Menu Plan for the Week of May 20

Breakfast
pancakes (already frozen, just thaw)
oatmeal
Bavarian cream pastry (bought from a school fundraiser)
smoothies

Lunch
English muffin pizzas
almond butter sandwiches
leftovers from suppers


Supper
grilled ham and cheese with carrots and chips x2
whole chicken in the crockpot, roasted sweet potato wedges, salad
breakfast for supper: scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit
grilled chicken breasts, sautéed kale, baked sweet potatoes
grilled London broil, sautéed spinach, quinoa
beans and rice, a poor man's supper

Snacks
granola bars
carrots and hummus
string cheese sticks
Greek yogurt
fruit (apples, clementines, bananas, strawberries)
popcorn

Menu Plan for the Week of March 4

Breakfast
slow cooker oats
green smoothies
baked oatmeal

Lunches
leftovers
homemade lunchables for the kids
smoothie pops
monster meatloaf and broccoli

Dinners
chicken fajitas with Ezekiel tortillas
chicken and broccoli stirfry with brown rice
slowcooked beef roast with sweet potato cubes and sauteed cabbage
scrambled eggs and bacon with Ezekiel toast
baked chicken with roasted veggies


Snacks
natural fruit roll-ups
greek yogurt
cheese sticks
apples, bananas, berries, oranges
carrots and hummus or ranch
Kind bars
homemade protein bars

Freezer Cooking Plans for March 2

Tomorrow will be the first freezer cooking day that I have attempted in a while. I have put things in the freezer here and there but I really want enough fixed for a week or more so that we will eat at home each night. My goal this month in the food department is to buy quality meat and produce and eat them at home. I want to save some money...vacation time is around the corner :)
I guess really I could call tomorrow a freezer cooking/ prep day. I have some fruit veggies I want to get ready for the week. Clean eating doesn't happen here if I don't prepare for it!
Here is the plan:

• cut and half strawberries
• make hummus
• cut chicken and season for fajitas and stirfry
• cut onions and peppers for fajitas
• make and freeze meal size portions of brown rice
• boil some eggs for the next few days
• season beef roast for the freezer
• make pumpkin baked oatmeal, slice and freeze
• make banana chocolate chip oatmeal, slice and freeze
• make homemade protein bars

Hopefully I will have some little helpers tomorrow and hopefully I won't fizzle out before I get finished.

**some recipes adapted from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures, bodybuilding.com (Jamie Eason's recipes), and Biggest Loser recipes

Menu Plan for the Week of May 21

Okay, this is the last week of school!! No more packing lunches for two whole months!! YAY!!!
Update on the freezer/pantry challenge: we are spending WAY less at the grocery store each week and we are using up some of our freezer stockpile--just seems like we have way more food than I ever realized!!!

Breakfast
peanut butter banana smoothies (freezer-still haven't used them)
pumpkin baked oatmeal
oatmeal
eggs and turkey sausage (freezer)

Lunch
turkey and cheese sandwiches
ham and cheese sandwiches
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
frozen meals
chicken noodle soup (pantry)

Dinner
grilled London broil (freezer), Normandy veggies (freezer), white rice (freezer)
spinach pizza (freezer)
grilled chicken breast (freezer), spinach artichoke pasta (freezer)
shredded bbq chicken (freezer), creamed corn (freezer), baked beans
baked tilapia (freezer), quinoa (pantry), Normandy veggies (freezer)
beef and bean burritos (all ingredients in the freezer except beans)

Menu Plan for the Week of May 14

Well, the pantry challenge at my house is in full swing! I had to make a quick trip to Walmart to buy a few things yesterday and to Ingles earlier in the week to buy a few items. We've actually done a lot less grocery shopping than usual.
Here is what is on the menu for this week:

Breakfast
peanut butter banana smoothies (frozen)-didn't get to last week
eggs and turkey sausage (frozen)
waffles-bought this week for quick end-of-the-schoolyear breakfasts
oatmeal
peanut butter toast

Lunch
frozen lunches-some were bought this week
white chili (frozen)
taco soup (frozen)
chicken noodle soup (pantry)
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (pantry, bought some more bread for the week)

