Menu-Plan Monday -Yummies

Happy first week of August! I can't believe we're almost back to school so I am back to my monthly menu rotations for now. 

Before I get to the menu, however, there's this. Because it is 1 million degrees outside, I am dying to bake these days. Of course that's completely impractical but there it is. Today I am making a treat so decadant that I decided I could only make them if I gave half of them away, pretty much immediately. Yup. I'm making Kouign Amann.  The Blitz smelled the dough rising from 2 rooms away and came out with the timer to do a couple of the roll-outs. He has a touch for baking. 

I first fell in love with these during COVID from Great British Bake-Off and

they have occupied my imagination ever since. If you don't want to spend the half-day it takes to make them and you are lucky enough to live in Lafayette, Louisiana--which I am not--they sometimes sell them at Poupart Bakery. Get there early though because I was about 5th in line and got the last one. Seriously. I'll let you know how they'll turn out, but they're going to turn out amazing, I promise. 

So that's what I'm up, plus getting dinner plans ready for the week. Paul and I prepped this menu last night--it only took a cool 30 minutes--and now I am ready to whip through these meals all week.
Sunday's meal is a bit of celebration. I'm down 2 pounds this week so I bought the "good" steak. I'm within 15 pounds of my goal and almost back to my 1994 weight. What???  I'm going back in time! 

Oh and the Kouign Amann turned out perfectly. 

If you try any of these plans, please let me know your thoughts!

Sunday – Steak Mashed Potatoes Roasted carrots, Pan sauce (mushrooms, apple and red wine in pan sauce (butter thickened).  
I will use a cold sear method for the steak. I don’t have a recipe but I have notes.*

Meatless monday - Hello Fresh Mushroom spaghetti carbonara - 13 WW Points and worth every one. Easy and delicious. 

I will serve this with a bagged salad.

Tex-Mex Tuesday - Calorie-Wise Cheese Enchiladas (Quick) - 5 points each

Cucumber/Watermelon Salad: 1 point each.

• 3 cups cubed seeded watermelon

• 2 cups cubed English cucumber

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1-½  teaspoon white sugar (Optional)

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

• Splash of olive oil

• ½ teaspoon dijon mustard (helps emulsify)

Place the first 2 ingredients in a large bowl
Whisk together remaining ingredients in a small bowl;

Add about half the dressing to the salad; serve remainder on the side. 

Pasta Thursday- Asian Sesame Noodles (WW) - 5 pts.,

Brined and sauteed chicken breast (0 pts without skin),

Salted edamame in pods.

Fishy Friday - Lan Lam’s Double glazed salmon (2 points),

Roasted, diced potatoes (try this one - 3 points),

Green peas. 

Quick note on roasted potatoes: I use the formula from “Modern Proper” linked above, but halve the olive oil and skip the butter for 2 pt. Potatoes.

Saturday - Home-ground burgers** (see below for instructions - calculate points) , potato buns - 4 pts., garnishes,
Green salad, choice of dressing Chips for the kids

------------------------------------------------------------------

**Home ground burgers

Take a little over a pound of lean sirloin for 4 servings.
Trim off all visible fat - do not discard!
Weigh the fat and note the weight.

Quick Fat Weight Point Guide

• 0.25 oz of fat: 3 points

• 0.50 oz of fat: 6 points

• 0.75 oz of fat: 8 points

1.00 oz of fat: 11 points

Use the table above to calculate the points per serving.
Chop the fat and steak into 2-3  inch pieces.
Place all in food processor. Do about 3-10 second pulses.
You want the meat to be between ¼ and ½ inch chop.

Gently form into patties. Don’t over handle!
Cook as usual. (Grill, broil, pan-saute)
—--------------------------------------------------------------------

*Cold Sear method for steaks:

Pat dry
Pepper
(no salt yet -- or salt 45 minutes to 1 day ahead. Not right before cooking.)

Cold pan. No oil.

