I am so excited to share my first meal plan! I unfortunately have to start this off by admitting that I am an imperfect human. I completely forgot to photograph one of the meals! My mom brain completely spaced it, but even though I will not have a photograph of what I made, I promise it was delicious! Also I am working on my food photography, so bare with me while I try to figure out how to make the photo’s look as delicious as they taste😝
Just for a little recap of how I do this…. I try to only cook 3 nights a week, leftovers are KING. If you don’t like leftover I think you are crazy! It is a homemade meal, made with love, that is already cooked! I plan 3 dinners, 1 adult lunch prepped for the whole week, and breakfast is a wild card. I want to note that I’m only cooking for a family of 3 so you may need to adjust proportions for your family. Part of how I plan the sides for my dinners is that I buy a weekly produce basket. The photo bellow is what we got this week. It is always a mystery what we are going to get, but it keeps us from always having the same thing. If you can find something like this where you live I highly recommend it! Also I try to incorporate a vegetarian/vegan meal into our week, it is one small way we are trying to improve our environmental impact.
What is on the menu…..
- (Lunch)Quinoa salad, with garbanzo beans, corn, and Mexican seasonings
- Italian sausage and white bean soup
- Thai butternut squash curry
- Grilled chicken teriyaki
The shopping list …..
Bellow you’ll find a full shopping list for the recipes bellow. Many of the items are pantry staples so you likely wont need everything on the list.
Quinoa Salad
8 lunches
Lets start with lunch! This quinoa salad had a surprisingly punchy flavor with minimal ingredients. I got the recipe from Shelly Food Spot and you can find the Original recipe here….https://www.shellyfoodspot.com/quinoa-salad-recipe-with-corns-and-chickpea/#mv-creation-35-jtr
I altered the recipe a bit to make it work for our meal prep. I also substituted the tomatoes with red bell peppers because Kyle hates tomatoes, and added pumpkin seeds for a little extra crunch. A trick for making your quinoa or rice taste special is to cook it with chicken stock instead of water! So yummy! Bellow I will list the altered proportions for this recipe.
- 1.5 cups of quinoa (follow package instructions for cooking, but substitute broth for water if you want)
- 1/2 bunch of cilantro/coriander
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1 can sweet corn
- 1 bell pepper/ 1/2 cup tomatoes
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 1 full lemon
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
Italian Sausage and White Bean Soup
https://www.saltandlavender.com/italian-sausage-white-bean-soup/
This made 4 adult meals 2 toddler meals
This soup has quickly become one of our favorites. It is so simple to make and super tasty. It takes 45 minutes to cook, but the hands on time is about 20 minutes. There are a couple differences for Asher’s bowl, the first being that I did not give him any bacon. It can be a choking hazard for young children so watch out for that. You’ll also notice that Asher’s portion also has peas. Frozen peas have become a hack for Asher’s meals. He is very sensitive to the temperature of his food, adding frozen peas is a really quick way to cool his dinner down, and he loves them! For this dinner I also made the unbelievably easy bread. Which is not necessary but is definitely delicious. You can find the recipe here…. https://turtlelion.com/2021/03/20/unbelievably-easy-homemade-bread/
Thai Butternut Squash Curry
https://www.chiselandfork.com/thai-butternut-squash-curry/#wprm-recipe-container-4092
This made 6 adult meals 3 toddler meals
Now it’s time for a imperfect human moment. When making my shopping list I misread the recipe. It calls for red curry paste and yellow curry powder. Well I bought both as paste. Good news is that it turned out delicious so either will work! This curry had a mild spice which did not bother Asher. If your child is super sensitive to spice you could mix in a spoonful of greek yogurt to cool it down. The store was also out of butternut squash so I substituted it for sweet potatoes. Mine is garnished with cashews, lime, and some roasted asparagus (a produce basked add on). Asher isn’t a big fan of asparagus but I did give him a few pieces to try out of my bowl to try to broaden his taste buds.
Grilled Chicken Teriyaki
https://dashofhoney.ca/en/the-best-grilled-teriyaki-chicken/#wpzoom-recipe-card
This made 4 adult meals 2 toddler meals
Here is the meal I forgot to photograph!😢This recipe was simple to put together, and super delicious! The recipe calls for chicken thighs, but we had breasts so that is what we used. The chicken needs to be marinated for at least 30 minutes, but you could easily do this the night before. The best part… the marinade becomes the sauce! I initially wasn’t going to make the cucumber salad, but we got a cucumber in our produce basket. I am so glad I did! It really made the flavor more “grown up”. We served the chicken with steamed broccoli, and a roasted cauliflower rice. The recipe has a really yummy sounding coconut rice, but since we had rice with the curry I opted for a lower carb option.
Cauliflower rice
Step 1-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Roughly chop the cauliflower then quickly pulse the cauliflower in the blender until it reaches a “rice” like texture. Pour the cauliflower onto a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper
Step 2- Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, toss at around the 10 minute mark. You’ll know it’s ready when it is slightly golden.
There you have it, a weeks worth of healthy family friendly meals! I hope you give this a try, if you do please leave a comment bellow. I’d love to hear what you thought of these recipes, and if there are any suggestions to make this easier to follow. Happy eating 🙂
Turtlelion 