Weekly Meal Plans

Menu 5/18/2014

  1. stir fry (chicken, asparagus, green onion)
  2. out of town
  3. local Japanese place for sushi fix
  4. simple roasted prime rib w/ horseradish cream sauce w/ grilled cabbage with bacon
  5. trivia - grilled hamburgers w/ dilled bean salad
  6. mom’s chicken w/ broccoli w/ roasted potatoes
  7. roasted shoulder of lamb w/ veg of the day chipotle due to car shopping taking longer than expected

Now that summer is here, my meal plans get to revolve around whatever is available at the farmers market.  That means a lot of asparagus.  This is very exciting.  We will all be sick of it by the time the season is over.  

Hopefully I’ll be able to make enough food on the four nights I am cooking this week to provide enough leftovers for lunches and the nights I’m not cooking.  The never-ending challenge - cooking just the right amount of food.

Menu 5/4/2014

  1. out
  2. easy stir-fried chicken with ginger and scallions w/ rice
  3. trivia/chipotle
  4. voice master class (slow cooker beef stew) w/ rice
  5. choir party (baked tofu sticks)
  6. lamb meatballs with feta and lemon w/ greek orzo w/ roasted asparagus
  7. grilled short ribs w/ broccoli

I’m going to try to ease back into menu posting.  I have a ton of recipes that I want to post and I’d like to get back into that, but my life is pretty scheduled and busy these days so I’m not sure how I’ll be able to fit it into my life.  Maybe I’ll try to work on just posting recipes and not bother with pictures.  At least until I get into the habit of posting again.

Menu 8/5/2013

1. Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
2. Pasta with Sausage, Basil, and Sundried Tomatoes
3. Easy Sesame Chicken w/ broccoli w/ rice
4. burgers w/ fries
5. Out
6. Out
7. Out

Another week where I only managed to cook 4 out of 7 meals.  Clearly we have a trend that needs to be broken!

Menu 8/12/2013

1. Leftovers
2. Tilapia Piccata
3. Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze w/ Spicy Baked Brown Rice
4. Chicken and Black Bean Green Enchilada Rice Bake
5. Out 
6. Out
7. Out

While I only managed to cook 3 out of 7 dinners this week, it was a very strange week.  Art came home unexpectedly for the weekend, we had dinner out with a friend on Friday, and we bought a new car on Saturday that had us back to the house entirely too late for cooking!  

I know my meal plans have been pretty subpar recently but I’m hoping that will turn around in the near future.  Be prepared!

Menu 7/29/2013

1. Breakfast for Dinner (omelets – bacon, mushroom, swiss cheese, hashbrowns)
2. Oslo-Style Kebabs w/ sauces
3. Sultan’s Delight w/ naan
4. spaghetti
5. Out
6. Leftovers
7. Out

This was a bit of a crummy week, I only managed to make dinner 4 out of 7 nights.  But we had tasty food and survived!

Menu 7/22/2013

1. DIY
2. Fish Tacos (cabbage)
3. Sultan’s Delight w/ naan
4. Breakfast for Dinner (omelets – bacon, mushroom, swiss, hashbrowns)
5. some sort of meat w/ French Onion Casserole w/ roasted zucchini and patty pan
6. Dinner with parents!
7. Oslo-Style Kebabs w/ sauces
Lunches: Panzanella

So this was the meal plan for last week.  The only meals that ended up as planned were meal 1 and meal 6.  I spent most of the week in pain in bed due to a new kidney stone and this was not conducive to cooking.  Sigh.

Menu 7/15/2013

(Monday) 1. Creamy Chicken Peperonata w/ pasta
2. Chicken in Creamy Parmesan Sauce with Artichokes and Tomatoes w/ egg noodles w/ Roasted Zucchini (vb6)
3. Baked Angel Hair with Eggplant 4. roast pork loin w/ Roasted Beet Risotto w/ salad 5. tacos
6. Out to Joes
(Sunday) 7. Fish Tacos Lunch: Gazpacho (vb6)

This week has a few changes that are worth mentioning.  The first to mention is the dates.  I’m shifting my meal planning/shopping day from Sunday to Monday which means that my first day of the food week will now be Monday as well.  I added an 8th meal to last week’s meal plan to account for this shift.  

The second to mention is the “vb6” that you see next to some of the recipes.  I try not to fill my blog with my own food politics, because I don’t feel this is the right forum for that.  However, this is a topic I am passionate about.  My ideal diet (and I’m using the word in the “kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats” sense) would be to mainly eat veg*n and just have meat a few times a week.  However, I share my life with two people who want to have meat at least daily.  

Mark Bittman recently released a book named VB6 (Vegan Before 6) that promotes the idea of eating avoiding animal products and hyper processed foods before dinner and then having whatever you want for your evening meal.  Ah-ha!  This I can work toward!  My idea is to keep my dinners mostly the same and just to make sure that I’ve got enough vb6 side dishes to keep me happy for my daytime meals as well.  I’ll probably make a big batch of something vb6 for lunches as well, just to ensure I’m getting enough variety.  

I’m not sure I’d recommend anyone to rush out and buy the book, although there are some tasty sounding recipes that I’m sure I’ll post about in the future, and a cookbook coming out in March that I’ve already pre-ordered.  There’s nothing in this book that’s super new or groundbreaking if food (and food politics) is an issue you’re already educated about.  But, if these are new ideas to you, it might be worth the read.  

In the future, if I remember, I’ll be marking the recipes that are vb6-style with (vb6) in my meal plans.

Menu 7/7/2013

1. A+G out of town, L fends for himself
2. Out to celebrate our 5th Cohabitiversary!
3. Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Dinner in a Skillet
4. Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic w/ rice
5. Creamy Chicken Peperonata w/ pasta Out!
6. Nacho Beef Skillet
7. Tater Tot Casserole
8. Out

It’s always hard to get back into the swing of meal planning after a week of not cooking at all.  I’m not feeling super adventurous.  After goofing around with my google bookmarks for a bit, I gave up and just picked a bunch of tried and true (recipes that I haven’t made for a while.

Menu 6/30/2013

1. Italian Ziti Bake w/ garlic bread 2-7. A+G out of town, L fends for himself

While working on this week’s meal plan (7/7/2013), I figured I should go ahead and post this one first.  Art and I were out of town for the whole week visiting his family, so Lance was left to fend for himself.  He had a fridge full of fish, Tetrazzini, and Ziti Bake, so he fared rather well!