Meal Plan Monday: lunch and dinner week of 3/2/15

I'm rather excited about some of the meals I'm trying this week. I received a new cookbook to review and found so many delicious looking recipes. I'll be sharing more on it after I actually try the recipes. This week I'm sharing most of my lunch and dinner plans, because many of them really could go either way.

• Turkey Reuben Wraps (from new cook book)
• Kale and White Bean Caesar Salad (from new cook book)
• Red Lentils and Quinoa (from new cook book)
• Jambalaya (from new cook book)
• Enchilada Ravioli
• Skillet Lasagna (or as my husband affectionately calls it "Lazy Anna")
• Family Style Nachos
• Spinach and Black Bean Taquitos
• Pizza
• Meatball Sandwiches
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches with apples
• Chicken Nuggets with mixed vegetables
• leftovers
• Potluck @ church -currently undecided on dish

What's your favorite potluck dish?

Meal Plan Monday: winter breakfasts

For this week's meal plan Monday I decided to share our breakfasts, because with all this snow many of us have been getting, cereal just doesn't cut it. I'm very fortunate to have time in the mornings to make breakfast, but I know not everyone does, so I've kept that in mind with this plan.

• Whole Wheat Banana Muffins (these will take about 45 minutes when you factor in preheating the oven, but only about 10 minutes of active prep. Making them the night before could be helpful.)
• Scrambled eggs and Toast
• Classic Pancakes with fresh fruit (These pancakes are ready to cook in about 5 minutes, so the amount of time these take to finish depends on your skillet size.)
• Homemade Instant Oatmeal (It has all the speed of instant oatmeal from a box, but much cheaper and usually healthier)
• Baked Oatmeal (This oatmeal will take about 45 minutes once you factor in preheating the oven, but only about 5 minutes of active prep. If that doesn't work for your morning routine, you can make it the night before.)
• French Toast with fruit, dusted with powdered sugar (Like the pancakes, the speed of these depend on the size of your griddle.)
• Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (These cookies only take a couple minutes to throw together and only take 15 minutes to bake, so they should be ready to eat in about a half hour. I'll be using almond milk instead of coconut milk, because that's what I have, but you can also use cow's milk)

If you're looking for more breakfast ideas, check out my pinterest board.

What's your favorite warm and cozy breakfast?

Meal Plan Monday: Picking from Pinterest

I was having a hard time picking out meals this week, so I ran over to Pinterest for some inspirations.

• Tortellini Soup (special request from David this week)
• Better-than-take-out Pad Thai
• Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
• Honey Sriracha Chicken w/ rice and broccoli (I made this recently and it was a winner, so we're having it again)
• Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls with rice
• Personal Pizzas -mine being inspired by this one
• Leftover night

What's for dinner at your house?
this post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: Get More Fiber!

This semester I am taking a nutrition class and I am currently working on an assignment about dietary fiber. I have to come up with a full day's meal plan that will meet my Adequate Intake recommendation for fiber. Just in case you're wondering, it's 25 grams per day for women and 38 grams per day for men.

Luckily for you all, I'm a total overachiever and I came up with multiple options and even included a calorie count to share with you. The menu is designed so that choosing any 3 meals (even all breakfasts) will provide you with at least 27 g of fiber and keep your intake under 1,500 Calories. For most adults, that leaves room for snacks and/or dessert. Men: you'll need to eat additional servings to make it up to 38 g of fiber the fruits will help you get there with the least amount of calories. (Please note: calories and fiber content can vary by brand, and even vary depending on which website you use to analyze the recipe, so use these as a general guide instead of a hard fast rule)

Breakfast (all contain 9 g of fiber or more):

• 1/2 C grape-nuts cereal, 1 small banana, and 1/2 C skim milk -350 Cal and 9.6g fiber
• 3 100% whole wheat pancakes* (4-5in diameter), 1 tsp butter per pancake, and 1 C halved strawberries -480 Cal and 9g fiber
• 1 C baked oatmeal, 1/2 grapefruit -496 Cal and 10.6 g fiber

*Follow the recipe using all whole wheat flour instead of both whole and all-purpose.

