Category Archives: Meal Planning

05/3/13
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may meal plan + no recipe dinners

Good morning afternoon and happy Friday!  Yes, I’m a stay at home mom and still get excited about Friday… weekends are my favorite with more time with the hubby. :)

Dinner’s this week have been definitely not very planned.  Check out the final week in my planning from last month…

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Yeah, the last week just didn’t happen.  I also didn’t go to the grocery store, which is why our meals were not as planned.  Here’s a look at some things we had.

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Bacon and brussel sprouts tortilla layer pie.  I’ve made tortilla pies before, so for the filling I just switched it up.

I used 1 piece of chopped bacon + 2 cups chopped brussel sprouts.  I sauted both first.  Then I layered everything together (tortillas, brussels, parmesan) with the egg mixture.  Check out a similar recipe for how to make it.

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An even more simple dinner was this beef enchilada spaghetti.  I had no clue what this was going to turn into when I tossed beef and enchilada sauce in the crockpot, but it actually turned out really well.

One pound beef roast + 1 jar enchilada sauce go slow n low in the crockpot all day.  Shred beef.  Cook your box of pasta.  Add 2 cups frozen corn in with the pasta the last minute of cooking.  Drain pasta + corn, and pour it into the crockpot with the beef.  Add 1 can drained and rinsed black beans.  Stir in 1/3 cup plain yogurt + 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.

For starting with no plan in the morning, I loved how this one turned out!

We also had chicken caesar salad + bread and pizza using some 5 minute bread (dough).  I topped the pizza with BBQ sauce, pre-cooked chicken sausage, onion, parmesan cheese and feta.  Last night was our leftovers night, so a super simple dinner.  And that’s how I made dinners work for me this week!  While it went really well, I am excited to go grocery shopping today.  We’re desperately lacking in veggies.

Even without finishing off my month of meal planning perfectly, I still loved this idea!  Since I stocked up on meats I was easily able to pull extra meals together with what I had on hand.

Last night I worked on a meal plan for May.  Here it is if you’re looking for dinner inspiration!

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I changed the categories a bit.  Instead of 5 categories with 4 recipes in each, I went with 4 categories and 5 recipes in each.  I got rid of casseroles and salads, and included grilling.  It’s heating up here (going to be in the 80s this weekend!), so less cooking inside and more grilling outside is going to be a good thing.

Links to some of the recipes:

How do you make meals when you don’t have a plan or recipe?  Do you like winging it in the kitchen?  Does it normally turn out?

This morning I taught body pump, ran tons of errands with Hunter and now… it’s nap time.  Maybe I will take a nap too??  We’ll see.  But in reality I will probably head outside and do some yard work.  Slowing down kind of isn’t my thing.

Happy weekend everyone!

Heather

03/28/13
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how to meal plan for a month

We are officially closer to the weekend!  Easter got here waaaaaaaay too soon.  Time is just going by too fast!  I’m looking forward to a weekend spent with lots of family.  What about you?

This month I’ve taken a burden off my shoulders.  If I don’t have something planned or at least in the back of my mind for dinner, it turns into this mad dash of throwing something together, while I’m trying to feed Hunter at the same time.  Evenings are so much more relaxed when I’m a girl with a dinner plan.  Now I’m a girl with a month of dinner plans!

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I’m not sure where I got this idea in my mind to plan for a month, but once I thought of it, I had fun doing it!

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1. Figure out how many meals a week you will cook

I know I won’t cook dinner every day.  We tend to have leftovers in the house, so one night we might eat those.  Other times we could go out/over to someone’s house for dinner.  I like to keep a couple days open.  I planned to cook 5 nights a week.  In reality, I alternate between 4-5 times, but by planning 5 I’ll have extra meals to go past the month.

5 meals a week X 4 weeks = 20 meals to plan

2. Break the meals into categories

20 meals may sound like a lot, but when you break it down into categories, it’s actually pretty easy.  It also ensures you have variety each week.

