plan, prepare and eat nourishing meals

Today I made:

• Hard boiled eggs
• Egg salad
• Middle Eastern Pizzas
• Chickpea and Kale Saute to take for lunches tomorrow

Yum!

Hard boiling a bunch of eggs, chopping onion, etc to have good common base ingredients ready to grab and go as I prep our meals for the week.

With M being in Belgium this last week, and my energy levels being low, I’ve skipped out in kitchen care and just grabbed a bite out a lot. I’ve now got two hours to tackle tidying our home and scrubbing down the kitchen. Then I get to go pick him up from the airport! Really want to cook good good this weekend and next few weeks. Which means ploughing through and getting the kitchen ready to do so. Always my least favorite part sigh. At least I’ve chosen to stay home from work this morning so I have the opportunity to do this since it is important to me! (Course 55 degrees and raining is another good reason to skip an outdoor chair massage promotional opportunity. Love this weather, but not for sitting around in.

Took a few weeks off cooking. Literally. Ate out way more than ideal. Ah well, excited to have a clean kitchen and fresh enthusiasm :)

The last couple of weeks have been challenging for me in terms of food. I’ve been busy and/or exhausted. Haven’t had the inclination to cook. Eating out knocks me off kilter further, as the food is rarely what my body actually needs. Tonight, after a couple days of mostly rest, I’m feeling much more invigorated and ready to make something simple and yummy for our dinner. Hope this is a new trend of self care again :)

Having a really good week. Enjoying lots of mellow nesting. So far I’ve made:

• French toast
• Fajita scramble
• Chicken noodle slow cooker
• Sheppard’s pie
• Veggies and meatballs over rice
• Baked Ziti with meatballs
• Chickpea and kale saute
• Stuffed sweet potato skins
• Stuffed peppers
• Lemon rice and falafel veggie bowls

Most of it has been for my sweetie. I’ve enjoyed some lighter veggie meals including apple and peanut butter, date nut snacks, etc, and grabbed myself a black bean and kale burger the other day for lunch while I was on the run. Over all I’m feeling really good about how I’m eating, and pleased that I’m getting some relatively easy to whip up favorites for M, including things that freeze well :)

Having an awesome partial day off. Took the time to chat with my mentor, and journal a whole bunch. Now it is 1:30 pm, and I’ve got two and a half hours to whip through the shower, go food shopping, clean out the fridge, and at least get our dinner made before I head off to work to see a client early this evening. Think I’ll be up late cooking. Ah well… good stuff, all of it :)

Update – 3:37…. well, got the shower, lunch, and the food shopping in. Also got exposed by perfumes and fresh ground coffee while I was shopping. I always forget to factor in the slump I can expect from exposures like this. Guess M will get to heat up one of our back up pre-made frozen dinners, and i’ll cook later tonight after I get home from seeing my evening client. Hate feeling wiped out like this sigh

Overall I’ve been feeling really good about how I’m doing with this goal! Planning ahead makes such a difference! My plan for this week will work well with my work schedule. It is heavy on cooking for Tuesday and Wednesday, but will get us in a good place for the next couple of weeks as I’ll be freezing entrees for M’s lunches.

Monday:
Breakie – out/none
Lunch – Chicken noodle slow cooker casserole
Lunch – out for indian – whoops
Dinner – Lemon rice and falafels for L, meat balls and sautéed veggies for M

Tuesday:
Breakie – Fajita scramble
Lunch – Baked Ziti with Meatballs
Lunch – Broccoli Salad
Dinner – Stuffed sweet potato skins

Wednesday:
Breakie – French toast
Lunch – stuffed pepper with deviled egg
Lunch – Chickpea and kale sauté
Dinner – Peanut sauce veggies and Korean pancakes
Snack – Chocolate popcorn

Thursday:
Breakie – Oatmeal
Lunch – Sheppard’s pie with chickpea and kale salad
Lunch – Left over peanut sauce veggies
Dinner – pizza!
Snack – Macaroons

Friday:
Breakie – Pancakes
Lunch – Egg salad wraps
Dinner – Lentil soup
Snack – treats :)

Saturday:
Breakie – French toast
Lunch – New Season’s
Dinner – Pesto pasta with soft boiled egg

Sunday:
Breakie – Oatmeal
Lunch – Nachos!
Dinner – Falafel bowl.

