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Confession: Planning meals has saves us A. LOT.

One of my favorite things about Pinterest is its abundance of great ideas. My current favorite being the Menu boards (which I have up in the house and which people question me about). I used to scoff at the idea of planning meals. Because come on, I can't pack one outfit per day for a trip, how in the world would I be able to select one meal each day weeks in advance. So we continued to spend willy nilly on food without really stopping to think about it. Then, as I was looking at our budget I saw how much we were literally throwing away by eating out so often and I was shocked. So I started planning our meals. It started off by planning a few days and then shopping for groceries for those few days. Then a few days turned into a week and then every other week and now I think we plan out almost 3 weeks. And the savings is ridiculous. I haven't sat down to figure the exact number but the fact that we now do groceries once every 3 weeks (occasionally a trip or two for eggs or bread) and that that 1 grocery bill is under $100 tells me momma be doing goooood!!

Alrighty, so remember my love for excel?? Well of course I use that to create a Menu/calendar template! I start with my handy dandy calendar (made in excel) broken down by weeks then days. And I start filling in meals that we like. This usually includes of a taco night once a week, a frozen pizza night once a week and leftovers every Thursday (alfie plays pool that night) oh yeah and lots of chicken, we love chicken!

Then I toss in a night of "easy" pasta (which is almost ALWAYS lasagna, I love (meatless) lasagna, extra points if it has spinach but Alf doesn’t like that so... yeah its usually without spinach.) and a few days of "new" recipe favorites from the last month.

Then I hop back on Pinterest and look for NEW recipes. I usually look for things that are easy or look amazing (yeah I totally judge a book by its cover and recipes by their pictures). Or I browse my friends blogs and get some highly recommended stuff.

Once I have 90% of the calendar filled (Remember I leave Thursdays for leftovers oh yeah and Sunday lunch for eating out and of course I figure in a night of something crazy easy, like soup and salad or soup and sandwiches). I figure out what I need to make each dish versus what I have on hand already and create a shopping list.

And surprise surprise!! We actually stick to it! Now we don't always do the exact meal planned for that day, sometimes we switch around based on what we are feeling and what the day was like. And one thing that has certainly surprised me is that the 3 week planning, will often provide PLENTY of meals beyond 3 weeks. Now I do have to say, I eat anything and Alfie is a simple eater (i.e. homeboy could live off of cereal, nachos or frozen pizzas) so the only real constraint is picking things Colton will eat, which luckily again, is very easy (he takes after his momma).

BUT last night we FINALLY tried a meal that was on our menu for the 2 weeks or so and just haven’t had time to make. But in hind sight was SOOO easy and tasty that I wish we hadn't waited this long to make it! It is originally a Pampered Chef recipe with some fancy name and fancy cheeses but I LoMag-itized it for us (oh and renamed it)...

Easy-Peesy-Cheesy Mexican Chicken Bake

1.5lbs of chicken breasts (about 3 ample breasts...lol id guess they were a C cup)
2 (7oz.) cans of salsa verde (its the green stuff in the Mexican aisle - I used Herdez)
1 (2 cup) bag of Colby Jack cheese
1/2 bag of Authentic Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
A Taco seasoning packet

Ok, so I am ALL about easy. And this recipe is easy and again passed the Alfie test. Another thumbs up. AND I am sure it can be tweaked for ALL sorts of flavors. I bet you could make it enchillada-esque with beans and corn. Use regular salsa and Mexican or taco flavored cheese! But I am getting ahead of myself....

First, finely chop the chicken and sauté on the stove (if you like onions add those in, if not no worries). Sprinkle taco seasoning to taste. (We did minimal since Colton would be eating this.)
Side note: Do this ahead of time!! Had I thought about it, I would have cooked the chicken the night before, so that all I had to do was combine everything and have had an under 10 min meal! We also thought boiling and shredding the chicken would work better, and then sprinkling on the taco flavor OR boiling it in taco broth (i.e. water with the taco seasoning in it). If you try it let me know!

Next, in a microwave safe dish (I used my white corning ware oval baker) put down a good layer of tortilla chips. Break when necessary, but give it a good bed of chips. Then add in half your chicken and then pour half your salsa verde (or 1 can since you use 2) and sprinkle on half your cheese. Repeat your layers (add more chips, then chicken, then salsa and finally top with your cheese).

Ok on to the hard part: put the cover on and put into the microwave for 5 to 7 minutes (I did 6 minutes and it was perfect). THAT'S IT! Crazy how easy this is!! I love it!

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and enjoy! I was pleasantly surprised with this recipe. Since I am NEVER a fan of soggy chips I was very apprehensive that it would be sloppy mush BUT the chips that turned soggy tasted exactly like a corn tortilla!! (Duh Kimi they are CORN tortilla chips!! sheesh) So I felt like I was eating an authentic enchilada minus the effort. Alfie and I both had seconds...ok thirds! I love that it is soooo easy, that it was done in the microwave, that I can do the work ahead of time AND that you can really tailor this to be what you like. I am looking forward to adding this to the menu again!

Ps. I just had leftovers for lunch and it was STILL amazingly good! Give it a try and let me know what you think!!