Sunday Cookin

One of my New Years Resolutions was to do all of my cooking for the week on Sundays. You see, I'm terrible about cooking dinner during the week. I'm great about planning out meals, and I'm great about going grocery shopping for all of the ingredients. However, when it comes down to it, and it's seven thirty on Tuesday night, and I've just come home from the gym, and Jake's just come home from work, 9 times out of 10, I will say I'm too tired to cook, and we'll wind up going out to eat. This was resulting in us wasting a TON of money on groceries, as well as spending way too much money and time in restaurants. It was bad for our budget, and our waistlines.

My solution was to attempt to cook up a few meals during the day on Sunday, package them up, pop them in the fridge, and then just heat and serve during the week. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, especially seeing as how Sunday was already shopping day and laundry day, but it has actually been GREAT! I can't tell you how wonderful it has been knowing that every night of the week, I have a delicious, healthy, home-made meal ready to go, and I don't have to cook it!!

Now, it hasn't all been perfect. For example, I have learned that you should NOT cook shrimp stir fry when you're cooking for the week, because it will be gross by Wednesday. I've also learned that we really need to plan on going out to dinner on Friday, because after eating the same two meals five nights in a row, I will want to stab you in the eye if you suggest I eat it again on Friday. But overall, the experiment has been an overwhelming success.

Because this week was Superbowl Sunday, I didn't have very much time for cooking, so I made two quick recipes. Easy Chicken with Stuffing and Four Cheese Goulash. Here are the recipes if you're interested.

Easy Chicken with Stuffing
6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, pounded thin
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/3 C. Milk
6 slices Swiss Cheese
1 box Stove Top Stuffing, prepared according to directions on box

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 13x9 baking dish with pam. Place raw chicken in pan. Mix soup and milk together, and pour over chicken. place cheese slices in a layer over soup mix. top with stuffing. Cover with tin foil and bake for 35-40 minutes.


Four Cheese Goulash
6 oz. Ziti
3/4 lb. Extra Lean Ground Beef (or ground turkey)
1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 C. chopped scallions
1/2 C. shredded swiss cheese
1/2 C. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
3 oz. light cream cheese

Cook Ziti according to package directions. Brown beef. Drain. Add tomatoes and cook until slightly thickened. Add scallions and cheeses. Simmer until cheese is melted. Mix in pasta.