Weekly Meal Plan 2-11-22 to 2-17-22: Feeding The Family

 My eldest's birthday is in early February and fell on the Super Bowl several years.  At age 16, his birthday became the "super bowl party".  This is his second year in college and due to being away from home and Covid, we have not had a Super Bowl party for a few years.  But this year, the middle son took over.  Although he's a July birthday, we felt the Super Bowl tradition needed to continue.  Due to his food allergies, I didn't order food, but made it.  And boys are easy please.  Walking Tacos were a hit.  Costco sells actual Walking Taco bags of chips, and that made it extra fun.  It's his senior year so once again, we will not have a Super Bowl get together for the boys for a while (the youngest is 9, by the time he gets there, I'll be in bed before the Super Bowl even begins).  I planned on cooking Potato Leek Soup for lunch this week, but due to all the Super Bowl cooking, that did not happen.

Fri:  Late baseball practice.  I had a Costco black bean burger and the guys had fast food

Sat:  Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Sun: Super Bowl Food:  Walking Tacos, queso dip, various chips (just a giant fat fest)

Mon:  Grilled Chicken Salad

Tues:  Cowboy Grub (THM recipe)

Wed:  Chicken thighs and Broccoli

Thurs:  Clean up (probably tacos because we have a bunch of meat left over)

Have a blessed week!!

Five On Friday

 

5 things I am grateful for this Friday:

1.  Hot Tea:  It's so cold here and winter is starting to drain me.  Hot tea helps

2.  The Bible in a Year Podcast with Father Mike Schmitz:  I LOVE hearing God's word every day.  I'm on year two of this podcast and I'm getting just as much, if not more, out of it as last year.

3. Soul Core's online streaming membership:  I just signed up for this a few weeks ago.  I love being able to stretch/exercise and pray the rosary at the same time.  

4.  Peloton's streaming service:  I used this service (app) during Covid lockdown.  And I really enjoyed it.  There are so many excellent workouts, and the trainers are motivating. So, I kept the subscription going even after things opened back up again. I would love a Peloton machine, but it's not in our budget.  But the streaming service is perfect for me right now.

5.  Grocery Pick Up:  I used the Walmart pick up for several years.  Then our grocery stores starting offering pick up options during Covid.  It's just so quick and convenient.  There are times that I would like to choose my own groceries, but on busy weeks, the pickup saves me so much time and makes my life easier.

What are you thankful for today?

Recipe: Vegetable Soup

 Two snow days and temperatures below zero called for some warm, comforting soup.  The last two weeks I made Italian Wedding Soup which I LOVE, but this week I decided to make something meatless.  I had a craving for vegetable soup, and I had a lot of vegetables in my fridge that needed to be used, so vegetable soup won out.

Ingredients:

1. 3-4 garlic cloves, minced

2. 1 sweet onion, chopped

3. 1 large or 2 small turnips, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

4. 1 zucchini, chopped into bite sized pieces

5. 2 small tomatoes, chopped

6.  2 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

7.  2 celery stalks, diced

8.  1 tsp. of Herbs de Provence

9.  1 Tbs. of Italian seasoning

10. 2 cartons of low sodium vegetable stock (8 cups total)

11.  1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

12.  salt and pepper to taste 

13.  2 cups of baby kale, chopped

14.  1 Tbs. olive oil

Optional ingredients:  1 Tbs Better Than Bouillion, 1/4 tsp. of smoked chipotle pepper powder

Directions:

1.  Heat 1 Tbs. of olive oil in a large stock pot and add the garlic until fragrant.
2. Add the onion, turnips, zucchini, carrots, and celery and sauté for 3-4 minutes.
3.  Add the tomato, seasonings, vegetable stock, and beans and simmer for 30-40 minutes (taste after 15 minutes and if you feel it needs more flavor, add the Better Than Bouillion and the chipotle pepper... I like a little heat, you may not)
4.  Add the baby kale and stir until wilted. Salt and Pepper to taste.
5.  Enjoy!

Wednesday Words

 

Weekly Meal Plan 2-4-22 to 2-10-22: Feeding the Family

Oh, the weather outside is frightful!  Two snow days last week and it's snowing again!  Winter is letting us know who is in charge.  We still have a wrestler concerned about making weight, and this same wrestler will be going on a retreat this week (Wednesday thru Saturday).  The meal plan for this week will look a bit different than usual.

Friday - Eating Out:  Three of us had sushi, the wrestler (with food allergies) ate leftovers

Saturday:  Burgers and sweet potato fries in the air fryer

Sunday:  Air fryer Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs, brown rice, and salad:  This was a huge hit and they asked me to add this to the rotation (recipe from skinnytaste.com)

Monday:  Cajun rice and beans with sausage

Tuesday:  Turkey Tacos

Wednesday:  Pasta and meatballs with rolls

Thursday:  Eating Out 

Breakfast:  Egg and cheese sandwiches (freezer)

Lunch:  Vegetable Soup

The son going on the retreat has food allergies.  Everyone else will be fed by the retreat, but my son can't eat there so I'm sending food for him.  The following is the meal plan that he and I decided on for him (and it tries to make sure we take his wrestling weight into account). There is a refrigerator and microwave for him to use.

Breakfast: Turkey sausage, fruit, yogurt

Lunch:  Grilled chicken salad

Dinner:  Turkey tacos, left over Asian Glazed Chicken thighs with rice, GF Pizza

Have a Blessed Week!

Wednesday Words

 

Weekly Meal Plan 1/28/22 to 2/3/22: Feeding the Family

Last week's meal plan got completely blown out of the water.  We have a wrestler in the family, and last week his coach changed his weight class and our wrestler needed to cut 10 pounds.  That made all of my meals with cheese or cream, or beef obsolete.  So, I pivoted.  And that's the beauty of meal planning.  You have food in the house, you may just have to change how you use it depending on changes that occur during the week.  Usually, it's a schedule change that causes me to pivot, but last week was a new one for me.  This child is still cutting weight, so you'll notice that this week's meal plan is heavy on chicken.  They told him to concentrate on eating chicken or eggs, and since he's anaphylactic to eggs, we stuck with chicken.

Friday:  Leftovers for the wrestler, and the rest of us ate out due to a late indoor baseball practice.

Saturday:  Chicken Au Champagne, baked potato, and vegetable

Sunday:  Chicken Italian Sausage and Peppers in Rao's low sugar marinara sauce

Monday:  Teriyaki Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry with gluten free ramen noodles

Tuesday:  Hot Dogs and Veggies (requested by the wrestler)

Wednesday:  Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Thursday:  Chicken and veggie sheet pan meal

Lunches:  Italian Wedding Soup (meatballs made with no egg, gf breadcrumbs, and ground chicken)

Breakfast:  Cinnamon toast for the 9-year-old and egg and cheese sandwiches (in the freezer) for the hubby.

This is a very chicken heavy meal plan.  I tried to keep it interesting and tasty while keeping it low fat/low carb for the wrestler.  Any meal that included carbs were for the others and the wrestler had the option to eat them or not.

For most of next week, he'll be at an overnight retreat, so our meal plan should look a bit different.

Have a blessed week!!