Heat on high (drive off surface water).
2 minutes flip (not brown yet, will layer)
Same other side 

Reduce heat to gentle sizzle.
Medium ish
No smoking, no splattering. 

Flip every 2 minutes approx.
(depending on steak; may be done after 4, 4, 8 minutes. Keep checking temp.)

Med rare - 125°
Rest 5 minutes

------------------------------

On the horizon for next week, something with Coconut Rice. 

Meal-Plan Monday

 Happy Monday!

First, a little recap. After trying and analyzing three meal-prep services, I posted our family's ratings. Then, we decided to try pre-prepping these meals ourselves, the same way the services do it. 

I'm excited to report that the plan worked out, and we now have 6 healthy, tasty, waistline-friendly prepped meals in the refrigerator ready to roll. Okay, 1 is not all of those things, but it is yummy!. It's our

Sunday meal. It took an hour to prep all these, including mixing the sauces and seasoning, as well as measuring whatever needs to be measured. Why, you ask, didn't we just measure them when we cooked them?  The answer is twofold: first, economy of scale. Everything was already out, right there, including the measuring implements. Paul and I worked together; it definitly would have taken longer by myself, probably another 20 minutes to half-hour. 

As I cook each meal, I will go in and update the actual cooking time. This is not something I normally record on my own recipes, but I will start doing so. 

Our main dishes for this week are: 

Easy Chana Masala with brown rice (9 pts. including rice)
35 minutes for rice; 15 for the rest. 

Healthy Kung Pao Chicken  with brown rice and broccoli (6 WW points per serving for the chicken, 3 for the rice). This took a cool 35 minutes to cook but only 20 active minutes. 

Millionaire Spaghetti, Lightened up, with Ceasar Salad (bag from store) - 9 points for the main dish.  I will halve this next time; nine servings is too many for us!  30 minutes prep, 30 cook. 

Fun Friday Fish Tacos, with cabbage slaw (7 pts. for 4) and Home Chef's Mexican Street Salad (it's corn). 

Sweet Soy-Honey Chicken (Hello Fresh Recipe) 8 pts  - with jasmine rice (3 WW pts) and green beans.  20 minutes to cook. 
I halved the sauce for this recipe. It makes tons and we don't want to spend the points on it!  If you don't halve it it's 2 more points. 

We made something else. I can't remember what it is but I know we put 6 together. Whatever it is, we're eating in on Saturday!

Let me know if you cook any of these and what you think about it!

Menu Plan Sunday/Monday and Anti-Inflammatory Eating

Yep I hardly EVER blog any more. Lessons to plan, choices to make - school wins almost all the time. That said, since November, I've had a goal to lose down to my 1998 weight. I'm still making time to meal plan and eat healthfully, but rarely taking time to write about it. 

I've gotten 60% of the way there -- and been idling there for weeks and weeks. My goal was to hit that weight by April 10 and I clearly am not going to make it as I am 16 pounds away. I recently had blood work done and it was really all good news so . . . what to do? 

I've decided to do nothing. Well, nothing drastic, anyway. My health plan pays for consults with a dietician so I set an appointment and will keep a food log for the next two weeks to get some feedback from her on my eating.  

In the meantime, I am going to eat a strict anti-inflammatory diet and see if I can break something loose that way. If not, I'll still win because when I eat this way, it helps my joints SO much. Therefore, if you want to have a little less pain in your life, maybe try this plan for a week or two. 

Here are the basics of how my menus work in case you don't know:

• I eat the same breakfast most weekdays (and I make it portable for school). 
• Ditto lunch. And both of these meals are only for me. Dad and the kids do their own thing! 
• Supper/Dinner - I cook for me and sometimes the kids (and maybe Dad) get a different meal because I am the only person who eats this particular way. To this I say, you do you.  I'm just listing both for clarity and to possibly help you out to make the process seamless for others.
• I try to provide calorie counts if I  can't provide the actual recipe so that if you internet search it, you'll know when you're close.
• I don't have a store. If I link a cookbook, it's for your convenience. I have no stake in you spending money (or not) anywhere in the world. 
• In general, I try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, more protein, less carbs, and whole foods. 

