December 29, 2019

Meal Plan Dec 29-Jan 4

Trying to get back to healthy eating after all this holiday food! Meal plan this week:
Breakfast: Ham, cheese and peppers egg bake, ww toast.
Lunches/Dinners:
-Cauliflower tikka masala over rice or with naan.
-Beef, tomato and acini de pepe soup - I’ll probably add some extra veggies.
-New Years day-Hearty One-Pot Black-Eyed Pea Stew With Kale and Andouille and cornbread

December 17, 2019

Meal Plan Lists - Soups


Beef/Lamb
Chicken/Turkey
Chili*
Beef Stew
Irish (Lamb) Stew
Beef & barley
Mexican beef & rice*
Chili mac*
Stuffed pepper
Cabbage roll
Pasta e fagioli* 
Chicken noodle
Chicken & wild rice
Chicken tortilla*
Chicken pot pie
Greek lemon chicken
Asian chicken noodle
Golden chicken curry
Pork/Ham/Sausage
Vegetarian/Seafood
Ham and bean*
Sausage, kale & white bean*
Sausage, kale & orzo
Zuppa Toscana (creamy sausage, kale & potato)
Creamy tortellini and sausage
Creamy ham and potato
Bean and Bacon*
Cabbage roll
Vegetable barley
Minestrone*
Black bean*
Corn Chowder
Clam Chowder
Tomato Tortellini
Creamy potato leek
Lentil (can be made with sausage or without)*
Loaded baked potato
Fasolatha (Greek bean & tomato soup)*
*includes beans

Meal Plan Lists - Main Dishes

Main Dish/Meals


Beef/Lamb
Chicken/Turkey
Meatloaf
Pasta w/ meat sauce*
Tacos
Mexican rice (can also be made w/ chorizo)
Burgers
Fajitas
Korean BBQ tacos*
Shepherd’s Pie
Lamb & lentils*
Sicilian rice ball casserole
Philly cheesesteak pasta 
Cheesy Taco Shells*
Roast chicken 
Cacciatore
Tikka Masala
Marsala
Pot pie or Pot Pie noodles
Maple mustard thighs
Chicken & white bean enchiladas
BBQ chicken/pulled chicken*
Salsa chicken*
Chicken Florentine pasta*
Chicken taco bake
Greek chicken & veg (sheet pan meal)
Pork/Ham/Sausage
Vegetarian/Seafood
Cajun red beans and rice*
Stuffed cabbage rolls (or "unstuffed" CR casserole*) 
Roast pork
Bubble & Squeak (ham, potatoes, cabbage)
Pork loin w/ Island salsa*
Pork loin w/ apple salsa*
Pork and pinto enchiladas
Ham, scalloped potatoes, peas casserole
Pulled pork*
Sausage, wild rice and squash casserole
Asian pork w/ broccoli & ramen style noodles
Mango habanero pork tacos*
Fish tacos
Shrimp & roasted green beans
Vegetable lasagna (or lasagna rolls)
Chana masala* (chickpea curry)
Baked fish
Salmon patties
Pasta primavera*
Veggie/black bean burgers
Sweet potato & black bean enchiladas
Ravioli or tortellini
Shrimp Creole
Garlic Parmesan shrimp w/ veg & angel hair

Sides

Rice
Potatoes 
Bread/Biscuits
Calabacitas
Roasted veggies
Vegetable fritters
Potato salad
Pasta salad
Coleslaw
Salad 
“Too tired to cook/too broke for takeout” Meals

Frozen fish/chicken, tots/fries and steam in the bag veg
Chicken drumsticks, sides
Frozen ravioli w/ sauce
Frozen pierogies w/ sauteed onion & coleslaw mix
Hot dogs & salad
Pizza 
Mac and cheese*

*Can be made in Multi/Pressure cooker (Instant Pot, Crock Pot Express, Ninja Foodi, etc) 

Meal Plan Lists - Bento/Cold lunch ideas

Sandwich
Green Salad
w/ tuna
Southwest chicken (chicken, black beans, corn, cheese)
w/ egg salad
Hummus w/ pita or pretzels
Tuna or egg salad or cheese & crackers
Cheese and meat rolls
Pasta salad
Green bean & tomato 
Greek (halved grape tomatoes, baby spinach, red onion, feta, olives) 
Rainbow (halved grape tomatoes, shredded carrot, yellow pepper, zucchini, red onion) 
Cold asian noodles w/ veggies (and chicken?) 
Rice cakes w/ PB
Yogurt parfait
Hard boiled eggs
Apple w/ PB
Bagel w/ cream cheese
Fruit or berries

Veggies w/ dip

Egg Bake Recipe

Basic Egg Bake recipe: 
6 eggs 
1 cup milk
½ cup shredded cheese
⅓ cup flour
¼ tsp salt & sprinkle of pepper

Beat eggs, milk, flour, s&p together. Add cheese and stir well.  Pour into greased 8x8 glass pan.
Bake at 425 for 20 mins. 4 servings.

