Plan Your Work

Meal planning has made the change to a healthier lifestyle become something that is sustainable. Keeping our dinners varied, yet simple, has kept things interesting in the kitchen as well.

Here's what's cooking this week:

Sunday: Leftovers (J/S Out to dinner)

We finally made it to Passatempo and spent two and a half hours with one of our best Walla Walla dining experiences. We had:
-Delicious strong cocktails, paired with Mandorle Aromitizzate and Olive(fancy-talk for almonds and olives), shared a green salad and a pasta course of Carbonara, and finished with Steak for him and Pork Tenderloin for me with a side of braised winter greens, along with glasses of The Walls GSM and Syrah. It. Was. So. Good. If you've not yet been, get thee there posthaste.

Monday: Oven Roasted Chicken Drumsticks and Veg. (Truth told? Chicken on the bone, as my children call it, is their very favorite...and it totally skeeves me out, so I had kale salad with dump ranch and a protein shake that night while they devoured their meat sticks with greasy fingers and smacking lips. It was as appetizing as it sounds.)

Tuesday: Baja Shrimp Tacos with Chipotle Crema (Delicious)

Wednesday: Apple Cider Vinegar Braised Chicken with Collard Greens (coming up tonight)

Thursday: Mini Meatloaves with Kick-Ass Ketchup, Mashed Parsnips and Roasted Carrots with Pine Nuts

Friday:Oven Fried Salmon Cakes with Lemon Caper Dill Aioli (aka paelo mayo with lemon juice, capers and dill whisked in ;))

Saturday: BFD* Sweet Potato Waffle Sandwiches /Family Movie Night

I said in my last post that weeknights have become rather hectic with H on swim team and Charlie in Basketball, so my weeknight meals keep in mind the following routine: I prep dinner to the point that it's ready to go on the stove top or in the oven, or just be reheated, and J finishes it, feeds the littles, bathes them and then H and I walk in the door right about then and eat. I really, really, really hate having a split meal time but for the time being it is what it is. So, the prep for the shrimp tacos last night went like this:

I marinated the shrimp, mixed the vinaigrette and dressed the cabbage, whisked together the chipotle crema. Instead of using the whole chipotle chilis in adobo and having to blend them, I used Chipotle paste, which I found in the hispanic section at Safeway, in a tube, and love it. No more half-cans of chilis hanging out in the fridge post-recipe use.

The other sad part of split dinner; Crappy lighting for your victory bite photos, but they were so, so good.

*Breakfast For Dinner

A Place at Our Table

Because decorative gourds are cute

I was innocently looking for some dinner inspiration while meal planning last week when I fell down the pinterest rabbit hole and found the blog Living Well Spending Less. The specific post I found intriguing was this one. I know that several friends have taken on the challenge of foregoing non-essential purchases for a month, but I'd never really considered groceries a non-essential. Until I really thought about the incredible amount of food and meal possibilities I have languishing in my freezer(s) and pantry. Starting this last week through the end of October, I'm making an effort to meal plan based on what I already have. (duh, right?) I'm still going to be buying milk, yogurt, some produce and other fresh foods, but the idea is just to start making a dent. Also, I may have felt incredibly guilty after watching A Place at the Table.

Saturday afternoon I went through the bottom drawer of the stand-up freezer, which was where I'd relegated all of the meat that needs to be used first when I was putting away the half-beef. I pulled stew beef, flank steak, chicken breasts and a package of ground beef and put them in the refrigerator to thaw and be used throughout the week.

Yesterday I thought about poaching the chicken to shred and add to a salad, but then I saw a chicken pot pie on the cover of a magazine in the check-out line when I was buying milk (and candy corn...so much for non-essentials) and knew that I already had everything to make a stellar one, so I'd be saving those chicken breasts for later in the week.

