Menu Plan Monday

I know it's Tuesday, but I'm still calling this Menu Plan Monday. So there!

Several of my favorite bloggers post their weekly menu on their blogs every Monday. Yesterday while looking through one in particular, The Erratic Homemaker, I was inspired to make a more concerted effort to plan, shop from and stick with a weekly menu. I also stole her idea for Mondays' meal, Shanghai Noodles, which we had for dinner last night. This week I decided to use as much as I could from what I have on hand, before purchasing any supplemental food. We have plenty of food here that I've just not been using up and it's time to be a wiser steward.

Here is this week's menu:

Monday: Indonesian-Ginger Chicken with Shanghai Noodles
(I baked the chicken on Sunday so all I had to do was pull it off the bone and heat through with the side dish.)

Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs in Sauce with Garlic Bread and Salad
(I had spaghetti and sauce on hand from a good deal two weeks ago and the garlic bread was in the freezer.)

Wednesday: Crispy Tilapia Sandwiches with Sun-dried Tomato Mayonnaise and Sweet & Sour Coleslaw
(I am tweaking the sandwich recipe because I have some breaded parmesan tilapia in the freezer from Sam's that I thought would taste good with a nice sun-dried tomato mayonnaise. The mayo will be made by pureeing mayonnaise with a few tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes in my food processor. The coleslaw recipe is one that Brad's grandma used to make when he was growing up and it's perfect to use the leftover cabbage that I didn't use in last night's dinner.)

Thursday: Slowcooker Chicken with Rice and Veggies
(I have a whole chicken in the freezer that I'm going to cook in the slowcooker all day. I'll serve it with rice and some veggies. I'll save a bit of the chicken for tomorrow's dinner.)

Friday: Chicken Crescent Roll-ups with Fruit and Leftover Salad or Coleslaw
(Chicken is leftover from last night's roasted chicken. My recipe is slightly different and came from a magazine article, years ago, about a little boy "chef". I don't add the onion, chives, croutons, or butter that are called for in the Pillsbury recipe I linked to.)

Saturday: Chicken Quesadillas, Refried Beans, Mexican Rice
(I have another 2 lbs. of cut up chicken that I plan to bake for this dish. I also have a big bag of pinto beans that I'll cook on Friday in the slowcooker and make into refried beans for this meal. I have plenty of rice and lots of salsa to make the rice. My favorite recipes for Mexican rice, and refried beans, are both from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen.)

I also made a loaf of banana bread last night from some bananas I got free last week when I went to buy milk at Braum's. The cashier had a basket of ripe bananas and said I could take some for free, so I took two bunches. We used some in smoothies and there were four left, perfect for the recipe I wanted to try from Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals cookbook.

We also have a spice cake mix with cream cheese frosting that I will make later in the week for our other dessert.

That's my menu for the week. What's for dinner at your house?