I had Fall Break this past week so I spent a little time organizing my recipes on Plan To Eat.  I quickly realized that there are a lot of recipes that I have saved but have yet to try so…this week all of my recipes are newbies.  Hope we find some gems!

Monday – Easy Beef (Turkey) Stroganoff

Tuesday – Slow-Cooked Southwest Chicken

Wednesday – Makeover Garlic Spinach Balls, Mandarin Turkey Pinwheels

Thursday – Baked Southern Grits, Baked Breakfast Apples

Friday – Walnut Ginger Salmon, Corn & Pepper Orzo

Saturday – Mexican Meatloaf, Spiced Rice Pilaf

Extras – Oatmeal Bake, Whole Wheat & Honey Zucchini Bread

It’s that time again!  We didn’t use all of our meals this past week so some are repeats.  Also, I planned the next 2 weeks using lots of ingredients from our freezer and/or pantry in order to save some money.  The hubby & I need new shoes since we’re working out so much…yay!   Here’s what we’ll be munching on this week…

Monday – Stuffed Bell Peppers, Steamed Broccoli, Guacamole w/ Crackers

Tuesday – Chicken Provolone, Veggie Rice

Wednesday -  Hearty Bean Burritos, Acorn Squash

Thursday – Country Chicken w/ Gravy, Thai-Style Black Bean Salad

Friday – Santa Fe Chicken Pita Pizzas, Potato Leek Soup

Saturday – Red Pepper & Parmesan Tilapia, Sweet Quinoa Salad

Extras – Peanut Butter Banana Breakfast Bars, Blueberry & Peach Oatmeal Bake

Ok, I promise I have still been making meal plans and cooking healthy…I’ve just been really bad at getting them posted so that you can see!  Just for the record, my total weight loss of 2010 is now up to 17 pounds!  Woohoo!  We are still thoroughly enjoying trying new recipes each week.  However, some evenings I have to make myself cook after a long day.  Knowing what I am cooking in advance really helps me get in gear though.  Here’s what we’re up to this week…

Sunday:  Stir Fried Steak & Veggies, Oven Fries (Weird combo but I need to use the potatoes before they go bad!)

Monday:  Leftovers

Tuesday:  Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi, Brown Rice, Eggplant, Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday:  Stuffed Bell Peppers, Sauteed Fresh Spinach

Thursday:  Chicken Provolone, Slow Cooker Veggie Rice

Friday:  Hearty Bean Burritos, Corn Chips & Salsa

Saturday:  Country Chicken with Gravy, Leftover Sides

Extras:  Lara-Type Bars, Apple Bread (I will probably leave the topping off next time to reduce the sugar content…but the bread is really good!)

We had a few meals that we did not use last week so we’re going to try them this week.  This is my first week back to work so the true test begins…cooking healthy with a more restricted schedule.  Wish me luck!  Here’s what we’ll be eating:

Monday:    Salmon with Dill Sauce, Fresh Green Beans

Tuesday:     Baked Mostaccioli, Balsamic Carrots

Wednesday:     Whole Wheat Pasta Salad w/ Walnuts & Feta, Apple & Ginger Sweet Potato Casserole

Thursday:     Black Bean Lasagna, Broccoli

Friday:     Creamy Spinach Casserole

Saturday:     Country Chicken with Gravy, Thai-Style Black Bean Salad

Snacks:     Peanut Butter Raisin Balls

E-MEALZ

I have talked about e-mealz before and I love these guys!  When you sign up for an E-mealz subscription, you recieve a preplanned menu and grocery list each week.  They have many different menu plan options…small family, large family, Wal-Mart, Publix, Low Fat, WW Points, and more!  You choose which plan fits your family, log into your account each week, print your plan and grocery list, and hit the store.  It’s just that simple!  They have just added a Gluten-Free Meal Plan!  This is a healthy, mostly whole foods option even if your family does not have gluten allergies.  You can click the E-mealz banner to the right if you would like to find out more!

PLAN TO EAT

I discovered plantoeat.com a few months ago.  This is the source that I currently use for meal planning!  When you sign up for Plan To Eat, you can upload recipes from your favorite sites and/or enter your favorite family recipes.  Plan To Eat has a planner tab that allows you to easily drop your meals into the day that you are going to cook them.  The best part…the site creates a shopping list as you plan your meals!  I usually plan 1 or 2 weeks at a time.  I spent several hours over the summer adding healthy meals into my Plan To Eat recipe book.  Now it is very easy for me to create my weekly plan and print the shopping list!  I really like that Plan To Eat offers a free 30-day trial!  I was hooked after about a day.  You can also share recipes with your friends.  If you decide to sign up for a free trial, add me as your “friend” and you can view and use the meals that I have in my recipe book.  My username is katrinahilliard…no caps or spaces.  Follow the link below to check it out!

http://www.plantoeat.com/tePfhN1Own

katrina

We enjoyed all of our meals last week.  We were shocked at how tasty the Tuna Salad Wraps were…yummy!  Here’s what we’re eating this week:

Monday – Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry, Brown Rice, Cabbage

Tuesday – Black Bean Veggie Enchiladas, Corn Chips, Salsa & Sour Cream

Wednesday – Baked Mostaccioli, Spinach Salad with Fresh Strawberry Dressing & Toasted Walnuts

Thursday – Country Chicken with Gravy, Potato Leek Soup (Can you tell that my husband loves this stuff??)

