CityMama™

Let's Meal Plan Together—Meal Planning for Week of 12/12!

Yesterday I made the girls a quick spaghetti cacio e pepe before we headed out to see a local performance of the Nutcracker. Bunny noted that I rarely make pasta anymore and it's true. As I've mentioned 100 times before, J. tries to avoid carbs, we're trying to avoid wheat, and I'm trying to lose weight. (SIGH.) But as I was blending the grated cheese with the pasta water, a little butter, and fresh ground pepper to make a luscious, creamy sauce, I realized (perhaps with a little help from Anthony Bourdain): pasta is GOOD. And easy. And I acknowledge that my girls miss it. So, I'm going to try and work more (GF) pasta into our meals because they really do love it.

As we get closer to Christmas, I'm trying to keep things relatively light in anticipation of the crazy eating we will be doing.

Monday: Green curry coconut chicken laksa (a twist on Malaysian noodle soup garnished with chilis, cilantro, and squeezes of lime)

Tuesday: Taco salad (sans chips): ground beef, beans, and veggies

Wednesday (CSA delivery day): White chicken chili or maybe chicken stir-fry and rice

Thursday: Spaghetti all' Amatriciana (pancetta, onions, tomato), a big salad

Friday Family Movie Night: Take out and a movie (and a cocktail!)

Saturday: Not sure yet.

Sunday: Baby Dash's naming ceremony and my niece's first birthday party. It's going to be a busy day.

What do you have on deck this week?

Let's Meal Plan Together—Meal Planning for Week of 12/5!

Baby Dash is finally weaned and you know what that means. It's back to Weight Watchers, which means that my weekly menus will take a PointsPlus-friendly turn. I haven't done Weight Watchers (for real) in about a year and a half—long enough to cook, birth, and nurse a baby (for nine months). My how things have changed! It's going to take me a month to refamiliarize myself with the points values and figure out the points for all my favorite snackies.

As I continue my weight-loss adventure, I very much welcome your favorite low-points/high-satisfaction recipes. Please share! Since this is not a diet blog, I won't be sharing points, but if you are familiar with Weight Watchers, you should be able to figure out the points for everything I'm cooking. In general, we try to limit carbs so you won't find pasta, rice, or potatoes as the centerpiece of our meals, but, rather, as an enhancement.

Here's what we have planned this week:

• Monday—Turkey breast, cranberry sauce, sauteed greens (kale, collards, chard) with potatoes and chilies
• Tuesday—This amazing-looking spaghetti and meatballs soup (though I may take a short cut with some frozen turkey meatballs), green salad
• Wednesday (CSA delivery day)—Barbacoa beef, celery salad
• Thursday—Pesto chicken breasts, green salad, something else from the CSA box
• Friday Family Movie Night (and WW weigh-in day aka "splurge day")—take out and a movie
• Saturday—Dinner with friends
• Sunday—Thai green curry chicken, rice

What's on deck for you this week?

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 11/14!

Great news! I'm really happy with our first weekly delivery from Farm Fresh To You. Customizing helped us to avoid the dreaded persimmions and grapefruit (just not my favorite fall produce), and the quality of the produce is top-notch. Looking foward to this week's delivery.

Also we ordered our Thanksgiving turkey this weekend (organic and 24 lbs!). We'll pick it up two days before Thanksgiving. Have you ordered yours?

Monday—Whole "roasted" chicken (done in the Crock-Pot), potatoes mashed with leeks, snap peas

Tuesday—Jovial pasta (amazing gluten-free pasta!) with homemade tomato sauce, green salad

Wednesday—Grilled salmon, rice, roasted delicata squash with white truffle oil

Thursday— Homemade Cream of Broccoli and Zucchini soup; salami, cheese, and crackers

Friday Family Movie Night—Movie and take out!

Saturday—Dinner out with friends

Sunday—Family dinner (not sure yet--we'll see what the veggie delivery box holds!)

How about you?

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 11/7!

I've been sick and not cooking much (we did a fair amount of take out last week), but I'm feeling a little better this week so it's back to cooking. We are also trying a new CSA this week, and our first delivery of produce happens tomorrow. We were so disappointed by Planet Organics that I have "realistic" expectations for this one. As usual, I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Monday—The girls had leftover grilled chicken and Crock-Pot scalloped potatoes. I think J. ate a protein shake and some peanuts. I ate leftover apple pie and then I went to bed at 8:30. Not my best effort, but that's what happens when Mamma is sick!

Tuesday-Leftover Turkey Chili with fixins (bell peppers, cheese, crema, pico de gallo, and FRITOS!)

