Meal Plan Monday!

I know you've seen it on other parts of the Interwebs - blog posts written on Monday that have a list (usually with links to recipes if you're lucky!) detailing what the blogger is feeding their family for the week. Generally, I'm not that organized. HOWEVER, I did just make myself that schnazzy Household Organization Notebook, and it does have a nice tab for menu planning. Therefore, I can now do Meal Plan Monday post because the pages I printed start on Monday. This means I have to have my plan done before then so I should be able to blog about it. Before, I just sort of started my week whenever I decided to get around to meal planning, and that was if I even did it.

You all know how much I like to fall back on "winging it," right?

Will this be a regular thing? I dunno. Nothing ever is around here for long. One thing about having been blogging for as long as I have, it's easy to go back and see how my interests have shifted and changed in the past six years. I do love this about journaling!

Here's the plan for this week:

Monday - Chicken Soft Tacos with Mexican Rice

I found some pre-cooked shredded chicken in the freezer when I was cleaning it out in preparation for meal planning/grocery shopping, so I decided to use it up! I will heat this with a little chicken stock, some seasonings (I have homemade taco seasoning in the pantry and it's GOOD), maybe a little onion and cilantro... mmm. I'm going to make a whole mess of tortillas in the early part of the day. Some will get frozen for later use and some will be made into tacos for dinner.

The rice is easy - Soften a half cup of onions with a tablespoon olive oil in a heavy pot. Toss in a cup of long grain white rice and cook until toasted, stirring constantly. Puree a can (or jar, in my case) of tomatoes in a blender. Add water or chicken broth to make 2 1/2 cups. Pour into rice, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Ta da!

A little rice, some chicken in a tortilla with a little lettuce and cheese, and there is dinner.

Tuesday - Beef, Mushroom, & Green Bean Stir-Fry over Rice Noodles.

This recipe was clipped from a magazine. I'll let you know how it is!

Wednesday - Chicken Linguine

I found this recipe on Pinterest. It says it's a Weight Watchers recipe, and since I'm trying to get the skinnies, as Mrs. Monologues says, I figured what the heck.

Thursday - Curry-Spiced Shrimp and Rice

This was also clipped from a magazine. Can I just get a WOO HOO for free magazine subscriptions???

Friday - Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas with Tortillas and Mexican Rice

Confession: Monday's meal was actually supposed to me Sunday's, which would have fallen on last week's meal plan. Unfortunately, Sunday saw us up early for a birthday party, after which no one had any energy and long naps may or may not have been taken. Making of tortillas, which is an important component of tacos, may have been forgotten because of those factors.

This means that Monday's tortilla-less dinner (Grilled Chicken with Asparagus Risotto, from here, made by my sweet husband while I slept) may have had to be eaten on Sunday. Sunday's dinner had to get pushed to Monday which means that I had two "rice and tortilla" dinners scheduled in the same week. ACK.

I'd never make it as a Taco Tuesday, Fish Friday, Meatloaf Monday kind of person, obviously. I need some variety!!! That being said though, I was thinking I should try to have Fridays be Slow Cooker days since I have knitting club at 6pm those days and I hate feeling rushed. I found this pork carnitas recipe on Pinterest (sounding like a broken record here) and it sounded like a winner. This won't be as tasty as real pork carnitas, I'm sure, but it should be okay for tacos.

Saturday - Italian Sausage and Spinach Marinara over Orecchiette

The only reason I'm using orecchiette for this is because when I served it to the boy last week he ate a TON of it. I guess he liked the shape. He kept calling them "pasta chips." If it gets him to eat, I'll take it!

The marinara sauce recipe was clipped from a magazine. It had a basic marinara recipe and then a bunch of stuff you could add to it for five different meals. True; the one I picked did happen to be served over orecchiette, but I feel like most pasta is interchangeable.

Sunday - Chipotle Plum Glazed Pork Tenderloin with quinoa and broccoli

A few months ago I found plums on sale really cheap so I bought a bunch of them to make jam. I ended up with a Chipotle Plum jam that was smoky and reminiscent of the chili-covered Mexican candies we used to eat when I was a kid. I don't know if I'm down with putting this on toast, but it's FANTASTIC on a pork roast. I just dump the little 4 oz jar onto my tenderloin, smoosh it around with a silicone basting brush, and pop it into the oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

I'll serve this with a side of quinoa and some steamed broccoli. That rounds out the week!

I want to make some bread to stick in the freezer in addition to the tortillas I want to stash in there. I keep thinking about grilled cheese sandwiches for some reason lately, and for that I need bread! I read that I can just bake them until they're mostly done, then freeze them so I won't have to worry about the yeast not wanting to work like I would if I froze unbaked dough. Then, when I want a fresh loaf all I have to do is pull one out and pop it into the oven to brown.

I've been making bread using the Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes a Day method for a couple of years now, but I think I'm getting a little tired of the slightly sourdough taste. Don't get me wrong - it's really good bread, but I am ready for something new. There's a recipe for a honey white bread by Ina Garten I want to try, as well as a whole wheat one that Jaimee Rose posted. Good stuff!

I also have plans to make up a bunch of Whole Wheat Waffles this week. They freeze beautifully, and since my waffle iron makes little square waffles, it's super easy to pull them out as I need them and just pop them into the toaster for breakfast. Take that, Eggo!

Needless to say, getting back on the bandwagon for healthy eating with drastically reduced commercially processed food is going to mean more time in the kitchen this week.