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meal plan

RECIPES/ Roundups

Recipes I’m Making This Week – My Meal Plan

Recipes I’m Making This Week:

I love starting the week with food in my refrigerator and a good idea of what I am going to feed my family each week. It cuts down on food waste, helps me stick to our grocery budget, gives an answer to that dreaded question: “what’s for dinner?” and keeps me from visiting the grocery store more than once a week.

Meal planning is a time and money saver!

I personally do not plan out exactly what we are going to eat each day. My schedule changes, my 3 teenagers’ needs change each day, and I just don’t know what kind of food mood we will all be in.

Yes…that is a thing…food mood! Mine seems to change with the weather…if it is cold and dreary outside then I want soup simmering. If it is sunny and mild, I want something quick so I can get outdoors and enjoy it!

I follow a loose guide every week, with the below themes as my guide. Some weeks I hit all of the themes, some weeks I don’t. Flexibility works for me!

I start with knowing what is in my freezer, refrigerator, and pantry. I especially pay attention to any proteins we have so I can build meals around them. I then find recipes online that I have saved or look here are New Nostalgia at our fav go-to recipes.

Some weeks I try new-to-me recipes, some weeks I go to what is familiar.

I gather them, make a grocery list, and make sure I keep a list of links so I can reference it all week. I like sharing them here with you, so I can just come to this post when it is time to think about dinner. The recipes I don’t get to I will roll-over into the following week.

 

 

 My Meal Plan

BREAKFAST FOR DINNER

Oven Scrambled Eggs

Cranberry Banana Quinoa Oatmeal Bake

I have several bags of frozen cranberries in my freezer. This looks like a great way to use them.

 

TACO/MEXICAN MEAL

Mexican Chicken and Rice Salad Bowls

A new-to-me recipe. My girls are asking for something to take in their lunches besides sandwiches. I thought a hearty salad would make them happy. We shall see!

 

PASTA NIGHT

Magic One-Pan Spaghetti

A new-to-me recipe. I’m going to use chicken broth in place of water in this recipe, thanks to a tip in the comment thread of the video.

 

MEATLESS

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

My sister said this soup is amazing. I’m not sure how my family will do digesting so much dairy, but maybe I decided to try it! I am going to use almond milk in place of dairy milk, but will still use the cheese and cream.

 

ORGANIC CHICKEN MEAL

Mexican Chicken and Rice Salad Bowls

 

A Pinnable photo of sloppy Joes

{for your pinning pleasure}

GRASS FED BEEF MEAL

One Pan Texas Hash

A new-to-me recipe. I have frozen grass-fed beef I want to use up and I love hash.

30 Minute Sloppy Joes

A go-to around here. You all love it too! It has gone very viral on Pinterest. Yay!

 

WILD-CAUGHT FISH MEAL

Seared Cod in Chive Butter

I’ve made this twice and it is DELICIOUS! The sauce is to die for…it uses white wine, shallots, butter, lemon and fresh herbs. You can use chicken broth in place of the wine. This recipe is a keeper!

 

INSTANT POT MEAL

None

SLOW COOKER MEAL

None this week, but you could try: Crockpot Bone Broth

 

ONE PAN MEAL

Sheet Pan Sausage Potato Pepper Hash

Magic One-Pan Spaghetti

It is kind of fun that I am trying 2 new one pan meals.

 

SOUP 

Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

 

SIDES

Easy Chopped Detox Salad

Seasoned Lentils

The Detox Salad is my new food crush. It makes a nice big bowl that keeps well in the refrigerator if you store the dressing separately. I eat it all week long!

Seasoned lentils make a great side dish. I buy cooked lentils from Trader Joes and flavor them up a bit using this recipe.

 

SNACKS

Restaurant Style Salsa – My family can’t get enough of this recipe!

Hall of Fame Cranberry Sauce – I can’t get enough of this recipe. I use often use it as a toast topping.

Banana Pumpkin Muffins – These are a great way to use up those ripe bananas. Super moist and makes a bunch.

Stove Top Granola – This is a new-to-me recipe. I love that it is stove top instead of the oven.

 

ESSENTIAL OILS RECIPE

Anxiety Away Blend —  5 drops Frankincense, 3 drops Orange, 2 drops Peppermint

Diffuse (my fav diffuser)  into room or combine with a carrier oil in a roller bottle and put on temples and back of the neck.

INSTANT POT STAPLES

Instant Pot Yogurt

Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats

Instant Pot Quinoa

Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

Instant Pot Black Beans

 


Notice I also share a new essential oils recipe. I love to mix it up each week and try new scents!

Let me know in the comments if a weekly round-up of the recipes I plan on making is helpful to you

Also, keep an eye on my Instagram Stories to see some of the recipes. I often capture my cooking process!

