On The Menu for the 3rd Week Of January
Plan your meals easily using this cozy and comforting menu plan for the 3rd week of January! It’s packed with hearty dinners and delicious treats and is perfect for busy winter days.
I’ve been in the mood to cook lately. I love to be in the kitchen but recently I’m even more drawn to my favorite room at the Tanglewood House! Winter means warm, cozy food that is easy to cook and makes our homes smell scrumptious! I have a great menu plan for you this week! Let’s cook!
Do you menu plan or cobble dinner together every night or fall back on take-out? I’m a huge fan of creating healthy, delicious meals and encouraging family and friends to gather around our table for yummy food and heart-filling fellowship.
The menus I share every week are what we eat. We may not eat all of it, but I have a good idea of what we are having for dinner almost every night. A menu plan is just that… a plan. It’s a framework and it is flexible. It’s not written in stone!
There are days I just don’t want to or have the time to cook and that is okay! And there are days I hanker for something other than what is on my menu. And that is okay, too! I am not a slave to my weekly menus, they work for ME, and hopefully you too!
Here’s what’s on the menu this week…
MONDAY
Did you know you can make cooked pasta in a ONE-PAN meal? No need to boil your pasta.
This is my favorite way to cook pasta. It’s so easy! If you have not made pasta in one pan, you need to give it a try! You won’t go back!
I love this easy dish from RasaMalaysia!
I’m adding grilled Italian Sausage to this yummy pasta dish for Bobby! YUM!
- ONE PAN PASTA
- GRILLED ITALIAN SAUSAGE
- GREEK SALAD
TUESDAY
Bobby’s favorite soup is Mushroom! And this recipe from Cafe Delites is one of my favorite soup recipes!
January is a big soup month for us! I was raised on great soup. My Nani was a fabulous soup maker! And her whole house smelled like something wonderful was cooking. She made Mushroom soup. It was part of her heritage, but her recipe was not passed down. I like to think it would have tasted something like Karina’s glorious soup.
Creamy and flavorful with chunks of beautiful Mushrooms. Soup perfection!
WEDNESDAY
Make sure to visit Once Upon A Chef. It is a swoon-worthy foodie blog!
On the menu tonight are crabcakes. They are a treat we have for dinner a few times a year.
Crabcakes are serious business to me! Truth be told, I’m a crabcake snob! We live quite close to the Chesapeake, and crabs are a way of life there. I’ve had the best of the best crabcakes but also some really horrible crab cakes, too.
The most delicious crabcakes use the best lump crab and very little filler! They are a celebration of this funny-looking crustacean. A crabcake worthy of being eaten is filled with big chunks of sweet meat and seasoned with Old Bay! Honestly, the best crabcakes are the ones we make at home.
And homemade crabcakes deserve homemade tartar sauce. So make the sauce, too! My recipe is very close to Jenn’s. I don’t use celery, and instead of Panko, I use a piece of white bread torn into pieces. But I’m sure the taste will be the same.
This dinner is delicious, easy, perfect for a weeknight treat, and company-worthy!
THURSDAY
Skirt steak should be your go-to meat! It’s mine! It cooks up so quickly, and the taste is deep and beefy and so good! I’ll use my cast iron grill pan to make this recipe from The Lemon Bowl.
If you can’t find skirt steak you can use flank steak. They are a little different but will work with this main dish,.
FRIDAY
I LOVE chicken piccata! It’s lemony and briny and just so delicious. Chicken piccata is a quick dish that works for a weeknight but is so company-worthy!
We usually serve it over angel hair pasta, but I’m making lots of Nani’s sauteed rice on Thursday, so we can eat it again tonight. Thanks, How To Feed A Loon, a StoneGable Foodie Favorite Blog!
SATURDAY-COMPANY’S COMING
My friend Donna is coming for dinner tonight. We have been friends for well over thirty years, and that is a whole lot of living! Everyone needs a Donna in their life! Someone who sticks to you like glue in good times, bad times, and every time in between!
Salmon and balsamic vinegar are the perfect match, just like Donna and me!
Seasons, in downtown Lancaster, is THE place for gorgeous vinegars and oils. Over the holidays, I picked up several wonderful vinegars, including fig balsamic vinegar. It’s just the perfect ingredient for this recipe.
