Liz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have a lot going on this week so it is important to stick to the menu.\u00a0 There are a lot of extra activities and Holiday projects that need to get done this week.\u00a0 Hopefully, having the menu will help us stay on track and use our time efficiently. \u00a0 Here is our menu plan for the upcoming week: Our Weekly Menu Plan Monday (Beef or Pork Entree): Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread Tuesday\u00a0(Kid\u2019s Night to Cook):\u00a0 Hamburgers, Green Beans Wednesday\u00a0(Chicken or Vegetarian Entree):\u00a0 Chicken Quesadillas, Fresh Salad Thursday (Pasta or\u00a0Seafood Entree):\u00a0 Baked Tilapia, Steamed Vegetables Friday, Saturday, & Sunday:\u00a0 Leftovers, Family Preference, and Hosting I have a general pattern I try to follow for my weekly Menu Plan (for example Monday we have a beef or seafood entree and so forth).\u00a0 It is my goal, at least in the beginning, to have at least the main dish and one side planned.\u00a0 I will put together the remaining side dishes (veggies \/ fruits) based on the food items that need to be used up first and compliment the main entree. Setting a weekly menu plan helps me utilize my time better, thus freeing up extra time to spend with my family.\u00a0 On the days that I am working longer hours I can prep the meal in advance so it will be easier to pull together once I am home.\u00a0 As I go through the menu planning process I will try to share some of our favorite family recipes.\u00a0 If there is a specific recipe you would like please let me know and I will do my best to accommodate (some recipes are a toss together meal and I do not use any set measurements). As a family of four our life can get busy.\u00a0 What\u2019s for Dinner is our weekly menu planning series and one of the ways to help keep us organized, on schedule, and within budget.\u00a0 Our family typically eats 6 to 7\u00a0 dinner meals at home a week.\u00a0 We do try to go out to eat at least once a month as a special treat.\u00a0 Breakfasts are eaten at home before work and school, lunches are eaten at work, school, or home, so dinner is our main meal together as a family.\u00a0 Dinner is our time to reconnect, share, and enjoy being together after a busy day.\u00a0 Our weekly menu plan covers Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday only because the weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) is our time to spend with family and friends.\u00a0 The weekends tend to be more spontaneous and my husband (who is the better cook) likes pitching in therefore we keep the menu open for variety.\u00a0 We use up the leftovers throughout the week for our lunches and on the nights that we are busy or can\u2019t cook. Photo by Liz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[68,70,73,75,80,81,23,31,48],"tags":[5980,7701,7711,9674,10476,12526,12541,12544,15848,15850,15968,15983,15989,15990,15995,15996,16264,17348,17511,20359,20820,21270,22953,23985,23988,24001,24510,24870,25525],"class_list":["post-27957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fresh-healthy","category-goals","category-intentional-living","category-kids-in-the-kitchen-2","category-menu-planning","category-organization","category-organized-chaos-3","category-schedule","category-whats-cooking","tag-dinner-menu-planning","tag-family-menu-plans","tag-family-of-4-dinner-men","tag-friday-leftovers","tag-goals","tag-how-to-set-a-menu-plan","tag-how-to-start-a-meal-plan-for-a-family","tag-how-to-start-menu-planning","tag-meal-in-advance","tag-meal-plan","tag-menu-plan","tag-menu-planning","tag-menu-planning-for-a-family-of-4","tag-menu-planning-for-a-family-of-four","tag-menu-planning-process","tag-menu-plans","tag-monday-beef-entree","tag-organized","tag-our-weekly-menu-plan","tag-saturday-family-preference","tag-schedule","tag-sheperds-pie","tag-sunday-hosting","tag-thursday-pasta-entree","tag-thursday-vegetarian-entree","tag-tilapia","tag-tuesday-pork-entree","tag-utilitizing-my-time","tag-wednesday-chicken-entree"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcnfwQ-7gV","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blessingsmultiplied.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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