Weekly Menu {Jan. 9}

Back in September I wrote out a 9 week menu and cooked the majority of the food in advance and froze it to make my life easier. And it totally did. For that season of my life the 9 week menu saved me so much time and energy that I just did not have to invest in menu planning.

With the dawn of 2012 (a shorter commute and an easier semester in grad school), I have decided to change things around a bit and re-prioritize my time. I love to cook healthy fresh meals, and even though that menu was mostly healthy, I actually want to focus this year on cooking with fewer carbohydrates and eating more lean proteins. To cut back on carbs I knew it was time to say good-bye to Mexican Mondays and Italian Tuesdays.

I have decided to set aside about 20 minutes to plan my meals on Sundays and do my big grocery shopping trip then. My menu will plan for meals from Sunday to Sunday so that I won't have to brave the stores on Friday or Saturday to get food for the weekend. The 9 week plan was great, and I thought not planning the weekends ahead would give me more flexibility, and it did, but the Friday night / Saturday morning grocery trips to get food for Sat/Sun were less than enjoyable. I'm not sure that there is one perfect way to plan for eating healthy, but I think this change will be a good one for 2012.

So here it is:

Weekly Menu {Jan. 9 - 15}
This week will be a little tricky for us because I will be out of town celebrating my baby sister's July nuptials, so I have planned a pretty easy meal for Forrest to get him through Fri, Sat & Sun nights.

Breakfast Menu:
Mini breakfast quiches w/ Spinach, tomato and mushrooms (no cheese)
1/2 grapefruit

Lunch Menu:
Spinach salad w/ Baked Chicken, Cucumbers, carrots & tomatoes
1 Clementine

Snacks:
(am) Greek yogurt
(pm) Craisin & Nut trail mix (mix of raw almonds and cashews)

Sunday & Monday: Turkey Burgers w/ Sweet Potato Chips

Source: oxygenmag.com via Megan on Pinterest

Tuesday & Wednesday: Chicken Florentine w/ Brown Rice

Source: oxygenmag.com via Megan on Pinterest

Thursday & Friday: Sweet & Smokey Turkey Chili w/ Steamed Veggies

Source: oxygenmag.com via Megan on Pinterest

Saturday & Sunday: Spaghetti w/ Meat Sauce & Steamed Veggies
(no recipe included here...just cook whole wheat spaghetti according to box directions, cook meat in medium skillet until browned then stir in spaghetti sauce...serve with microwave steamed veggies)

Grocery List
8 - 10 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 14 oz cans crushed tomatoes (if you can find fire roasted crushed get 1 can of those)
Fresh spinach (10 oz for florentine, about 8 oz for quiches and the rest for salads during the week)
Grape or cherry tomatoes
1 bunch fresh parsely
1 bunch celery
Garlic
2 lbs lean ground turkey
1 can black beans
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
Thin Whole Wheat Burger Buns
Yoplait Greek Yogurt (I found coconut--yum)
Clementines
1 package whole wheat spaghetti
1 can spaghetti sauce
Romaine lettuce
Tomatoes
1 bag baby carrots

You can check the recipes and decide what else you might need to get. I had some things around the kitchen like the brown rice to serve with the Chicken Florentine and the sweet potatoes.

My goal for this week is to stick to the menu and eat only the snacks I allow myself each day.