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Sometimes you just need options. And flexible ones. By now even if you’ve tried some of my recipes, you may have noticed it’s not ideal following someone else’s (my) meal plans! I actually feel strongly about why you should meal plan for yourself.
Simply put:
You are not me. We are not the same. And that is ok. I don’t provide meal plans for you to mimic week after week. Rather, I hope you look at my meal plans to get recipe ideas and to make real food a priority and a weekly habit.
This week is a short meal planning week for me because my kids and I are leaving Thursday to visit my sister in D.C. and tour the White House, the Capitol and the FBI building (where she works).
So, instead of showing you what I’m eating (nothing spectacular, mostly leftovers from the weekend)–I’m giving you some of my most popular easy, real food recipes in these five categories: Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, Ground Beef, Vegetarian, and Fish.
Last night was the first night of Hanukkah. You may know I’m not Jewish, but I do love eating my way around the world and enjoying traditional foods of other cultures. I think it’s the best way to get to know people who are different than ourselves while relating–because in many ways we are the same.
Whatever our culture, we all have values and beliefs that are important to us…and we all eat. It makes the world feel a little smaller when we are able to respect others’ values and beliefs even if we don’t share them. (As the original melting-pot culture, we could do this more often!)
And when we show interest in others, share a table together, and try new things, we are making ourselves vulnerable and well, life meaningful!
Frankly, sometimes what we eat isn’t even all that different–I find that so comforting! Or maybe it’s just the carbs…but take bread, for example. I love how many cultures have some version of a food that is traditional and similar, yet different.
Pita bread (Greek or Middle Eastern),
naan (India)
Italian bread,
baguette (French),
the spongy (Ethiopian) flatbread called injera
and of course, America has corn bread…or Wonder bread (kind of embarrassing, but it’s probably most representative of our culture)?
Well, then there’s also Jewish challah bread. My daughter has a new friend from school who is from Israel, and her mother shared this delicious freshly-baked loaf of challah with me last Friday! And these new friends also invited us into their home this week to share a meal to learn more about how they celebrate Hanukkah…such a generous invitation and I am really looking forward to it!
Of course you may have noticed I don’t eat a lot of bread because I try to avoid overly processed and refined carbohydrates. So when I do, it has to be worth it…this is worth trying and I’m hoping I have time to make French toast out of it for “brinner” (breakfast for dinner) on Friday (because my kids have been asking for French toast for a while).
But if you don’t have time for breadbaking this week, try these easy salmon potato cakes! The are a new, higher-protein take on potato latkes, a traditional Hanukkah food. Latkes are fried traditionally to commemorate the miracle of a one-day supply of oil lasting 8 days. So, these are still pan-fried in olive oil, because they taste best that way! But they come together quickly with canned sockeye salmon and you can use frozen hash browns if you like (I prefer fresh, but if I don’t have time I use Trader Joe’s brand because they are preservative free).
Meal Planning This Week
Monday (a busy night): Salmon Potato Cakes with sour cream, roasted broccoli and cauliflower
Tuesday (a busy night): Leftovers (Holiday concert night!)
Wednesday: Out for dinner (to a Hanukkah celebration with friends who are from Israel)
Thursday (a busy night):Instant Pot Chicken Soup (Not a Hanukkah food per se, but it’s easy and warms the soul like new friends! Plus I am making extra to have on hand for the winter.)
Friday: Cinnamon French Toast (with homemade Challah bread if time permits), and fruit
Are you a moody eater? I am–and honestly it makes meal planning extra challenging sometimes! But my freezer is full and it’s time to focus on “cooking down.”
Hoard much? I don’t know about you, but every now and then I need to reorganize the freezer and make a list of what needs to be used up. I keep the list on a white board on the fridge, which helps hit me over the head with it. Sometimes (most times) I need that…
If you’re not familiar with cooking down, you can read more about it in this post. Chances are you do it already, but if you don’t, check out my tips to get you started!
In a nutshell:
Cooking down is using up what you have on hand to minimize waste while still preparing easy, real food for your family.
So, this week’s meal plans are inspired by my need to:
prepare mostly from-scratch easy, real food for my family (as usual),
cook down and make room in the freezer,
catch my breath from the “birthday sweeps,” and
brace myself for Thanksgiving and the holiday season!
Meal Planning This Week
Monday (no school, M’s birthday): Out for a sushi birthday dinner (fitting for my daughter who was born in Japan!)
Tuesday (a busy night): Leftover Instant Pot Balsamic Pork Tenderloin, creamed spinach (with frozen spinach), and leftover roasted root vegetables
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Whole Chicken (from the freezer) with Seasoning Salt, caprese salad with fresh mozzarella (from my The Neighborhood Harvest delivery), and whole green beans (from the freezer)
Thursday (a busy night): Brunswick Stew (from the freezer)
Friday: Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas (from the freezer), served over lettuce and topped with shredded cheese, chopped avocado and sour cream
Well, in case you were worried about me…I made it through my hectic week and I can honestly say that dinner never caused me stress, because I had a realistic plan. Well, that…and the fact that I had other people making dinner a couple of the nights. Heh. Back to reality this week.
