Monthly Meal Plan #5

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Time to plan some more meals! This month’s recipes are more repeats.

  • Step 1: Get out the calendar and write down all the days that I don’t need to cook
    • April 1–friends bringing pizza over for dinner
    • April 2–Grandma’s party
    • April 9- our with friends for dinner
    • April 10-13 husband out of town-no cooking!
    • April 9 husband out for friday night soccer league
    • April 16th attending wedding
    • April 22nd friday night tennis practice
    • April 23rd date night
    • April 29th friday night tennis practice
  • Step 2: Put leftovers in on good dates and any meals to defrost
  • Step 3: Fill in the rest of the dates with meals. This month I’m putting some of
April 2011
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
 

 

 

 

Friends bring dinner

Grandma’s party

 

 

Defrost steak soup

Frittata

Roasted red onion & squash pasta

BLT

7
 

LEFTOVERS

8
 

Chicken Piccata

9
 

out with friends

10 

Husband gone

 

 

11 

Husband gone


12 

Husband gone

13 

Husband gone

14 

burritos

15 

 

tennis practice

16 

 

wedding

17 

 

grill

18 

tortellini & tomato sauce

19 

meatloaf

 

20 

my birthday dinner

21 

LEFTOVERS

22 

tennis practice

23 

date night

 

24 

grill

 

25 

sweet & spicy pork shoulder

 

26 

black bean burgers

27 

burritos

28
 

LEFTOVERS

29 

tennis practice

30 

fish

 

 

 

 

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Reality Check

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This month was another crazy month. I hadn’t really recovered from all the illness and snow days during the first two months of this year when I started traveling in late February. It seemed like I would get home from one trip and it would be time to get ready for the next. I had intentions of cooking meals between trips but I found I barely had time to get myself together much less get to the grocery store. So, we ate a lot of sandwiches, eggs and frozen pizza. The boys were pretty excited to get a reprieve from the new healthy eating plan I had started, but now that the travels are over and the weather is warming up, I’m looking forward to getting back to cooking and pulling out some of my warmer weather recipes.

 

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Monthly Meal Plan #4

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Time to plan some more meals!

  • Step 1: Get out the calendar and write down all the days that I don’t need to cook
    • March 1-2 out of town
    • March 9th family pizza birthday party
    • March 10-11 Great Wolf Lodge birthday weekend
    • March 14-17 out of town
    • March 30-31 out of town
  • Step 2: Put leftovers in on good dates.
  • Step 4: Fill in the rest of the dates with meals. This month I’m not feeling inspired to try anything new so I’m just doing standard recipes that I’ve used before.
March 2011
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

OUT OF TOWN

OUT OF TOWN

Birthday boy chooses dinner

defrost heartland chili

5
Tortellini & Tomato sauce
6
chicken picatta 

 

Black bean enchilada casserole

Burritos

LEFTOVERS

10 

Great Wolf Lodge

11 

Great Wolf Lodge

12 

BLT’s

13 

Make pizza’s

 

 

14 

OUT OF TOWN

15 

OUT OF TOWN

16 

OUT OF TOWN

17 

OUT OF TOWN

18 

Chicken w/ wild rice soup

19 

sweet & spicy pork shoulder

20 

penne w/ roasted onion & squash

21 

Ravioli w/ roasted red pepper sauce

22 

White Chili

 

23 

LEFTOVERS

24 

Breakfast for dinner

25 

Date Night

26 

Make pizza’s

 

27 

28 

Burritos

 

29 

LEFTOVERS

30 

OUT OF TOWN

31 

OUT OF TOWN

 

 

 

 

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Reality Check #3

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Oh my. That’s all I can really say about this month. In the first 6 weeks of 2011 my kids had 6 snow days and all of us were sick, some of us more than once. When things like this happen the entire plan goes out the window. If I already have the groceries in the house then either my husband or I will cook the meal. But if I’m sick then it all stops. When I have a fever and body aches, there are no trips to the grocery store or meals cooked. It’s all about survival. It’s kind of a blur at this point. I’d say about half of the recipes got cooked this month which is pretty good considering how sick we all were. The first week was pretty good but the next two weeks cooking was almost non-existent. The last week I got back on track and then it was time for me to leave town. There’s always next month.