• Finally, most importantly, I'm a mom and a teacher. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. Don't look to me for medical advice. I'm doing what works for me. If it works for you and makes your life better, I'm happy!

Here is this week's menu.

Independence and Menu Plan Monday!

 Happy 4th of July and Menu Plan Monday.

Does it seem like "Menu Plan Monday" would be antithetical to the theme of independence? Au contaire!  Menu Plan Monday is what has brought  me independence all these years. I've written previously about my themed week days but here are some other things I love about Menu Plan Monday.

• We hear a lot about decision fatigue; menu plans eliminate decision fatigue. You've decided. This is what we're having and that is what you fix. Problem One, solved. 
• It saves so much money. Instead of buying a handful of meats, various veg and starches and then pulling together meals from my larder, which inevitably results in me having to run out and buy the things missing for that meal, I have exactly what I need on my list and I buy only those things. It also keeps me from buying a lot of "just in case" food we do not need. 
• It saves time. Trying to decide day by day what to cook, having to stop and pick up last minute things needed for that particular meal, or look up a recipe is time consuming. By spending an hour on the weekend to plan, it's all done at once and all the plans are made ahead of time. 
• But here's the real beauty of Menu Plan Monday: It eliminates all the wrangling with the kids. "Mom, can we please order pizza tonight?" Oh, no, sorry, I already have spaghetti in the works. "Oh, great, I LOVE spaghetti!" See? it's a lifesaver.  

I often make my shopping list for the whole week but I don't always shop for the whole week. I sometimes do a mid week shop, depending on what Fishy Friday holds. If it's freezer fish, I can shop ahead, and do. Otherwise, a Thursday shop will be needed. 

If I'm standing around for 5 minutes waiting for something to finish cooking, I'll start on tomorrow's dinner, since I know what it is! See how that works out?  Maybe I will chop a bell pepper or grate cheese, just some little thing to give me a head start. The next day, when I start cooking, it's like a little gift I've given myself.

This week, I'm eating citrusy yogurt parfaits for breakfast. I love these so much and starting with homemade Greek yogurt is a great way to get those extra servings of protein and dairy that I'm working for.  

I also linked this Roy Choi spaghetti recipe that I adore. This is not a recipe for weight loss at all but it is worth every precious calorie. It's a treat and we only eat it once a month for that reason. This recipe makes twice what you need so you just put half in the freezer for next month before you add the pasta to the sauce. Don't tell my mom, but we'll never make her spaghetti sauce again. This is the only one I make now. When I saw Chef Choi make this on TV, he said you could add meat to it, but I don't care about the meat so I haven't. It takes some time to make the mushroom roux but the investment is worth it, trust me!

Happy Independence Day. 

Hot June! Menu Plan Monday

 

Wow. I just walked into the house and I think I melted my shoes a little! I'm trying to get back into the swing of posting these menus since I do plan my menu every single week without fail. I got a couple emails last week about recipes from last summer so let's see if I can get better at posting! I have a lot of ideas so I am excited to get back on it!

I have overnight oats on the menu for breakfast but I've decided to switch up to something more like chia pudding with oats. I'm trying to increase both my servings of daily dairy and protein and this little adjustment allows for that, plus a half serving of whole grains. I wish I could eat my yogurt "unsweet" but I'm not there yet. It would be healthier if I could let the carbs go. I'm keeping my regular recipe on the menu but here is what I'm eating this week:

Overnight Chia Oat Pudding

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds
1 Tablespoon Honey, Maple Syrup or Jam (I like Smuckers Strawberry Preserves)
1 Cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt, Plain
1/4 Cup Blueberries (or strawberries, half a banana, peaches, orange segments etc.)

Instructions:

Layer into pint jar. Stir it all together.  Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

Eat and enjoy!!

