Meal Planning…Again
by lauralynne
Wishy-washy: I guess I do like having my meal planning posts on my main page. Since that means I’ll actually put them together. Maybe I’ll just use the Meal Planning page as a place to archive these individual meal plans and see them all together. I spend too much time worrying about this kind of thing.
I came back from our Thanksgiving trip re-energized to spend time in the kitchen. I think I mentioned before that we have been incorporating a small amount of meat in our diet since returning from our trip to Paris in the Spring. For the most part, meat products (aside from fish) weren’t being cooked at home–we’d order them at restaurants or add pepperoni to our pizza (we walk on the wild side). But I kind of feel that I’d like to a) have more say in where the meat is coming from and b) spend less money by making meat dishes at home and c) make dishes that I remember from childhood or that are on my bucket list. The oven-fried chicken that we had a couple of weeks ago was my first foray and it was really successful. So much so that I made it during our trip, too. I picked up a copy of America’s Test Kitchen 30-Minute Suppers while we were gone and marked a few recipes to try. I have a love/hate relationship with the Cook’s Illustrated family of publications/websites but this particular issue falls on the love side. Eventually if we continue to eat meat regularly I’d prefer to purchase locally raised meat and poultry, but for now small and varied cuts make sense. Right now I’ve divided meals up into the following categories–to keep things varied and hopefully more balanced: Soup/Stew, Meat/Poultry, Fish, Pasta/Stir-Fry, Tofu/Egg, Crockpot/Bean/Vegetarian, Wildcard. For this week:
Soup/Stew: Deb’s Three Bean Chili, Cornbread
Meat/Poultry: Korean Style Beef & Rice Bowl, Pickled Vegetables
Fish: Baked Tilapia with Mustard Horseradish Topping, Steamed Broccoli
Pasta: Ziti with Roasted Zucchini (I will making a half recipe), Salad
Tofu/Egg: Skillet BBQ Tofu in Pitas, Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Crockpot/Bean/Vegetarian: Stuffed Acorn Squash, Baked Apples
Wildcard: Shrimp, Cucumber, Mango Salad (kind of summery but local shrimp was available and mangoes were on sale, so…)
You can find a ton of meal plans every week at OrgJunkie.com. Happy Cooking!