Dinner
turkey and black bean burritos (frozen and pantry)
shredded BBQ chicken, creamed corn, and black beans (frozen and pantry)
baked tilapia, rice, and Normandy veggies with pesto (frozen)
veggie burger and creamed corn and spinach cheese bites for the kids (frozen)
grilled London broil with creamed spinach and rice (frozen and pantry)
leftovers

Menu Plan for the Week of February 20

Monday: stuffed peppers, quinoa, Normandy veggies with pesto

Tuesday: fish, baked sweet potatoes, Normandy veggies

Wednesday: San Diego grilled chicken, brown rice, green beans

Thursday: breakfast for supper---eggs, turkey bacon, toast

Friday: bean burritos, veggies

Saturday: steak and Normandy veggies

Sunday: something simple or leftovers

Menu Plan for the Week of February 13

Valentine’s week! It’s gonna be a bit hectic in our house—hence the uncertainty of the menu

Monday: eating out with the in-laws

Tuesday: maybe fondue night?

Wednesday: taco salad with black beans

Thursday: spaghetti and meatballs, salad

Friday: something simple or leftovers

Saturday: grilled chicken and Normandy veggies with pesto

Sunday: baked tilapia, Normandy veggies with pesto, baked sweet potato

Freezer Cooking Results for February 11

I finally had time to do a little freezer cooking yesterday. Sorry I don’t have any pics. I got a late start on my cooking and forgot to take any.

Here’s the stats:

4 meals worth of beef meatballs

2 meals worth of taco meat + another meal worth not frozen

2 meals worth of San Diego chicken ( a recipe that I used to make when I did the Biggest Loser diet a couple of years ago)

12 oatmeal waffles for kid breakfasts

prepped 4 lbs. of strawberries for breakfast and snacks for this week

prepped cauliflower for snacks for this week

Blueberry Peach Baked Oatmeal

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have gorged myself for the last couple of months. I have been on the see food diet—see food and eat it! I realize that I need to do better and with the new year coming up in a few days it seems like the natural time to be the change I want to see! I was reading the latest issue of Healthy Cooking magazine and found an article about the Comfort Food diet. I had never really heard of it, but several recipes sounded yummy—especially the blueberry peach baked oatmeal. My family and I have been eating a lot of baked oatmeal since school started thanks to the abundance of good recipes on www.lynnskitchenadventures.com. We’ve tried double chocolate baked oatmeal, banana baked oatmeal, pumpkin baked oatmeal, and peanut butter baked oatmeal. So, really it seemed natural to try the recipe from the Healthy Cooking magazine. I did modify their recipe some because I was missing several ingredients, but my version was scrumptious!! I also think this would be heavenly with raspberries or blackberries instead of blueberries !

3 cups of quick cooking oats (original recipe called for old-fashioned oats)

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed ( I added a little less)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon (not in the original recipe)

2 egg whites

1 whole egg

1-1/4 cups light vanilla soy milk (original recipe called for skim milk)

1/4 canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 can sliced peaches, drained (we just left them in slices but you can chop them if desired)

1 cup frozen blueberries

1/3 cup chopped pecans (original recipe called for walnuts)

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl. In small bowl, whisk together egg whites, egg, soy milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together. Stir in blueberries and peaches. Place mixture in a 13x9 inch pan, sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Add the pecans to the top. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes.

Spoon baked oatmeal into bowls and add a splash of soy milk. ENJOY!

Menu Plan for the Week of December 5

Monday: my chicken casserole, veggies
Tuesday: grilled chicken, rice pilaf, veggies
Wednesday: turkey and bean burritos
Thursday: crescent chicken
Friday: eat out for my birthday
Saturday: pizza night
Sunday: leftovers or soup

Menu Plan for the Week of November 28

So…it’s been a while since I posted my weekly meal plan. I have been meal planning…the plans just haven’t made their way to the blog…After our feasting on Thanksgiving and living on the leftovers of that feast for the days after, I have decided that I want to cook again lol. Seriously, after all the cooking we did for our Thanksgiving meal, I thought I would never cook again (and it was potluck!). We did all the deserts and my husband and I came up with some pretty lofty plans that included two different cheesecakes , a gingerbread cake, a spice cake, and a trifle---all from scratch. I’m tired just typing that! Having typed all that, I don’t think that any of these meals are going to seriously strain me in any way. The spicy refried bean soup is a recipe I just came across and it looked so good on the blog I decided we needed to try it. The ingredients were cheap and I love a bean soup-yummy!

