Meal planning

Cooking in any sort of meaningful way has been on the backburner this past year, as evidenced by my infrequent posting. We still eat, but I marinate some chicken in some balsamic vinegar, garlic, olive oil, roast some vegetables and potatoes and call it dinner. Or some variation of that - steak, fish, rice, salad, etc. It is not exciting.

The challenge is to cook a menu that Dan considers paleo, that is not vegetarian (another Dan request), that I can easily add a starch to because I am just not into carb-free, and that can be easily broken down into kid friendly (like not serving with the sauce). This is not easy. 

So this week, I menu planned on Saturday, and went to Whole Foods (by myself!) and we have been eating much better this week and I really don't think it is taking THAT much more time day to day, just more planning on the front end. 

This was the menu this week:

Hangar steak with orange-oregano chimichurri (delicious!) 

Pork tenderloin with garlic orange vinaigrette and spinach (yes!)

Coconut shrimp with mango sriacha dipping sauce

Crispy chicken with shallots

Thai beef with basil (fine, but wouldn't do again)

Roast chicken with caramelized lemons, cherry tomatoes and olives

Chicken sausage lettuce wraps

And sides/lunches:

Kale and Brussels sprouts salad (tasty!)

Warm cauliflower and herbed barley salad (delightful)

Spinach and radish salad with sesame

Dan ended up having to travel and I don't cook when he is gone, so some of these meals are on hold but so much better than boring chicken!!

My next projects include:

1) Claire's birthday party where I will feature Chocolate mayonnaise cake

2) Family visit - nice dinners 

3) Trying this meal planning website! Plan To Eat It looks like it might be the answer to all my meal planning woes.