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Orecchiette With Sausage and Roasted Peppers

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  • 1 jar roasted red peppers)
  • 1 lb pasta
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 lb Italian sausage
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
  • heat broiler place peppers skin side up on a foil lines baking sheet broil 4 inches from heat until charred. 18-20 minutes. transfer to bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam for 2-3 minutes. using a paper towel rub off pepper skins reserving any juice in the bowl. slice into strips
  • 2 cook pasta and reserve 1/2 c pasta water.
  • 3 heat oil and cook sausage then add peppers.
  • 4 add pasta, butter, reserved pasta water, parmesan, salt and pepper. toss to combine.
  • From Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine

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    Ravioli with red pepper sauce

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    Prep Time: 15 mins

    Total Time: 35 mins

    INGREDIENTS

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/2%
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    White Chili

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      Prep Time: 20 mins

      Total Time: 50 mins

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 4 chicken breasts, cubed
    • 1 cup onion, chopped
    • 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
    • 2 (4 ounce) cans green chilies, chopped
    • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
    • 3 (15 ounce) cans white beans, rinsed, drained
    • 3 (14 1/2 ounce) cans chicken broth
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

    • DIRECTIONS

    1. Heat olive oil medium-hight heat in large silver pot.
    2. Add onion and cook about 3 minutes.
    3. Stir in garlic, green chilis, cumin, oregano and cloves and cook another few minutes.
    4. Stir in the chicken broth, beans and chicken and simmer 20 to 30 minutes.
    5. Salt and pepper to taste.
    We’ve been using this recipe for so long I’m not exactly sure where we got it. My husband thinks it was from a Colorado Junior League cookbook that we borrowed from an old neighbor of ours. So, we’ll go with that.

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    White Bean & Sausage Pasta

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    INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 lb pasta (penne or rigatoni)
  • 1 lb turkey sausage
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, pressed
  • 1 (16 ounce) can white beans
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1 (16 ounce) can chicken broth
  • 1 (16 ounce) can tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I use a little more)
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 romano cheese, grated
    1. Cook and drain pasta and set aside.
    2. Cook sausage, drain and set aside.
    3. Heat oil in skillet add onions and cook till translucent.
    4. Add garlic, beans and heat through.
    5. Then add red pepper flakes, oregano, broth and tomatoes and simmer.
    6. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
    7. Toss bean mixture with sausage and pasta and top with cheese.

    This recipe is adapt from a recipe in  Saving Dinner. My husband loves this recipe.

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    Meatloaf

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    INGREDIENTS

  • 2 lbs ground chuck
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 onion
  • 1 (10 ounce) can tomato paste
  • 1/2 sleeve cracker, saltines
  • ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon sage, ground
  • 3 slices bacon
  • DIRECTIONS

    1. mix all ingredients except bacon and ketchp.
    2. form into a loaf in a 9×13 glass cassarole dish.
    3. lay bacon on top and cover with ketchup.
    4. bake at 350 for 1 hour.

    Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe.do?rid=rz.110373#ixzz1ERO6Zyj6

    Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe.do?rid=rz.110373#ixzz1ERNYRVII

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    Monthly Meal plan #3

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    Time to plan some more meals!

    • Step 1: Get out the calendar and write down all the days that I don’t need to cook
      • February 5th out
      • February 18th out
      • February 24-28th out of town
    • Step 2: Check freezer for any meals frozen from last month-this month. These are usually soups and chili’s that make so much we freeze half right away. This month I have 2 so I’ll put those down on dates where I think it will be good to not have to cook.
    • Step 3: Put leftovers in one night per week. I’ll usually look and see what I have going on and put the leftovers on a day when I’ll have been busy, making sure that I’ve cooked enough meals since the last leftover day so we’ll actually have some.
    • Step 4: Get out the list of family favorites & a couple cookbooks to flip through for new recipes.

    February 2011

    Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
    1

    White Bean & Sausage Pasta

    2

    BLT’s

    3

    Ravioli w/ roasted red pepper sauce

    4

    White Chili

    5

    LEFTOVERS

    6

    Make Pizza

    7

    Good Eats Soup

    8

    Spinach Lasagna

    9

    Black Bean Enchilada Cassarole

    10

    Tortellini & Tomato Sauce

    11

    Orichette w/ roasted red peppers

    12

    LEFTOVERS

    13

    Roast Chicken

    14

    Kale & White Bean Soup

    15

    Burritos

    16

    Defrost Heartland Chili

    17

    Trevino’s Birthday Dinner

    18

    LEFTOVERS

    19

    DATE NIGHT

    20

    Meatloaf

    21

    Defrost Taco Soup

    22

    Roasted red onion & squash pasta

    23

    Chicken & wild rice soup

    24

    OUT OF TOWN

    25

    OUT OF TOWN

    26

    OUT OF TOWN

    27

    OUT OF TOWN

    28

    OUT OF TOWN

    Some of these recipes have already been posted (see links below). The new recipes will be posted throughout the month.

    Spinach Lasagna

    Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

    Tortellin & Tomatoes

    Roasted Red onion & squash

    Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

    Breakdown of February’s 28 days:

    • Out 1 night
    • Leftovers 3 nights
    • Out of town 5 nights
    • Used defrosted meals 2 nights

    = 11 days of that month that I didn’t have to cook

    This month I didn’t freeze any meals but that’s ok. I still barely cooked half of the month! At the end of each month I’ll post the reality check to let you know how I had to adjust the plan as things came up.

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