Meal Planning Sunday!

I really like Meal Planning Monday better but it just doesn't give you time to get ready for the week ahead.

These last two weeks I've been meal planning have literally changed my life. We used to really struggle with what to have for dinner and would often end up eating some not so awesome options. It just makes it so much easier always having a plan.

If you are really ambitious, you could probably even do some prep on Sunday to cut up and wash some of the veggies. Which is what i am going to do with my lettuce and celery this week because I didn't do it last Sunday and I didn't eat them at all.

Tonight we are having homemade chicken fingers with store bought fries. I way prefer homemade, they are so delicious served with some honey dill. Mark usually whips these up and always experiments with what seasonings to put in with the bread crumbs. I'll get you a recipe for these because I totally think they are worth the little extra time and effort.

Monday - I want to start doing more 'meatless Monday's' so we will be having stuffed peppers based on this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen. It calls for brown rice but I'll be doing it with a mix of rice and quinoa just because it has a little more protein in it.

Grocery's needed:

6 fresh bell peppers
2 cups cooked brown rice/quinoa
olive oil
1 onion
12 oz. mushrooms
2-3 tsp. Greek Seasoning
Feta cheese (1 & 1/4 cups)

Tuesday - Taco Tuesday! Well not really but we will be having chicken fajita's! Don't really have a recipe for you on this one but basically just fry up strips of chicken, onion, and peppers add some fajita seasoning and throw 'em in a wrap. Add sour cream, avocado, lettuce, and whatever else you want.

Grocery's needed:

Chicken (I'm using 2 breasts for 2 people)
1 Onion
1 Pepper
Tortilla wraps
Sour cream, avocado, lettuce, salsa - optional

Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff-ish with frozen veggies. When I was a kid my mom would make this dish with ground beef and stir in some mushroom soup and it was just so good. All you do is fry up a pound or so of ground beef, I like to add in some mushrooms, then add one can of mushroom soup (or 2 it will make it a little saucier), serve with rice or egg noodles (I prefer rice) and some vegetables, usually I love it with frozen peas when I have them.

Grocery's needed:

1 lb of ground beef
1 or 2 cans of mushroom soup
Mushrooms
Rice
Frozen veggies

Thursday - Carbonara. I was inspired by this recipe over at Closet Cooking. I'm doing mine a little differently and if it works out I will post the recipe. I remembered there used to be those Philly Sauces for cooking and I was planning on using one as the cream sauce which I couldn't find so that must have been a loooong time ago I saw those commercials, so I grabbed some herb and garlic cream cheese but I'm not completely sure how I'm going to make this work yet. So in the meantime, if you're interested, you can follow Closet Cooking's recipe. Although it calls for eggs in the sauce which makes me think it will be complicated and I like easy cooking.

Grocery's needed:

1 small head cauliflower
8 ounces mushrooms
olive oil
8 ounces fettuccine (or pasta of choice)
4 ounces pancetta, diced or 4 ounces bacon
1 clove garlic
2 eggs
1/2 cup (2 ounces) parmesan cheese

Friday - Steak and potatoes with vegetables

Grocery's needed:

Steak
Potatoes
Vegetables, frozen or fresh or salad

Saturday - Butternut Squash Soup! Perogies for Mark, he refuses to eat anything with squash, but I've heard it's really good for baby and I love it. I don't have a recipe per say, and I can make one up and post it for you if you want after I make it, but usually I either cut the squash in half lengthwise and roast it (easier) or chop it up raw and put it directly in the pot (I just find it's really hard to chop raw so that's why I often will roast it first). But basiclly what you do is fry up a little onion and garlic in olive oil then when it's soft and tender, add in all the meat from one pumpkin and then I usually add water one cup at a time until it's at my desired thickness. Sometimes I like it really thick and creamy and sometimes I like it a little more watery. I've also made it with other veggies like leeks or red pepper which is really good.

Grocery's needed: