{December Meal Plan}

December is a fun month to plan because there are always so many parties and things to plan around, it gets my meal planning creative juices flowing.  I love holiday baking and all the fun holiday foods that we never seem to eat at any other time of the year.  Parties and special days are great for whipping up a tried and true recipe for a favorite dip or cookie to take along.  It's not always so good for my waistline, though!

I also had the chance to purchase a new kitchen gadget this month with the great Cyber Monday deals.  I got an Instant Pot through Amazon for a great deal.  I'm still learning this new gadget, but so far, I am liking it!  However, this post is about my menu plan for the month, not my new kitchen toy, so here is the plan:

Week 1:
1st (Thursday): Crock Pot Chicken (but instead of cooking it all day, I used my new Instant Pot and went from frozen to done in about 30 minutes).
2nd (Friday): Pizza (couples night, we had Papa Murphy's)
3rd (Saturday): Leftovers (and a new Mac and cheese recipe to test out the new toy)
4th (Sunday): Pot Roast

Week 2:
5th (Monday): Enchilada Casserole (I have had this in the freezer and I have a late meeting, so it's perfect for Jon to just throw in the oven and bake it til it's done!)
6th (Tuesday): Creamy Chicken Piccata (going to try it in the IP, because we also have a strings concert for the youngest)
7th (Wednesday): Spaghetti
8th (Thursday): Homemade Pizza
9th (Friday): Chili
10th (Saturday): Leftovers (also my big cookie baking day for a couple of fun events later in the month!)
11th (Sunday): Paninis

Week 3:
12th (Monday): Chicken teriyaki with rice
13th (Tuesday):  Beef Stew
14th (Wednesday):  ???  Still thinking about this one.  Possibly Ramnoodle and Kielbasa
15th (Thursday):  Beef Stroganoff
16th (Friday):  Potato Soup
17th (Saturday):  Leftovers  (I have a fun Christmas event this day, to which I'll also be taking my favorite artichoke dip.)
18th (Sunday):  Tacos

Week 4:
19th (Monday): Leftover Tacos
20th (Tuesday): Stromboli
21st (Wednesday):  ??? Gotta leave some room for fun during Winter Break.
22nd (Thursday): ??? 
23rd (Friday): Chicken with Angel Hair and Bearnaise sauce
24th (Saturday):  Christmas Eve: we are hosting a dinner at our church.  I'm supplying a roasted turkey.
25th (Sunday):  Christmas!!  We are traveling.

From here, the menu plan gets a little more open and free flowing.  We will be traveling for at least 3 days of the next week, which means little cooking for me (yay) but also eating out probably.  Once we get back, it will be enjoying the last few days of Winter break before we go back to school on January 3rd.  I may want to use that time to create culinary masterpieces (ha!) for my family, or I might want to use the time to enjoy being with my family.  Or maybe a combination of both.  Either way, it'll all come together.
Enjoy your December, and Merry Christmas!!

xo,
Becca