Meal Planning-Enjoying Summer

August already!  Summer has been short here in Cleveland as we've only had about 2 weeks of really hot weather (not that I'm complaining) and LOTS of rain.  Our tomatoes are still green but C's mom was able to give us some from her crop so we will be having lots of fresh-from-the-garden tomato dishes this week.

Sunday-Lunch was steak and corn on the cob on the grill.  Dinner was sausage/pasta/tomato/basil dish garnished with balsamic/olive oil/garlic/cheese
Monday-BLT wraps and grilled summer squash
Tuesday-Chicken and sweet potatoes in the crock pot with salad
Thursday-Brucshetta pizza

Now that Henry is starting to enjoy food, I have the following planned for him:

Breakfast-Pears
Lunch-Sweet Potatoes
Dinner-Avocado

We are adding a new food every 4-7 days so on Wednesday, I'll add something else into his diet.  I'm thinking bananas as they would easily mash in his mesh feeder.

What's on your meal plan for this week?  Any great fresh tomato recipes?

Meal planning

Chris, H and I spent a few days out of town visiting family (family reunion for me and H and moving family for C).  We got back late Saturday night so we could get ready for the next week-Monday always comes around so fast!  Mac and Lila also had an obedience lesson or shall I say Chris and I had a lesson in being better pack leaders.

Is it hot where you are?  We are supposed to see 90 every day this week!  I doubt we will be turning on the stove or oven.  I'm certainly going to miss having central air as we only have window air conditioners. They do the job but some rooms are hotter, like my office, than others.

Sunday-Greek festival!  We picked up food from the drive-thru after running errands.

Monday-spinach salad with chicken, goat cheese, strawberries and a strawberry vinaigrette

Tuesday-C is on his own

Wednesday-chicken tacos with guac

Thursday-grilled pork chops

Friday-????

Meal planning

Although I haven't been posting it here, we've still been meal planning, shopping and cooking.  Meals that come together fast are preferred and we do a lot of grilling!  I try to prep as much on the weekends as possible, it makes our weeknight s go more smoothly.

Sunday-chicken, quinoa and spinach bowls

Monday-turkey, bacon and spinach wraps with Asian coleslaw

Tuesday-I'm at a work dinner, Chris is on his own

Wednesday-grilled shrimp and asparagus

Thursday- burgers with avocado  

What's on your menu for the week?

Back to work week and meal planning!

Here we go, my first week back to work and our first with with our nanny (in order to protect her privacy, I'll just refer to her as Nanny or the nanny on here).  Today, our nanny starts and tomorrow I'm back to work.  I hear a shortened work week is the way to go and it's best to ease back into things, we will see!  Meal planning is even more important now that my time is limited so I spent a few hours planning and prepping this weekend, thanks to a 3 hour nap, to ensure success during the week.

Prep work:
Paleo fudge-added toasted coconut as inspired by Danielle and these things are amazing now!
No bake energy bites
Paleo blueberry muffins

Meal Plan:
Sunday-Burgers on the grill with guac and bacon, green beans, strawberries
Monday-Roasted Chicken in tomatillo sauce (crock-pot) and butternut squash risotto (carry over from last week)
Tuesday-quesadillas with left-over chicken
Wednesday-Bratwurst on the grill, spinach salad
Thursday-left overs
Friday-Out to dinner/take-out?

I'm a little nervous about returning to work so let's see how thing week goes!

Meal planning

Meal planning has been tough lately, I'm working with limited ingredients (due to dietary restrictions for H) and limited time ( um, I've got a baby and we were out of town over the weekend). I'm traveling again at the end of this week so here's what we've done so far:

Sunday- burgers and sweet potato fries on the grill
Monday- stuffed shells from the geezer for C. (I had a meeting and I'm not eating dairy still)
Tuesday-meatloaf from the freezer, sautéed green beans and mashed sweet potatoes
Wednesday- chicken noodle soup (perfect for a rainy day)
Thursday- C's on his own
Friday-grilled marinated chicken and bn squash risotto (dairy free- made with chicken stock and coconut oil).

Next week I return to work so meal planning/ prep will be even more important! I'm going to stock up at the farmers market/grocery store and hope to get some prep work done this weekend!

Any tips/tricks tidy I should know for speedy meals?

