Last week, more post ideas for the menu planning series were running through my head. There are so many tools and components out there to make this process simple and enjoyable. As different ideas came and went, I found myself exhausted. So. I decided to continue to post another week's menu to better share the flow of how food is planned over here.
First, just a couple quick notes to explain the method of this madness:
Leftovers
Unless they are sweet, my husband despises eating leftovers the following day. Despise is not too strong a word for this. Because of this, leftovers have two fates:
1. If there are enough leftovers to provide for another family meal, I freeze it and thaw it out for the the same day on the following week.
2. If there are only enough leftovers for a serving or two, it is saved as a meal choice on Sunday (my day off).
You'll see what I mean in this weekly menu.
Snacks
We are trying out a new morning routine that involves a home economics hour. An hour before lunch, the kids are welcomed to the inner workings of our kitchen. Any snacks, condiments, or staples that need to be made for the week happen with my kids during this hour. Basically, most of our kitchen to-dos happen then. If there's any time left, we fine-tune our cleaning skills. These are easy things for my kids to be apart of and my dream is for the children to have these basics mastered and in their routines. These will be skills they can apply all throughout their lives, and preparing food traditionally won't require a learning curve once they're keeping their own homes.
Monday:
To do: Make raw cacao nut butter cookies, creme fraiche, put frozen soup in fridge, thaw tonight's dinner, & make Trader Joe's run.
Breakfast: (A variation of) Soaked, Baked Oatmeal
Snack: Blueberry kefir smoothies
Lunch: Raw cheese, carrot slices, & raw cacao nut butter cookies
Snack: Leftover baked oatmeal
Dinner: Thawed turkey rice noodle pesto melt from last Monday
Tuesday:
To do: Make hummus & thaw Thursday's dinner in the fridge.
Breakfast: Grain-free peanut butter pancakes
Snack: Mango kefir smoothies
Lunch: Cilantro lime white bean hummus wraps
Snack: Crispy almonds
and orange slices
and orange slicesWednesday:
To do: Make chicken stock, soak porridge, & thaw ground beef in the fridge.
Breakfast: Cinnamon apple bars
Snack: Strawberry banana kefir smoothies
Snack: Carrot slices and raw cheddar
Dinner: (A variation of) Texas-style crustless quiche with creme fraiche (prepared Monday) & raw, ribboned asparagus salad with lemon
Thursday:
To do: Make Sunday's snack, roast coffee
Breakfast: porridge & eggs
Snack: Veggie kefir smoothies
Lunch: (Use chicken from Wednesday's stock in a variation of) Chicken salad with feta, corn, & blueberries
Snack: Raw cacao nut butter cookies (made Monday)
Dinner: Thawed leftovers from last Thursday
Friday:
Our youngest turns three!
Breakfast: Gluten-free cream cheese coffee cake & eggs with bacon bits leftover from last night's dinner
Snack: Mixed berry kefir smoothies
Lunch: PB & H popcorn, raw cheese, apple slices
Snack: White bean hummus (made Tuesday) with bell pepper, cucumber, and carrot slices
Saturday:
To do: Farmer's market run
Breakfast: Eggs & Coffee Cake leftover from Friday morning
Snack: Blueberry kefir smoothies
Lunch: White bean quesadillas
Snack: Strawberries from farmer's market
Dinner: Dr. Connelly's vegetable soup & farmer's market salad
& farmer's market saladSunday:
To do: Menu plan for next week
Breakfast: kefir smoothies and eggs
Snacks: Grain-free cheddar cheese crackers (made Thursday)
(made Thursday)Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Leftovers
I LOVE that you're teaching your children healthy habits, and getting them involved in the kitchen! What a wonderful way to teach them about food and caring for their bodies (and later on their own families!). Your menu plan looks really yummy... I think I'll have to try some of the recipes. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteGreat meal & snack ideas! I can't wait to try the baked oatmeal. Harper has been having a hard time switching back to rolled oats from instant oats. :(
ReplyDeleteI have a question though, what's your process for making PB? I have tried two ways so far & I loved the first, but not the second; Harper didn't like either. Here's what I did...
1st try- I soaked raw peanuts (w/ skins) in salt water overnight & then dehydrated (@ 145, that's as high as mine goes) til they were crunchy. Then I added about 3 C nuts to my VitaMix & processed until smooth, adding 1 T honey, a pinch of salt, & a little expeller pressed coconut oil, maybe 2 T. It was a little hard (I store it in the fridge) but tasted amazing, I couldn't get enough of it. But Harper thought it tasted weird, I thought maybe it was because of the skins. :(
2nd try- I soaked & dehydrated like the 1st time but then my wonderful hubby removed all the skins for me. I thought that might help the flavor. Then I added about 2 C nuts & 1/2 C expeller pressed coconut (I thought extra oil would make it less hard, I failed to remember that coconut oil solidifies @ 75 degrees no matter how much I use, haha) & 1 t salt (it needed extra salt because it tasted bland at first) to my VitaMix & processed until smooth. It poured right out! Way too soupy & tastes kinda "raw-ish" without the skins. Plus, it looks like mayo! :(
Help?!?!
I'm working on perfecting our PB, too. I don't put any coconut oil in it so it doesn't solidify. Instead, I add a little water. And salt. And removing the skins makes it easier to digest, so that was a great move. I just made a batch that didn't roast long enough and it gave our PB a raw taste and it was whiter. Yuck. So it seems the key is to roast it long enough.
ReplyDeleteDo you only shop at Trader Joes?
ReplyDeleteTrader Joe's, Farmer's Market, and mostly Azure Standard. Costco once a month for toilet paper and organic frozen berries. Once every couple of months at Orchard if I can't find it anywhere else.
ReplyDelete