Weekly Menu #3 for October

It's been a busy week! Between painting, getting sick, and keeping my toddler corralled, I've struggled to stay organized. But I'm finally ready to post—so here we go:

Monday – slow cooker BBQ and grape jelly meatballs with applesauce and chips

We spent the afternoon painting an apartment with friends and had dinner together afterward, so meal prep needed to be quick and simple. These meatballs are super easy—it was really nice to come home and find the meatballs ready and not much else to do before dinner. Admittedly, these are not the healthiest meatballs that the world has ever known….on the other hand, it would be pretty easy to upgrade them by using sugar-free jelly and BBQ sauce. As for the meatballs themselves, you could always make them from scratch ahead of time—it just takes a little extra planning. The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook has some great meatball recipes, and of course you can always check Pinterest.

Tuesday – taco lettuce wraps

These are just as good as regular tacos, but easier! If you prefer foods made from scratch, you know the difference in quality between “real food” and processed foods. The downside to making everything from scratch is that it usually takes longer. The health and yum factors make it worthwhile, but sometimes you just want something quick and easy, without all the extra steps. By replacing the taco shells with Romaine or iceberg lettuce, you eliminate the work of making the taco shells. And of course if you're cutting back on carbs, it's also helpful in that regard.

Here is the recipe. Doesn't it look amazing? I skipped the sauce, but followed the basic idea. This is definitely a recipe I will use again.

Wednesday – stuffed bell peppers

These are always filling and delicious. I usually stuff the peppers with rice, veggies, and beef, but I think I might try fish instead of beef this time...white fish pretty much goes with anything, so I don't expect any weird flavors.

Also, you can fit a lot inside a bell pepper – no need to slave away in the kitchen making extra side dishes. ;) I'll probably spoon out a little applesauce for Dean, though. There's no way he going to eat a single bite of bell pepper—he can just have applesauce and some of the fish/rice mixture instead. 

I don't usually follow a specific recipe for stuffed peppers--I just stuff and bake 'em. But if you want a good basic recipe to follow, this one looks delicious. 

Thursday – twice baked cauliflower

Take a peek at this recipe. Doesn't it look good? I haven't made it before, but I have high hopes for it. Cauliflower is one of the few vegetables my toddler will eat. Besides, there's cheese. And BACON. Who doesn't like bacon? (I love bacon. Don't you like bacon? Are you telling me you don't like bacon? No, you're reasonable, of course you like bacon. Everyone likes bacon. ;))

Friday – chicken with poblanos and cream

I just found this recipe off Low Carb Maven – and to me, gotta admit, it looks like manna from heaven. I love chicken. I love peppers. And I love cream-based sauces. Only problem is, the hubby does not like spicy peppers...poblanos aren't that spicy, but still suspect. So I'll probably replace them with a green bell pepper...and make myself a separate dish with the poblanos. ;)

Saturday – pizza night!

I don't have any pepperoni on hand, so we'll probably settle for a cheese pizza...might add some kale and kalamata olives on mine. This is the recipe I use for pizza dough. 

Sunday – leftovers

Leftover pizza, that is. :)

That's the menu for this week! And now I'm off to work on next week's menu... :)

Weekly Menu #2 for October!

Well, here's my second menu plan for October, and it's actually on time today! (Sort of. In future, I'd like to have these posted in the morning as opposed to the afternoon. Still, progress is progress! ;))

So here's what I'm planning to make this week....

Monday – Greek lemon soup (The Silver Palate Cookbook, p. 55) with flatbread

This is one of the meals I “sprung” on my unsuspecting husband one evening when we were newly married. His tastes are very—shall we say, American—and he doesn't always appreciate new foods! “Lemon soup” sounded pretty suspicious. Edit: OK, so I started out bragging about how much Andrew enjoyed this soup against his own will, but I have to admit he wasn't too enthusiastic about it last night. *Sigh* But honestly, it's almost a crime to dislike this soup. The flavor--oh my goodness, the flavor is out of this world! Not to mention this soup is very easy—and very inexpensive—to make. Check out the recipe here.

Tuesday – chicken cobb salad (Against All Grain, p. 136) with flatbread

I'm using the recipe from Danielle Walker's Against All Grain, a cookbook I own and wholeheartedly recommend. There's a similar (but not identical) recipe posted on her website, which you can find here. (The online version calls for marinating the chicken a longer period of time; in the book, she marinates it for only 30 min. It's probably great either way! In fact...I may not marinate it at all...)

I love “hearty” salads—with meat, cheese, nuts, etc. Something that fills you up and offers a wide variety of flavors and textures that compliment each other. I love the flexibility, too; you can dress it up or down anyway you want. This recipe calls for avocado, bacon, chicken, boiled eggs, tomatoes, and artichoke hearts; I'll take away the avocado and replace the bacon with ham (a crying shame, but I don't have either on hand), and add some cheese and kalamata olives. Can't waaaaaiiit!

Wednesday - Thai pad see ew (Against All Grain, p. 148)

Another recipe from Against All Grain. Again, pretty easy, not much to it, but delicious! One of the few "foreign" foods that my hubby will eat. Click here to view the recipe. 

Thursday – lemon chicken (The Silver Palate Cookbook, p. 55) with wild rice and green veggie

I haven't made this one before, but wow...I am really looking forward to it! This recipe looks amazing. I'll probably make a few tweaks, since I avoid using sugar or white flour in my meals whenever possible. Maybe I'll coat the chicken with Parmesan instead...mmm. I'll let you know how it goes!

The chicken recipe is posted here. 

Friday – salisbury steak (Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison, p. 174), steamed veggie, mashed potatoes (for Andrew & Dean)

Definitely a keeper—very satisfying, very flavorful.

Saturday – pizza

Gotta have Saturday night pizza! SO easy when you make the dough ahead of time (thispizza dough recipe is amazing). And it's fun to experiment with the toppings. Usually I just do sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni, but last week I ran out of sauce. It was just as good without it, honestly. I covered one half of the pizza with pepperoni and the other half with sliced jalapenos and kalamata olives...gosh, that was amazing.

Sunday – leftover pizza

Note: If you were wondering, the Parmesan-coated fish sticks from last week turned out great. The Parmesan worked well as a replacement for the white flour. :)