When I got home, I still didn't have plans for dinner, J had just gotten home from work, and the clock was striking the ominous four o'clock witching hour. I quickly summoned the powers of pinterest and searched for salads with arugula (to avoid the giant tub of it turning into a green slime wasteland) and quinoa and found this goody; an arugula salad with quinoa, chickpeas (which will always be garbanzos to me), feta and some crunch lent from carrots, celery and almonds. I hate when people say, 'I followed the recipe except...' and then list a novel of changes, but I'll do it anyhow. I used the base of arugula, quinoa, feta and chickpeas, but then got the crunch from a bell pepper and omitted the rest. The lemon dressing was simple, and a big ol' plate was filling without being heavy. I had planned to just make pbj for the kids, but then nixed the idea and served the salad to everyone. Charlie was thrilled it wasn't soup, Henry was excited about the garbanzos (I'd forgotten he loved them at the Farm to Table tasting for them earlier in the year) and Jack ate as much as he would have of anything. Boom. Dinner done. And I'd even forced myself to unload and load the dishwasher while the quinoa was cooking, so clean up was a breeze.

Speaking of freezer clean-out. I feel like every time the fall/holiday baking season comes around I stock up on every variety of chip known to man, only to come home to a freezer full of last year's spoils because one simply cannot make enough Oatmeal Scotchies to validate a purchase of 400 packages of butterscotch chips. After seeing Kate Jones' instagram of cookie dough at 6:30am, I felt compelled to make a batch of Our Best Bites Giant Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used half semi-sweet and half butterscotch chips, which eliminated another collection of quart freezer bags filled with half-used packages of chips. They were absolutely as good as they claim-that big douse of vanilla (I used my own, and it's so good) and lack of cinnamon make them perfect.

Then, because I felt just so efficient in my clean out efforts, a couple days later I made these Banana chocolate chip muffins. I had four brown bananas to use, so doubled the batch because the recipe said it only made a dozen. It does not. I easily got three dozen plus out of the double batch. I added diced walnuts because it makes them delicious, and it was another freezer bag emptied. The kids have loved having both treats in their lunches. I may have also let them have oatmeal cookies for breakfast on Sunday because, well, it's oatmeal.

I'm starting to see a little light where there may actually be some room in Mr. Freeze to get some dinners prepped and ready before baby girl's arrival, which is now officially scheduled for December 4th. 

Do you stockpile food to a certain extent and then 'forget' to use it? What are some of your tried and true use-what-we-have inspiration starting points? 

Manic Monday

This Monday was similar to all Mondays where you feel just a little bit behind all day long. Armed with coffee, I dropped the kids at school then came home to get ready to host my first 'baby' playdate. It was so quiet. I had forgotten how much noise the younger set doesn't make. It was kind of blissful, actually.

This week, I've decided to get serious about using up some of the older freezer meals that I have stored. Things like soups and meat store for a long time which can be good, but it can also be forgotten.

Last night was book club, so I wanted to have dinner ready and cleared well before it was time for me to leave. At about 3pm, I pulled a bag of Our Best Bites' Black Bean and Sweet Potato Turkey Chili that had been fully cooked when we originally had it for dinner (several months ago) and frozen flat with all air removed in a gallon ziploc bag. I thawed it for about an hour in a sink of lukewarm water and then let what liquid was fully thawed come to a simmer and left it simmering, stirring occasionally until warmed through. It was still just as good as the day it was made, so good! This meal is very filling and with both pumpkin and sweet potatoes, you kind of don't even need a side veggie.

I grated some jack cheese and sliced a couple avocados for topping options and everyone got to serve themselves.  Along with a fresh batch of cornbread, it was a full meal. For whatever reason, if my kids get to top their food themselves, they're much more likely to be excited about eating it.

These stacking mugs from World Market were way too big for anything other than the occasional giant latte, but they're perfect for soup!

While Charlie was showering after dinner and Jack was tucked into bed, H got some much-needed one-on-one time with J for a round of Battleship and I got to finish the ears and weave in ends on my Burton Bear Cowl. I can't wait to see it on the little girl whose mama asked me to make it, it's going to be adorable. Speaking of little girls and the Burton, check out my growing knitting buddy.

