In our household, I plan our dinners for the week on Monday, and we do our grocery shopping on Tuesday evening. On occasion, during especially busy seasons, I don't get a chance to meal plan, and I am always reminded just how much easier and stress-free our weeks roll by when I have a plan in place.

{This Week's Meal Plan}

Monday ~ Slow-Cooker Barbecue Chicken (see recipe below)*
Tuesday ~ Beans and Rice
Wednesday ~ Freezer Meal #4: Swedish Meatballs
Thursday ~ Leftovers
Friday ~ Pizza (Little Caesars for the kids, Papa Murphy's for me and Dan [with a coupon code])
Saturday ~ The Melting Pot for me and Dan (It's my birthday!), leftover pizza for kids
Sunday ~ Chicken Spaghetti

*I always serve a veggie with each meal, but I usually just list the entrées on my meal plans.

{Slow-Cooker Barbecue Chicken}

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for good slow-cooker recipes, and this one just might be my all-time favorite! It's frugal, super-easy, delicious, and freezes really well. I've also made giant batches of this to serve at parties.

Ingredients:
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (either fresh or frozen)
1 (28 oz.) bottle barbecue sauce (We like Sweet Baby Ray’s “Honey Barbecue Sauce.”)
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
½ - 1 tsp. garlic powder
Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns, if desired

Directions:
1. In a bowl, mix barbecue sauce (I use about ¾ of a bottle), vinegar, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder.
2. Place chicken in slow-cooker. Pour sauce over chicken.
3. Heat on LOW for 4-6 hours. (Be careful not to set the temperature too high or chicken will be dry.)
4. You can enjoy the chicken breasts whole, but we like to shred them up and pile the chicken on kaiser rolls or hamburger buns.

Tips:

• In our area, I've found that the best price on boneless skinless chicken breast is at Sam's Club for $1.89/pound. If I am using the humongous chicken breasts from Sam's for this recipe, I only use 2-3 of them, and I cut them in half first.
• I use a 4-quart slow-cooker. If you use a bigger one, you may want to reduce cooking time.
• To make clean-up easy, I line the slow-cooker with one of these. Bonus: the box says the liners are BPA-free! (Slow-cooker liners had to be invented by a mom, don't you think?)
• I used to shred the chicken breasts with forks, but then I became the proud mama of an aqua-colored Kitchen-Aid mixer. {Cue angels singing.} With the flat beater locked into place, the mixer makes quick work of shredding up those chicken breasts! I toss them in one at a time and then transfer them back to the slow-cooker.

I can't wait to hear how you like love this recipe!