Variations:
-Greek Style: Use 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well, 1/2 cup of finely diced onion,
and feta or parmesan for the cheese 
-Hearty Potluck Brunch: Double the recipe and pour over a bag of Potatoes O’Brien. 
You can also add ham, sausage or bacon. 
-Denver style: Add 1 cup each ham & diced pepper, ½ cup onion. 
-Italian style: Add 1 small shredded zucchini, drained well, and 1 cup finely chopped red pepper,
use parmesan for the cheese. 
-To jazz it up you can add herbs like herbs de provence or Penzey’s Sunny Paris seasoning

Meal Plan Lists - Breakfast Ideas

Breakfasts

Cereal
Oatmeal/Steel cut oats
Muesli
Muffins 
Apple Oat (https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/applesauce-cinnamon-oat-muffins/)
Banana Granola (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229831/banana-yogurt-muffins/)
Blueberry Cream (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23294/blueberry-cream-muffins/)
Zucchini Nut
Morning Glory (https://bakerbynature.com/my-favorite-morning-glory-muffins/)
Egg bake* & toast
Apple Nut cake
Banana w/ PB 
Toast w/ PB & Banana
Breakfast sandwiches
Hard boiled eggs
Egg salad on toast

Yogurt w/ granola and berries

November 25, 2019

Chicken (Or Turkey!) Pot Pie Noodles

Looking for a tasty, easy, veggie filled, kid-friendly meal that will use up a bunch of leftover turkey?

1 bag egg noodles 12 oz
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups frozen peas
1 qt low sodium chicken broth, divided into 2 cup portions
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
1/3 cup flour
1 cup milk
Poultry seasoning, pepper, Onion salt from Trader Joes
3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I usually use leftovers from rotisserie chicken or Thanksgiving turkey!)

Cook egg noodles according to package directions.
Put carrots, celery and peas in a saucepan.  Add 2 cups broth and add water if necessary to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and cook until desired tenderness. Drain.
While noodles and veggies cook, melt butter in a large skillet.  Saute chopped onion in the butter until it begins to turn translucent. Add garlic and cook 1-2 mins more, until fragrant.  Add flour and stir to make a roux.  Slowly add 2 cups broth and then 1 cup milk. Whisk together carefully until the sauce comes together. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, as sauce thickens (about 5-10 minutes).  Season as it simmers, adding poultry seasoning, pepper, onion salt or any other desired seasonings until the taste is as desired.  Add chicken and stir well, let cook 10 minutes more until chicken is heated through. 
In a large bowl or pot, combine egg noodles, sauce and drained vegetables. Mix well and serve.

Makes 6-8 servings. 

Meal Plan for Thanksgiving Week!

Our meal plan this week:
-Use up leftover Beef & rice soup from last week.
-Instant Pot mac & cheese with green veg
THANKSGIVING
-Turkey
-Stuffing (I use Bell’s stuffing, as did my mother, grandmother and great grandmother. It’s doctored up a bit, but it literally is Thanksgiving for me. Tradition!)
-Roasted butternut squash
-Peas
-In-laws will bring ham, rolls, pasta, salad, and spanakopita. And who knows what else.
-Dessert: Pumpkin chocolate chip bread pudding, whatever pie or cheesecake my in-laws bring.
(We’ll also have some cold apps out.)
Leftovers will be eaten likely for the rest of the week. I might make soup over the weekend, either ham and bean or turkey and wild rice.

November 17, 2019

Meal Plan Nov 17-23

This was a crazy busy weekend, and this week is no joke either. The pizza beans didn’t get made until Saturday so we are still eating them.
On the menu this week:
-Leftover pizza beans with warm rolls and green salad
-Creamy chicken noodles (aka chicken pot pie noodles)
-Mexican beef & rice soup
-Husband also had frozen pizza we needed to use up to make room for the Thanksgiving turkey in the freezer. I wasn’t a fan so he had it all himself!
Breakfasts: blueberry muffins, cereal, steel cut oats with fruit and nuts.

November 10, 2019

Meal Plan for Nov 10-16

I’ve declared it Italian week here! On the menu this week:
-Minestrone soup
-Pasta with homemade roasted vegetable sauce
-Smitten Kitchen’s Pizza Beans

November 03, 2019

Meal Plan Nov 3-9

Meals this week:

Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon oatmeal, toast, cereal for G

Lunches: Cilantro lime chicken quinoa burrito bowls (brown rice & quinoa blend, beans, peppers and onions, cilantro lime crockpot chicken, sour cream, salsa, queso fresco)


Dinners: Red beans and rice (instant pot) with some kinda veg- salad or carrots maybe.

