What's For Dinner? September Week 1

{Week of September 1-7}

CSA bag (after some trading):

Contents:  potatoes, cucumber, 2 bags of green beans, bell peppers, onion and tomatoes.  Fruit:  mixed bag of apples and peaches.

On the menu this week:

1) Weelicious whole wheat oat pancakes and oatmeal in the crock pot for school morning breakfasts

2) chocolate frosted zucchini brownies for Labor Day picnic

3) crock pot chicken and cornmeal dumplings for Sunday supper

4) mini meatloaves with cheesy, baked mashed potatoes and green bean salad with cherry tomatoes

5) crispy southwest chicken wraps

6) sloppy joes

7) hot dogs and sausages

Both breakfast recipes were quick and easy to prep the night before.  Oatmeal in the crock pot is always my go-to breakfast when I haven't had time to make a pancake or waffle batter or just when we need a break from pancakes or waffles.

For dinner meal prep, I did the chicken and dumplings on Sunday night because it was a crock pot meal.  As it turned out, Craig had something going on this evening and it was a good thing he did because, despite what it looks, this was actually a "2 servings" recipe.  The kids and I each devoured it and left just a tad remaining.  In the future, I will double this for our fam.  It was easy and oh-so-good!  I couldn't really imagine how dropping dollops of cornmeal batter into the pot would "bake" it to a desirable consistency, but it did!  The dumplings were moist but cornbread-like.  Not soggy at all.

I didn't get pictures of our Labor Day picnic, but the brownies were AMAZING!!  In my humble opinion, of course.

Our fave meatloaf dinner was easy to prep entirely in advance.  The meatloaves were mixed and shaped into individual servings on a cookie sheet and the mashed potatoes had to bake anyway, so they were scooped into a pie plate and ready to go in the oven with the meatloaves.  I just made the green bean salad up quick while the other things were in the oven.  We also had grapes (leftover from Will's "purple day" snack).

Craig drew the kids' initials on their meatloaves with ketchup.  :-) 

My plate.  Sooo yummy.  I am addicted to that green bean salad, if you can't tell.  It's the only thing I do with the beans we get this summer.  LOVE it! 

The in-advance prep for these wraps was to cook, cool and shred the chicken and combine it with the rest of the filling ingredients (chopped peppers, black beans, etc.) in a container.  Then, when I got home from work, I just assembled these into tortillas with sour cream and shredded cheese and "sealed" them by lightly pan frying the wrap on both sides for the "crispy" effect.  I also had fresh salsa made up to top these with and we served them with corn on the cob.

On this night, Craig went grocery shopping early for a change and ate later than us.  Once again, the sloppy joe mix was easy to prep in its entirety in advance and then just warm on the stove top.  I had leftover green bean salad alongside mine and the kids and I both had some more raw veggies.

And finally, Friday was hot dog/sausage night per the rest of my family's request.  The kids eat the natural casing hot dogs from House of Meats and Craig and I like the sausages.  More chips and salsa on the side along with apple slices and more raw veggies.

That's it!  Loving these easier weeks with meals already made!