What's cooking?!

jessica0602

If you're like me, you've made the ever clichéd resolution to eat better, drop some lbs and be all around healthier.  With that begins the menu planning again.

Sunday: Chicken and brown rice casserole with a side of peas.

Monday: quinoa and chicken sausage stuffed peppers

Tuesday: crock pot chicken and dumplings, veg tbd.

Wednesday: chicken marsala, mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: pierogies and veg, likely salads

Saturday: potluck dinner party

tracyd21

Count me in on getting back in shape in 2014!

We signed up for the Fresh20 meal plan subscription in November and are back at it after a 2 weeks holiday hiatus.  I am only making 3 of the meals this week since the 4th wasn't appealing and Friday we're going out for my birthday!

Sunday - chicken sausage, rice and spinach salads (not Fresh20)

Monday - tangy pork tenderloin, roasted butternut, roasted fennel/potatoes

Tuesday - brown butter sage tilapia, balsamic roasted radicchio, brown rice

Wednesday - hot chicken legs, blue cheese kale potatoes

Thurs - TBD after we figure out if MIL is coming

Friday - out to dinner with DH, destination surprise!

jessica0602

Tell me more about Fresh 20! I loved the CSA we did but it was just too much food for the 3 of us so we're opting out this year.  We'll hit up more farmer's markets when the weather turns.  But if this is a viable option I'd love to explore it.

cutiepie75

I am on the bandwagon, and hope we don't fall off. 

M- Roast beef, sweet potatoes and vegetable

T- Italian chicken and brown rice

W-Pasta with meat

Th-Chili

F-TBD

Sa-We always go out

Su-Parent's house

tracyd21

Jess - Fresh20 has been great so far!  I started right after Thanksgiving.  Every Friday, you can download the next week's meal plan.  It includes 5 meals, a shopping list, nutrition information, and a prep sheet.  I buy everything over the weekend and do the prep on Sunday.  Basically the premise is that you spend 1 hour prepping for the week in advance, and then you only need to spend 30 minutes cooking each night.  It's 20 fresh ingredients (meats, produce, diary, misc) to buy each week that are repurposed from meal to meal.  Then there's about 20 pantry staples like chicken stock, rice, pasta, spices, etc.  So nothing processed at all.

So far, I have enjoyed every meal.  I'm not picky at all, but there are many veggies that I wouldn't think to cook or wouldn't know how to cook.  This has changed big time.  DH has been skeptical about a lot of the meals, but has loved all but one and it was due to personal preference.

I've also learned a lot of different meal preparations.  Of course, I modify to our needs/wants, too.  For example, a few weeks ago crab cakes were on the menu - the recipe called for homemade mayo and breadcrumbs, recipes provided.  I made both and they were fine, but next time I would just use regular mayo and panko - I didn't notice enough of a difference, in the mayo especially, to make my own again - too much time and extra dishes to clean.  But I would definitely make the homemade caesar dressing again - that stuff was good.  So, live and learn, but not a big deal.

You definitely have to be open-minded, but so far I think it's been worth it for us to guarantee one really healthy meal each day.  And I often take the leftovers for lunch the next day, so I get two

erbur78

For the next month, the mister returned to Paleo eating plan and I'm not eating gluten or sugar.  This means no beer (thankfully, there are no more Eagles games to watch sans beer).  Here's what my meal "plan" looks like:

S: lamb, sweet potato, pumpkin and kale stew
M: see above
T: mini-meatloafs with mushrooms, kale, carrots and bacon
W: A veggie only meal--likely with sweet potatoes and chard. Lots of chard. 
Th: Maybe a roasted chicken (?)
F: Chorizo and tomatoes.
S: Cabbage, apple, and some sort of wurst. 

jessica0602

Thanks Tracy!  I'm going to look into it.