I'm off on Thurs & Friday, so I might cook something else if need be.  What I don't know. 

October 27, 2019

Meal Plan Oct 27-Nov 2

The book fair ended up being 2 days late, so it got extended 2 days.  More easy meals and another busy weekend means very little meal prep going on. 
Breakfasts:  Cereal or breakfast biscuits, bananas. 
Meals this week:
-Fish tacos and salad
-Baked chicken thighs with maple onion sauce from Aldi, brussels sprouts, baked potatoes
Wed/Thurs was dreary and rainy. We were out of chicken thighs so I threw a bean soup in the crockpot in the morning.  It was definitely a bean soup kinda day.  Came out yummy.  
Lunches will be cold lunches/leftovers. Next Sunday I hope to be back to my normal meal prepping self.

October 20, 2019

Meal Plan for Oct 20-26

It’s book fair week, which means I’ll be coming home completely exhausted every day. So very simple meal plan since I won’t be able to eat a normal lunch and won’t have the energy to cook dinner.
Breakfast: cereal or biscuits w/ banana.

Lunches: Whatever cold stuff I find that I think I can eat with one hand (probably PB&J, fruit, snacks). G is taking some pasta leftovers we had in the freezer.
Dinners:
Sun -Tuesday: Homemade pizza with salad
Wed: out
Thurs - Fri: Rotisserie chicken from Costco, carrots, potatoes. If G can’t get to Costco I’ll throw some pork in the IP.

October 13, 2019

Meal Plan Oct 13-19

This week:
Breakfasts: Kate’s Apple Snack cake  from the Baked Alaska cookbook
Lunches/Dinners:
Chef John’s Black Lentil soup - I added some kale we needed to use up.
Roast chicken with root veg (carrots, potato, sweet potato, onion)
Pulled pork sandwiches or tacos with salad
Possibly Pizza this weekend, haven’t gotten that far.
Also: Homemade bread with the soup, and apple crisp for dessert. We have a lot of apples from the orchard!

October 07, 2019

What I'm Reading - Summer/Fall 2019

This summer I re-read the Harry Potter series, which I haven't read since the final movie was released years ago.  I'd forgotten how much I loved it, especially the later books. 

I'm also trying to finish the Divergent series, but Allegiant isn't holding my interest as much as the other two.  Eh.  This is one of those books where the protagonist is so very not like me in any way and I think I have a hard time relating to them. 

My friend back home started an online book club.  They picked the first book the other day, it's entitled Let's Pretend This Never Happened. Supposed to be very funny. 

October 06, 2019

Meal Plan Oct 6-12

Pretty busy weekend, so didn’t cook as much as we normally do. Plus with my birthday we ate out a couple times and therefore have leftovers that need to get eaten. Meals this week:
Breakfasts: Him-Banana Granola Muffins, Me-Yogurt with granola
Lunch: Leftovers, cold lunches. (Sandwiches, apples with PB or chocolate hummus, cheese and crackers, whatever.)
Dinners: Zuppa Toscana
I have Wednesday off so if I feel the need I will cook something then. My emergency meal is still the southwest quinoa, but I’ve been lucky and haven’t had to use it yet.

September 29, 2019

Meal Plan for Sept 29-Oct 5

Meals this week, in no particular order:
Breakfasts: Sausage & potato o’brien egg bake, maybe banana granola muffins for the hubs if I can find the time/energy
Lunches/dinners:
-Beef and barley soup (made with homemade stock!)
-Caprese pasta with salad
-Pork chops with green veg (green beans and/or broccoli) and probably garlic bread or rolls. 
Wednesday is my birthday, so I am assuming we will go out to dinner at some point, but hubs has to work late Wed, Fri and Sat, so not sure when.

Meal Plan Sept 22-28

-Rotisserie chicken or BBQ chicken w/ potato salad & veg 
-Chana masala (aka chickpea curry) w/ rice 
-Pork with apple salsa over rice

September 15, 2019

Meal Plan - Sept 16-21


Weekend: Homemade Pizza (BBQ chicken)
Lunches: Chicken Noodle Soup
Dinner: Beef & Lentil Sloppy Joes w/ salad

September 08, 2019

Meal Plan - Sept 9-15

It was starting to feel like fall!  I wasn't sure what to cook so George, as he usually does, took his cue from sports. The Giants were playing the Cowboys, and therefore I made a big pot of chili. 

Sunday George spent the day at home while I went off with my girlfriends to the Sheep and Wool festival.  I told him to season the chicken however he wanted, and he even made a side dish!  Hopefully now that he's home more often he will cook a little more. 