A few of the new patterns I have been working up require fun, chunky buttons. I took the chance to finally search for a way to brand my goods and landed on these really fun custom buttons from Remember Wynn on etsy. I used the font from my logo on the tiny ones and the typewriter font from part of the logo for the others. I love the tiny ones for things like the Julia Boot cuff by Pepperberry Knits, which I plan to make a boat load of in the upcoming months, and the bigger one for some of the hats and cowl patterns created by The Velvet Acorn which, along with Shannon Cook are some of my favorite pattern designers right now.

Speaking of colors and fonts and design, I've been working with etsy shop Jojo studios to create a new template via blogger so pretty soon the blog will have a whole new, custom look and I'm so excited to see it completed! Now, I need to get dressed and ready to meet with Leslie 'The Punisher' at the Y so I can feel extra blissful in the chair while I get my unintentional ombre taken care of. I love that our local Y makes having a personal trainer incredibly affordable, because guess who wouldn't be doing walking lunges across the raquetball court on her own? 

What do you have on the menu this week? Are you working on eating from your freezer or pantry? Up tonight is taco soup because it's dead simple and I have leftover sliced avocado. Also, Taco Tuesday.

100 Meals of Real Food

One hundred days, three meals a day (plus snacks), that's a whole lotta planning. I decided instead I'd try for 100 days of at least one meal a day that consisted only of 'real food'. Tonight, it was dinner. Actually, lunch was as well because I ate dinner leftovers, so I'll rewind to last night. First day of school meant falling back into schedules and routine hence; Taco Tuesday.

H 'invented' a taco soup that is dead simple, but surprisingly good. Brown two pounds ground beef* (or turkey or chicken or whatever protein you want); add taco seasoning (make your own with this quick recipe that you don't have to mix up in advance), a quart of good beef stock, and simmer for about 15 minutes to bring it all up to temperature and at the last minute throw in some corn (I cut the kernels off the cobs of two leftover from the previous night's grill-out). If the corn is frozen, obviously do this more than a minute from the end so it's not still frozen. My kids like this as is with some grated cheese on it (which is where H's rendition ends), but I garnish mine and J's with sliced avocado, cilantro, a little cheese and (if I have the foresight) the chili-lime crunchies from this Iowa Girl Eat's burger recipe. If you don't include the corn crunchies, as I did not last night, it's still a good and really filling soup that takes no time and the whole family likes it.

As I was making my meal plan for the week on Sunday night, I asked J if he had any requests for main dishes or sides and he mentioned a bread salad I'd made earlier in the summer. While waiting for my car to get washed I'd seen it in O magazine and snapped a photo of the recipe, made it that night and we loved it, but just kind of forgot about it after that.

September means an overwhelming abundance of garden tomatoes and basil, so this was the perfect suggestion. Instead of a sourdough or white baguette I used a loaf of whole wheat bread, but otherwise the recipe is perfect as is. In order to make it a full meal for my family I heated a package of Aidell's chicken and apple sausages  (thank you Costco for carrying these in bulk!). My kids don't love the salad, but they still ate bites of it, but they do really, really love the sausage plus a straight up piece of the bread. J and I? Love the salad. With one of the sausages it's a full meal without feeling heavy. Let me know if you give it a try!

Warm Bread Salad with Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed but kept whole
• 4 cups torn baguette pieces
• 1 cup 1/2"-diced red onion
• 4 cups 1/2"-diced tomatoes, divided
• 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 bunch fresh basil, stemmed
• 1 Tbsp. capers
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper

Directions

Total time: 30 minutes 

In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add baguette pieces and sauté until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium-low, add red onion, and sauté 1 minute, then add 2 cups tomatoes. Add vinegar and remove from heat. Add basil, capers, and remaining tomatoes and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with basil leaves and serve immediately. 