Wednesday—Shoyu chicken, rice, and my favorite kale-avocado salad

Thursday—Pumpkin Soup, green salad, cheese and bread

Friday Family Movie Night—Take out Indian!

Saturday—Not quite sure yet (we'll see what the CSA delivery holds)

Sunday—Family dinner at Hippie Church

How about you?

 

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 10/17

J. and I did a HUGE grocery stock up over the weekend and it was...

AWESOME.

We are now replete with basics, but I still need to figure out how to keep up in fresh produce. We go through a ton of it. I think we could almost support a small CSA ourselves. Here's what we have on deck for this week.

 

Monday—Cuban Picadillo (SO GOOD), tortillas, black beans

Tuesday—Salmon, rice, salad

Wednesday—probably something leftover-y since I have a work thing

Thursday—Pork Chops, something with red potatoes, green beans

Friday Family Movie Night—takeout and a movie

Saturday—not sure yet

Sunday—Cheeseburgers on the grill

What are you cookin'?

Two people in the past week have mentioned the Wheat Belly book to me and I'm currently reading it. J. shouldn't eat wheat (and it's easier for him to avoid it while he's Paleo-dieting), and I suspect wheat will have a big role in Wallie's persistent allergies when we do food testing next month. I'm thinking of turning our whole family gluten-free (or as GF as possible).

If you are GF, do you have any tips for me? I know, I know—it's in everything. If you could recommend good brands for things like condiments (soy sauce, mustard etc.) and bread/cracker alternatives that would be great. Luckily my town has it's own cute little GF bakery called Zest. We've stopped by for the occassional treat, but I'm going to check it out more fully this week.

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 10/10!

So the grocery delivery, at least from Planet Organics, was a bust. Two dented cans of beans, a pound of ground turkey that turned out to be only 12 ounces, and a moldy package of salami later, I've decided to rethink where I get my grocery delivery from. On the positive tip—we were well-stocked heading into the weekend.

Now that it's Tuesday, however, I'm finding that we're running low on things (again), and looking at my jam-packed schedule, there's no time to do a proper grocery shop between now and the weekend. Because we are a "two veg" at dinner family (salad and a hot vegetable), I had to dash in to Trader Joe's on my way home from a meeting today to ensure we had salad fixin's to get us through the week. There was only time to fill a hand basket and I was on my way again.

Here's what I have on deck for this week:

• Monday—We had Crock-Potted pork shoulder leftover from Sunday which I made into a chile verde with garbanzo beans. Easy peasy. Served the chile verde with rice and sauteed garlicky collards.
• Tuesday—Meatloaf (again!), kale and avocado salad, corn
• Wednesday—Braised chicken thighs with garlic and rosemary, toasted barley, sauteed mushrooms, green salad
• Thursday—Matzo ball soup, salad
• Friday Family Movie Night—take out and a movie
• Saturday—We usually play this night by ear
• Sunday—Grilled steaks, smashed potatoes, salad, broccoli

I also made a loaf of bread last week for the first time in ages. The girls have been requesting mustard bread so I'll make a loaf of that this week. So good for ham sandwiches!

How about you?

Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 10/3!

This week our grocery delivery begins! (I promise to let you know how that goes.) Here's what I'm thinking for this week:

Monday—Yummy Balls, fresh corn on the cob

Tuesday—Turkey Meatloaf, barley and vegetable salad, Brussels sprouts

Wednesday—Barbeque chicken thighs, basmati rice, we'll see what's in our veggie box!

Thursday—Steaks, a big green salad, and something from the veggie box

Friday Family Movie night—take out and a movie!

Saturday—date night!

Sunday—Something soupy like tortilla soup or chili, and corn bread

How about you?

[It's Back!] Let's Meal Plan Together! Meal Planning for Week of 9/26

It's been, what? Six, eight months since I actually planned a meal? After looking in the fridge every night and wondering what the hell I'm going to make for dinner, I decided it's time that I start planning our meals again.

A little history as to why the long absence: Yes, I had a baby (who is delightful and now seven-months-old), but that hasn't been the problem. The challenge has been that work has been in.sane. and I where I used to have free time in the day, the reality is that I don't have that free time anymore.

As a working parent, I used to guard my lunch time pretty closely. It was my time to (ha!) not each lunch, but to run errands like going to the grocery store when I didn't have to take kids with me. Sure, there were times when I squeezed in lunches here and there, but that time really is no more. That time is either work time, client lunch time, or transit time as I get from meeting to my home office and, back to work.

No time to grocery shop means having to cobble together dinners out of whatever is in the fridge or pantry. Pepperoncini? Sliced turkey? Eggs? Frozen corn?