Cooking schedule:

Monday:
Dinner bowls – saute veggies. Heat rest.
Baked ziti with meatballs

Tuesday:
Fajita scramble
Hard boil eggs
Broccoli salad
quinoa
Bake sweet potatoes
Stuff sweet potatoes and bake
Stuffed peppers
Devil eggs
Base for Sheppard’s pie
Bases for Lasagnas

Freeze stuffed pepper, sheppard’s pie base, bases for both lasagnas

Wednesday:
French toast
Chickpea and kale saute
Chicken
Boil potatoes and top sheppard’s pie
Peanut sauce veggies and korean pancakes
Popcorn and chocolate sauce
Macaroons
Oatmeal

Thursday:
None for L, M makes pizza

Friday
Pancakes
Egg salad
Lentil soup

Saturday:
French toast
Pesto pasta and eggs

Sunday:
Lemon rice
Falafel’s

This last few days I’ve followed through an made:

Blueberry oatmeal
Broccoli salad
Squash and sausage to go with lentil soup for m
Chickpea, kale, zucchini etc sauted salad
Soft boiled egg and pesto pasta
Falafels and lemon rice
Greek chicken salad for m to take for lunch tomorrow.

Got supplemented w Ms pizza party at work yesterday and him grabbing lunch out today. Still a reasonable batting average on good food for the two of us so far this week :)

Having a little more cash flow is allowing me to try some new recipes :)

Here is what I’ve got planned. May very well end up adapting as I go, but at least this is a plausible plan that will keep us well fed, within budget, and the food prep time is planned around my work schedule as it stands for the week.

Eating schedule:

Sunday:
Lunch – Lemon rice with falafels
Dinner – Yellow squash with sausage, feta, and thyme paired with lentil soup

Monday:
Breakie – Beet Oatmeal
Lunch – Yellow squash with sausage, feta, and thyme paired with lentil soup
Lunch – Broccoli salad
Dinner – Lemon and kale chickpea saute

Tuesday:
Breakie – Blueberry mango oatmeal
Lunch – Slow cooker greek chicken salad over lemon rice
Lunch – Left over falafel and lemon rice bowl
Dinner – Pesto pasta with Egg

Wednesday:
Breakie – Left over oatmeal
Lunch – Creamy chicken noodle pasta
Lunch – Roasted Garlic and white bean dip with chips
Dinner – Peanut veggies (and chicken) with korean pancakes

Thursday:
Breakie – Deviled eggs
Lunch – Peanut sauce chicken and veggies
Lunch – Left overs
Dinner – Nachos

Friday:
Breakie – Breakie burritos
Lunch – Left overs
Dinner – Pizza/flat bread

Saturday:
Breakie – Pancakes
Lunch – Egg salad
Dinner -

Cooking schedule:

Sunday:
Lemon rice
Falafels
Yellow squash with sausage and feta
Beet oatmeal

Monday:
Broccoli salad
Chickpea saute
Blueberry mango oatmeal
Chicken (for greek salad, creamy noodles, and Korean peanut)
Greek chicken salad

Tuesday:
Hard boil eggs
M makes pesto pasta to go with eggs?
Creamy chicken noodle pasta
Roasted garlic and white bean dip

Wednesday:
Peanut veggies
Chicken
Korean pancakes
Deviled eggs
Soak black beans

Thursday:
Cook black beans

Friday:
Breakie burritos

Saturday:
Pancakes
Egg salad

Shopping list in order:
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Lemon
- Mango
- Tomato
- Redpepper
- Carrot
- Onions
- Cilantro
- Yellow squash 3x
- Zucchini 2x
- Scallions
- Chives
- Dill/Rosemary
- Eggs
- Sausage
- GF soysauce
- Broth
- Pecans
- Olives

Looking at about $55