Seven-Day Menu Planner
10/7 FAMILY SUNDAY
Invite Grandmother and all the family for Company’s Coming Pork Roast (see recipe). Alongside, serve baked sweet
potatoes (slash the centers and sprinkle with cinnamon). Add fresh green beans and biscuits. Top cherry crisp with vanilla ice cream for a family-pleasing dessert.
Plan ahead: Save enough pork, green beans and crisp and bake enough sweet potatoes for Monday. Save enough ice cream for Tuesday and Friday.
10/8 HEAT-AND-EAT MONDAY
Make Pork Wraps for an easy meal. Warm leftover pork slices in a little barbecue sauce. Top heated whole-grain flour tortillas with pork, shredded lettuce, chopped onion and chunky salsa. Wrap and eat.
Serve with sweet potato
wedges. Cut leftover potatoes into wedges. Coat with cooking spray and a little cumin, then bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Add leftover green beans. Leftover
crisp is your dessert.
10/9 MEATLESS TUESDAY
Skip meat and enjoy Tortilla
Soup (see recipe) tonight. Add a red-tipped lettuce salad on the
side. Dessert is leftover ice cream and oatmeal cookies.
10/10 BUDGET WEDNESDAY
is low in cost and has great flavor, so it’s a winner all around. Rub 8 skinless chicken legs with 3 to 4 teaspoons jerk seasoning. Place in a 4-quart or larger slow-cooker. Pour 3/4 cup barbecue sauce and 1 tablespoon dark rum (optional) over chicken. Turn chicken to coat. Cover and cook on low 6 to 7 hours or until chicken is tender. Place chicken and sauce on a platter. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sliced green onions. Serve with canned reduced-sodium black beans,
deli coleslaw and cornbread
(from mix). For dessert, try plums.
10/11 KIDS THURSDAY
We call it finger food, but for kids, Chicken Sticks is a better name. Toss chicken tenders with lemon juice and coarse salt and coat in a little flour before panfrying. Serve them with the kids’ favorite dipping sauce, oven
fries (from frozen), buttered
carrots and soft rolls. To keep up the sticky fun, how about drippy
chocolate freezer pops for dessert?
10/12 EXPRESS FRIDAY
For the easiest meal ever, buy cooked Shrimp (or boil from frozen) and sprinkle with seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay. Not only is it quick, but it also has a good flavor. Serve it with
corn-on-the-cob, a packaged green salad and whole-grain rolls. Top leftover ice cream with butterscotch sauce for dessert.
10/13
EASY ENTERTAINING SATURDAY
Treat your guests to a company-worthy meal: Scallops With Capers and Tomatoes (see recipe). Serve it over angel hair pasta, and add a spinach salad and whole-grain rolls . Buy a cheesecake for dessert. Susan Nicholson is an Atlantabased cookbook author and registered dietitian. Reach her at susan@7daymenu.com. Follow Susan on Twitter: @7DayMenu. The Menu Planner is also accessible at 7daymenuplanner.com.