No time to grocery shop means pulling up to the store, hopping out to grab a couple of pounds of protein, a head of lettuce and an avocado, and then running back to the car—there is no time for a full grocery shop anymore, but that is going to change.

Yesterday, as I ran through the market while J. stayed in the car with a sleeping Baby Dash and two tired soccer girls, I vowed that I would start meal planning again. Because I really need to take control of this area of my life.

So, here we are. I still haven't properly stocked up (case in point, I keep adding to my Penzey's list—a list I started a month ago: garlic powder, dried marjoram, dried oregano, cumin, sea salt, chili seasoning, taco seasoning, peppercorns, cinnamon, vanilla beans... and haven't made it there yet), but I'm going for it:

Monday: Risotto with broccoli, lemony arugula salad w/ shaved parmesan

Tuesday: Grilled chicken thighs Spanish Meat Balls (but not in the slow cooker), green salad with pears, and toasted almonds

Wednesday: Soup, this one isn't fully thought out yet, but I'm thinking there will be leftover chicken to use (maybe curried chicken-coconut soup with rice?)

Thursday: Tuna casserole with green peas and buttered bread crumb topping

Friday Family Movie Night: Take out and a movie

Saturday: Not sure yet (do you have a "usual" Saturday night family dinner?

Sunday: This baked fish chowder sounds perfect

If I can get back into the swing of meal planning, my next goal to tackle is making time (taking time, really) to workout again. If you recall, before getting pregnant, I was on Weight Watchers and running 2-3 miles almost everyday, and I lost close to 50 pounds almost effortlessly.

I'm still nursing and when I tried counting points again, it really did a number on my milk supply. Now that Dash is bigger, I'm going to go back on Weight Watchers (I am 10 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight which is halfway to my goal), but for me, the main thing is working out. When I do it, I can eat whatever I want and the pounds melt away. I signed up for a 5k next weekend and am wondering WTF was I thinking, but perhaps it's just the motivation I need.

One thing at a time.

What are you cooking this week?

Let's Meal Plan Together for the week of 2/14

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Tonight I made one of my family's favorite meals. J. had leftover barbecued tri-tip and asparagus with his salad since he tries to avoid carbs, but he couldn't resist a bowl of bolognese on its own. It's like Italian chili! The rest of the week is a little topsy-turvy because family is in town and the girls have Thursday and Friday off.

I think I'll spend the rest of the week cooking things for the freezer so that we have yummy things on hand for when the Bundle is born.

Monday: Spaghetti Bolognese (but made with ground turkey), butter lettuce salad with strawberry tomatoes and goat cheese. Chocolate pudding with whipped cream. (I'm freezing half the sauce.)

The rest of the week, I'm cooking things for the freezer like:

• White turkey chili with green chiles and hominy
• Foodmomiac's Meatloaf
• Korean Bulgogi Chicken

In general, I'm just trying to take it easy since the baby is due in just a few weeks.

What are you making this week?

 

 

Have you checked out Foodily?

The newly launched recipe site, Foodily, is one of Clever Girls Collective's (my company's) most DELICIOUS clients, and in celebration of Valentine's Day, we've been immersed in their site planning our perfect Valentine's Day dinners.  If you love cooking a special meal for your loved ones (or you just plain forgot to make reservations) on Valentine's Day, Foodily has you covered.

Search the most recipes on the web from food sites AS WELL AS blogs, presented in a beautiful, magazine-like browser. "Like" recipes and share them with your friends. See what your friends like and try their recommendations. And if you have allergies or aversions, custom-tailor any recipe to suit your preferences.

I used Foodily to create this menu that I think J. will love: http://foodily.com/m/2631.

How about you?

 I'd like to invite you to share your favorite Valentine's Day menus, too!  Here's how:

 1. Go to Foodily.com and login with Facebook Connect (or create a login).

2. Play around with recipes and find your favorites to create a perfectly delish Valentine’s Day meal!

3. Once you’ve selected a recipe save it to a menu:

• From the recipe, select the “save” button, save it as an appetizer, main, etc., and then it’ll ask you to name your menu. Create your special Valentine’s menu title.
• Continue adding recipes and saving to that menu

4. View your menu (either from tab at top or from your profile) and grab the URL (you can also share your menu on Facebook and grab the URL there). Note: the URL will look similar to this example: http://foodily.com/m/ 1234

5.Tweet the following and be sure to include the #foodilyvdaymenu hashtag at the end:

 Check out my @foodily Valentine’s Day menu! Create one of your own+share! http//(your menu URL here) #foodilyvdaymenu

 6. Foodily will be watching and selecting menu winners daily to be featured on the Foodily site!

 Note: You can also enter by sharing your menu on Foodily’s Facebook wall.