This week's Menu Plan Monday is brought to you by Bre (of Thrilling Thrifties) from Portland! She's a stay at home mom of three: a 9 year old daughter, a 5 year old son and a 5 year old daughter (yes twin 5 year olds) and two dogs.  She's an avid couponer,  blogger and soccer mom!  With all her Monday recipes she makes two and freezes one meal to have three weeks later! Here's Bre's menu plan for this week: MONDAY: Breakfast for dinner -- Bacon cheddar waffles, fresh fruit, and scrambled eggs TUESDAY: American Chop Suey, to make this more delicious add 1 cup cheddar cheese, top with bread crumbs and bake @450 until golden brown, and a loaded Keep Reading

Here's my big confession: I am not a planner. At all. I totally see the benefits, but I don't enjoy actually sitting down and planning stuff. I enjoy following that plan even less. It's not that I'm particularly spontaneous gal, it think I'm just exceedingly lazy. And when it comes to menu planning, I secretly hope that my lack of planning will result in going out to dinner more. Which I really love to do. But, alas, I have a 10 pound tube of ground beef in my refrigerator that really must be cooked TODAY. So, here's my plan. And it's really not that exciting, so I'd love some suggestions to spice it up! MONDAY: Spaghetti -- I plan to cook up about Keep Reading

I've taken a 4 month hiatus from planning menus and I couldn't be more frantic.  Every night we have the same stressful hour where we pour over what we are going to prepare.  I haven't cooked a lot of my favorite bean recipes in forever because these take at least 2 hours to make.  It's not hard to leave a small pot of something sitting on the stove all afternoon, but it is hard to magically make them cook in 10 minutes when I am starving.  This is why I'm glad I'm being "forced" to get my act back together.  I can resurrect some of my favorite meals and maybe ad an ounce sanity to our chaotic house. Monday: Black Bean Soup - 1 can black beans, 1 can Keep Reading

Here's what's for dinner at our house this week.  You may notice that my dishes look a little more involved and possibly not budget friendly as some, but I make it work by cooking most of the items from scratch AND I love to cook!  I also get paid to cook for a friend who works full time, so some of the dishes are her choices. You might also notice that I don't eat beef.  My husband, on the other hand, does.  But I'm the cook, so I get to choose.  My parents spoil him plenty when they come to town. Monday - Almond chicken (from the chicken e-book) with Veggie Rice* Tuesday - Pizza (homemade dough) with sausage (save 1/2 sausage for Saturday's Keep Reading

We're bringing back the menu plan feature to Frugal Living NW. Each Monday, the four of us (and hopefully some of our readers!) will take turns sharing our weekly menu plans with you! I know, you can hardly contain your excitement. I, for one, love reading what other people are eating for dinner. I also like to watch what people are buying in the grocery store and try to figure out what they are going to make with it. I know, I am easily amused. For you normal folks out there, you may be thinking : "Seriously? Posting your dinner plans? That's just... strange." Remember, though, we are also the people who post pictures of our groceries. Couponers Keep Reading