Lunch (all contain 10 or more grams of fiber):

• Black Bean Quesadilla (1/4C black beans, 1 whole wheat tortilla, 1 T salsa) and medium apple -275 Cal and 10.9 g fiber
• 2 Spinach and Black Bean Taquitos, 2 T salsa -472 Cal and 12.2 g fiber
• 1 egg salad sandwich (2 pieces 100% whole wheat bread*, fresh egg salad made with 2 eggs, 1/2 T miracle whip, and seasoning), 10 baby carrots -390 Cal and 10 g fiber

Dinner (all contain over 11 grams of fiber):

• 1 1/4 C Sweet Potato Chili, 1 serving jiffy corn muffins -472 Cal 12 g fiber
• 2 oz 100% whole wheat spaghetti, 1/2 C Prego brand Roasted garlic and herb pasta sauce, 4 1/2oz meatballs, spinach salad (1 C spinach, 2 T grated carrot, 5 cherry tomatoes, 1 T fat free raspberry vinaigrette) -488 Cal 11.37 g fiber
• Salad with everything except dressing (4 C spring mix, 1/4 C chopped sweet red pepper, 1 medium slice onion, 1/4 C sliced carrot, 1/2 C sliced cucumber, 1/4 whole avocado, 8 cherry tomatoes, 1/4 C chopped raw broccoli, 2 T craisins) and 1 100% whole wheat breadstick (made from my pizza dough -look for the breadstick instructions at the bottom of the page) -410 Calories 12.438 g Fiber 

Have you thought about your fiber intake recently?
this post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: beginning of February 2015

I think I'm coming down with something. A little bug has been making its rounds through my family with varying degrees of severity and I'm the last one to start. Wyatt spent all of last week sick, so I've picked pretty basic meals that won't take a lot of effort and won't require any items from the grocery beyond the basics. I'm just hoping I can make it to the store today before I get more than this tickle in my throat. If it turns out to be nothing or I am not sick for long, I'll probably trade out some of the meals which is why I'm not buying anything special.

• no-boil pasta bake
• no-boil tuna noodle casserole (recipe coming soon)
• loaded potato soup
• bean chili
• baked potatoes
• pizza bread
• big Italian salad (recipe coming eventually)

What do you like to eat when you're sick?

Meal Plan Monday: Dinners: January 26, 2015

I'm going to keep the intro short and sweet this week. Enjoy the menu!

Dinners:

• Sausage and Vegetable Stew
• Pizza with whole wheat crust with side salad
• Honey Sriracha Chicken with Rice and Broccoli
• Spaghetti and Meatballs with side salad
• Navajo tacos 
• skinny grilled buffalo chicken salad
• Quick and Easy Chow Mein

Meal Plan Monday: Full Menu: Week of January 19, 2015

Last week I was able to help one of my friends figure out how to stick to her grocery budget. I gave her a few tips specific to her preferred stores, but mostly just shared the information found in my meal planning series (click here for the first post in the series). When I checked in with her about how things are going, she said having her menu listed out is making a world of difference. She can simply look at her list and pick something knowing she has all of the ingredients already available to her. So in celebration of her success, I'm sharing another full menu this week.

Breakfasts:

• Baked Oatmeal x2
• Breakfast Pizza (inspired by the link I shared last week, but modified)
• Banana Muffins
• Berry Corn Muffins
• Old Fashioned Pancakes
• cereal w/ milk and fruit

Lunches:

• Pulled Pork Sandwiches and TBD party snacks (for Claire's 1st birthday)
• grilled cheese and soup
• peanut butter and jam sandwiches with carrots, celery, and apples x2
• Cauliflower Mac &Cheese
• tuna salad sandwiches with carrots, celery, and apples
• leftovers

Dinners:

• French Onion Soup (It got postponed when we had a spontaneous day out last week)
• slow cooked chicken w/ veggies
• Chicken Pot Pie
• chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole
• Strawberry Salad
• fried rice
• Spaghetti w/ side salad

Treats/Snacks:

• Claire's birthday cake
• apples
• carrots w/ dip

Do you use a menu plan yet?
This post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: January 12, 2015: Trying new recipes

I'm trying some new recipes this week. I was browsing through pinterest last night and decided a bunch of these recipes looked tasty, so instead of just pinning and forgetting, I decided to try them right away. As a bonus, I'll come back and edit this post telling you how the recipes were.

 

Here are some of the highlights from this weeks menu, the first three are new recipes from other blogs and the remaining are my own.

