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| Ground Turkey and Sweet Potato Skillet (Used with permission from Primavera Kitchen) |
Lovely Friend,Since I have begun changing my eating lifestyle I have been in the kitchen more than you can imagine! I absolutely love cooking non-processed food for my family but, boy, does it take some work and dedication. I have to admit there have been a couple of days where I have thought, "Can I just order a pizza?", and the recurring idea that we are saving for Disney World keeps me from jumping track! As for the cooking in this house, meal planning is a must and Pinterest is my best friend.
To begin my meal planning I typically use my boards on Pinterest. I have my pins divided into categories that I can easily navigate when trying to put the pieces of a meal together. This is truly the best tool that I have for staying on track and beating the boredom that can come with eating the same meal regularly.
You can follow me on Pinterest here.
In general, I try to follow this dinner outline. Mondays are meatless, which gives our digestive system and pocket book a break. Really Monday is the only day that I have a specific category designated. For the rest of the week I know I will have one beef meal, one eating out meal, and four poultry meals. Since the outline is centered around a main dish, I always begin there when looking at my boards. I navigate through to pick something that we haven't tried yet with others that I know are already our favorites. I try not to spring too many new dishes on my family at one time. Once I've got my main dish down, I then begin adding sides.
Truthfully, sides have been one of the hardest pieces for me to plan. I feel like we always eat the same sautéed veggies and it can get a little boring. I will admit that venturing out into some different main courses that have a variety of veggies has helped, but I am still working on this one! My husband is a Cajun boy and he loves his rice, so I try to use it whenever it is appropriate to the meal. He would prefer his native white rice, but I always choose brown for the added health benefits. Right now, I am just trying to put some variety into our sides; but, as I grow, I plan to make one side always a raw one with fruits or veggies.
Once I get the sides and main course together, I get to writing my grocery list. I grab my meal plan and check the pantry to see what we have in stock. If it's not in stock, it goes on the list. I always add a few clean snacks to my list which include cuties, bananas, green apples, almonds, cucumbers, and carrots. In addition to the snacks, our beverages of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and 100% apple juice make it, then it's off to the store. When I choose an item at the store, I try to choose the best options available. In my opinion, any item that is organic or pesticide-free would be the best choice for my family and would make it into the cart.
So, this is exactly how my life looked last weekend when I made our bi-weekly shopping trip. We have been through several new meals this round and I have loved them all! I will admit that I was trying to spend a little less at the grocery store this week and opted for a more meatless meals than usual. However, I have found each that we have tried to be quite good! Below are the meals that we have eaten and plan to eat for the rest of the week. I will include links to the recipes because I want to give credit to the authors. I will note that I tend to modify recipes based on what we have in the kitchen or what my family will enjoy. I will include my modifications below each link.
Sunday: Unstuffed Cabbage Skillet
*This meal was really awesome and truthfully I was worried I wouldn't like it. However, the whole family loved it and it was easy to prepare! I did sub beef stock for concentrated beef stock and water. I had it on hand and it was easier.
Unstuffed Cabbage Skillet Recipe
Monday: Chickpea Tikka Masala
*I have made this dish more than once because I really love masala! I served it over brown rice. For the side, we had steamed broccoli with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt. I made no modifications to the recipe because it really was that delish!
Chickpea Tikka Masala Recipe
Tuesday: Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet
*I made this dish one night when I was very tired because it was one pan and looked easy. I was right, it was totally easy and my family loved it! My hubby even admitted that he didn't want to taste it, but kept raving about how good it was over dinner. I served the skillet over brown rice with an apple spinach salad on the side. I did modify this recipe by leaving off the cheese in our effort to be dairy free and I was out of yellow bell pepper so it wasn't added. Next time I will add the bell pepper for added nutrition.
Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet Recipe
Wednesday: Homemade Chicken Fingers
*On Wednesday we were expecting snow and some friends so I decided to make a less adventurous meal. I absolutely love the homemade chicken fingers but will admit they are very time consuming! They are truly a labor of love and the result is delish! I serve them with homemade sweet potato fries and fresh green beans.
Homemade Chicken Fingers Recipe
Homemade Sweet Potato Fries Recipe
Thursday: Mexican Quinoa Skillet
*I really need another quick and easy skillet recipe after making all the chicken fingers the night before! This one is fabulous, but I will admit that realized I was out of quinoa in the middle of cooking so I subbed brown rice. I know it's a rookie mistake but it happened and it was still great! I will definitely use quinoa next time. My two favorite ingredients in this bowl were the avocado and fresh cilantro. Yum! I served this bowl as a meal without a side dish, and further modified it by leaving out the corn.
Mexican Quinoa Skillet Recipe
Friday: Tomato and Spinach Frittata
* I happen to really love frittatas because you can make them with a carton of eggs and just about any veggie that you have on hand. In addition to this, they are super easy to make (mommy score!) and clean up! I served our frittata with some fresh sliced green apples for an awesome breakfast for dinner.
Tomato and Spinach Frittata Recipe
Saturday: My favorite tortilla soup at Mr. Panchos!
This soup is clean, filling, and only $4.50 for a large bowl. I absolutely love that I have found a winner and look forward to visiting on the weekends!
I hope that you enjoy the recipes and use them to spice up your weekly meal plan!
Giving it my all,
Jess
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