Sunday, January 6, 2013

A Menu Planning Challenge


I am finally joining my (crazy fit) buddy Laura for her menu planning challenge.

I always think about planning my meals for the week, but I rarely do it...at least not in any really successful way. But it's a new year and a perfect time to re-examine my priorities.


I have pretty good eating habits, I think, but I'm far from perfect. I have a simple goal when it comes to improving my family's food consumption for this new year...add more fruits and veggies to the menu every single day.

I make a lot of excuses. "I don't feel like making salad today." "There's nothing in the fridge." "The kids don't eat vegetables."


That last one is crap. Sure, the kids don't like many kinds of vegetables. But they do like salad (with a bunch of iceberg in the mix), broccoli and baby carrots. They also love fruit, especially a variety of different fruits cut up on a platter. And they'll happily eat smoothies too.

Even though they only like a few types of vegetables, I can make sure they get them every day. After all, I have to feed them right while their eating is still within my control.

So, here it is. My first weekly menu for the new year. I am not planning every day, because sometimes you just don't feel like cooking! Besides these main dishes there will be mixed greens salads...and fruit platters of course. The kids won't eat all of this stuff with me, but I'll make sure there's something healthy that they'll eat at each meal.

I bought all of my groceries today, and I am ready to go!

My Menu Plan

Monday

Vegan Sausage and Rapini Melt
Dessert: Berry Pudding Cake With Whiskey

I saw a sausage on a bun recipe in Chatelaine magazine's February issue. I am going to veganize it. I plan to top fresh buns with Daiya vegan mozzarella, rapini, jarred artichokes, vegan sausage and vegan mayonnaise. If it's good, I will share the (revised) recipe.

They also had a Bushberry Pudding Cake in the same issue. I want to veganize that too!

Tuesday

White Bean Cassoulet

Wednesday

Golden Tofu Soup
People want us to be afraid of tofu. I'm not. Everything in moderation, I say.

Thursday

Black Bean Vegetarian Chili

Friday

Not scheduled

Saturday

Tofu Stroganoff
This is a favourite from an old PETA Animal Times magazine, made with faux sour cream.

Sunday

Husband Cooking


I'll let you know how the meal planning goes.

Do you plan your meals in advance or fly by the seat of your pants?


Linking up with:




38 comments:

  1. That looks great! I blogged about meal planning today too and boy does it help when I do have a plan to follow. I'm going to take pics of everything and stick the pictures up on my blog so I can also remind myself of how things turned out (and if they were rated as 'disgusting' by the kids...)

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    1. and I also have smoothies on the menu, the kids don't know I add in cooked pumpkin, raw zucchini and baby spinach because the over ripe banana+cinnamon overpower the other flavours :)

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    2. So funny that we both menu planned on the same day. I agree that putting pics on the blog helps you remember what you liked (and where you got the recipes). I sometimes make recipes, like them and then completely forget what book they are in.

      Pumpkin and zucchini sound like good sneaky add-ins! ;)

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  2. Crazy fit... haha, thank you, I think. :) Love your goal of adding in more veggies... it's a never-ending challenge with kids. And I think I need to borrow that "husband cooking" idea. He used to do more of his share, but it's mostly me these days!

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    1. Hey Laura! It's definitely a compliment. You are an impressive girl. :)

      You should definitely get the husband to do some cooking. It becomes so boring and uninspiring when you have to do it all the time. My husband said he would do weekends, so he will probably be making the Saturday stroganoff as well!

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  3. Impressive, I am so horrendous at planning out meals. I blame it on being an only child and getting a big vote on what I ate each meal, I just can't committ to what I'll crave on Thursday :) looks like a great menu.

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    1. I know what you mean. Sometimes you crave something specific. I'm going to be a bit flexible about switching up the days if needed! ;)

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  4. I need to develop the discipline to do this :)

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    1. It helps me. I find if I don't plan ahead sometimes I end up making something not as healthy or tasty.

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  5. definitely have to eat more fruits and vegetables... the first plate looks so yummy!