Meal planning and bleeding dogs

Now that I'm following the (very boring) elimination diet, I don't have much desire to meal plan but here's what we have going on for the week:

Monday- left overs (chicken and rice, sweet potato fries)
Tuesday- roasted chicken and vegan butternut squash risotto (bn squash, chicken stock and rice)
Wednesday-chicken
Thursday-chicken
Friday-out to dinner with the family (probably chicken)

As you can see, I'm eating A LOT of plain chicken, sweet potatoes, squash and rice. I also eat almonds and smoothies with almond butter, almond milk and banana. We are hesitant to say this is making a huge difference at this point but I'm going to stick it out for the 10 days and then evaluate. Chris isn't following the diet so he is adding spices and condiments and extra veggies to his meals-lucky guy!

Spring has finally come to Cleveland! We've been enjoying lots of walks with the dogs...until yesterday when Lila was bitten by a Great Dane who wasn't leashed. I didn't notice her injury until we got home and found blood around the house....and then more blood right as our first nanny interview started. It's a small wound on her leg so we aren't taking her in to the vet unless it isn't healing properly (don't worry, I called the vet to find out what to do). Here's a photo of Henry on the walk, pre-dog bite and our injured puppy.

Meal Planning

After spending some time in DC and being out of town for Easter (hope you had a happy Easter!), we are back at meal planning!

Monday-turkey/black bean quesadillas (thanks to C's mom for sending us home with left-overs turkey)
Tuesday-Roasted whole chicken and oven roasted squash
Wednesday-Crock pot pork loin
Thursday-left overs
Friday-out to dinner for my birthday :)
Saturday-left overs

Since I've been home for lunches, I've been stocking up on greens and trying to eat salads with lots of protein (chicken, ham, hard-boiled eggs).  Chris packs his lunch almost every day and usually has left overs, so I try to plan meals with extra servings for him to take for a day or two.

I'm also whipping up some no bake energy bites for snacking (or sometimes 2 of these become my breakfast).

Here are a few photos from Easter:

Chris, Sonya and Henry (8 weeks)

"Ohh, let me touch the baby."  Luke was very good
with Henry!

Meal planning

Normally, I do the meal planning and then the shopping but this weekend Chris offered to stop at the grocery store on his way he from Crossfit, I texted him a basic list so we are working from that:

Monday- casserole from the freezer and sautéed green beans
Tuesday-baked chicken and Brussels sprouts
Wednesday-left over beef and sweet potato chips
Thursday-quinoa fried rice with broccoli and chicken
Friday-???

Henry has a cold so that is my first priority this week...so we may be eating granola bars if dinner doesn't get made!

Meal Planning

We had our first weekend out of town with Henry, back to our hometown to visit family.  It was a success!  Henry did well in the car (thanks to a little planning, he slept most of both hour and a half drives).  He got LOTS of cuddle time with family and was pretty much held non-stop :).  We took his Pack N Play home for sleeping and he was up at his usual times-midnight, 3am, 5am and 7am.  No worries about the time change affecting his schedule since he doesn't have a set one yet :).  I'm planning on starting to regulate his schedule in the next few weeks so when I go back to work at the end of April we have a routine.    

Because we were out of town over the weekend, I hit up the grocery store for a few staples today with Henry.  Thankfully, this trip was a success as well.  Our local store is very customer focused and they truly made shopping with an infant easy and they still bag your groceries and put them in the car!  Now onto meal planning:

Monday-Pork chops with butternut squash and qunioa stuffing (stuffing came from the freezer)
Tuesday-something from the freezer
Wednesday-Crock pot beef burritos with spinnach wraps
Thursday-Baked chicken and sauteed green beans
Friday-Creamy tomato sauce with shrimp and cauliflower

What are you having this week?

Meal planning

Lately, we've been hanging at home (obviously) but the leftovers are stacking up so I only have three meals planned. We are attempting our first weekend trip with Henry for a family bridal shower so I'm keeping it simple this week:

Monday-Mexican Quinoa with avocado
Tuesday-baked chicken with Brussels sprouts
Wednesday-beef roast in the crockpot with sweet potatoes, carrots and onions

Additional sides/prep:
Baked kale chips
Roasted parsnips
Paleo fudge
Paleo banana bread

Meal planning

Here we go! Not as much sleep as last week but C and I put together a few ideas for the week:

Sunday-we we've out for a late lunch with my brothers so we are snacking for dinner
Monday-crock pot pork with tomatillo sauce and new potatoes
Tuesday-burgers on the grill ( it's supposed to be nice here...like in the 40's :)) and cauliflower
Wednesday-something from the freezer
Thursday-left overs
Friday-shrimp and spaghetti squash

I'm also going to attempt to whip up some primal fudge and some breakfast cookies.