 

Monday: Spicy refried bean soup

Tuesday: scrambled eggs and hashbrowns

Wednesday: turkey burgers on whole wheat buns with sprouts and avocado, roasted sweet potatoes

Thursday: crescent chicken, creamed corn, green beans

Friday: homemade pizza night

Saturday: Christmas party

Sunday: some sort of soup or chili

 

 

This is linked to orgjunkie.com

Menu Plan for the Week of October 17

Monday: fried chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, baked beans, rolls, dump cake and ice cream—made my awesome husband and my oldest daughter gets credit for the dump cake

Tuesday: fried chicken breasts, winter squash casserole, green beans, rolls

Wednesday: chicken enchilada casserole, corn on the cob

Thursday: breakfast for supper—scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns

Friday: pizza night

Saturday: bean burritos, rice

Sunday: leftovers or something easy

Freezer Cooking Results for October 15

This month I did my freezer cooking a little different. I followed a lot of the recipes from the traditional menu at Once a Month Mom. I also found one recipe from the whole foods menu that sounded awesome. I shopped yesterday (dreading the check-out line the whole time) and was pleasantly surprised when the total wasn’t bad at all!! I chopped lots of veggies last night and cooked some of the chicken last night and had it ready to go for today. Having done that, I still cooked all day. I finally got done with cooking and packaging 9 1/2 hours later! I am pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to take me that long but this is quite an accomplishment for me because I am usually not done that fast and I don’t have nearly as large a yield of food. Everything that my family and I sampled was scrumptious…especially the muffins and the pasta!!!

Here’s the complete list of items making my freezers bulge right now:

• over 5 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
• over 3 dozen harvest pancakes
• 3 meals of spinach artichoke pasta
• 1 meal of chicken and wild rice soup
• 1 meal of taco soup
• 2 meals of Monterrey chicken
• 4 meals of Mexican chicken lasagna
• 1 meal of seasoned taco meat
• 3, 3 cup containers of chicken broth
• 5 lunch portions of taco soup
• 9 lunch portions of chicken and wild rice soup
• 3 meals worth of salsa chicken

Menu Plan for the Week of October 3

I love fall! I love the way the air smells outside. I love the way the leaves change color. I love watching the wind blow the trees and bushes around. I also love fall food—you know, the chili, the soup, the hearty meals that we all eat during fall and winter. Yum!! I can’t wait to implement more of that food into my meal plans in the weeks to come .

Monday: homemade cheese pizza and salad

Tuesday: chicken fajitas and black beans

Wednesday: grilled chicken and veggies

Thursday: Not My Mama’s Chili and grilled cheeses

Friday: eat out

Saturday: eat out

Bullseye Pizza

 

I LOVE BBQ chicken pizza!! Actually the first one I tried was a Lean Cuisine pizza and it was pretty darn good for a diet meal! I never could talk my husband into ordering one if we were out somewhere and I don’t remember how he ever did come to like them but the homemade kind using Bullseye BBQ sauce is the BEST!!!!

I usually make 2 pizzas but you can adjust the amounts to what you like…

2 pizza crusts—I have used pre-made in the past and they have worked well, but recently I have discovered frozen pizza dough at my local grocery store. It’s so easy-just thaw, let it rise, shape it, and pre-bake a little.

1 lb. or less of either grilled chopped chicken or shredded chicken (I usually toss mine with a little extra BBQ sauce)

1 onion, chopped and sautéed

1 container of sliced mushrooms from the produce section, sautéed

1/2 bottle, Bullseye BBQ sauce

mozzarella cheese (can mix with sharp cheddar for a yummy taste)

parmesan cheese

oregano

 

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On each pizza crust, put an amount of BBQ sauce that you would enjoy on a pizza (if you like a lot of sauce, put a lot of BBQ sauce!) Top with chicken, veggies, cheeses, and oregano. Make a bulls eye pattern on the top of the pizza with extra BBQ sauce and put the pizza in the oven until the cheese and crust is golden. Cut and enjoy!