• French onion soup (from Jo and Sue)
• Breakfast Pizza with Hashbrown Crust (from the Gunny Sack) This idea is awesome, but I wasn't completely thrilled with the original recipe. I had to remove it from the oven about 10 minutes early to avoid burning. I'm going to play around with the recipe though, because it is definitely a winning idea.
• Pull Apart Pizza Bread (from Sweet and Simple Living) -served with a veggie platter This was very tasty, I've already gotten requests to make it again, but I need to bake it at a lower temperature for a little longer or dig my bundt pan out of storage.

• Asian Chicken Salad (I made this last week too, but I still have some of the ingredients and it was just that yummy -recipe coming soon)
• Shrimp Creole (very similar to my Chicken Creole, but with more tomato and less pepper)
• Macaroni and Cheese Pizza (David's favorite that I'm finally going to make at home) w/ salad
• Spaghetti & meatballs w/ salad

What's on your menu? 
this post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: Full Menu: week of January 5, 2015

We are back to school this week. David starts his new school (the one we moved an hour away and gave away all of our animals for), Zeke and Quinn start at their new schools, and I am spending another semester online.

Last semester I ended up being too busy to post many recipes, so this week I am going to take the pictures for many of the recipes I'd like to share over the next couple months. If there's one you'd like to see sooner as opposed to later, let me know in the comments below.

Breakfast:

• chocolate chip muffins
• Baked Oatmeal
• Easy Old Fashioned Pancakes
• Ham & Cheese Corn Muffins (recipe coming soon)
• Speedy Oatmeal (recipe coming soon)
• cereal w/ fruit
• french toast

Lunch:

• Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (recipe coming soon)
• Chicken and Sweet Pepper Quesadillas
• Black Bean Quesadillas (recipe coming soon)
• Tuna Salad Sandwiches
• Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwiches
• Spinach and Black Bean Taquitos
• leftovers

Dinner:

• Garlic Roast Chicken w/ Root Vegetables 
• Burritos
• Stromboli made with 100% whole wheat pizza crust
• Asian Chicken Salad
• Sausage and Vegetable Stew
• Slow cooker Meatballs with rice and broccoli
• Spaghetti w/ side salad

Snacks/desserts:

• popcorn
• fruit
• vegetables w/ dip

What recipe are you excited to see?
this post is linked to orgjunkie.com 

Meal Plan Monday: End of 2014 beginning of 2015 DInners

Today is my seventh wedding anniversary, so I'm making steak for David and he's taking me to see a movie. Super romantic, right? I'm actually excited, this is one of the few nights a year we actually manage to make it out for a date.
This week is going to be full of unpacking, so I tried to make most of the menu fairly easy. Have a great week!

Anniversary:  Steak, baked potatoes, salad, and carmelized brussel sprouts
New Years: Pork loin and roasted cabbage wedges.
other dinners:

• pasta w/ bacon and brussel sprouts
• Creole chicken
• tacos
• Tortellini soup
• pizza sticks

What is your favorite New Year's meal?
This post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: Fridge and Freezer Cleanout

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I spent a lot of time with family and ended up with a sick baby. She required lots and lots of snuggles so I only barely finished my school work and haven't been able to do any blog work until this morning. (The $300 Grocery Experiment was a success and I'll tell you all about it this week)

We're cleaning out the freezer and fridge this week to eat up some of those things I neglected the past month in order to do the experiment. Here's my tentative meal plan:

• Cheesy Zucchini, Kielbasa, and Pasta Bake (ricotta in my fridge and cheese and kielbasa from the freezer)
• Gyros (olives and feta in the fridge, gyro meat and pitas in the freezer)
• Enchiladas (freezer meal already made up)
• Spicy Brown Crusted Pork Tenderloin with veggie and bread or potato (veggie and pork from freezer, spicy brown from fridge)
• Homemade Pizza (cheese and yeast from freezer)
• Chicken Pot Pie (chicken and veggies from freezer, pie crust from fridge)
• leftover night

What needs to be eaten from your fridge and freezer?

Meal Plan Monday: Week 4 of $300 Grocery Experiment

It's the final week of my experiment and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm taking the budget right up to $300, but I could have kept it under. I've factored an entire Thanksgiving feast into my budget, and there's still enough room for not only the rest of the week's food, but there's also room for some special breakfasts. If you're just joining me, click here for an explanation of my experiment.