Meal Planning

Wow-things really get away from me now that I'm busy with baby Henry 24/7!  Our little one is enjoying some time on his play mat focusing on his high-contrast art cards (thanks Cait!) and I got four straight hours of sleep last night (yep, it was amazing) so I have a few minutes and mental capacity to come up with some ideas:

Sunday-C's family was here so his mom did a crock pot roast with sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms and this really yummy homemade bbq sauce that my Dad gave us
Monday-Bacon wrapped chicken breast and roasted cauliflower
Tuesday-Crust-less quiche and salad
Wednesday-Meatloaf (from the freezer) and sauteed green beans
Thursday-Chicken and black bean quesadillas
Friday-Pesto kale pizza
Saturday-???

Meal planning-back at it!

After taking some time off for baby Henry, it's time to get back to meal planning! Last night, will pulled a freezer meal out, cheesy chicken quinoa with broccoli, and popped in the the oven for an hour-so easy and delicious. I broke my own rule yesterday and went grocery shopping without a meal plan so I do have some fresh fruits and veggies (brussels sprouts, kale, spinach, apples and bananas) to work with this week so I'll be planning around those.

Sunday-spinach salads (topped with dried cranberries, toasted almonds, cheese and balsamic vinegarette) and shepherds pie (from the freezer)
Monday- Herbs de Provence Pork Loin (loosely based on this recipe) and rosemary roasted parsnips
Tuesday-homemade pizza
Wednesday (Ash Wednesday)-Tilapia and roasted Brussels sprouts
Thursday (Valentines Day)- leftover pork served with sauce over quinoa and paleo chocolate pudding for the holiday :)
Friday-out to dinner
Saturday-left-overs???

What are you having this week?

Meal Planning-Paleo Style

Chris took charge of the menu this week and he was inspired by a cookbook he received for Christmas. "Practical Paleo".  We've both been reading through the very informative book (it's a mix of a book on nutrition and cookbook) and are ready to give some of the recipes a try!

Monday-Hospital Tour tonight so we'll be grabbing leftovers or take out
Tuesday-Chicken Legs with Brussels sprouts and fennel
Wednesday-Cumin Spiced Tenderloin with root veggies
Thursday-Stuffed Peppers with salad
Friday-Bacon wrapped chicken thighs and sauteed red cabbage

I'm also going to give Paleo bread a whirl this week...let's hope it turns out well!

What are you having this week?  Trying anything new?

Meal Planning-for the week

I was so busy over the weekend meal planning for baby that I forgot to meal plan for the week...oops!  Here's what I'm thinking:

Sunday-BBQ chicken legs and oven roasted broccoli
Monday-Mexican Qunioa (one of our staples)
Tuesday-Meatloaf and sweet potato chips (this was on the menu last week but we never got to it)
Wednesday-Stuffed Shells or Pasta (and making some for the freezer)
Thursday-???
Friday-???

At least we have a start, right?!?!?!  What are you having this week?

Meal Planning for Baby

We had a really productive weekend here!  C's parents came to stay on Friday night and Saturday and were so much help around the house (the guys worked on TV/cable issues and Sharon and I cooked-thank you Sharon for doing sink-load after sink-load of dishes!)  We were so happy to have them here and to spend some time together.  On Friday night, we took them to our favorite Rocky River restaurant Sweet Melissa and it did not disappoint!  Odds are good that if you come to visit, we will take you to Sweet Melissa for dinner :)

One of the projects on my list this week was to create some meals to stick in the freezer for when Baby Kimmet makes his or her arrival in a few short weeks!  I thought it may be helpful to list the steps we went through and some of the recipes

1. Start with a list of what you want to make
2. Source ingredients (grocery shop, raid freezer/pantry).  I didn't do the best with this and we made three trips to the store but that's okay...I'll do better next time.
3. Plan out recipes to be efficient.  For example, a couple of recipes started with a base of sauteed ground beef with onions so I made all of the beef together and then divided it out for the individual recipes.  Same went for sausage-cooked all in one pan and then divided it out when I needed it.
4. Make recipes and LABEL before placing in freezer (unless you are okay with a mystery meal!)-I just use a Sharpie marker on the foil lid to label.  Since these meals went right into our freezer, I didn't worry about adding baking instructions but if you are making for someone else, that would be necessary.
5.  One last tip, there are tons of recipes out there and you may want to stick with tried-and-true or be adventurous and make new things.  I only made meals we've had before and like.  I made a few things that my husband likes and I don't make on a regular basis-now he can't wait to dig into these!