But despite a loud sleepover birthday party with eight 7th graders Saturday night, my Sunday was relaxing enough to figure out the week’s meals. Winning! For now…but I’m definitely in the mood for some easy, real comfort food this week!
What Is “Easy, Real Comfort Food”?
The holiday season is here (as indicated by the arrival of Starbucks’ holiday drinks on Nov. 2, and no I haven’t had one yet)! And so is some cooler weather (in Virginia anyway)–so, bring on the easy, real comfort foods!
You know “comfort foods,” but you may not know “easy, real comfort foods.” I’m talking about foods that are:
easy enough to make during the week,
made from real food, not processed foods,
warm and hearty for the chilly weather,
and particularly nourishing to your body and soul.
Maybe you’ve eaten particular comfort foods throughout your childhood. Perhaps you ate a particular comfort food only one time, yet associate it with the memory of something positively wonderful in your life. It could be that you associate particular comfort foods with a particularly challenging time in your life. Or it’s possible you associate particular comfort foods with the seasons.
Either way, I believe comfort food is an integral part of life’s ups and downs–events or temperatures! But when did “comfort food” become synonymous with “guilty pleasure”?
Here’s the thing:
You don’t have to overindulge in overly processed foods to thoroughly enjoy your food. Easy, real comfort foods are guilt free, wholesome and real-food based, but most importantly they are easily enjoyable.
So, my meals this week include some of my favorite easy, real comfort foods that I hope you will try!
A hearty beef stew, like my mom used to make
An Italian Tuscan bean soup that reminds me of friends we met in Japan and our time in Italy
A Mediterranean frittata that reminds me of my Greek heritage
And my version of a chicken pot pie that my friend Kathy shared after the birth of my second daughter on Nov. 12th, 11 yrs ago
Ugh, I really don’t feel like meal planning today! Can you relate? We had a busy weekend with camping and birthday parties, and I have a busy week full of my projects and the kids’ activities. (And did I mention it’s just me and the kids?) Plus I’m feeling like I’m all out of meal planning ideas. Yes, it happens to dietitian bloggers, too. But…when I really stop and think about the alternative (not meal planning), I am always convinced to dig deeper.
So, this is what I came up with for the week. I hope it helps inspire you to maintain some order while feeding your family some nourishing easy, real food.
Meal Planning This Week
Monday (a holiday):New-Fashioned Meatloaf (doubling recipe to bring a freezer-friendly meal to a friend traveling for a funeral), mashed potatoes, and green beans
Tuesday (a busy night): Dinner (pizza) out at the Elementary School’s Roller Skating Party
Wednesday: Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches (recipe to follow) and salad
Meal planning takes on a whole new vibe now that my spouse has left for an 11-week deployment on the USN Comfort Hospital Ship. I don’t mean to say it’s easier, just different because my audience has shifted a little. Usually, I cater to our adult tastes and preferences and the kids are along for the ride. But when B is gone, I realized today that I try to use meal planning as a way to bring some control to my kids’ lives, by allowing them to choose some of their favorite dinner options. (Within reason, of course!) And they seem to appreciate it. That’s what inspires this week’s One-Parent-is-Away Meal Plans.
And BTW, you don’t have to be military to appreciate that family meals can be a source of comfort, predictability and normalcy for kids!
Sometimes my kids’ choices are a little higher-carb than I typically prefer. For example, I did already promise them brinner (breakfast-for-dinner)–which means homemade pancakes or waffles–so you’ll see that on the menu below for this week.
But surprisingly, many of their favorites are some of my healthy favorites. For example, tonight they requested my Slow Cooker whole chicken sprinkled with homemade seasoning salt. I plan to roast a kobacha squash we picked up this weekend at the farm market after visiting the pumpkin patch. We’ll also have miso-roasted Brussels sprouts (because, shocker, we didn’t get around to eating them last week!)
The kids are handling the deployment like pros so far. Yes, maybe because it’s only the first week and we’re lucky we’ve only had one other long deployment in the past 13 years!
But we realize it could be a lot worse. So, we approach each day the only way we know how. We focus on and appreciate our family’s usual traditions (food-related or otherwise), which comfort us and sustain us one day at a time.
Meal Planning This Week
Monday (a holiday): Slow Cooker whole chicken with homemade Seasoning Salt (no other ingredients needed), roasted Kobacha squash and miso-roasted Brussels sprouts (recipes coming soon to the Recipe page!)
