Meal Planning - I'm at it Again!

The trip to the grocery store - with my newly two-year-old - was a disaster. Let's hope my meal plan fairs better this week because I have all kinds of yumminess on the menu!

Sunday - Marvelous Mini Meatloaves

I am going to try this one more time ... this yummy recipe keeps getting bumped from my meal plan for whatever reason ... this week it was too hot to turn on the oven, so we barbequed chicken breasts instead.

Monday - Bacon and Avocado Wraps

The recipe calls for chicken, but BACON has been my biggest pregnancy craving, so I am making a substitution and making myself (and unborn child) happy :) I'll probably throw in a little cucumber while I'm at it ... yum!

UPDATE and SUGGESTION: I just thought of this Monday evening (better late than never), but it would've been brilliant. The bacon for this recipe was cooked in the oven ... and for the sake of efficiency and ultimately time-saving, I should've put the bacon in the oven last night with the meatloaves. Then the bacon would've been reheated tonight cutting my prep time considerably.

Tuesday - Outdoor Concert - Pack a Picnic

Top of my picnic list: bowtie pasta salad with fresh mozzerella, cucumbers, and red peppers. I think I'll serve it with hard salami, cheeses, and crackers ... and a big fruit salad. Oh, I can't wait!

Wednesday - Fish Sticks and Mac&Cheese

Both from Trader Joe's, so (hopefully) it's not as "bad for you" as it sounds! I'll probably throw together a salad (with cucumbers and bacon), too.

Thursday - Sloppy Joes, Chips, and a Veggie

Friday - Toss-Up

Depending on the weather, I will either make Gram's Chicken Pot Pie Updated ... which won't require another trip to the store but will require the oven. OR grill steak, potatoes, and veggies.

Don't forget to check out more fabulous Meal Plans at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Meal Planning - A Worthwhile Endeavor

Let me start by saying that I would much rather be updating my blog with all kinds of fun stories and cute photos ... but I am not allowing myself to do that until I get a meal plan and grocery list ready for tomorrow morning ... this is discipline, people!

Secondly, my excuse for the total lapse in meal planning ... I have been seriously nauseous for the past three months, and the pukiness was at its peak between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm. Making dinner for myself or anyone else was not a priority (or even a possibility on some nights). Poor Chad and Natalie have been fending for themselves with grilled cheese, eggs, quesadillas, ...

No doubt about it; I desperately need to make a trip to Trader Joe's and Safeway. With Chad home today, I had the perfect opportunity to grocery shop ... all by myself, and we all know how much I love to shop alone. I skipped my nap today (imagine that!) with every intention of running these errands today. After parking and walking up to the doors of Safeway, the realization that I was about to shop without a list - AGAIN - stopped me in the tracks and turned me around. What I don't need is a bunch of random junk in the fridge/pantry. Instead, I spent my afternoon at the Party Supply Store (prepping for a quaint little birthday gathering next week), Ross (grabbing some new "chubby" girl shirts), and Target (a place that is guaranteed fun for me). I was able to grab a gallon of milk at Target, which totally saved me on the whole skip-the-grocery-store decision!

But now I've kept my end of the deal ... here's my meal plan ...

Monday - Frozen Pizza

I had a truly delightful "Mom's Night Out" at a brand new restaurant in town ... the flatbread and super fresh salad - with lots of cucumbers and fresh mozzarella - was beyond good. Before I left, I prepared (with much love) a pepperoni pizza ... and served it with root beer and applesauce. There are a few food groups in there somewhere ... right?

Tuesday - Tuna Casserole

I am an organizer of my local moms' group, and tonight is our monthly dinner meeting. Yes, that two "nights out" ... woo hoo for me! But I plan to have this prepped and in the oven before I leave - lofty goals :)

Wednesday - Chicken Souvlaki

This is totally a pregnancy craving ... the thought of cucumber sauce is making me very excited right now! Looking at the ingredient list, we should probably just go to the local Greek restaurant, but I am going to do my best to try this "new" recipe ... it's my one this week :)

Thursday - Concert at the Park Picnic

The weekly concerts at our local park start tonight, and I can't wait to enjoy a fresh, yummy meal ... picnic-style. Here's what I'm thinking ... pasta salad, salami, cheese and crackers, and fruit salad. I had this incredibly yummy bowtie pasta salad at my friend Ashley's house on the 4th. I can't stop thinking about it. I sure hope she can get me the recipe :)

Friday - Pecan-crusted Salmon

This is Chad's specialty, a recipe from a cookbook called Easy Weeknight Favorites. I think I'll serve it with steamed broccoli and brown rice ... yum! If I get super-ambitious (read: find the time), I'll come back and type in the recipe ... I can't find one like it online.

P.S. Hey Laurie, mom-of-two, super organized, meal-planning goddess, why don't you email me your meal plans each week and save me some of this work? :)

Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

Hubby did me a huge favor today. He kept Natalie while I went to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping. I was in-and-out in about 30 minutes with all the fixings for five meals plus stuff for breakfast and snacks and what-not. Impressive, I know!

Usually for our weekly shopping trips, it's me and baby girl and one of those big ol' racecar shopping carts ... because no one told me what a mistake that is ... before I made that mistake myself ... and now there's no going back. Speaking of back, I am beginning to wonder if you all really do have mine?!

This delightful trip to the "market" was all part of my master plan, I mean, my meal plan for this week. For about the past 4 months, I completely got out of this habit, and I was really starting to HATE dinner. Quite often I ponder the possibility of skipping meals and receiving nutrients/calories through an IV instead. Wouldn't that be so much easier? I know you self-proclaimed "lovers-of-food" will be aghast at such an idea. But stop and think about it. Couldn't you use extra time in your day? How many hours a day do I waste thinking about what we're going to eat, getting the ingredients (because I don't plan ahead that typically means a trip to the market), preparing the food whilst entertaining my little one, eating (this takes a fraction of the time as all the rest), and cleaning up the mess (btw: my husband is a champ when it comes to CUD, clean up duty)? Thus, the "give-me-an-IV" mentality has been adopted on numerous occasions.

But I am not terribly fond of needles ... in fact, the IV was the worst part of giving birth, in my opinion/experience ... and so I am back on the meal plan bandwagon in the hopes of changing my attitude and making the 5:00-7:00 part of my day go much more smoothly :)

This week's meal plan - in no particular order:
1. Easy Cheesy Chicken & Noodles - from KraftFoods Magazine

2. Tuna Cakes & Spinach Salad - another KraftFoods idea

3. Kielbasa, Baked Potatoes, and Green Beans - straight from my mom's repertoire

4. Sloppy Joes, Onion Rings, and Apple Slices - Easy Weeknight Favorites

5. Steak Stroganoff - Easy Weeknight Favorites

6. Pizza - I am just being realistic!

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I realize this information may not be even remotely helpful or interesting to you, but I thought blogging my weekly meal plans would help ME be more accountable. Yes, this is a totally selfish blog post ... sorry 'bout that :)