Breakfasts:  Nature valley biscuits, banana

Lunches:  3 Bean Chili 

Dinners:  Greek lemon chicken, lemon potatoes Sunday, then cauli-tater mash, roasted brussels for me, carrots for G

Saturday the 15th we had homemade pizza night!  I made some chicken in the instant pot to put on the pizza, and used the rest for soup. 

September 01, 2019

Meal Plan for Sept 1-7

It’s September! Back to school this week. Meal prepped all afternoon.
Breakfasts: Crustless Broccoli Quiche, and toast. Cereal for the husband, as he avoids broccoli when possible.
Lunches/Dinners:
Roasted Tomato Soup, will probably add some tortellini in it and/or have with grilled cheese sandwiches 
Greek meatball pitas 
Sweet potato black bean enchiladas and green salad.
Wednesday is our wedding anniversary. We already went out to dinner for that last night, so I don’t think we’ll go again but I might do something special…just not sure what yet!

Ideas for next week: 
Meatloaf? Or Chicken?  Cauli-tator mash, roasted brussels sprouts. 
Greek pasta salad (use up feta cheese) 
Pizza

August 04, 2019

Pressure Cooker Greek Harvest Grain Bowls

This is a super easy and fairly healthy meal, ready in less than 30 minutes! If you use steam in the bag spinach, it's even one pot.

1 lb ground lamb
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic (adjust to your tastes)
16 oz chopped frozen spinach
16 oz bag of Harvest Grain blend from Trader Joe's
Lamb stock if you can find it, beef stock or water.
Salt, Greek seasoning

1. Turn on pot, hit saute and start.
2. Add chopped onion, garlic and ground lamb to pot once hot.  Break up lamb and stir well.  Cook until lamb is brown and onion is translucent. Turn off pot.
3. Add grain blend to pot. Add stock or water.  Add 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp Greek seasoning.  Add additional tsp salt if you are using water or unsalted stock.  Stir well.
4. Put on lid, lock and seal.
5. Cook on high pressure for 7 minutes.*
6. While pot is going, cook the spinach.  Drain and squeeze water out.
7. Let pot sit 5 minutes before releasing the pressure.  Then open pot, add cooked spinach and stir well.

*When I made this I cooked it for 5 minutes and waited 5 minutes more before release. It was cooked well except the garbanzo beans which were a bit hard for my tastes but edible.  So I increased the time a bit.  There are a few recipes online using the product in a pressure cooker.  Time varies from 3 minutes with a 10 minute NPR time, to 10 minutes.  You may want to adjust accordingly. 

Meal Plan for August 1-15

It’s August! Summer break is flying by. I’ll be going to visit my family for a week from the 15th-21st (sadly the hubs just started a new job so he can’t take time off to go) so not really making a monthly meal plan. Still eating mostly out of the freezer and pantry- trying to save money by only buying produce, dairy, bread and any other perishables.
Here’s my plan for the first half of August:
-Instant Pot Cheesy Taco Pasta with green salad 
-Greek marinated chicken with baked potatoes and whatever veggies we have around 
-Chicken Burrito bowls w/ Mexican squash casserole 
-Greek Harvest Grain bowls (Trader Joe’s Harvest Grain blend cooked with lamb and spinach) 
-Beef Fajitas probably with salad
-Leftover veggie and black bean burgers from the freezer with carrot “fries”

I’m sure while I’m gone my husband will likely eat frozen stuff from Trader Joes and/or anything he can make in the toaster oven (mini pizzas) and air fryer (chicken or fish, and of course, tater tots). Hopefully he’ll remember to eat a vegetable or two.

July 31, 2019

Greek Grain Salad

This is a nice, light and refreshing salad.  It will keep nicely for a couple days in the fridge.  This recipe makes a good amount so if you don't want leftovers, you might want to halve it.  
2 medium cucumbers 
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes 
4 oz feta cheese 
+/- 0.25 cup red onion, finely minced 
1 cup barley (I used Bob’s Red Mill hull-less barley, but you can use regular or try another whole grain like farro or freekeh.) 
Greek style feta salad dressing from Trader Joe’s 
Olives if desired 
Salt, pepper, oregano, garlic to taste
Cook barley or other grain according to package directions. 
Seed and chop cucumbers. Cut tomatoes in half. Crumble feta. Mix cheese, tomatoes, cukes and onion (and olives if you like) together in a large bowl. 
After grain is cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Shake as much water off as you can. Add to bowl. Pour a small amount of dressing (not much, maybe 1/4-1/3 of a cup). I use some dried Greek oregano from our garden. A little pepper. Salt only if needed, most feta is quite salty. Taste it and season as you like.