Tuesday (a busy night):Chicken Parmesan, fressh mozzarella caprese salad and roasted zucchini
Wednesday: Brinner (breakfast for dinner): I’m excited to finally try these Spelt Waffles created by my RD friend, Maria at Halsa Nutrition! I’ll serve them with a quick fresh fruit salad.
Thursday (a busy night): Leftover night
Friday: Homemade pizza night (with whole-wheat flatbread and Califlour crusts)
Maybe you consistently make meal plans. But do you always stick to them? Well, I feel now is a good time to let you know–at week four of my Meal Planning Monday series–I do NOT often stick to my meal plans. Realistic flexible meal plans are the key to stress-free weekday meals.
Life happens. You need to be flexible. Changing your meal plans is fine and to be expected!
It’s always better to have a flexible meal plan that you can change than to have no plan at all.
Last Week’s Flexible Meal Plans
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday went according to plan. (I can usually hold things together for three days!)
But we planned a last minute family photo shoot for Thursday evening (before my husband deploys this week for about 3 months). Although we planned on leftovers, at 6:45 pm when we finished up, we were hungry and decided to go for sushi.
Why? Because he’ll be stuck on a ship with limited food options AND because it sounded better to me than reheating and cleaning up. Win-win!
So, I moved Thursday’s leftover burrito bowls to Friday night’s menu.
But then on Friday…my lovely good friend of a neighbor next door surprised us with a tray of homemade chicken parmesan. This is actually one of my favorite meals ever; I always requested it as my birthday dinner from my mom growing up!
Hmmm, pop that pan in the oven to melt the cheese (while I open a bottle of wine) or reheat leftovers? No brainer.
So, the leftover burrito bowls got pushed back again and made for a great weekend lunch (and I had even put some in the freezer for a weeknight meal in the near future). Nothing was wasted, so I feel absolutely fine about the changes.
Truthfully, changes happen almost every week. But I continually try to plan meals that are flexible enough to allow for the inevitable change of plans. So, please don’t worry or give up if that happens to you, too!
Happy fall y’all! October has arrived and right on cue, the morning air in Virginia Beach is cool as I meal plan on my screened-in back porch…although I’m sure the reprieve from the heat is temporary. I’m a fall person, so one can hope. Anyone else?
Another sign of fall? We celebrated Oktoberfest this past weekend (most of which is technically celebrated in September, for the record) with a fun party in our backyard biergarten. This year’s party had about 45 adults and 40 kids running around! SUPER thankful the weather was perfect since my house would have been CROWDED otherwise.
It’s always a good party when you put your phone down and ignore it for hours! The down side is I was so busy and enjoying myself that I forgot to take even one photo! So, here’s the bier tent from last year…
So, I’m especially tired this Meal Planning Monday, but serving you helps motivate me–I really hope it helps you!
And of course, the seasons inspire my meal planning, too. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for all sorts of fall foods for my meal plans!
So, we’ll start the week with Oktoberfest leftovers because it’s easy, and then finish on Friday with a pumpkin soup that I have missed. All. Year. Long.
Meal Planning This Week: Fall Foods
Monday (a busy night): Leftover brats (from our Oktoberfest party this weekend), Instant Pot sweet potatoes, and a simple salad
Note: My potatoes have a diameter of about 10 inches, so I cut them in half lengthwise and place on rack with 1 cup water, HP for 18 minutes, NPR 15 min. (For more help, use this IP sweet potato cooking guide.)
It’s that time again–time to get easy, real-food meals planned to stay sane this week…through the rest of September.
I, for one, am taking it one week at a time. We survived our first full week of school last week (it was delayed with 4 days off school, thanks to Hurricane Flo.) Of course, this week promises to be just as busy. So, bring on the slow cooker and Instant Pot meals!
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, don’t worry. Most Instant Pot meals can be slow cooked and vice versa. If you have both, decide whether you want to be fixing the meal early in the day or later in the day.
Personally, I also don’t like to slow cook in my Instant Pot, because, for whatever reason, it is a lot slower than my slow cooker. So, since I am accustomed to my trusty slow cooker, I’m not parting with it–even though I have an Instant Pot and my slow cooker handles have fallen off and the lid has been replaced once). It has earned its keep.
Hoard kitchen appliances much? Maybe…but only the useful ones. Haha.
Meal Planning This Week:
Monday (a busy night): Fresh-caught grilled tuna (from a neighbor), Asian peanut cole slaw, and brown short-grain rice (I’ll post a recipe/photo of the cole slaw on the recipe page after tonight!)
Friday: Trying out these vegan, gluten-free Spicy Chickpea Veggie Burgers (from Running on Real Food) with Roasted Vegetables (I will separately roast eggplant and tomato, so eggplant gets nice and crispy!)
Buon Appetito! As always, please leave your comments or questions. Did you try any recipes from last week? Do you have any special requests or dietary restrictions you need to work around? Let me help!