I can’t wait to make this easy recipe from Cooking Classy, another StoneGable Foodie Favorite Blog.
SUNDAY
This recipe from I Heart Naptime is great for watching the football
TREAT OF THE WEEK
Do you love scones? I do, too. Scones are such a delightful foil for lots of butter and jam! Oh, YUM!
The sour cream scones featured as the week’s sweet treat are really not very sweet at all. But the flavor is amazing! These scones have lots of nooks and crannies to hold butter and jam and a sweet glaze and sanding of sanding sugar to top them off. They are just begging to be eaten for breakfast with a big cup of coffee or tea.
This is an old recipe but the scones are so delicious!
MORE DELICIOUS RECIPES…
This Parmesan Pasta Soup is Bobby’s dream soup. If you are a pasta lover, you will love this soup!
We make this scrumptious Beef Pot Roast all year long but it is especially good when the weather is cold.
Coq au Vin with Brown Butter Sage Mashed Potatoes sounds so rustically French! I really need to give this recipe a try!
I’m a big Chili fan. Here’s my traditional Chili, and here’s a White Chicken Chili too!
While citrus is so plentiful why not make a beautiful and Simple Citrus Salad?
Loaded Baked Potato Casserole is a great side dish.
I’ve been having healthy-ish muffins and a piece of fruit for breakfast recently. Doesn’t this Healthy Chai Vanilla Maple Muffin sound wonderful?
Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding sounds so interesting.
Cookie bars are my favorite to make. These 7 Layer Bars are so easy to make.
Cold days are perfect for Nani’s Pork and Cabbage soup. This is just so so good!
Gingerbread Ice Cream! ‘Nuff said!
I am the biggest fan of Swedish Meatballs. I can’t wait to make this recipe.
Have a scrumptious week, friends!
Your recipes always look inviting, comforting, and enjoyable for families. Those of us who cook for only ourselves still crave that comfort factor, yet are challenged by waiting til we are hungry to begin to cook, then going blank midway.
When I got married I literally did not know how to cook a hotdog! I decided early on that my mission was to create wonderful healthy family meals. I plan my meals at least 2 weeks at a time. That way I can insure all items get used up by working out all the details. I start in the fall with a homemade soup every week and freeze a couple meals – I build my soup inventory. I keep a notebook that lists my grocery list on one page, and on the back of that page I list my meals. It’s not cast in stone, but it’s a guide. I do major shopping 2 times a month – and fill in fresh ingredients along the way. I shop between 3 different stores – each store has it’s specialty – one has fantastic locally raised beef and pork, another has organic chicken, and another, Trader Joe’s, is fun. I think by planning all these meals it has kept us healthier, maintain a stable weight, and saves money at the same time. I hope my meal plan may inspire people.
I hope so too Lyn! And I hope Trader Joe’s come to Lancaster County. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TRADER JOE’S?????
Agree….let’s get a Trader Joe’s in Lancaster area soon! I see all these posts with “what I got at TJ’s” and would love to not have to drive so far to shop!!!
I KNOW!
I fixed the Burrito Bowl last night– FABULOUS! Just read Lyns Post on the value of menu planning. She has a great routine for this…wish I was as consistent!
Can’t wait to start ….going to make all. Thanks
Yvonne,
I couldn’t be more pleased that you are bringing back the menus! I have been going back to the archives constantly to find inspiration for our meals. I became gluten-sensitive after the COVID-19 vaccines and need to adjust many of the recipes, but at least I have a delicious framework to start with for my week.
Thanks again for the effort it takes you to create these,
Doroth
I’m so glad you! I’m not sure if I will do them every week. It just depends on how busy I am.
Yvonne, when you had stopped doing On the Menu last year, I was heartbroken. I love your posts and look forward to them each week. So, I was thrilled when I saw that you were bringing On the Menu back!! It honestly brought so much joy to me to see this. I am a lifelong native of Lancaster County who moved away last year after I married my husband who is in the Army. It is so comforting to read your weekly menu and feel a little bit of home all the way out here in Colorado. Thank you for bringing back this little bit of joy into my life <3
You are so welcome. They may not be every week, as my schedule is so busy. But I’ll do what I can. So happy to send a bit of beautiful bucolic Lancaster Co your way!