2016 February Menu

2016 February Menu 

It's been a long time since I've shared menus on here, but I thought I would share this month's menu.  Just about every recipe is blogged, though some are a work in progress and I don't blog those until I know the recipe is right.

I plan my menus, but I don't always make Monday's dish on Monday night, I sometimes make it on Wednesday, etc. Having a menu doesn't mean you can't be flexible it just means you have all the ingredients necessary for a week or two's worth of meals. I also don't specify sides for the most part, it just depends on what's at the market.

Eating Seasonally Chart

Check out this chart from Emeals, it's perfect to have when planning meals.
Emeals has come out with some great plans including Clean Eating, Paleo, Classic, Slow Cooker, Low Carb and so much more

Clean Eating Slow Cooker Plans on Emeals

I'm going to let you read the title of this post one more time. Clean. Eating. Slow. Cooker. SQUEEE. From eMeals. I'm so excited about this! All of the recipes I've gotten from eMeals in our menus have been simple but all flavorful and are fairly true to the plan you choose. You can choose quite a few plans/eating styles you can choose from like Paleo, low carb, organic, classic meals, simple gourmet, gluten free, vegetarian, and more! My review can be found HERE.
I'm really excited about the Clean Eating Slow Cooker plans, I had just switched to clean eating from Paleo- which I really liked but I wanted to just feel out clean eating and figured I could sub anything I didn't want to eat. The thing is with two girls that have two different soccer practices during the week, and two games on the weekend, the weather getting warmer- a slow cooker/ crock pot plan is perfect for us here at Give Peas A Chance. Today was already feeling too hot to turn on the stove so I have carnitas in the crock pot. Well, I emailed customer support and within an hour they got back to me and switched my plan over!
Sample Clean Eating Slow Cooker menu on the eMeals  site - you get weekly menus with a grocery list sent to you via email. Doesn't the menu look delish? It looks great to me! I might do tweaking to make things fit for us, sub lettuce wraps for tortilla chips, cut up potatoes instead of using frozen ones. Easy substitutions like that. That's what's so great  about these plans, you pick and choose what you like. Very easy to swap side dishes from one night to the next also. This menu again has some cook ahead for other meals. I always try to cook ahead. If I'm grilling chicken one night, I grill extra for soups or salad another night, and while the grill is on I toss veggies on there for the next night. It's a huge help and makes my time in the kitchen run smoothly. One thing that is different on this plan than other eMeals plans is that they to make your life easier they plan for two quick easy meals that use up leftovers.

Our Slow Cooker Meal Plans are setup a little different than our other plans. Our primary goal with this meal plan is to make it even easier to cook delicious meals. Each Slow Cooker Meal Plan include five slow cooker recipes per week, plus two quick, easy, and inventive meals built on leftovers.

Have you tried eMeals? Or want to? Use the code SLOW for 15% off. Go here to sign up for eMeals today!
More Emeal posts on Give Peas A Chance

Whole30 Week 4

March 20
Snacks
Avocado
Procuitto
Pork rinds

Breakfast
Eggs
Blackberries- that Pixie ate, all of them.

Lunch
Soft boiled eggs
Red Bell Peppers
Blackberries

Dinner
Curry Meatball "stew"- it had the meatballs, coconut milk, curry powder/spices, green beans, and sweet potatoes in it

Meal planning 101 and Emeals

 Is it just me or are there some days/weeks you sit down to meal plan for your family and you just go blank? Do you feel stuck in a rut at times? Do you not meal plan at all because it's too time consuming? I have felt all these ways at different times. The thing is I find that the more prepared I am, the less I spend, the healthier my family eats, and the less frazzled I get. I'm going to share with you all how I meal plan. I'm also going to show you how I use Emeals as a supplement to that.
You may want to read this post about processing groceries/freezing/planning also.

Here are things I do that help me with planning. This may not help you or apply to you-

4/30-5/6 ish MENU

Here's the menu for this coming week. I suspect this will stretch into mid week next week.
Our ten year anniversary is coming up (my DH and I.), so who knows what we'll do. Probably more house hunting LOL.

Pork carnitas- I made this Cilantro Citrus Lime marinade a while back. Threw it into zip top bags, put pork loin in it and put it in the freezer. So I can just throw that in the crock pot. (I also made pineapple teriyaki, Sweet N' Spicy ones also.)  Yellow rice, salad, Easy Pumpkin cake <- I need to post this soon. It's so easy!

4/16- 4/22 Menu

I never post menu's. But tonight, I'm procrastinating. So, I'm posting. A little side note- I make more of a list for the week, and then make the meals on that list. I don't always make a list for 7 days. I try to leave room for leftovers. If I end up with 6-7 days, it usually rolls around to next week. Or I use a couple of those meals for weekend lunches.

Side dishes, I don't write down, I just have items on hand for a salad or something. Sometimes I write down what I have on hand, and deal later. Unless it's a specific meal.

 Lunches, I sometimes write them out. But normally they are leftovers.

