What's Cooking?

I struggle in many areas but one in particular is planning meals/cooking for the week. Cooking is really not my favorite thing to do and it is not true when people who CAN cook say "If you can read, you can cook". Well, I have mastered reading, cooking I have not! At times, I do well and it seems to be easier than other times, but usually it is a mystery to me what to prepare for dinner.

Well I am so proud to announce that this week I planned out our menu on Monday, went to the store and picked up the items needed to make the meals and did NOT buy any chips (one of many weakness for me). Here are the entrees for this week:

Monday:
Spaghetti

Tuesday:
Lemon-Lime Pork Chops
6 (1-inch thick) pork chops (I used the boneless ones)
1 (12-ounce) bottle lemon-lime soda
1 envelope onion soup mix

Arrange the pork chops in a shallow baking dish. Pour the lemon-lime soda oven the pork chops. Sprinkle with the onion soup mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Serves 6

Note: You can substitute with chicken

Thursday:
Oven Stuffer Roaster

Friday:
Slow-Cooker Southwestern Chicken
2 (15-ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (16-ounce) jar chunky salsa
6 skinless chicken breasts
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Combine the corn, black beans and 1/2 cup of the salsa in a slow cooker. Add the chicken and the remaining salsa. Cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or until the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with the cheese. Cook for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts. Stirring to combine.
Serves 6

The two recipes are from a Home and Garden Party cookbook Bless This Food. I ended up not making the chicken dish today because we had plenty of leftovers, so I will prepare that one Saturday.

Can I plan out two weeks in a row? I hope so, tomorrow I hope to start the process. My goal is to have several weeks of menus, put those in a notebook so that when I "forget" I have a backup plan.