Just a reminder: In the previous weeks of the experiment I budgeted for some items that I'll be using this week, like the yeast and spices along with the turkey. I also kept each of the previous weeks under the allotted $75, so that I could use the extra for the holiday. I'll be spending the last $86 from the $300 to buy all of my remaining ingredients.
Thanksgiving food (the links are to my old blog, because I haven't had the chance to redo the pictures):
turkey
sweet potato casserole
green beans
rolls (made from this recipe, but shaped differently)
stuffing
mashed potatoes
gravy
cranberry sauce
pumpkin pie
clementines

Breakfasts:
sausage, biscuits, and gravy
cinnamon rolls
cereal w/ bananas and milk
oatmeal w/ raisins
pumpkin pancakes

Lunches:
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches w/ pretzels and fruit
leftovers

Dinners:
loaded potato soup
pizza
spaghetti
baked chicken with roasted root vegetables
broccoli cheese quiche
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving leftovers (I'm not entirely sure what will be left and I'll be with family, so it's likely that we'll just make a meal of any leftovers)

Claire:
When Claire can't really eat what we're having, I make her frozen peas and/or carrots. I've been buying the bags throughout this experiment and including them in the price, but I forgot to previously mention what they were for.

What's on your menu?

this post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: week 3 of $300 grocery experiment

One trick to keeping a grocery budget low is planning ahead. As you probably know, Thanksgiving is next week. If you're buying a frozen turkey, you'll want to start thawing it no later than next Monday. I don't like to cut it that close or chance not being able to find the right size turkey, so I'm buying it this week. Now technically, I'm not in charge of the turkey for thanksgiving dinner, but many people are, so I thought it best to budget for it to show that you can even stick to a budget with the holidays. I am not actually going to buy the turkey, but I will pick one out at the grocery store and take a picture of it to report on this week's financial recap.
If you're just joining, check out my experiment explanation here.
Also check out the meal plan for week 1 here and week 2 here.

It snowed last night and school is cancelled today, so part of this week's plan reflects a winter theme. The other portion of this week's plan is based upon a request from some dinner guests we'll be having this week.


On the menu this week:

• oatmeal with raisins
• pumpkin pancakes
• cheerios w/ bananas and milk
• PB&J sandwiches w/ pretzels and fruit
• spaghetti
• BBQ pulled pork fries
• pork and pepper quesadillas 
• pizza 
• loaded potato soup
• 3-bean chili
• veggie stir fry with rice
• leftovers

This post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: week 2 of $300 monthly grocery budget

We survived week 1 of my grocery experiment. If you're just tuning in, check out the explanation post.

Last week, I had to improvise a lot to make the recipes work for the ingredients I had. Surprisingly enough, we found some meals the kids were super excited about, so I'm going to repeat some of them again.

Planned Breakfasts:

• oatmeal w/ raisins
• pancakes
• french toast
• cereal

Planned Lunches:

• Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
• Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
• leftovers

Planned Dinners:

•  bean chili
• chili cheese fries
• fried rice
• pizza
• spaghetti
• tortellini soup
• chef salad

What's your favorite inexpensive meal?

This post is linked to orgjunkie's menu plan Monday

$300 Grocery Experiment: week 1 plans

This week we are starting our $300 monthly grocery budget experiment. It took me quite awhile to come up with a suitable meal plan that I could buy every single ingredient needed for $75 or less. It took some compromising on some ingredients, but I really want to show how my process of grocery shopping and budgeting starts from the very beginning. I hope I give you some ideas and feel free to email me (address found in the "Contact Me" tab above) or leave a comment below with any questions or friendly comments.

To follow is both my meal plan and the accompanying grocery list for everything you'd need to make these meals. I'll share the actual prices for each item later this week.

Planned dinners:

• Spaghetti
• 3-bean chili
• Chili cheese potatoes
• Loaded Potato Soup
• Fried Rice
• Black Beans and Rice
• Enchilada Ravioli

Planned lunches:

• Peanut Butter and Jelly w/ apple, pineapple, grape, or ants on a log
• Leftovers 

Planned Breakfasts:

• Oatmeal with sugar and raisins
• Cheerios with bananas and milk
• Pumpkin pancakes

