2 week dinner meal plan

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a weekly meal plan so I thought I’d share what I put together today.Normally I plan out one weeks worth of dinners but decided to try planning and shopping for 2 weeks this time (crazy, I know). There will most likely be a few extra stops in those two weeks for produce (mostly bananas – Stella would eat them all day every day if I let her) and milk but I’m interested to see how it goes. I already like knowing what we’ve got planned and that there’s ingredients for a variety of meals in the fridge and freezer. I’m sticking with our clean eating and it’s going really well in our house – my body feels great and my hungry eaters (all 3 of them) aren’t complaining.  All of these recipes I’m trying are new (so no guarantees they are good even though they all sound good) and almost all from the two cookbooks I bought when I started this challenge.I’ve also included two yummy treats to satisfy that sweet tooth!

I planned for 7 meals to get us through the two weeks. Most of these recipes should have leftovers for lunches or other meals to fill in those days and I know there are days we’ll eat out so I didn’t want to plan meals for every night.  I know this looks like a ton of food but I was surprised when I made my grocery list how much I already had on hand and my grocery cart didn’t look that much fuller than compared to a normal one week shopping trip. Decide what works for your family and you’ll have your meals all planned and all the ingredients to give you and your family a healthy, easy dinner that you can feel good about eating and serving.

Because I was hiding out from my family  had nothing better to do tonight I typed up the recipes from my cookbooks to share with you. Please let me know if you try any of them and what you think so I know it wasn’t a wasted effort. 🙂  You can download the recipes and print them out here: Recipes.

Here you go — write it out and stick it on your fridge and your dinners are planned for the next two weeks!

1.  Easy Baked Fish Sticks (make enough so you have leftovers for the Mexican fish tortillas), Sweet Potato Fries & Broccoli**

2. Mexican Fish Tortillas, Brown Rice, Spinach Salad

3.  Turkey Meatballs, Brown Rice, Cauliflower

4.  Swiss Cheese & Spinach Quiche, Broccoli, Fruit

5.  Whole Wheat Pasta w/ Broccoli, Spinach Salad, Fruit

6.  Loaded Black Bean Burritto, Roasted Carrots

7.  Chicken Fajitas, Brown Rice, Broccoli

And the yummy treats:

Pear Oatmeal Crisp & Skinny Monkey Cookies

** I just have to comment on the broccoli since I know it’s on there a ton. I buy the big bag at Costco (it’s like $3.99!!!) and it will last us almost two weeks. I try to change up how I cook it so it’s not just the same steamed broccoli every night. A favorite way is roasting it in the oven with olive oil and then squeezing fresh lemon juice and lemon zest on top when it comes out — delicious! I’ll also stir fry it up with any extra veggies that are in the fridge, or just steam them in the microwave.

How do you plan out your dinners? I’d love to hear!

what’s for dinner?

I don’t know how many people are actually using the recipes I post on “What’s For Dinner” but I know my family is enjoying them and I certainly am enjoying the fact that I am taking a little time on Sundays to get the week planned out, making for smoother weeknights. I was thoroughly impressed with both the Shepard’s Pie and Tuna Noodle Cassarole from last week. Both had great flavor and were gobbled up by grown ups and kids alike! Plus, the leftovers were fantastic and we finished them off for lunch today. I’m finally doing the pork chops and mac and cheese tonight and am having to push the Chicken Parmesean to next week.  Life happens and I decided I wasn’t cooking dinner Friday night and instead we went out to dinner – yeah to no cooking or dishes!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos – This is a slight variation to my favorite crock-pot chicken salsa by adding taco seasoning. I love how this recipe couldn’t be simpler: frozen chicken breasts covered with salsa and taco seasoning mixed in and set to cook all day on low while we are out doing our thing.  I am going to add on this yummy spanish rice recipe and veggies to complete our meal. Didn’t figure out points for this – but if you take it easy on the toppings  and how many you eat,  I’d say it’s a really healthy dinner.

Crockpot Black Bean Chili (from my GooseBerry Patch 101 Slow Cooker Recipes Cookbook)

Another recipe to use the crock-pot and come home to a house that smells delicious and dinner ready to eat. I’m just going to make my favorite spinach salad with fruit (blueberries, strawberries and/or raspberries are my favorite), feta cheese, toasted walnuts and topped with Lucero Balsamic Vinegar to go along with it.

• 1 lb. pork tenderloin
• 3  15 1/2 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 16 oz. jar chunky salsa
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 t. dried oregano
• Garnish:  sour cream diced tomatoes, tortilla chips

Place pork in a a lightly greased (or use non-stick spray) slow-cooker; add remaining ingredients except garnish.  Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. Shred pork; return to slow cooker.  Garnish servings with dollops of sour cream and diced tomatoes. Serves 4-6.

Chicken & White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde  — Why not add a few extra chicken breasts when you make the Chicken Tacos and you can use that shredded chicken to make these?