2 Weeks of Pre-Planned Meals!

So in the past I have planned a month of meals at a time and then proceeded to shop for a month's worth of food.  I would still go to the store throughout the month for milk, eggs, fresh produce.  My thought was that this would be a great organizational tool for meals.  WRONG.  I completely wore myself out by making a HUGE list of ingredients plus spending a couple of hours pouring over ads and coupons to try to find the best deal.  Once I had divided out the food I needed at each grocery store I ended up going to 5 different grocery stores and shopping for 5 hours.  Bleh.  I got burned out on that quickly.  So now I'm going to try 2 weeks at a time instead.  I'm planning to continue to put up all of my recipes so you can follow along and enjoy these meals with us!

Here it is...

Sunday: Homemade Pineapple Pizza
Monday: Chicken Florentine Casserole
Tuesday: Cilantro Lime Chicken Crock Pot
Wednesday: Spinach Artichoke Pasta
Thursday: Lemon, Lime and Garlic Shrimp
Friday: Three Cheese Turkey Ziti
Saturday: Chicken Bruschetta Pasta
Sunday:  Super Bowl!  I'm making homemade cheese stuffed pretzels and spicy tortilla roll-ups for sure!
Monday:  White Cheddar Chicken Pasta
Tuesday:  Turkey Black Bean Tacos
Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken Lime Fajitas
Thursday: Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
Friday: Chicken Enchilada Soup
Saturday: Cajin Seafood Fettucini

Can you tell I love pasta??!!  :) :)  I'm also going to try out a new dessert recipe...all natural Peanut Butter Cups with no sugar or artificial sweeteners!  We will see how they turn out!  I'll be sure to post for you!

Tonight's dinner is from chaosinthekitchen.com

Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta

serves 4, prep 5 min, cook time 30 min

• 4-8 oz fettuccine or linguine
• 10 tbsp butter, divided (I know, but I’ve tried it with less and it’s just not the same)
• 8 oz fresh, sliced mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped (you can use dried herbs if that’s all you have)
• 2/3 cup boiling water (from your noodle pot)
• 1 lb cooked shrimp (feel free to buy frozen-gasp!)

1. Boil and salt a large pot of water and cook your pasta.  I usually only use about half of an 8 oz box, preferring fewer noodles.
2. While your pasta is cooking, cook your shrimp if necessary and reserve.  If your shrimp are pre-cooked and frozen, quickly thaw them under running water.
3. In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms until soft and brown.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Reserve cooked mushrooms and melt remaining butter in the skillet.  Add minced garlic, cream cheese, and herbs.  At this point, I generally feel like something has gone terribly wrong.  The cream cheese doesn’t really melt and starts to look almost curdled, don’t worry about it!  It will all smooth out and be wonderful when we add the water. I promise.
5. Simmer cream cheese mixture until well blended. Get a scoop of boiling pasta water from your noodle pot and mix it in, stirring quickly to smooth out the sauce.
6. Keep sauce hot and add shrimp and mushrooms, mix well and simmer (stirring often) until everything is hot and thickened, about 10 minutes-you wont ruin this sauce by accidentally boiling it so don’t worry.
7. Toss sauce with cooked noodles and serve.

I am VERY excited to try this tonight! I'll let you know how it goes! :)