Hello my lovely friends!
It has been forever since I wrote a post (I feel like I have been starting 70% of my blog posts with that), but I am determined to make it up to you with a glance at this week's menu.
Pete and I went on vacation to California over Christmas and yet, despite it now being FEBRUARY, are in some ways still recovering. Because after 6 days off, we both had to jump right back in with work and there was extra cleaning from being gone, and Pete's birthday, and more work...
That is to say, our menu planning has been... unfortunate. The meals we have had at home have been mostly thanks to my freezer prep of 15 meals in early December, but we have taken to lots of last minute trips to the grocery, takeout, delivery, and other less than ideal options.
But, I used this weekend to try and get back on track, and I have some excellent meals planned for this week. The kitchen is clean, the dishes are (mostly) done, and we are ready for another busy week of work and fun.
This week's recipes are half from pinterest / blogs I read regularly, and half from old favorites in the household. I have really been searching out meals that are more whole ingredients, and have starting perusing vegan recipes... not because I am about to give up all animal products, but because I feel like Pete and I could both benefit from recipes that are more vegetable and vegetable protein, and less meat, cheese, and butter.
Monday: we are having a meatless Monday with Apple Parsnip soup and a kale and brussels sprouts salad .
I am looking forward to a vegetable dense meal after a long inventory day at work. I think I will add some white beans to the soup for a little boost of protein in the soup. Pete and I love brussels sprouts and I am excited for this uber healthy, green salad
Tuesday: I am pulling a chicken pot pie out of the freezer. That is not to say that we bought some freezer aisle, preservative laden pot pie. A month or so ago, I found a recipe for pot pies that made two. So we made up one for dinner that night and one to put in the freezer for later. The recipe is from a "freezer cooking" magazine I got in November. Perhaps if I keep up with this blogging thing, I may post it soon...
Wednesday: Good ole' fashioned pot roast. We have a roast in the freezer, we have onions and carrots and potatoes in the fridge... Just throw them all together and you have Pete's favorite dinner.
Thursday: Another new recipe from menshealth.com. I found this one through a list of whole food crockpot recipes and I am excited to try it. Pete and I both love lamb, and curry though I am often limited on the curry side since I am allergic to coconut. So imagine my excited surprise when this lamb curry recipe contained no coconut milk!
Friday: Thai peanut noodles. A vegan recipe that looks super enjoyable, and quick to make!
Saturday: Tuna Casserole. A dish that was once a subject of nightmares (choking down a whole mouthful of things I didn't like just because I was at a friends house and my mom wasn't there to save me) became a recipe of interest in college when I tried a friends mom's version and I have been thinking about it ever since... Browsed a number of recipes to find this one that doesn't have any condensed soup in it: Martha Stewert's tuna casserole
Sunday: keeping it simple with pork green chile and quesadillas. I made up what turned out to be a HUGE batch of green chile after I went to the chile festival in Pueblo with my parents in late August. (early september?) Its delicious an another recipe that... maybe should I be habitual with this blogging thing, I will post at a later date.
So that's the plan! And who knows what may come up, but it is nice to have a plan for dinner for all 7 nights and adjust as needed when things come up. I am not doing much prep for any of these recipes but instead kept to pretty simple. Tonight, I will prep everything for tomorrow's soup and the salad dressing... and that is really all the work I need to do for Monday and Tuesday's meals. Since I close Wenesday and Thursday, I have some prep time built into my morning.
Building a weekly meal plan and doing a little extra prep during the weekend has really helped us to keep from falling into the "call the delivery guy" plan b that everyone secretly has. Since I eat restaurant food everyday as my meal break, I feel especially bad about going out during the week because restaurant food inevitably has more sodium, fat, calories and is more expensive than the make at home counterpart.
What do you do to help you enjoy healthy meals at home throughout busy weeks?
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