Somehow I missed Spring. We were in an allergy infested stupor and now we've been seeing hot and humid. when we got back from our NYC trip, it was in the 80s. at night. hot, sticky and just plain ol' icky. Time to start meal planning again, and time to switch to our lighter, summer (no oven if possible) recipes. I can 't use my old stand-bys of soup and chili. What's an overwhelmed, not really into cooking right now, momma to do? Plan. Boooo! I know. Boring, but it really does help you stop staring into the fridge at 5 and wondering what to make. So, I've come up with a general template for us and I'm going to go from there. We've changed our habits again, so some of my old faithfuls have been tossed out. I decided to have my template and use the meals that we gravitate towards anyway. Then I can build from there.
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| Barbie Oven. That's a reg. sized cookie sheet. nice, huh? |
So Summer Meal Plan, Take 1:
Sunday: crockpot roasted chicken or chicken soup (or um... Fried Chicken from IGA in a pinch)
Monday: Meatless- smoothies and eggs/ burritos/ beans, rice and cheese/ grilled cheese/big salad/eggplant Parmesan try: Falafel and Cucumber Sauce
Tuesday: Pasta- turkey Bolognese/ chicken spaghetti/ creamy sausage, kale, ( I also add beans)/ kid pasta/ mac & cheese/Pasta "garbage" Salad (toss everything that needs to get eaten into the bowl!)
Wednesday: Fish- wild Salmon patties (from Costco) /stir fry/tilapia in pimento sauce/tacos/BBQ-baked
Thursday: Meat- crockpot/WW parmesan turkey meatloaf/turkey burgers/beef broccoli
Friday: Pizza try: 30 min. dough
Saturday: Grill out/New recipe/leftovers
Sides:
Salad
Quinoa
Cous cous
Bean salad
Coleslaw
Veggies and dip
Fresh fruit
Brown rice
cheese
edamame
Batchcook:
Bread- wheat and French
Pizza dough
Pizza sauce
Beans
Brown rice
Chicken
Pancakes/waffles/scones/muffins
I would love for you to comment with suggestions for recipes or commit to doing a meal plan if you haven't before. Even if you just commit to doing one more homemade meal per week, you are taking a step in the right direction. I'm also trying not to use any convenience items (season packets, processed foods, etc). Also, our Barbie Oven takes forever to heat up and then the kitchen is roasting (have I mentioned we don't have any a/c yet. And when we do, it's only a window unit) so I want to keep it to a minimum. Oh yeah, and our microwave broke. Actually it.caught.on.fire. really. flames shooting out the inside wall. I can't make this stuff up. The toaster oven has been my BFF lately. And my beloved new non-stick pan--- I'll tell you all about this later this week. It rocks my world. Yes, a non-stick pan. who knew??
BTW, I keep most of my recipes online at delicious.com under sassyaztec if anyone is interested. Go here to see.
3 comments:
Can't wait to see how this works out :) Love your optimism.
Good luck! I have a great book called Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day...there is a newer version I got for my birthday called something like Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a day...or something like that. I LOVE it. I bake alot of whole wheat bread but this makes it easier for days with lots of school and less time.
I love that book Nik! but i'm just not there yet, i can't see adding another to-do to my current list. My neighbor loaned her copy to me, so it IS on my mental list, but not in the near future. ;)
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