When I plan our weekly menus in advance, not only do I feel more organized, we save money on eating out, waste less food, and eat more healthfully. Menu Plan Monday (MPM) is a blogging event hosted every week by Organizing Junkie. Although I do try to plan our meals every week, I have been a bit lax over the past month. This is my first time to participate in MPM, and I hope that it will hold me more accountable in the future.
Here is the list of this week’s dinner plans:
Monday: Lemon-Scented Quinoa with Asparagus, roasted cauliflower, and spinach salad with our everyday healthy vinaigrette
Tuesday: Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage, broccoli and kale sauteed with garlic, and raw cut veggies
Wednesday: Curried Quinoa Vegetable Hash, more spinach salad with vinaigrette, and raw cut veggies
Thursday: Grilled Turkey Burgers with Dijon-Dill Sauce and miscellaneous steamed or sauteed veggies (i.e., clean out the fridge)
Friday: Root Vegetable Cobbler with Millet Dumplings, salad, and veggies (I’ll begin the strict part of my cleanse on Friday, so this is just for my husband)
Saturday: Leftovers (for J only)
Sunday: Crockpot Chicken and Quinoa, salad, and veggies (just for J)
I’ll be sure to post any of the new recipes on my blog if they turn out well.
I usually make my menus on Saturdays based on what I bought that morning at the farmer’s market. I generally make a list of 5-7 meal ideas and then each day throughout the week I’ll choose which one I want to make, rather than assigning days to each meal (the latter option always gets scrambled anyway, so I figured why bother!).
Anyhow…. this week I plan to finally make your kale/lentil recipe (or some variation of it).
Your menu looks amazing!! Great job.
My menu is up too–and this is my first time also:)
Julieann
Looks yummy! I’m intrigued by your use of quinoa… I’ve cooked with it some but haven’t for a while.
Toni,
I do the same thing with the farmers’ market. I like to see what I can find there and plan my week’s menu based on that. Of course, I also have to fill in the gaps with a trip to the grocery store. I hope you like the lentil kale stew. We really enjoy it, but I still think it’s missing something. Let me know if you figure it out. Maybe it needs lemon or lime juice to brighten it a bit…
Julieann,
Thanks for the encouragement! I think this Menu Plan Monday is going to be a fun tradition.
Elizabeth,
I’m trying to cut down on our grocery bill, so I’m planning more meals based on gluten-free grains like quinoa, millet, amaranth, and buckwheat (which are much cheaper than organic, grass fed meats). Right now, I’m alternating days: meat day, grain day, meat day, grain day. We’ll see how it goes. Myself, I love quinoa, and as a source of complete protein, it’s quite unique. I’ll post reviews of these recipes soon. Thanks for reading!
Welcome to MPM! Your pictures on your blog are lovely!