Menu Planning Week #5 and Chicken Overflow!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed "The Big Game" (because we can't call it the other name or we'll get sued, but that's for another time!)

First off, did you stick to your menu plan last week? We did it!

Meh, somewhat...

There were two days where we switched some things around, and two days with take-out, but overall things went well! Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were as planned, but the Mexican Lasagna from Thursday was moved to Saturday, we had friends over Thursday who brought pizza for a late birthday celebration for my big boy, Friday Hubs brought home McD’s and Sunday we had FREE Subway thanks to a generous neighbor who gave Hubs a gift card as a Thank You for mowing her lawn.

This week however, we may have a problem.

Swim, little chickens, swim!

I have no beef or pork, or anything else in the house, but TONS of chicken. How can a mom worth her weight in dirty diapers pass up such a great deal? ($0.49/lb whole chickens and $0.99/lb chicken breasts? Yes, please!) So in putting all that to good use, I stuck two whole chickens in my huge stockpot with some veggies, salt and water. Later today I’ll have a plenty of shredded chicken in the freezer for future meals and a great start to some homemade chicken stock. YUM!

One big project I worked on this weekend was a crockpot full of pinto beans. With that big pot, I made a dozen Bean, Rice, and Cheese Burritos that I stuck in the freezer. Guess what’s for dinner tonight? Along with that, I was able to put an additional four quart size bags of beans in the freezer too. That’ll come in handy later on for dinner on Saturday and future meals likes soups and chili. Another YUM!

So here you go, another attempt at a plan; let's see how we do this week!

Here are the recipes I'll be using this week:
Bean, Rice and Cheese Burritos from Tammy's Recipes
Alfredo (again)
Cheesy Chicken Vermicelli from myfamilymealplan.com


Oh, that pot roast on Sunday? That baby should be free once I use my Fresh & Easy Friends points, and the veggies should be free after using my $5.00 refund card from Walmart that I received after buying my HP printer ink. Free is awesome, right?

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday. Check this site out for lots of sources for new recipes if your creativity is wanning.

Authentic Mexican-Style Shredded Chicken

This is a great and tasty recipe for shredded chicken! We use this for taquitos, burritos, tacos and enchiladas. It's super easy too!

Authentic Mexican-Style Shredded Chicken

• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 tsp seasoned salt (I tend to only use 1 tsp to keep the salt to a minimum in my cooking, but the original recipe calls for 2 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp chili powder (I only use 1 tsp if my kids will be eating this too. Still has great flavor.)
• 3/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 2 dry bay leaves
• enough water to cover chicken ( about 2-3 cups ) 

Wash chicken thoroughly and place in a medium sized skillet and add just enough water to cover the chicken. Add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken can be shredded using a wood spatula. If there is any liquid left simply turn up the heat and allow the liquid to evaporate. Let the shredded chicken cool enough to work with.

**For bigger batches, you could double, triple or even quadruple this recipe and cook in a stock pot. Shred and freeze remaining chicken for meals in the future!