This week’s meal plan is inspired in part by the shipment of pasta I got for a product review. I’ve got two boxes of Ronzoni Whole Wheat Rotini, one box of Ronzoni Smart Taste Rotini, two boxes of Smart Taste Spaghetti, and one box of Whole Wheat Spaghetti. The best part? I’m giving away MORE Ronzoni pasta away in a giveaway on MomReviews!

So, to find a recipe that uses Whole Wheat Rotini, my first stop was emealsforyou. I clicked the recipe finder, and sure enough, in the ingredients list I found Whole Wheat Rotini. So, Kaitlyn and I will be eating this Pasta Salad for lunch this week (I’ll double the recipe):

Recipe Summary Complexity: Easy
Serves: 1
Category: Diet Friendly
Meal: Week 1 (Careful and Carefree MealPlans)
0.5 cup pasta, whole wheat rotini, cooked
0.5 medium scallions, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, cherry
1 small carrots, fresh, whole
0.5 stalk celery, chopped
0.25 tsp mayo, low fat
0.25 tsp mustard, dijon
0.5 Tb cilantro, chopped

Pasta salad is so easy! Cook the pasta, drain and rinse with cool water. Chop the veggies, add to the pasta. Mix the dressing ingredients together, then pour over the top and toss gently to blend. It usually tastes best if you make it ahead of time and let it chill in the fridge so the flavors can blend.

For the spaghetti, I’ll make my Super-Easy-and-Delicious Sausage Spaghetti Sauce:

One roll Bob Evans Italian Sausage
Dried Minced Onion
Garlic Powder
Two cans Hunt’s Traditional Spaghetti Sauce
One 14 ounce can italian-style stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup Merlot (optional)

You can also saute some chopped onion and minced fresh garlic first, but it’s just as easy and tasty to brown the sausage and sprinkle it with the dried onion and garlic powder. Drain the extra grease if there is any, then add the spaghetti sauce, tomatoes and the Merlot. Turn the heat up until it starts to boil, then turn it down to keep it simmering. Let it simmer for at least an hour. This is a very customizable recipe-you can add dried spices like basil or oregano, more garlic, some chopped fresh parsley, whatever you like. It tastes even better the next day!

I’ve been in the mood for ham lately, so I’ll buy some lean ham steaks and serve them with au gratin potatoes, steamed broccoli, and Double-Quick Dinner Rolls:

2 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or unbleached flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 package regular or quick active dry yeast
1 cup very warm water (120°F to 130°F)
2 tablespoons shortening
1 egg

1. Mix 1 1/4 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl. Add water, shortening and egg; beat with spoon until smooth. Stir in remaining flour until smooth. Scrape batter from side of bowl. Cover and let rise in warm place about 30 minutes or until double.
2. Grease 12 regular-size muffin cups. Stir down batter by beating about 25 strokes. Spoon into muffin cups. Let rise 20 to 30 minutes or until batter rounds over tops of cups.
3. Heat oven to 400ºF. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

That’s as much planning as I’ve done so far this week, I’m hoping to get inspired by seeing what all of you are planning to make. Please sign the linky and leave a comment so I can come see your menu plan! And please visit the original home of Menu Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie. Her plan for this week can be found here.