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: Tablespoon
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories	320
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5.8g	7%
Saturated Fat 0.7g	3%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 75mg	3%
Total Carbohydrate 45.5g	17%
Dietary Fiber 8g	28%
Total Sugars 20.5g
Protein 23.3g
Vitamin D 0mcg	0%
Calcium 304mg	23%
Iron 3mg	15%
Potassium 413mg	9%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Recipe analyzed by

Enjoy this week's menu.  Let me know what you like!

Meal Plan Monday

Meal Plan Mondays . . . A million years ago I used to participate in a group of blogs that posted meal plans and/or menu plans on Mondays. Ever since, I've planned my menus and shopped on Sundays and prepped some of my meals then too. Since returning to "outside" work a decade or so ago, this habit has saved me. When we return to school each fall, you can see the shift in the menu.

 

My lunches and breakfasts are either the same each day or built on the same day (because I kind of like that and it saves SO much time and effort). As well, our evening meals are quick or pre-prepped most nights. Tonight is Mac and Cheese. A while back, I switched to my version of a WW recipe because it's faster, simpler and much better for us and no one knows the difference. I encourage you to try is and see if you like it. SO much healthier and easier than the version I made for years, without heating up the oven!

 

Anyway, without further ado, here's my plan for this week, week 4 of our monthly rotation(ish). I've already shopped it and remembered how much my kids love mac and cheese.

Menu Plan Monday

 

Menu Plan Monday 

Summer Week 1

Well, hello there! It seems like years since I sat in this space. Okay, it has been years. No excuses, just life. 

So here we are again, and I'm starting with "Menu Plan Monday." I have learned a few things over the last couple years and the main one is this: For me, planning is the key to success in healthy eating. Here is the short list of reasons:

• Having a plan means I have appropriate groceries in the house
• Menu planning avoids decision fatigue. "Decision fatigue" leads to impulsivity. Impulsivity leads to fast food!
• It saves money.
• It saves time because I am not duplicating my efforts.
• It helps me keep track of what's in the freezer and allows me to use those items.
• It simplifies food logging and/or calorie tracking
• Most important to me: It saves so much time! 

This week, I'm here alone with my 14 year old daughter and it's summer break for teachers, so I've made changes to my plan that incorporate her tastes and avoid overheating the kitchen in mid-day. 

In my next post, I'll talk a bit more about how I plan and my basic planning guidelines. For now, here is this week's menu; I hope it is helpful to you in your healthy eating efforts.

Fast Food, not FAT Food: It's Menu Plan Monday!

Good Monday!

For the next few weeks, I will be posting our dinner plans for fast, healthy meals. We are in the throes of ball season so I am focusing on foods I can fix fast or slow-cook so that we can do less eating out.  It is possible to provide a healthy, wholesome meal for your family in a short time frame.  

All meals this week will be accompanied by our lovely fresh vegetables from our CSA box. This week we got lots of greens, beets and parsnips, a rare treat in central Texas.

Dinners:

Lighter Baked Ziti (recipe here), Green salad, dressing. Prep the ziti the night before so you only have the baking to do. I use whole-wheat penne instead of ziti, I like the smaller pasta.

Meatball SubsI am using my Lean Meat Mix combined with my Meatball/Meatloaf add-ins to make a mighty batch of meatballs, meatloaf and salisbury steak. For meatball sandwiches: Heat meatballs in a small amount of marinara sauce (about 2 cups). Meanwhile, split hoagie rolls lengthwise.  Split an ounces of mozzarella cheese on each side of bread. Top with 5 meatballs, Close and wrap in foil. Place wrapped sandwiches on cookie sheet and heat at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Sesame Ginger Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry

I will serve this simple stir fry with edamame and Better-for-You-Deviled-Eggs. I will also make seasoned spinach to go along. My kids love this recipe.  [Stir-fry: 370 kc, 7 g fat, 33 g protein, 42 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 1003 mg sodium] [ Deviled Eggs for 2 halves: 124 kc, 9g fat, 9 g protein, 1 gram carbs, 0 g fiber, 260 mg sodium]

Shrimp Souffle

This is a recipe from Family Circle back from 2003. I will be serving it with salad (with fresh dill) and fruit. [360 kc, 25 g fat, 22 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber. 697 mg sodium]

Shepherd's Pie, aka Hamburger Pie

This is a family favorite. I use my lean meat mix and add extra green beans to boast the nutrient quotient.  It can also be made ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake; used instant or ready-made mashed potatoes to speed it up even more.  Since this is an all-inclusive recipe, my only side will be fresh fruit and possibly a salad.

