Menu planning has always been hard for me. Always. So much so that one of the best Christmas presents Spencer ever gave me was a month-long menu with shopping lists included. It was so wonderful and full of things that we ate regularly with no crazy new recipes that would take a lot of time to figure out.
Recently I've been doing a lot of decluttering and getting rid of lot of things. Before I threw this most recent find away (the menu from Spencer), I wanted to document more changes in how we've been eating. I've been menu planning much more regularly than ever since Spencer started his away rotations last October and it has been a life-saver. Now I'm able to plan about four weeks at a time and it has been fantastic!
Day 1 - Pizza (frozen)
2 - Ravioli (store-bought, but described by us as "Really Good")
3 - Lasagna (Stauffer's)
4 - Leftovers
5 - Pasta Prima Vera
6 - "Good" Quesadillas (cheese, chicken, and olives)
7 - Corn Dogs (frozen)
8 - Pizza (frozen)
9 - Mandarin Chicken (frozen, served with white rice)
10 - BBQ Chicken in crock pot
11 - Leftovers
12 - Chicken Packets
13 - Spam & Pineapple (one of the meals from my childhood. served with white rice)
14 - Taquitos/Frozen Burritos
15 - Pizza (frozen)
16 - PB&J/Really Good Sandwiches
17 - Beach Chicken
18 - Dino Bites
19 - Burrito "Enchiladas" (with frozen burritos)
20 - Spaghetti
21 - Nachos
22 - Pizza (frozen)
23 - Mac & Cheese/Good salads
24 - Chicken Pot Pie
25 - Burritos
26 - Pasta Prima Vera
27 - Bakes Potatoes
28 - Stroganoff
29 - Pizza (frozen)
30 - Taco Salad
31 - Crock Pot Veggies
And here's my menu from the end of August through most of September. I stuck with this quite well and probably only switched a couple due to convenience or we ended up with leftovers and I may have cut one out.
Aug 30 - Chickpea Noodle Soup
31 - Wheatberry Waldorf Salad
Sept 1 - Date Night - Kids, Bean chili
2 - Tamale Casserole
3 - Lentil-Mushroom Burgers (Scott Jurek's recipe. We're actually having these again tonight)
4 - Quinoa Salad
5 - Teriyaki Chickpea
6 - Tortilla Soup
7 - Baja Black Bean
8 - Pizza (Papa Murphy's)
9 - Chili Soup
10 - Bean Burritos
11 - Pasta
12 - Stir Fry
13 - Black Bean and Salsa Soup (I think this one we ended up having Golden Winter Soup, which was delicious!)
14 - Moroccan Couscous
15 - Calzone Creations (I think this one got cut for leftovers because I didn't want things to go bad)
16 - Enchilada Casserole
17 - Quinoa Salad
18 - Sweet Potato Quesadillas
19 - Baja Black Bean
20 - Chickpea Noodle Soup
21 - Pasta
22 - Asian Stir Fry
23 - Split pea Soup
24 - Bean Burritos
Of course I remember that we used to eat that way, but seeing it all written out was pretty amazing. I am really grateful for the changes we made. And these aren't even all of the recipes I use! There are some other really good ones. If there are any recipes you're interested in, let me know. We love to share!
04 October 2012
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8 comments:
oh how I would love to exchange recipes! I love going to the Wholefoods website. They have some easy healthy meals every now and then. We love making thai food, although those nights I usually make enough rice n' veggies for the kids bc it can get spicy with the curry paste. Still, I love eating healthy GREAT TASTING food. I have you to thank for that too. :) Our families basically eat the same kinds of food.
I would love to get all your recipes (or links to where I can find them)! I also need to find a reasonably priced place for quinoa here in Utah. Have you heard of any?
RECIPES PLEASE!! I've been 90% doing eat to live and half the time i'm like, what can i eat? i usually have salad. But i'm sorta getting bored of the constant salad....so THANK you for posting and please, please, please, recipes....
Okay, now that I've written this, I'm going to have to confess. I haven't finished reading eat to live simply because I haven't had time. So i'm guessing a lot of the recipes are actually in the book. that's really embarrassing....hate to admit, but true.
As a fellow "eat-to-live-er" I would like all of the recipes too. It does get kind of boring if I am eating the same things over and over! Also, quinoa at Costco seems to be by far the cheapest that I have found.
I like this recipe a lot:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
5 carrots, peeled &sliced
6 sweet peppers, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
2 yellow zucchini, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt
32 ounces chicken broth
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 cans white beans, drained
2 Tbsp ground cumin
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp lime juice
fresh cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside.
Heat oil in a huge pot on medium heat. Saute onions, celery, carrots, peppers and zucchini.
Stir ad cook 5-8 minutes or until softened. Stir in garlic, cook 60 seconds. Season with a pinch of salt.
Pour chicken broth, cooked quinoa, tomatoes, beans, cumin, chili powder, hot sauce and lime juice.
Season with salt and pepper to taste; stir in fresh cilantro
Simmer on low heat until ready to serve.
Thank you Emily, I've been looking for a good excuse to renew my Costco card! Thanks for the recipe as well.
You inspire me to eat healthier! I would love your recipes for quinoa salad, tamale casserole, and sweet potato quesadillas. All of them sound great!
This is totally inspiring. Very cool, my friend.
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