 

ANTI-PROCRASTINATION

Anti-Procrastination Weekly Plan

Framed Be Inspired

 Here Are My Goals…What Are Yours?

{please share your goals in the comments!}

***Notice! Anti-Procrastination Tuesday will no longer be a link up. This will be a page where I share monthly, weekly and daily goals, home zone & hot spot of the week, and my meal plan & recipes I’d like to make for the week. It will be a place where we encourage each other to GET SOMETHING DONE, so be sure to tell me what you are working on in the comments.

ALL MONTH GOALS

~Meaningful Marriage (Love Todd Well)

~Meaningful Parenting (Love Kids Well)

~Meaningful Home (Loving Environment + Beautiful Home Atmosphere)

~Socialize (Social Media Flow + In Real Life Socializing With Loved Ones)

~Computer Clutter (Notes, Reminders, Photos, Emails, Posts)

 

EVERY WEEK GOALS

~Blog Posts Planned For The Week (Work Efficiently)

~Home Blessing Hour (One Hour of Cleaning..Dust, Bathrooms, Sweep, Mop, Vacuum)

~Date With One Of My 3 Lovelies (Girls are Growing Up. Do It Now!)

~Grocery List/Meal Plan (To Feed Them Well)

 

DAILY GOALS

~God Time (journal, Scripture, pray, meditate)

~Move Body (Walk, Yoga, Strength Training)

~Hydrate + Nutrients (Greens & Berries #EatTheRainbow + Vitamins + Water Every Day)

~One Load of Laundry (Folded & Put Away #OneLoadADay)

~One Dishwasher Load (Dried & Put Away)

 

 ~SPECIFIC GOALS LAST WEEK

{none}

 

~SPECIFIC GOALS THIS WEEK

~Clear out the landing area upstairs

~Start decluttering the Laundry Room

~Narrow down summer wardrobe to 10 outfits

~Drop load off at thrift store

 

HOME ZONE THIS WEEK

Living Room/Family Room–(15 minutes/day OR 1 1/2 hours/week in said zone)

 

HOT SPOT THIS WEEK

Landing Area Upstairs– (5 minutes/day OR 25 minutes/week in said hot spot)

 

COMPUTER HOT SPOT

Desktop & Main Inbox–(getting my digital organization on!)

 

PIN TO ACCOMPLISH

Toasted Coconut Vanilla Limeade

{Follow me on Pinterest!}

 

RECIPES I PLAN ON MAKING THIS WEEK

Chicken Fried Rice

https://www.amynewnostalgia.com/chicken-fried-rice/

 

Kale Salad with Curried Almond Dressing

https://www.amynewnostalgia.com/kale-slaw-with-curried-almond-dressing/

Cashew “Cheese” Nacho Dip (Vegan)

https://www.amynewnostalgia.com/a-healthy-delicious-cheese-dip-made-from-cashews/

 Chili Lime Chicken Burgers

(frozen section of Trader Joes)


WHAT ABOUT YOU?

What are you wanting to get done this week?

What recipes are you planning on making?

Are you on Pinterest? Share a favorite pin you want to accomplish.

 

How-Tos/ Meals/ RECIPES

6 Food Categories For Easy Meal Planning

FOOD-categories-meal-planning

 

I’m off track with my meal planning, and boy, do I miss it.

I never have had an elaborate or complicated meal plan that I followed, but I would sit down once a week, figure out the meals I wanted to make and make a list of the groceries I would need before grocery shopping.  I have not been doing that lately, and it sure shows when it comes time to make dinner.

I’ve decided to get back on track, and have come up with a bit of structure to help me in that.  I know I need to keep things super simple right now in order to succeed, so I came up with some broad categories that will help guide my meal planning and keep our menu well-rounded.

 

Eating Meat

You will notice in the below meal categories that we have added meat back into our diet.  There are several reasons why, but the main reason was how hard it was to get all the nutrients and protein my girls needed without having meat in our diet. They are much more picky of eaters than I am, and it was super hard to find enough plant protein foods that they would eat. I believe for my own personal health and cancer history that less meat is most healthy for me, but my focus this year has been brain health, and I became convinced that my growing girls and their beautiful brains needed more nutrition than what our vegan diet was providing.  Because of this, I added fish, organic chicken, and organic grass-fed beef, and organic eggs back into our diet.  I buy our eggs, beef and chicken local, organic and farm-fresh, which makes it much more expensive, so we still eat much less meat than the average household.

I buy enough meat for us to have one meal of ground beef, chicken and fish.  That takes care of 3 meals of the week.  We love having breakfast for dinner, so that makes 4 meals…throw in a vegetarian meal and some sort of easy pasta dish, and that makes 6 meal categories.  I’m not worrying about having a 7th meal category, as there are always leftovers and we order in food once a week for our Friday family nights.