The final result-11 meals tucked away in the freezer!

So what's on our list?

Meatloaf-to be made
Waffles-Double batch
White Chicken Chili-to be made
Green Bean Casserole-to be made
Bread Dough-to be made
Sheppard's Pie with mashed cauliflower topping
Lea's Ham and Corn Chowder
Italian Stuffed Peppers (I added spinach to the filling this time)
Cheeseburger/Hash brown Casserole
Qunioa Broccoli Chicken Casserole- (from Annie Eats)
Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup
Stuffed Shells
No Bake Energy Bites
Date-Brownie Bites

What are some of your favorite freezer meals?  How to do you plan for a busy time?

Meal planning

Well here we go, it's Monday again! We didn't meal plan last week because it was a short one due to holiday travel and an all-guys ski trip for Chris and out of town baby shower. But now the travel has come to an end as I'm almost 36 weeks pregnant!

Monday-Mexican quinoa
Tuesday-crockpot rotisserie chicken
Wednesday-homemade pizza (roasted chicken and kale, margarita)
Thursday-meatloaf and sweet potatoes
Friday-left overs
Saturday-trying something new... Just haven't decided what yet!

I'll also be whipping up a batch of the date brownie energy bites for quick snacks.

What are you having this week? Are you using old favorite recipes or trying something new?

Meal Planning-Pre-holiday style

And another weekend bites the dust!  We had so much fun spending the weekend at home for a family wedding and enjoying lots of family time.  We have a full week (last childbirth class on Monday) and since it's last one before Christmas so there will be lots of last-minute gift buying and wrapping going on.  Speaking of gifts, part of my anniversary gift from C arrived in the mail and I'm really excited to start using this baby:

That's right, I got a dutch oven for our anniversary...
and I LOVE it!

Here's our meal plan for the week:

Sunday-Chicken, roasted broccoli and potatoes
Monday-Cheddar-Dill Chicken Cobbler (from Chicken and Egg cookbook).  I made this today and just have to pop it in the oven tomorrow night!
Tuesday-Cauliflower Soup with a spinach salad
Wednesday-Shrimp, pasta and cauliflower in a spicy cream sauce
Thursday-Sheppard's pie
Friday-left overs
Saturday-BBQ short ribs in my anniversary gift

What's on your menu for the week?

Meal Planning

It's Monday again...how the weekend seems to fly by!  We were very productive, paint party (round 2) happened on Saturday, we also worked on the nursery, did laundry and cleaned the house and did some holiday shopping.  It's just a regular week here with both of us home and I'm hoping to get in some Christmas baking since we are now 2 weeks away from the holiday.

My 3 favorites in front of Christmas tree!

Monday-Weekend leftovers (yummy Mexican food from last night's Christmas shopping outing)-We've got another childbirth class and don't have much time between work and the class
Tuesday-Oven baked salmon and roasted veggies (broccoli and/or cauliflower and potatoes)
Wednesday-Corn and Ham Chowder-My friend Lea's recipe,  I'll post the recipe after I make it because it's delicious!  Will also be making a test run of a Kale and Brussels sprout salad for Christmas
Thursday-Mexican Quinoa (I add a can of black beans)- per C's request
Friday- We are hanging out at home, maybe left-overs or soup out of the freezer?

Meal Planning

Our crib, an early shower gift from my parents and brothers!

We had such a busy but productive weekend!  We painted the foyer/hallway area with my Mom, had a holiday party to attend for C's work, put together the crib, went out to dinner at a wine bar (no wine for me) and did some yard work and did some volunteering.  When it came time to sit down and work on a menu, I didn't have much energy to create one so here's our very basic menu for the week:

Monday-Chicken and black bean quesadillas
Tuesday-Roasted shrimp and broccoli
Wednesday-C is traveling so I'm not cooking
Thursday-Pork Chops with stuffed butternut squash and apples (I will be adapting the recipe to make it easier)
Friday-Burgers with bacon and cheese with sweet potato chips
Saturday-We are Christmas shopping so maybe out or maybe eating at home-we will wing it.

Yesterday I whipped up some brownie bites and a new no-bake energy bite recipe that were delicious (if you like chocolate, peanut butter and coconut, try the recipe!) so we've got a few healthy treats in the house before I start on Christmas cookies in the next week or so.  Now, how do I make primal/paleo holiday goodies????

What's on your menu for the week?