Menu Monday February 24

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Cereal/oatmeal with fruit	Red beans and brown rice, Brussels sprouts	Lemon pepper chicken, farro, creamed spinach	Chia pudding
Tuesday	Whole Wheat waffles and yogurt	Nutty Veggie burgers, sweet potatoes	Crockpot chicken noodle soup	Popcorn
Wednesday	Peanut butter toast, fruit (mango, strawberry, kiwi)	Broccoli Mushroom frittata	Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, rolls	Whole wheat pretzels dipped in hummus
Thursday	Eggs and bacon	Leftovers	Tempeh tacos, cornbread	Orange slices
Friday	Cereal/oatmeal with fruit	Creamy Mushroom Barley soup	Salmon, brown rice, snap peas, lemony pepper cauliflower	Celery with cream cheese
Saturday	Pancakes	Tostadas	Pizza and salad	Cucumbers and hummus
Sunday	Toast and jam, fresh fruit	Family meal	Leftovers	Whatever is left!

 

 

 

I need to feed Ethan more FOOD! I am still nursing him on demand, and it’s easy to forget to actually prepare a meal for him as well (because he’s still my baby...but really he’s not). This week’s plan is full of foods I know that both kids love and will fill up on. One of my friends mentioned to me the other day that I go a little heavy on the carbs. I am noticing that this is especially true for breakfast. I don’t know, though, I’m not feeling out of balance at the moment, so I am choosing not to worry about it J

NOTES:

The lemon pepper chicken is from Whole Foods (because my life is easier when they remember to marinate it for me).

Have you cooked farro? It’s my new favorite. Until last year, I honestly thought that rice was the only grain I could use. Then I decided brown rice was better, and I started to use that instead of white rice. To take it to the next level, I found out that you can actually put things IN the rice! Game changer. Well, finally, my mommy friends introduced me to quinoa. Now I’ve got brown rice, quinoa, barley, and even farro! I’m so proud, I feel like a grown up.

The nutty veggie burger recipe is from the book Let Them Eat Vegan by Dreena Burton. Again, one of my friends made them for play school one evening and I think I ate like 4. Alice ate an entire patty and so did Ethan.

Tempeh tacos are just my way of changing up regular tacos. Tempeh is only $1.99 a pack. I like that J

I use organic ground turkey for the meatballs. I don’t have a recipe. I just add some garlic, onion, and mixed Italian spices. Then I form the meatballs and put them in the oven for 25 minutes at 375.

Tostadas are just crispy tortillas with taco stuff on top. Yum.

We get fresh salmon rather than farm raised. It’s a hot debate (and for good reason). I wish I had a link for you with research about it, but I have to go stop Ethan from eating crayons. I’m pretty sure that’s worse than farm raised salmon…

Menu Monday February 10

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Cereal/oatmeal with fruit	Avocado and cheese sandwich	Homemade Pizza and salad	Chia pudding
Tuesday	Eggs and toast	Mushroom broccoli frittata	Crockpot Gumbo	Pita chips w/ artichoke kale dip (from Trader Joe's)
Wednesday	Cereal/oatmeal with fruit	Honey mustard chicken wraps (Don't have a recipe. Just gonna wing it!)	Brown rice noodles with steak and steamed carrots	Veggies and dip
Thursday	Yogurt with berries and granola	Hardboiled eggs, ham, avocado	Tofu popcorn chick’n and sweet potato fries	Chia pudding
Friday	Eggs and toast	Vegetable barley soup, grilled cheese	Crockpot chicken tacos	Fruits
Saturday	Pancakes	PBJ sandwiches, fruit (picnic)	Catfish with farro, apple, and cabbage slaw	Veggies and dip
Sunday	Toast and jam, fresh fruit	Family meal	Leftovers	Fruits

 

I am trying a few new recipes this week because I’m just in that mood where nothing from my normal recipe stash is sounding appetizing. The new issue of Real Simple magazine actually had two recipes I really want to try. I have also been browsing Pinterest for new vegetarian dinner ideas. My family is not vegetarian (obviously…) but I am gently moving us in that direction.

I was vegan for about nine years before having my kids. At the end of that time, though, I realized that I was relying really heavily on convenience foods (like Tofu dogs and LOTS of pasta). These days I am TRYING to keep to ‘real food’ as defined on the blog 100 Days of Real Food. I’ve gotten pretty good at substituting whole wheat for white, homemade for packaged, etc.

On that note, I just had another reminder to read food labels CAREFULLY. Sometimes when I shop at places like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods I get a little comfortable and see the words “all natural” or “organic” and I just accept it without turning the package over to read the fine print. Then I saw this petition on Facebook to get a dangerous ingredient out of Subway bread. It turns out, this ingredient is in a lot of things, and many different types of bread. Anyway, it was a really good reminder for me to be vigilant about labels!

Well, that was a soapbox I didn’t really mean to get on

with my weekly menu J What are you eating this week? Is reading food labels something important to you, and what do you look for? Happy eating!

Menu Monday February 3

So I took a little week off from the blog, and from the internet in general actually. Sometimes I just feel overly “plugged in” and need to detox a little! Mission accomplished, and here’s the *super budget* menu for the week. We had a dinner party last weekend and I always get WAY too much food when we entertain, so I really tried to rein in the grocery bill this week. I’m also trying to strategically use the stuff that I have in the freezer/pantry.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Monday	Cereal with strawberries	Pizza bagels, oranges	Parmesan Dijon chicken, roasted veggies, spinach salad	Homemade granola bars
Tuesday	Hardboiled eggs and toast	Peanut butter and banana slices on whole wheat crackers, sliced cucumber and celery	Tofu vindaloo (slow cooker) with jasmine rice *kids eat at play school*	Zucchini muffins
Wednesday	Spice Dutch Baby	Grilled cheese and avocado	Fettuccini alfredo with chicken and broccoli	Granola bars
Thursday	Cereal with strawberries	Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popcorn	Burgers, sweet potato fries, chili-lemon cauliflower	Veggies and dip
Friday	Hardboiled eggs and toast	Homemade macaroni and cheese with sugar snap peas	Homemade pizza, salad	Zucchini muffins
Saturday	Pancakes and fruit	Leftovers	Out for my birthday!	Chia pudding
Sunday	Spice Dutch Baby	Family brunch	Three bean chili with baked potatoes	Fruit!

 The chili-lemon cauliflower is one of my family's new favorite side dishes! I leave off the spice for the kiddos, but double the spice for me and my husband.

The homemade pizza dough is now a weekly activity for Alice and I. She is getting pretty good at kneeding the dough! I will say, though, that I only use half of the salt called for in the recipe.

Sergio has become sort of a pancake making expert. I promise I will have him write down his 'recipe' with all his secrets, but for now I will just tell you that they are SO good that he has to make a triple batch every week :)

Now, the chia pudding has become sort of an addiction in our house. We first tried it at our friend's house during a potluck and Sergio insisted I get the recipe. My friend's advice is to take the recipe in the link, double it and add an extra 2 Tbsp of chia seeds. She also put berries on top and it was amazing.

So what's on your menu this week?