As usual, I am linking up with OrgJunkie.org for her Menu Plan Monday. Have a wonderful week!

Yummy Recipes Compiled on a Soggy Sunday

This is less a menu plan and more a brainstorm. We are still "eating down the larder" and it's easier to go day by day.  That said, we did have some wonderful food last week that I will share to inspire you on your own Menu Plan Monday! (Check out some more ideas on Org Junkie's link-up)

Eating down our larder makes me more creative. Here is one night's meal:

This was bacon (obviously) with creamy polenta topped with ratatouille and fresh bell pepper, and zoodles (zucchini "noodles). Since the ratatouille was from the freezer, the bell pepper perked it up prettily.

We have a lean meatloaf we love. Here is the formula. For the vegetables, I was able to use the leftover ratatouille and zucchini from the night before. The kids don't even notice the vegetables in this yummy meat loaf. Try it this week!

Master Meat Loaf

Serves 8 or more. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2# lean ground beef or lean meat mix
2 eggs
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cups cooked vegetables - almost anything works
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce

Topping:
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. brown sugar
Pinch salt

Mix all the meatloaf ingredients together. It's faster if you use your hands. Then press them all into a large loaf pan and un-mold onto the rack of a roasting pan. If you don't have a roasting pan, then put a cake rack over a jelly roll or 9x13 pan. It's important to let the drippings drain off to keep the fat down.

 These vegetables all but disappear when you cook it. Not once have any of my kids mentioned the vegetables in the meatloaf.

Mix the sauce ingredients together and slather them on the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-75 minutes until done. I look for it to be 175 degrees in the center.

Slice and serve!

Notes: 
I used to make a rustic, round loaf but it was too hard to turn the leftovers into sandwiches. We love the leftovers.

Blueberry Make-Ahead French Toast

This week I found a yummy sounding recipe on SparkPeople. If you're not familiar with the site, it is an amazing weight loss, calorie tracking and exercise site. It's free. You can't get a better price than that!

So here is the link to the blueberry french toast. I can't wait to try it on my peeps.  Any breakfast I can make the night before is a winner in my book and since they are usually very high on calories, this one looks even better. At 344 calories and only 6 grams of fat, this sounds like a winner! The site claims zero fiber but I'm sure that's because fiber varies by loaf in whole-grain bread. Use your bread label to determine your fiber for this dish. I have whole grain English Muffins in the freezer that are going to form the basis for this dish for us.

Dinner Menus

Fantastic Fish Pie

• We'll be having Surprise Chili with beans this week because I have lots of beans and a lovely
  chili grind from my grassfed beef; I'm sure some purple coleslaw will be on the menu that day.
• We'll have homemade bread and navy beans on Wednesday for Ash Wednesday. 
• I love beef stew and we are having a spate of cooler weather. We are getting lovely stewing vegetables in our CSA box so beef stew is on the horizon.
• That sounds like a too soupy week so tonight will be pork loin and quinoa with tiny diced beets and sweet potatoes. We'll be having rainbow chard too.
• Chicken thighs, cheese grits, collard greens and sweet potatoes sound good!
• Fantastic Fish Pie with salad or greens is in the works for the first Friday of Lent. (We will subbing in skim milk for most of the cream and not adding much at all to the potatoes when we mash them. Outside of Lent, we love to add chopped dried chorizo to the pie.)

Braised Chicken Thighs

That's a wrap! Have a healthy, fun week!