 

6 Meal Categories + meal ideas:

 

Fish

Seasoned Baked White Fish

Teriyaki Salmon

Fish Sticks

 

Ground Beef

Spaghetti Sauce

Meatloaf

Korean Beef Over Rice

Sloppy Joes

Beef Enchiladas

Mexican Food Pile-On

Tacos

 

Chicken

Chicken Fried Rice

Chicken Noodle Soup

Homemade Popcorn Chicken

Rotisserie Chicken In The Crockpot

Chicken Enchiladas

Hungarian Paprika Chicken

 

Breakfast for Dinner/Eggs

Quiche

Breakfast Casserole

French Toast

Pancakes

Egg Salad Sandwiches

 

Vegetarian 

Lentil Taco Salad

Bean  Burritos w/Homemade Crockpot No-Fry Beans

French Lentil Soup

Stir Fry

Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls

Red Lentil Sloppy Joes

Sesame Chili Udon Noodles

 

Pasta

(I often buy quinoa pasta for the added plant protein benefit)

Easy Tomato Sauce

Tortellini Pesto Soup

Pesto Pasta

Company Pasta

Orzo Pasta With Caramelized Vegetables

 

I think I will like having these categories in the forefront of my mind as I make our my grocery list.  I have a ton of recipes here at New Nostalgia to choose from, but I also love using my Pinterest boards for recipe ideas.

………………..

What about you?

Do you meal plan?  How do you decide what to make each week?

Does it help to break it down into categories?

What are some of your staple dinners?

 

RECIPES

Recipes I’m Making This Week

I decided to go into New Nostalgia’s Recipe Index and choose some recipes to make this week.  I made an ingredient list and bought everything I needed.  Now that school is in session and life is more routine, I want to get back on track with my meal planning.  Sharing a my week’s worth of recipes helps me to do just that!
Easy homemade freezer salsa
I have lots and lots of tomatoes thanks to our Square Foot Garden.  I’ve been looking forward to making this salsa all summer.  I use Mrs. Wages Create Salsa Mix, and I LOVE IT.  It is a package of dehydrated vegetables (onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, chili peppers, & garlic.)  I really appreciate that there is not a bunch of added artificial ingredients.  

Sliced applesauce bread
I love having this on hand for my girls school lunches or for an after school snack.  It uses ingredients that I always have on hand.  It is a great, go-to recipe.
Vegan cream of broccoli soup and crackers
I would use this recipe even if we did eat dairy, it is THAT good, and oh so good for you!  I love serving it for dinner with a loaf of hearty bread to dip and a big salad on the side.

Easy black bean soup with spoon
This recipe is one of my staple favorites.  I would bet you have everything you need for it in your cupboard right now!  Try it…you will love it.  Great for a lunch thermos.

Breakfast burritos for the freezer
My girls get giddy excited when they know we have these in the freezer.  They seem to eat them as an after school snack even more often than for breakfast!  
Hungarian Paprika chicken
I have decided to add one organic, free range chicken to our weekly grocery list.  We have not been eating meat, but being nutritarians, we have the option of adding a bit of it each week.  My girls liked the idea of chicken, as long as “there is sauce and served over noodles or rice.”  Ha!  I loved that my oldest girl got so specific.  This recipe is an old fav of ours & is an authentic Hungarian recipe.  I may try substituting the sour cream with almond milk yogurt to keep it dairy free…if I do and it works out I will mark it on the recipe.

Chocolate mudballs
A family favorite healthful recipe that I have not made in awhile.  I say it is always nice to have some healthful chocolate ‘something’ on hand.  This recipe is the perfect dessert that uses healthful ingredients.

What are you planning on making this week?  I’d love for you to share in the comments, and include links to recipes if you have them.

Meals/ RECIPES

Recipes I Want To Make This Week

Recipes I want to make this week

 

1. Homemade Hamburger Buns In The Breadmaker

These are easy, smell amazing when baking, and will go great with Red Lentil Sloppy Joes.

2.  Fresh Lemon Pasta Salad with Asparagus & Tomatoes

The asparagus looked beautiful in the supermarket this week.  I’m eager to make this dish. It tastes like spring!

3. Red Lentil Sloppy Joes

My kids gave this 2 thumbs up the last time I made it.  Lentils are packed with plant protein!

4. Tomatoes On Toast

I am still loading up on potassium, and tomatoes are a great source of it.  This is by far my favorite way to eat tomatoes!

5. Best Recipe I’ve Ever Messed Up

It has been a few weeks since I have made these bars..  I’m ready for some chocolate!

6. Salad Dressing So Good You Will Want To Drink It

I ran out of this.  I don’t like being out of this.  I love this!

7. Honey Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

My kids devour these after school.  The recipe makes a very large batch, enough to freeze!

8. The Perfect Iced Coffee Recipe

The weather is finally mild enough to drink my coffee iced.  Yay!