Friday – Creamy Spinach Casserole, Balsamic Baby Carrots

Saturday – Out of Town

Snacks – Whole Grain Fruit & Nut Energy Bars, Baked Blueberry & Peach Oatmeal (This dish is SO GOOD!!!)

Time for another week of great, homemade food!  Our favorite last week was the Fruit ‘n’ Feta Spinach Salad…so yummy!!  The Peanut Butter Raisin Balls are also keepers.  We got a lot of potatoes from the Farmer’s Market Basket so we’ll be using those up this week.  Here’s what we’ll be trying:

Monday:     My Favorite Burger, Oven Fries

Tuesday:     Cornmeal Oven-Fried Chicken, Turnip Greens

Wednesday:     Almost Famous Potato Salad, Festive Spinach Salad

Thursday:     Honey-Grilled Chicken Breasts, Potato Leek Soup

Friday:     Multigrain & Veggie Dish, Leftovers

Saturday:     Grandma’s French Tuna Salad Wraps, Fruit

Snacks:  Homemade Popcorn, LARA-like Bars 

(The picture quality is horrible…sorry!  We’ve misplaced our camera cord so I have to use Photo Booth.)

1 container of sea salt

2 bottles of vinegar (great for homemade dressings!)

1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil

2 packages of razors  (Free plus overage!)

6 tubes of toothpaste  (Free!)

4 toothbrushes

4 containers of men’s deodorant

2 – 1/2 gallon cartons of milk (These were free!  Yay!)

2 pizzas (These are NOT for our meal plan!  They are for friends & family who visit who do not care for our way of eating. =) )

Register Totals:     $81.37

Total Savings:     $69.29

Final Price:     $12.08!

Saved 85%!!

katrina

Foods we’ve tried:  Tofu & Artichokes – I used tofu in a lasagna and I was NOT impressed.  Mark gave it a 3 out of 5.  Not sure whether I am going to throw in the towel with this one or try it in another recipe.  I cooked artichokes in a chicken dish and they weren’t half bad!  I don’t think I’ve ever had artichokes prepared without spinach and cheese being involved.  I am a fan!

Homemade Applesauce – I made my first homemade applesauce…and there’s no added sugar…yay!  I cooked the apples in the crock pot so it was really easy.  I blended the apples after they were cooked which made it a little too runny.  Tasted great though!  I’ll have to perfect it with the next few batches.

Healthy Oatmeal Dish in the Crock Pot – Epic Fail!  I found this recipe that sounded so great but apparently I cooked it too long.  It was burnt and tasted horrible.  I will definitely have to try again with this one!

Homemade Popcorn – My hubby LOVES his popcorn!  When I first suggested that we cook our own, he was not excited.  He was, however, a good sport about it and cooked a batch for himself.  That’s all it took.  He now LOVES homemade popcorn.  He still has to have the shaker seasoning stuff but I am secretly on the hunt for a healthy alternative…shh, don’t tell him! 

Sourdough Starter – I started my first Sourdough Starter this week.  I am at a complete loss as to what to do with this silly thing…you have to feed it every 24 hours…weird.  Thankfully, I am following THIS BLOG that tells me exactly what to do every morning.  And eventually I am going to make some fresh bread…another first!  I’ll keep you posted about how this works out!

Pantry/Freezer Overhaul - Mark & I took a few minutes this morning to go through our pantry and freezer.  We made a “give-away” pile and a “trash” pile.  We looked at the ingredients on our food items and made decisions accordingly.  We got rid of most of the items that would not be considered “Whole Foods”.  White pasta, canned soups, salad dressings, etc.  It felt so great to go through everything and make decisions together.  We made some exceptions since we do have a grocery budget to stick to and we cannot buy everything new all at once.  For example, I have some Imitation Vanilla Extract for baking.  We decided that I could use this up and simply buy the real thing next time we need it.  We also decided that Mark could keep his beloved Heinz ketchup…haha.  I am scouting out recipes to make my own but it will be a tough job to convince him to switch.  =)

-katrina

Our meal plan was thrown off a little last week.  We had family in town on Monday & Tuesday (yay for sisters!!) and we were out of town with friends from Thursday to Saturday (yay for the lake!!).  Getting back on track…here’s our meal plan for this week!

Monday:     Fruit ‘n’ Feta Spinach Salad, Garlic Mashed Cauliflower    (Before today, I didn’t eat salad and Mark hated mashed cauliflower…both changed after lunch!  Yum!)

Tuesday:     Chicken with Artichokes, Steamed Broccoli

Wednesday:     Broiled Cod, Potato Leek Soup (Mark’s favorite!)

Thursday:     Tofu Spinach Lasagna    (I don’t recall ever having tofu before but I am so excited to try this recipe…hope it turns out great!)

Friday:     Dijon-Crusted Chicken Breasts, Corn on the Cob

Saturday:     Healthy Quesadillas (filled with veggies, shredded chicken, beans, & cheese) with Sour Cream and Homemade Salsa, Fruit

Snacks:     Peanut Butter Raisin Balls