WEEKLY MEAL PLAN // WEEK 25

*This is obviously not the the 25th time I've posted my weekly plan, since this is a new series I'm starting here, It is however, the 25th week of the year, and the 25th week of meal planning in general for me this year :). 

Every week in my bullet journal, I write out my weekly meal plan, my grocery list, and a list of things I want to prep for the week. And I'm letting you guys have a sneak peek at it, cross-outs and all! Plus links to some of the recipes I'm using this week.  For me, meal prep is essential to a smooth running week. It makes a difference in my entire mood and only takes a couple hours. And it allows us to sit down as a family almost every night for dinner.

This week I'm making these recipes:

Chicken Gyro Salad from Smitten Kitchen  I've been using a lot of SK recipes lately, mostly from her cookbook. It's a great book if you're looking for one to pick up!

Chicken Lettuce Cups from Shutterbean This are a HUGE hit with my family.

My own Whole 30 compliant meatballs

Paleo Tzatziki from Jay's Baking Me Crazy

When the weather is nice, we basically barbecue/salad it up all weekend and Monday through Thursday I try to focus on simple, healthy meals. This summer, I'm having the kiddos cook on Thursdays, to the best of their ability. The idea is that they chose what to make and then, with minimal assistance, make dinner themselves. Last week was our first week trying this out, and they loved it! We'll see how they feel come the last week of August.

Come back next week for another installment of weekly meal plans!*

*Hopefully I can manage to do this weekly!!

WHOLE 30 Compliant MEATBALLS

Ignore this not beautiful photo. These meatball are delicious, easy to make, family friendly, AND Whole30. Win/win/win/WIN. You will make these. You will eat them. Your family will eat them and not complain. If you double it, you can eat them for the lunch the next day because they reheat wonderfully.

Simple ingredients: ground beef (or turkey or chicken or bison, whatever your meat choice is!), eggs, onion, garlic, almond flour, parsley, spices.

 We mix.

 We roll.

 We brown.

We bake.

I made these during my meal prep this week. We ate them for dinner on Tuesday and had them for lunch on Wednesday. Tuesdays we have baseball practice for 98720 hours, so I always like to have a quick meal ready to go when we get home. Not to mention that everyone, especially my son who has been the one practicing for those 98738689 hours and is growing like a weed, is starving by the time we get home. By doing my meal plans and meal prep on Sundays, I'm sure to have a nice meal planned for these crazy busy evenings.

Whole 30 Compliant Meatballs

Ingredients:

2lbs. ground beef (or chicken or turkey or bison or a combination)

1 yellow onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped 

1/4 almond flour (optional)

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4-1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes

2 tablespoons cooking fat ( I used ghee)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix until evenly combined, but do not over mix.

Roll mixture into 2 inch balls. (Or larger! Or smaller! Your meatballs, your choice.)

Melt the cooking fat in a heavy bottom pan over medium high heat. Brown the meatballs on all sides, in batches so they are not touching. Remove meatballs to prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.

SUNDAY MEAL PREP

 

Every week, I do meal prep. I plan all our dinners for the week, write out a detailed grocery list, do all the shopping, and then spend a couple hours on Sunday preparing things for the week. Doing all of this is a LIFESAVER during the week. Having a plan for dinner every night means I'm not stressing out after work about what to make and if we have everything. It allows us to sit down together for dinner nearly every night, and it makes packing lunches (and all four of us take packed lunches most days) so much easier.

 

I start on Friday morning by making a dinner plan for the week, and then writing a detailed grocery list. I have a large chalkboard in our kitchen that I write things we're out of throughout the week, so I make sure to add those items to the list as well. When I make dinner plans, I ask everyone in the house if they have any requests (spaghetti is asked for every single week). Then I go through my cookbooks and Pinterest to see if there are any recipes that I want to use for the week.

 



 

I do all my grocery shopping after I pick up the kids on Friday from school. On Sunday morning, I do my meal prep!

 

 

I like lists.

 

Any cookbooks I'm using throughout the week go on the kitchen counter with the pages I need marked. Otherwise, I'm likely to forget which of my many books has the recipe I'm looking for.

This week I'm using recipes from:

 

 

 

Things change from week to week. This week for meal prep I made:

 

-Against All Grain chicken satay with almond dipping sauce

-roasted spaghetti squash

-roasted potatoes

-cut up carrots, bell peppers, and radishes

-roasted pecans and almonds

-a jug of lemon water

 

There was lots of roasting.

 

 

All of this was done in under 3 hours! I make sure to clean up as I go along so I don't end up with a sink full of dirty dishes at the end.

 

Then I  put everything into bags and containers and label everything. Because that's the type of person I am. Sorry/Not Sorry.

 

 

 

 

Here are some great sites for more meal planning inspiration!

 

 Shutterbean

 (Is there such thing as Meal Prep Goals? There is now and her skills are my goals.)

 

Skinnytaste

 

Runaway Apricot

(The dirty rice recipe is awesome)

 

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