Adapted from I Love New York: Ingredients and Recipes 

What changes (if any) are you making to inject a little change into your ho-hum menus? What do you have planned for this week?

*I'm so glad we invested in the half of a cow from my cousin and his wife this Spring. While our freezer was almost overwhelmingly full of beef at first, it's gotten to a manageable level after a summer of grilling burgers and steaks and I have room to start making some freezer meals again. If you're interested in purchasing bulk meat, one thing to consider is the huge savings you'll get on the premium cuts: a big 100% grass-fed, organic Prime Rib for under $4 a pound? Yes, please!

Make You Banana Pancakes...

I recently took part in a five-day clean eating challenge, and had to share one of the breakfast recipes.

During my first trimester of this pregnancy, my established eating patterns of salads for lunch and egg-heavy breakfasts with reasonable dinners went out the window for the stomach-soothing caaaaaarbs. I heart gluten, that's certainly no secret, but I knew that if I stayed on the path I'd started down, they'd have to roll me to the hospital by month nine. 

This time around I'm determined to gain very little weight. Or none. (and unless you are my OB, please save the admonitions, this is not an unsafe thing to do if you're chubby to start with, are eating nutrient-dense foods, exercising sensibly, and your baby is growing at the normal rate)  As I've learned the hard way, the novelty of gaining 800 pounds over the course of a pregnancy wears off pretty quickly when you have to then work off said half-ton with a newborn. And older kids. And a life. On limited sleep.

That said, I was happy to find this protein-rich breakfast that honestly gave me all of the satisfaction of eating actual pancakes. I promise. They're good! I quadrupled the original recipe to feed myself and my three kids, with a few leftover for the next day...at which point they weren't very good. This is definitely a recipe that is better on the day it's fresh and hot. They were super fast, and if you make them small and let them cook long enough on the first side, they flip as easily as traditional pancakes. If you don't, they're an ugly mess, because they're just a smidge thicker than crepes. You've been warned. 

I love using a blender with a lip, because it eliminates the mess going from bowl to griddle with a ladle.

I chose to cook mine in coconut oil, but they would likely be even mo' bettah in a straight-up butter coated pan. Or, if you're boring, a naked non-stick pan. So bust out your blender and heat up your griddle; these babies are even quick enough for school mornings!

Banana Protein Pancakes (quadrupled)

Breakfast:

8 eggs

2 bananas

1 c. dry oats

2 t. vanilla

2 t. ground cinnamon

In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until smooth.  Coat pan with ½ t. coconut (or olive oil or nonstick cooking spray...or grassfed butter) and cook just like pancakes.  

Spread with 1 T. almond butter or peanut butter. (make sure it's not straight from the fridge or you'll rip the pancakes). I also added a mix of fresh berries and you can add pure maple syrup or whatever your favorite pancake toppings are-get crazy.

Makes about 32 silver-dollar sized, thin, pancakes.  

Meal Plan Monday; 2-in-1

I decided to start doing two weeks of meal planning at a time. The week goes so quickly and, before I know it, I'm staring down Sunday with a dwindling produce selection and not a lot of inspiration. The meals for the following week that can be made ahead and frozen will be, and grocery shopping will be more streamlined. With a five person family, I still try to stay under $800 a month in groceries, and most of the time I'm able to, with some flex for the months of heavy meat purchases. Once I made the commitment to buy only organic and/or free-range meat, I also had to concede that we'd have less meals that included meat so I've been delving into my queue of vegetarian meals. A lot of people shy away from vegetarian meals because they think they'll lack flavor or substance, but that's just not true, it's all in the seasoning and the selection of produce and protein.

I've been pretty salad-heavy in my lunches lately, but will be trying these Eggplant Pizzas from Julia Child as a way to change things up. There are so many good, healthy and hearty options, there's no reason to be left eating your kids' cast-off crusts, or a crappy protein bar on the run. It takes a little more planning and prep time, but once you get in the habit it just becomes part of your day.

