You’d think that after years of working full and part-time that I would have gotten it together and come up with some kind of plan for dinner prep. I never have! Is that crazy or what? I have always just flown by the seat of my pants when it comes to making dinner for my family.
Finally though … hubby and I came up with a plan.
We created a meal plan for the days that I work. Since those days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we came up with a rotating dinner menu for the three days.
Let’s talk about Monday’s dinner.
We take out thin chicken fillets the night before and marinate them in:
2 tbsp of olive oil
half lemon ( squeezed), the other half cut into slices
2 cloves of garlic crushed
salt and pepper
1 tbsp of rosemary
1 tbsp of thyme
… all inside of a large Ziploc bag.

The rice cooker is prepped and turned on 30 minutes before dinner is expected to be ready. I fry the chicken fillets in a grilling pan over the stove until cooked just right.
I throw in the oven, pre-cut broccoli and cauliflower heads on a flat cooking sheet. I lightly coat each veggie head with olive oil and then sprinkly garlic powder over top of them.
I cook the veggies in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 425 degrees until almost golden brown.
We always have Greek salad on Mondays. I do all the prep cutting the night before and then leave it in the fridge covered. Before serving it, I dump in the Feta cheese and then season it with oil, a bit of salt and lemon juice.
Cooking has never been easier and I owe it all to creating a weekly, rotating meal plan. We tweek our dinners every now and then depending on how much extra time we may have.
We leave the crazy, random creation of dinners for Thursdays and Fridays when I’m home and have all day.
Meal planning works great for us!
How do you balance working and making meals for your family? Do you have a meal plan? Would love to hear about it! Leave ideas in the comments or better yet, link up a meal idea or recipe down below and join in our monthly recipe swap called Why Fake It? Just Make It!

I have a similar recipe, you can’t go wrong with lemon garlic chicken! And the greek salad looks delicious.
Well, my post is just perfect for this month’s linky! I love your recipe for a simple and delish marinated chicken ready for the next day, and OH how I want a rice maker!