Oy, it's been a few weeks since I've done this.  It's amazing how fast you get out of practice. We're still recovering from our vacation, there's laundry everywhere and just lots of piles of odds and ends.  On top of that I am trying to get some Christmasy stuff done with the kids each day.  We've been using our 25 days of Christmas calendar, and the kids are loving it, and I love that it gets us in the spirit but keeps it simple for me right now.  

With all of that, I'm feeling the need to keep things simple.  The great thing about having been doing this for a while is that I can just open up a meal plan from a previous week, make a few changes to it, and not have to work too hard to come up with original ideas.  This is not a week for original ideas.  This is a week for comforting, nourishing, easy food that I know will keep us going and won't be too much work for me to make.

To get us back in the swing of things, tonight I've got a couple of big organic chickens roasting in the oven, on top of a big pile of veggies.  It's my favorite dinner to make at home, and I love getting my week started with it.  I'll use those chickens to make some broth for Monday's soup, and I'll use the cooked chicken in the soup and maybe in the tacos on Tuesday, and/or in the pasta Thursday.  

So here's the menu, with a few more comments and notes at the end.

A few more thoughts about this week: 

• Breakfasts are designed to quick and easy, but I try to get some protein in.  I'm trying to do more smoothies because it's my one sure fire way of getting some good nutrition into my super picky child.

• I made up a batch of my homemade instant oatmeal before we love for our holiday, so we'll have that for lunch one day and for breakfast on another day. 

• Monday dinner will be a simple but hearty soup. I'll have broth from my roasted chickens, and I bought a package of pre-cooked lentils at Trader Joes.  They are a great way to make a quick meal.  I'll just heat up my broth and throw in the lentils, some chopped frozen kale (from earlier in the summer), maybe a can of tomatoes.  That right there is a great meal, and I'll make it even better by adding in some bites of leftover roast chicken near the end. 

• Tuesday is just simple tacos, I cook the meat and then just put everything out on the table and the family can choose whatever they want.  It's always a hit. 

• Thursday I'm going to use up some of my frozen pasta.  Pasta is something I always make extra and freeze.  It freezes so well and makes a fantastic quick meal.  Reheat it in the microwave or just run under hot water.  I think I will just to simple butter and cheese for this one. I'll toss in some bites of chicken if I have any left, or sausage, and probably either some peas or leftover roasted veggies. 

• Friday we are going to go visit santa, so we'll have dinner downtown after our visit.  

• Saturday I'm going to do some simple oven baked fish.  I made one last month that I really like, so I'll probably do something very similar again.

• We'll also be out Sunday for a birthday party, so I won't be cooking my usual big Sunday dinner.  But that's ok, I'll do it Monday.