For the week of February 17th:

Monday: Quinoa Burgers, using the shredded zucchini in the recipe instead of carrots

Tuesday: Make-Your-Own Taco Bar

Wednesday: This Chili (yes, again-It's good! Making multiple batches by prepping the meat and then dividing into gallon sized bags, ready to thaw and cook next time) and Skillet Cornbread

Thursday: Meaty Lasagna, Salad and Bread (yet another that I'll make multiple of-in 8x8 pans-and freeze)

Friday: Pizza Playdate Dinner-For all the mamas whose husbands work late or travel, it's one night a month that we don't have to worry about dinner alone.

Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner; WW Waffles with Berry sauce and bacon. I love Marc Bittman's Quick and Easy waffles-I've used How To Cook Everything to death!)

Sunday: Minestrone (I make this a quad batch by browning enough meat for four batches and then continuing on with only one quarter of the meat for one batch and portioning the others into gallon-sized freezer bags with the remaining ingredients per the freezer instructions), Green Salad and Artisan Bread

For the week of February 24th:

Monday:  Quinoa and Spinach patties with eggs

Tuesday: Fish Tacos with Simple Slaw (cabbage, sour cream or greek yogurt, lime juice, salt and cilantro)

Wednesday: Brisket with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan Risotto

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Mom's gone-Boys rule (I'll be having a delicious kid-free dinner in Portland with my bestie to ring in another year for her)

Saturday: Ditto (more kid-free loveliness, including some pampering with girlfriends to celebrate babies and birthdays)

Sunday: Breakfast for Dinner; Protein Banana Pancakes and Bacon

Meal Plan Monday

Another week has come and gone, which means another meal plan is ready. Planning what I'm going to eat helps me stay on track, and saves money because I'm not buying a bunch of random things and hoping they'll get used in a cohesive way before turning into the stank at the bottom of the produce drawer that gets tossed out.

On nights that are busy, we often do breakfast for dinner or a crock pot meal. The first two Mondays of the month are when H has Cub Scouts, so it was a breakfast night per H's request. 

Monday: Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches on Whole Wheat English Muffins, with berries. I had my eggs over a bed of roasted broccoli and Brussels Sprouts with some feta cheese crumbles.

Tuesday: Thai Chicken Salad (made into tacos for the kids)

This is also a day I'm using to prep some freezer meals during Jack's nap when the big boys are at school. On the menu for freezing are: Skinny Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups, Lasagna with Meat sauce in 8x8 pans, Minestrone Soup, Sweet Potato Turkey Chili and Taco Filled Pasta Shells.

Wednesday:  I'll be out of town, so the boys are on their own...could be dangerous

Thursday: -home late, boys still on their own. I'm sure Chef Boyardee will be involved.

Friday: Lasagna with Meat Sauce.

We're lucky enough to have a great butcher who makes their own sausage. I use a mix of their sweet and hot Italian sausages, along with the roasted tomato marinara I made from my garden bounnty this summer and froze. Adding fresh basil and minimal cheese atop whole wheat noodles makes a very hearty dinner that everyone likes.

Friday is always Family Movie Night and this week we're taking the boys to see the Lego Movie at the theater for Valentine's Day. Also, I'm making these strawberries for their treat, yum!

Saturday: Grilled Halibut with roasted Brussels Sprouts and Quinoa cakes (I make extra of these little cakes and keep them for breakfasts. They are so good under an over-medium egg, with some wilted greens or spicy arugula.)

Sunday: Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Root Vegetables

Also, for lunches this week I have some really good salads on tap. My friend made one for us when she hosted playdate last week, and I've been thinking about it since, so I bought the extras for it today. It was a kale salad with shredded red cabbage (maybe I'm imagining that part, but I'm adding it anyhow ;)), crumbled feta, pomegranite seeds and a little bit of brown rice that really just added another dimension of heartiness that made it a true meal. It was very simply dressed with and olive oil base and could be made even more filling with some chicken breast, but I liked it just as it was.

What do you have on your menu plan?