Good morning, everybody! I am moving very slowly today because I had an extremely gruelling weekend. I want to get motivated to actually get stuff done today, but I'm not overly optimistic.

One of the problems I have with menu planning is that I have all these plans that don't necessarily come to fruition. It's like vegetables. You buy a whole ton all at once because you realize you haven't had any salad in a few weeks, and then it just sits in the fridge rotting because you can't be bothered to cut it up.

I actually love fruit and veggies, and so do my kids. But too often I don't finish all my veggies because I can't be bothered to cut them up when I'm in the middle of a busy day. So let me ask: what do you all do about snacks? How do you get things going more quickly? I'd love to know!

In the meantime, here is my overly ambitious plan for meals this week. I do hope I follow through!

Monday: This will be an easy one. The girls are in a piano festival this afternoon that doesn't finish until 6, so we're taking them out to celebrate.

Tuesday: Beef pot pie. I have leftover beef and gravy from a roast I made recently, and I'm going to make a beef pot pie. I love these! I just mix beef and fresh veggies together, add the gravy and some beef broth, and then put it in a 9x13 pan. Then I cover with two pie crusts. It's not exactly a pie, but it tastes exactly the same. And it's easier to make! And you end up with proportionally more beefy stuff and less pie crust.

Wednesday: Spaghetti. We haven't had pasta in a while for some reason, and it's time we tried again.

Thursday: Lemon Pepper Catfish. Our grocery store sells this with the seasoning already on, and one of my daughters just loves it. The other doesn't, but I'm a firm believer in eating fish every week. And Thursday we'll be rushed because of part 2 of said piano festival, so having something quick I can stick in the oven will help.

Friday: Whole roasted chicken. I've been waiting for whole chickens to go on sale at my grocery store, and they finally did! So we're having chicken. I just put garlic cloves under the skin, and then cover with a seasoning, and it's really really good. One tip: don't put salt directly on the chicken. It draws out the moisture, and then the chicken isn't as juicy.

So that's what we're doing this week! But I'd still love some feedback: how do you handle the veggie/fruit snack problem? Do you pre-cut it? And if so, how do you keep it fresh?