1- French Dip

French Onion soup

I'll throw the roast in the crock pot, make the soup later with the juices from the beef. Serve the beef up on these AMAZING buns, with provolone.

Processing Groceries/Shortcuts/Freezing

I thought I would share some things I do before/after grocery shopping to make my week go a little easier. I don't wash and cut everything up but I do try to take the time and process items to make things go smoother or help items last longer.  These tips may not work for everyone, but might for some! (If you use coupons and are good with that, awesome. Don't forget to take them with you, I'm horrible about that.)

1. Make a menu. For all meals- including lunches to pack, snacks and have a leftover night. When planning a menu, I keep in mind that my family doesn't really like leftovers.  So I plan meals that I can use leftovers in or make extra of items to put in the next nights dinner as a shortcut. Examples- roasting peppers? Roast extra, peel and have ready for the rest of the week. Roasting a chicken? Plan a soup for the leftover meat and bones. That way, you're using the bones for stock right away and you don't have 4 bags of roasted chicken carcasses in your freezer waiting for stock day, not that I know anything about that. Making something with ground beef? Brown a couple extra packages. I did this last night. I browned three packages of ground beef. I made two batches of Red Sauce and one batch of taco meat. We had baked Ziti last night, I froze a batch of sauce for later and tonight we'll have tacos. Grilling chicken or meat? Grill extra for sandwiches/wraps/to top salads. Making a roast? Pork or beef- you can shred the extra meat for burritos or soups. (Anytime I can make extra of something to freeze that won't change the flavor or texture later, I do it. Waffles, pancakes, muffins, flash freezing cookie dough etc. If it won't freeze well but will keep for a couple days, I put it in the fridge until needed.)
2. Meats- if there is a good deal on meats or family packs, I'll buy them. Make sure you have freezer bags, paper or food sealer bags and a sharpie- I puffy heart sharpies. Today it was chicken. I got 2 huge packs of chicken breasts on sale and 2 packs of drumsticks. I divided them into 6 bags with enough servings for a meal. A couple of the bags I labeled and put in the freezer as is. For the remaining bags, I put marinades into them, labeled them and put them in the freezer. I marinaded some with a quick Sesame Ginger sauce and the others I use Italian dressing and a Tomato basil marinade. For a quick meal, I let a bag of chicken thaw in the fridge overnight, then grill/broil/roast. Easy.  I also got a deal on a meatloaf mixture of veal, pork and beef so I'll make two meat loaves one night for dinner and freeze the other for later. Nothing has to go to waste because if it does you're wasting money! Believe me I know about this, I'm horrible with vegetables going bad.
3. Vegetables, fruit and herbs. I don't pre cut vegetables for the week. I do find that wrapping my herbs or leafy vegetables like spinach in a paper towel makes them last a lot longer. The only time I cut vegetables is when I have time the night before I need them for a stir fry or  a roast. If certain items are on sale like mushrooms I'll buy them, saute them in butter, freeze in bags and they are ready for a sauce or meal later. One thing that helps me is making a list of what I have and putting it on the fridge. Whatever fresh veggies and fruit I have I make a list and check it through out the week. Because I end up buying extra for snacks and I forget we have them. If you have berries, apples/fruit that is really ripe and you aren't using it freeze it. It can be put in a smoothie later. For berries wash them and lay them on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen put them in a bag to store. Peaches, apples and bigger fruit should be cut up, if you want toss in some lemon juice and water. Freeze like you would the berries. Ripe bananas can be frozen whole and thawed for banana breads/ pancakes/muffins/cakes later, they will be watery when thawed but are perfect for cooking with. Herbs can be cut up and put into an ice cube tray with water and frozen. Throw cubes into sauces when needed. You can also dry herbs if have more than you are going to use. (For a fun snack cut bananas and freeze them with grapes, berries and other fruits in a cookie sheet. Once frozen put them in little bags for a fun frozen treat.) 
4. I also soak some of my fruit and veggies in a vinegar/water mix, let them dry, then put them away. This helps kills mold spores and everything lasts longer.
5. If I buy cereal I put it into the containers I have, break down the boxes/bags and recycle. Same for any packaging, flour, sugar etc, there's so much excess!
6. Use what you have. I'm working on this and getting better. Check the deep freeze and the pantry. Plan meals around what you have, then go BACK and double check to see if you already have lentils, oats or whatever- hiding out somewhere.
7. KNOW what you have. Make a list of items you have in your freezer. I use a wipe board. List what you have and cross it off/erase it when used. That way it's easy to tell what you have and how much without having to open it up and digging through everything. I also make a list of fresh produce so I know what I need to use. On that list I put snacks for the kids that are in the fridge- carrots, apples, cheese etc. So if they ask for something I have options for them.
8. Go grocery shopping before the weekly trash/recycling pick up. That way when you repackage items, or take things out of boxes you can clear that clutter and have it curbside right away.
9. I'm sure I'm missing something but there you go, that's what I do

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