Menu for the Week

After being married for nearly six years, my husband has eaten quite a few burned, over-salted or under-flavored meals. Looking to improve any existing cooking skills, or lack thereof, I decided to sign up for local cooking classes through the community center. It was there I met Dawn Billesbach, creator of Menu for the Week.

In the classes each week, I learned how to prepare absolutely delicious and easy meals, all of which contained common ingredients found in any grocery store. Throughout the class, Dawn offered tips that made cooking easy and affordable and gave each student an easy to follow recipe. After the classes finished, I was literally amazed that great tasting food could take so little time and effort.

Dawn created the online-based Menu for the Week as a way to take the workload out of planning and making meals. As most of us can account for, sitting over cookbooks and making grocery lists simply gets overwhelming at times. Dawn says, "The hardest part of dinner is not the cooking. It starts with deciding what to have and figuring out what we need."

Each week, subscribers to the site are sent via email seven various recipes covering breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert in addition to a shopping list for every item you will need for the week. To make shopping even easier, Dawn splits up ingredients based on what you need from each department of the grocery store. No more walking back and forth because you forgot an item in Produce.

Each of the meals on Menu for the Week is prepared in less than 30 minutes, and features a handful of ingredients to keep meals simple and beyond flavorful. Aside from being sent easy to follow recipes, there are additional perks to signing up for the site. For those who have the bad habit of eating out (me), learning to make great meals at home not only allows you to eat healthier, but you save a TON of money by not eating at restaurants. The ingredients in each recipe also helps you stay healthy, since you know exactly what you are eating and can tailor it to your diet needs.

One problem I had was making the same boring meal over and over. With Menu for the Week, I make a different dish each night ranging from Mexican, Italian and Chinese just to name a few. Dawn provides plenty of variety in the weekly menu by adding a crock-pot dish for those hurried nights, as well as beef, chicken and pork dishes.

As much as I love every meal from Dawn's recipe collection, here is just one sample of a delicious dinner you can make in less than 30 minutes:

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Szechwan Chicken

Cooking time: 30 minutes

½ cup water
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
½ tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp honey
½ tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts-cut into bite sized pieces
4 green onions-sliced
4 cloves garlic-minced
1 16-ounce bag frozen stir fry vegetable blend
2 cups cooked rice

1) In a small bowl, combine water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper, and ground ginger. Set aside.

2) Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Stir in green onions and garlic; cook for 30 seconds. Stir in sauce.

3) Add frozen vegetables. Cook for 2 minutes; stirring often. Reduce heat and cover until vegetables are tender- about 5 minutes.

4) Serve over rice.

*If your family doesn't like the vegetables in the stir-fry mix, use fresh vegetables that you know they like-you will need to cook longer once covered.

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Subscribing to Menu for the Week is simple. Visit menufortheweek.com, and sign up for a 6-month membership for $25, or a 1-year subscription for only $40. If you know someone who could also use less stress in the kitchen, Dawn offers a 6-month subscription for two at $40. Want to try it out before signing up? Visit menufortheweek.com for a free trial week, which includes menu and shopping list.