9.  Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

I make this in the fall with fall veggies.  I’m going to try it with spring veggies.

10. Raw Raspberry Bliss Bars

Gotta have these.  Again.  Never enough.  Yumz!

Healthy Eating/ How-Tos/ RECIPES

A Peak Inside Our Refrigerator + What We Ate That Week

Healthy Refrigerator

*This is part 2 of a series.  To read part one “A Peek Inside our Refrigerator + ….

When I posted the above pic of a peek inside our refrigerator on Instagram, a friend of mine asked if I could tell her what I would make from what she saw in my refrigerator – as far as meals go.

 

I understood where she was coming from, looking at this makes it seem like all we eat is raw plants, and although a big chunk of our diet is plants, and at least half our dinner plate is salad, we do have cooked meals.  I made some notes of what we planned on eating that week and will share it with you today!

In this second post I will share:

  1. What else is in the refrigerator that you may not be able to see.
  2. How foods in pantry and freezer are key to creating well-rounded meals.
  3.  How only buying what you need for the week is key to an organized refrigerator.
  4. Meals we ate that week
  5.  Snacks we ate that week
  6.  Lunches we ate that week
  7.  Breakfasts we ate that week


How to organize a refrigerator
 

1. What You Can’t See

In the above pic, there is a bag of shredded cheese and some eggs.  I go very easy on the cheese, using only about 1/3 of what most recipes call for, so one bag can often last 2 weeks.  I do this for health reasons, not cost…but it does help the food budget to eliminate most animal products.

 

Our eggs are also local and organic.  There is hummus from Trader Joes, we use it to dip pretzels, veggies and to top salads in place of salad dressing.  There are a couple little containers of food from our local organic deli. I am the only one that eats these, usually for lunch.

 

There is almond milk behind that bottle of Kombucha, and our water filter pitcher.  The only thing you can’t see is what is in our door, which really is just condiments + strawberry freezer jam, some date paste + some earth balance (butter substitute).

 

date paste

2. Foods In My Pantry

What you don’t see are my freezer and my pantry, and the foods in there are the key to making meals out of what you see in my refrigerator.  Example, I have mason jars of cooked beans (made a large batch of Crockpot Refried Beans) in the freezer, and whole grain pasta in the pantry.

 

3. Only Buy What Is Needed

The week I took the picture, we only needed 5 meals, as 2 of the days I did not need to cook since we would not be home.  Because I plan my meals out and write my grocery list according to those recipes and what we already have, I didn’t have anything in my refrigerator that we wouldn’t be eating within the week, other than condiments.

 

4. Meals for the week:

~My Go To Chili Recipe

~Crockpot Refried Bean Burritos

~Spaghetti (no meat)

~Breakfast for dinner (French Toast & Eggs & fruit salad)

~Garlic Veggie Pasta

 

french toast

I serve every dinner we have with a green salad loaded with veggies.  I often make a cooked veggie side, too.  I love to roast veggies, especially at the end of the week I love to throw any leftover cut up veggies onto a pan, and roast away.  Click here for my post on everything you need to know about Roasting Vegetables.

 

5. Snacks For The Week
~pretzel thins dipped in hummus

~veggies dipped in hummus

~nuts

~Raw Raspberry Bliss Bars

~Streusel Topped Blueberry Muffins

~Smoothies

~baked potato (my oldest loves coming home from school and popping one in the microwave)

~popcorn

~wheat thin type crackers

 

Raw raspberry bliss bars
streusel topped whole wheat blueberry muffins
school lunch smoothies

6. Lunches For The Week

~I pack my girls’ lunch every week–it is the typical sandwich, fruit, vegetable, granola bar, crackers.  It is usually a nut butter sandwich.

~I try to make my Todd a batch of soup at the beginning of each week, store in mason jars and freeze.  These are his lunches for the week at work.  French Lentil Soup is a favorite of ours.

~There is usually enough soup for me, too, or I visit the local health food store deli—I admit—way too often!  They have the most beautiful pasta salads, quinoa salads & vegetable salads.  Mmmmmmm.

~When we are all home together, my girls like to boil whole wheat pasta & melt some earth balance on it and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

 

granola bar

7. Breakfasts For The Week

~oatmeal (these Freezer Steel Cut Oat Pucks make it very easy!)

~Chia Oats

~cereal (bran flakes, crispy rice)

~whole wheat English muffins & honey

~ Toad in a Hole 🙂

 

toad in a hole
chia oats
freezer steel cut oat pucks

………………..

So there is a pretty typical week of food/eating in our home. I hope this gives you some good ideas on how to get your family to eat more plant food.  It really is so much easier when a little bit of thought goes into what ends up in our grocery cart, and how it is displayed & stored once we get home.  You all know how passionate I am about staying healthy, and an organized refrigerator really has been key to reaching that goal!

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