My 5 categories: crockpot, vegetarian, casserole, salad and miscellaneous

Crockpot

Vegetarian

Casseroles

Salads

  • salmom caesar salad
  • chicken, blue cheese and pear salad
  • asian chicken salad
  • antipasta salad

Miscellaneous

  • salmon feta and quinoa patties
  • pizza
  • stuffed bell peppers
  • steak with chive butter

The recipes without links are one I’ll come up with as I make it.

3. Go online and find recipes

Since I’m working through a year of crockpot recipes, that category was easy. Recipes are linked above.  If there is no link then I’m coming up with the recipe on my own.

I created a bookmark on my phone – meal planning – and saved all of the recipes for the month there to make them easy to find when I go to cook.

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4. Grocery shop to have the main ingredients on hand 

I find grocery shopping for an entire month a bit overwhelming, but I wanted to take a little pressure out of each weekly shopping trip.  I looked through each recipe and added up how much meat, beans, chicken stock and grains I needed.  Then I picked it all up at the grocery store.  I filled the freezer with the meat I know I’ll need, so when it’s time for that meal, I’ll just have to pull it out and not have to worry about running to the store.

Each week I’ll look through the recipes and see what vegetables and small items I need and pick those up.  Hopefully that makes for a smaller grocery trip.

5. Break out each week of meals

After I had all 5 categories of recipes filled up, I just took one meal from each of them for the week.  So every week I ended up with a crockpot, vegetarian, casserole, salad and miscellaneous recipe.  So easy!

Last thing I did was print off the handy list below.  Each time I make a meal I’ll cross it off the list.

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How do you meal plan?  Have you ever tried meal planning for an entire month? 

I hope these recipes/ideas help spark some dinner excitement!

Heather

12/21/12
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a year of crockpot recipes + crockpot honey sesame chicken

Hey there, happy end of the week! I am super excited to share my meal simplifying idea I came up!

I believe I was looking around on Pinterest, or maybe it was Facebook… where ever it was I came across this link to a post on Chef in Training for 50 slow cooker recipes. I browsed through them. They looked tasty and crockpots always mean simple. I started to think about which one I wanted to make. But then I thought, why not all?

With 52 weeks in the year and 50 recipes, that gives me just about enough for one a week. That’s one day a week I don’t have to think about what’s going to be on the table. I’ll just go straight down the list, one at a time, no picking or choosing. Keeping it simple. I like simple.  Quick and simple have become staples around here with my happy little monster here.

So for week 1 here’s  what I made.

crockpot honey sesame chicken

Ingredients

  •  2.5 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (or thigh)
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 4 tablespoons diced onion
  • 4 tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 tablespoon sesame oil (recipe calls for canola)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
  • Sesame seeds (I forgot this)

Directions

  1. Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken.
  2. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through.
  3. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce.
  4. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.
  5. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving.
  6. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

Notes

  • I cut the recipe in half since I only had about 1.5 pounds of chicken on hand – cooked on high for 1.5 hours
  • Forgot the sesame seeds, so I’m glad I added the sesame oil for the flavor
  • Served it over bulgar for me – sushi rice for Jacob, with a side of avocado and coleslaw mixed with a little bit of asian dressing + a dab of mayo

What I liked

  • the flavor was amazing
  • chicken with tender
  • all ingredients I already had on hand

What I didn’t like

  • not being able to start the crockpot in the morning with the short cook time – I still had to throw it together after a day of teaching/xmas shopping
  • my sauce didn’t thicken up like I would have liked, and I had it on high for double the time it called to thicken up

I shared the link to the 50 slow cooker recipes on my Facebook page and already my cousin Andrea is following along with one a week as well. I think it would be so much fun if more of you followed along too! I’m planning to share a bit about each recipe, so if you end up making it too you can chime in! And if you don’t want to participate, at least you’ll get to see how a ton of crockpot recipes turn out. :)

Next week it’s onto slow cooker salsa verde pork.

Do you call your crockpot a slow cooker or crockpot? Do you love your crockpot as much as I do?  Want to participate in the 50 crockpot recipes?  One of them is eventually a cake…. :)

Happy Friday!

Heather