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    1. It's easy to eat a lot of them once they are all cut up! It's getting somebody to do the cutting that's the challenge. ;)

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  6. This is one of my resolutions! Have a very flexible meal schedule. Your meals sound delicious, and I'm looking forward to the "sausage" recipe. My mouth is watering just reading the descriptions! White bean cassoulet is also a winner ;)

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    1. I hope I can keep it up for more than a couple weeks! ;) I tried the sausage recipe last night and it was really good. It would make a nice lunch recipe. It's pretty quick and I'm not a bun for dinner kind of person I think. I will share the recipes on my next menu planning post on Sunday. :)

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  7. oh my gosh..yummmmmm.. this is also one of my resolutions=D

    following you now on GFC and Bloglovin. Hope you can do the same=D
    http://beatricemalveda.blogspot.com

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  8. Your menu sounds great, and the photos make me want to invite you here to cook! I'm 'lucky'(?) that my husband cooks all our meals (only because he's finished work before me), but things can become a little dull on our table ... maybe I'll introduce him to your blog :) Wendy

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    1. Thanks Wendy. My husband used to get home before me too, and so he would cook most of the time. I work from home now, and cooking all the time is the down side of that. That's why eventually, after enough complaining, my husband took over the weekends. ;)

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  9. Good for you! I'm constantly reading about the organizational, financial, and health benefits of meal planning, but I have yet to give it a try. For the record, my mom was always sticking platters of cut up fruits or veggies in front of me and my brother when we were kids, and it worked like a charm! Probably 75% of my produce consumption as a kid was via those "snack plates."

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    1. Hey Heather! Happy New Year! I'm not sure I fall into the financial benefits category. I could see that should be true, but I end up shopping once and then going back a couple times to get ingredients I missed. Then, I buy more while I'm there, of course. I've learned to never carry a basket...always get a cart. ;)

      I'm happy to hear that your mother's approach worked. I will keep at it! Yesterday, I put out baby carrots and celery after school with dip. They ate it right away. I offered more and they said yes!

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  10. Those are some nice and healthy meals! I always like to make a weekly meal plan but of course sometimes I don't feel like what I planned out and will make something else instead, I'm also notorious for grabbing food outside which is not good!

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    1. I often want to grab food on the run, but I am trying to save money! :)

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  11. Love this idea!! Everything looks delish as always {particularly the berries-- yum!}. Will unabashedly steal your menus in the future lol!

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  12. Hi from a first time visitor! I'm Jill, co-host with Laura of What's For Dinner :)

    I love the look of your blog and your black bean vegetarian chili sounds wonderful! Thanks for linking up!

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    1. Hi Jill, Thanks so much for hosting and for visiting! :) Joann

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  13. The food in the pictures look delicious and so do the meals on your plan.

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  14. Those meals look delicious! I find this post so inspiring - I'm trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my meals too and you've given me some great ideas!

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    1. I'm so happy that I have given you ideas Ashley. That's really nice. :)

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  15. Here's to a healthy year! Your food looks delicious and great meal plan for the week! Sounds yummy!

    Rebecca
    www.winnipegstyle.ca

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  16. Really nice blog:) If you want go to mine:)
    http://asunshineoffashion.blogspot.it/

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  17. I tried e-Meals as a way to plan my meals but that ended up being a bust. It felt like I was eating different variations of the same thing ALL the time. Now I try to plan on 4-5 dinners a week including a couple super easy to prepare meals and stick to it as best I can!

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    1. Gotta have those super easy ones in there for sure! :)

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  18. I need a plan as well, you've got a really healthy one, I really do love the strawberries and the veggies, you make wanting to eat healthy easy and fun, I'd try to eat better to! So glad I clicked on your comment that led me back to your blog, your posts' contents are info and image juicy so expect to be seeing some regular comments from me, you don't have to follow me back don't worry. I've just uploaded a new outfit featuring loooads of neons and metallics, quite provoking I believe, tell me if you're provoked ;)

    xx The Provoker
    http://www.the-provoker.com/2013/01/neon-metal.html

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    1. Thanks for your kind comments. I think it really can be easy and fun to eat healthy. I just have to keep up the effort. ;) I will see if that outfit provokes me. ;) Jo

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