Menu Plan for the Week of September 12

This is simply gonna be an awesome week…We started yesterday with our nephew’s birthday; Wednesday is dd7’s birthday (she’ll be 8 of course!), and we have an early release day from school for parent/teacher conferences (which means I still have to work but I will have a sort of workday in between conferences to plan and get my room back in order )!
Monday: Bullseye pizza and salad with ranch dressing
Tuesday: breakfast for supper—scrambled eggs, hashbrown potatoes, toast, and fruit
Wednesday: EAT OUT FOR DD7’S BIRTHDAY
Thursday: Mexican chicken and rice skillet and salad
Friday: Black bean soup with cheddar cheese and sour cream
Saturday: beef and bean burritos
Sunday: something simple or leftovers

Menu Plan for the Week of September 5

Having just filled two freezers with food, I have the unique problem of not knowing what to fix for supper this week—not because we don’t have any groceries, but because we have a variety! I love it!! Here’s the tentative plan.

Monday: eat out for Labor Day

Tuesday: shredded chicken tacos and black beans

Wednesday: grilled chicken with Normandy veggies

Thursday: shepard’s pie

Friday: Mexican rice casserole

Saturday: beef and bean burritos and Spanish rice

Sunday: something simple or leftovers

Freezer Cooking Results for the Weekend of September 2-4

When I thought about freezer cooking this weekend I really hadn’t planned on too much—a couple batches of chili, a batch of waffles, and my usual pb & j sandwiches for the kids’ lunches. I’m not sure what happened after that but this freezer cooking session just kinda sprouted legs and came alive! It wasn’t one day or even a day and a half—over two days worth of cooking!!

Here is the yield from this labor-fest…

2 meals worth of white chili

1 meal worth of regular chili

25 whole wheat Belgian waffles

3 loaves of whole wheat cranberry bread (one of which has nearly been devoured by our family for breakfast!)

2 batches of chocolate protein bars—16 servings

2 batches of carrot cake protein bars—16 servings

1 batch of cinnamon swirl protein bars—8 servings

12 sandwiches for the kids lunches—Thank goodness for the 4 day week this week! I ran out of peanut butter!!

10 cups of chicken broth (besides what was used in the white chili)

2 (2 cup) bags of black beans

2 (2 cup) bags of shredded chicken

2 shepard’s pies

2 bags of breaded okra (fresh from the garden—really, I hadn’t planned on this item but my mother-in-law called and asked if we wanted any okra and we of course said—YES!)

4 (2 cup) bags of white rice

2 lunch-sized servings of white chili

4 lunch-sized servings of regular chili

 

Let me just add…I am completely worn out!!!!! And yes, I did post this after 1 am—I just finished putting the last of the food into the freezer! Thank goodness I didn’t fix any more food because the freezers are packed to the gills!!!

Menu Plan for the Week of August 29

Another crazy week for the Brooks household…Actually, I think every week that we have school is a crazy week!

Here are my menu ideas for this crazy one…

Monday: grilled London broil, hashbrown potatoes, Normandy veggies

Tuesday: shredded chicken tacos and pinto beans

Wednesday: homemade Margarita pizza

Thursday: beef and bean burritos and Spanish rice

Friday: eat out with friends

Saturday: grilled chicken and Normandy veggies

Sunday: something simple or leftovers

Menu Plan for the Week of August 22

Well school is off in full swing which means that things around my house are too. It’s so crazy around here that I dare not put a date to any of these menu ideas!

So, here they are (in no particular order)…

grilled London broil and steamed veggies

California rolls, lettuce wraps, sauteed zucchini (my dear husband is experimenting with all of this—he is a fantastic cook)

grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies

breakfast for supper—scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit

beef and bean burritos

pizza night

slow cooker BBQ beef sandwiches