Planned Grocery List

milk

apples

bananas (per pound)

frozen peas and carrots

pasta

pasta sauce

canned beans

canned tomatoes

rice

bag flour

butter (1lb)

celery

oatmeal

sugar (4lb)

strawberry jam

grapes (2lb)

yeast

pineapple

raisins (20oz)

sweet peppers

chili powder

nutmeg

dozen eggs

baking powder

salt

baking soda

cinnamon

pumpkin

bouillon

brown sugar

oil

bag carrots

cream cheese

sharp cheddar

bacon bits

green onion

ravioli

tomato sauce

sliced olives

cumin

cheerios

bag potatoes

peanut butter

1 tomato

bag onions

Buying all of the basic pantry items added up to such a large portion of the budget that there isn't enough room for the typical American diet amount of meat. However, you'll notice that we are still getting plenty of protein through beans, peanut butter, and some cheese.
I wish there were a little more room in the budget for some additional fruits and veggies, but we're still getting some.

Meal Plan Monday: end of October 2014

Another week means another meal plan. I don't have much to report this week other than it's my mama's birthday on Friday and we're celebrating with her on Saturday. Happy Birthday Mom!

Dinners:

• Chicken and roasted vegetables
• Simple No-Boil Pasta Bake
• Quick and Easy Chow Mein
• Black Bean Quesadillas
• Vegetable Soup
• Cheeseburgers and Homemade Fries
• Birthday Dinner for my Mom

What's for dinner at your house?

Meal Plan Monday: October 13, 2014

David just started a new job last week, hurray! His new schedule is a unit day schedule, so he works 24 hours on and 48 hours off. He'll most likely continue with unit day schedules until he retires. This translates to 48-72 hour work weeks on top of his busy full time school schedule, so basically we're not going to see him much for awhile. This means I can make more of my favorite foods and he can't complain because he probably won't be eating them anyway. He'll primarily be living off of sandwiches and other lunchbox items.
We're really excited for this new job even though we know the schedule will be difficult, because the pay will dramatically reduce the amount of time until we reach some of our bigger financial goals.

So this week we're eating:

• Spaghetti with Meatballs and a side salad
• Sweet Potato Chili (recipe coming soon) with Cornbread Muffins 
• Navajo Tacos (using leftover sweet potato chili)
• Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese
• Chicken, Potato, and Green Bean Bake.
• Pork Chops and Caramelized Brussel Sprouts
• Pepperoni Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust

 What's on your menu?

this post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: 10/6/14 Eat Your Veggies Full Meal Plan

 One of my school assignments for the next two weeks is to focus on taking better care of our bodies. We could make our own goals based upon our current level, but I chose to focus my food efforts on getting plenty of the good stuff. By good stuff I mean veggies, fruit, and water. I will be drinking at least the recommended 64 oz of water each day, also at least half (or approximately half) of each of my meals need to be fruits and/or veggies. So to make sure I've done proper planning, here's a full meal plan for the next week:

Breakfast:

• Raisin oatmeal with a piece of fruit.
• Spinach, tomato, and cheese omelet.
• Green Eggs with toast and a piece of fruit.
• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Oatmeal Muffins (recipe coming soon)
• Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
• Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits

Lunch:

• Sandwiches with assorted fresh veggies
• Leftovers -probably 3-5 days

Dinner:

• Spaghetti squash and meatballs
• Tortellini Soup
• Spinach Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a side of veggies
• Healthier Stuffed Peppers
• Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry
• Quick and Easy Chow Mein
• Personal Whole Wheat Pizzas with Side Salad

How do you get your fruits and veggies in?

This post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: Easy and Fun Dinners 9/29/14

I have my first several tests in school this week, so I tried to find a balance between easy and fun foods. I also tried to sort of reward myself with some of my favorites (like the sushi and tortellini soup).

California rolls
Pizza with homemade whole wheat crust
Tortellini Soup
Chicken and Broccoli Quesadillas
Enchilada Ravioli
Burritos
Leftovers

What are you having for dinner?

this post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Meal Plan Monday: Transitioning to Fall

I start back to school today!! Woohoo! Actually, I'm kind of nervous. I looked over my course loads and it looks like I'm going to be busy. One of my classes wants me to log my sleep hours. That's a joke, right?

Dinner at our house this week will include:

• Pizza (made with whole wheat pizza dough)
• Easy Chicken Pot Pie
• Broccoli Cheese Soup in Bread Bowls
• No-Boil Pasta Bake
• Black Bean Quesadillas
• Chili
• At Home Salad Bar

What's for dinner at your house?