The Meal Time Blahs

I swear by meal planning - in my opinion it is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get control over your budget. But there are weeks that whipping up anything more interesting than a PB&J just seems impossible.

This week was one of those weeks. After staring at my pantry, freezer and this week's grocery ads for over an hour I still had nothing written down. So I did what every mature techno-savvy person would do: I whined about it on Facebook. Before I knew it, I had all kinds of suggestions to work with and, a half an hour later, my menu for the week was done. Here's what I came with:

• Tuesday: Chicken Veggie Pitas & Strawberries
• Wednesday: Eat Out (Kids eat at Awanas, we eat wherever we want!)
• Thursday: Teriyaki Beef & Rice
• Friday:  Grilled Fish and Veggies
• Saturday Lunch: French Dip Sandwiches
• Saturday Supper: Pizza!
• Sunday: Crock-pot BBQ Chicken & Potatoes

Tonight's meal was kind of made up on the fly, a fusion of a couple of recipe suggestions I received.  It started like this (don't worry that's steam, not smoke):

 And ended up looking like this:

Tuesday night is "Biggest Loser" night at our house.  It is the one show we make a point of watching each week and, in the spirit of what the show teaches, we try our best to eat healthy on Tuesday nights.  This meal fit the bill pretty well, I think, and it was a hit with the kids.  I definitely will be making it again.

What do you do
to shake things up a little bit when it comes to what you and your family eats?

PS - thanks Jackie and Jodie for all your meal suggestions!

For those that asked, here is the recipe!

One large chicken breast, cut up into thin bite-sized pieces
Italian Dressing, about 1/4 cup
2 cloves garlic, minced
One large carrot, peeled into long thin strips
2 green onions, chopped
3 large pita pockets, cut in half

Pour Italian Dressing into large pan and heat over med-high heat.  Add garlic and chicken.  Cook until chicken is browned evenly on all sides.  Just before chicken is done, add carrots and green onion.  As soon as chicken is cooked through, remove pan from heat.  Warm pita halves in microwave (if you put 4 in at a time, warm for 15 seconds.  Flip over and warm 15 seconds more.)  Stuff warm pitas with Chicken mixture and enjoy!