Mix bag of cole slaw (cabbage) and green onions together.

1.  (16) oz. Cool Whip
2.  (6) oz. frozen lemonade or lime-ade
3. (1) can Eagle Brand condensed milk

1. Add room temperature Cool Whip and lemonade to condensed milk.
2. Stir well.
3. Pour into 2 graham cracker crusts and let chill at least 5 minutes.  I always like to cut up a lemon to decorate the pies.

I LOVE EASY and YUMMY recipes and meals!  How about you?  Do you have a recipe to share that is EASY and YUMMY?  If so, leave a comment and if you have a blog post about your recipe be sure to leave the link so I can visit your blog and collect more EASY and YUMMY recipes!

This lunch was prepared a few months ago when my children had a friend over to play.  Hence, 5 plates vs. 4.  I thought my "crab" PB & J sandwiches were cute enough to snap a picture and blog about them.  To make the sandwiches I made the traditional PB & J sandwich with 2 pieces of bread.  I then took the 
Pampered Chef Cut-N-Seal  cutting tool to make the circular sandwich.  This cutting tool is quick and easy to use and making my own Smucker's Uncrustables is alot less expensive and I'm sure healthier for my children.  Now my "uncrustables" are not as uniformed as Smucker's, but they are cuter and cuteness counts :).  I then decorate the sandwiches with whatever I have on hand in my kitchen.  The picture above has M&M eyes and nose and the mouth is a string of string cheese.  I also have used mini chocolate chips for eyes and a nose and red licorice for the mouth. I just dab a little PB on the chips/M&Ms to make them stick to the bread.   The "claws" are the crust from the whole sandwich.  The claws are grabbing for goldfish crackers.  I then use my Pampered Chef Apple Wedger, which I use everyday, to slice a whole apple easily and quickly.  This is a quick (and I think cute) way to serve the ever popular PB & J sandwich!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cupcake #4! November 2009

The Pampered Chef glass mixing bowl came in handy once again when I made this doll cake. I bought the doll from our local Dollar Tree store. The doll cake is on top of a 9x13 cake. After I iced the cake with tinted frosting, I decorated the doll's dress with miniature marshmallows. I think Cupcake #4 was wondering why a doll was stuck in a cake!

Happy 4th Birthday Cupcake #2! October 2006

This is another cake idea inspired by Family Fun. Cupcake #2 loved dinosaurs so this was a perfect cake for a dino-mite birthday party!




 
What do you do with a little extra round cake that you didn't use for the dinosaur-dragon cakes? Well, turn it into a dinosaur scene, of course. Frost the cake with brown icing for land and blue icing for water. Stick some dinosaur things from your son's play set on top and it becomes an instant Jurassic Park for a dino-dragon birthday party!