making lately: dinner plans

Though I cook dinner almost every night, I'm not always big into meal planning for more than a day or two at a time - mostly because I have the great luxury of schedule and budget flexibility that allows me to not worry about it too much, and because I typically just don't enjoy the meal planning process in general... I'd rather grocery shop every other day than actually plan farther in advance, because thinking of what to cook in the first place is probably my least favorite part of the whole process.

But this week I suddenly found myself with wayyy more dinner ideas than usual, so I decided to write them down and call it a meal plan, and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. It sure does make it easier when you get to 5pm and don't have that much energy to think about meals to at least have the "what" decided on (one of the main reasons I like to do Blue Apron/Hello Fresh occasionally!).

Since usually lack of ideas is one of the main deterrents to my doing any real advance planning, I thought I would share this week's list in case you're in need of any inspiration yourself...

Sunday

Stir fry with chicken and any veggies available in fridge (broccoli, shredded carrots, onion, bell pepper) and jar of store-bought kung pao sauce + rice

Monday

Lasagna with ground Italian chicken sausage - but best laid plans turned into we have no lasagne noodles turned into Italian quesadillas with pizza sauce for dipping + roasted cauliflower

Tuesday

Za'atar chicken with spinach and Israeli couscous - Hello Fresh recipe using leftover spice packet - pro tip: they usually give you more spice than you need, so you can save up the extras and re-make the recipe later!) + carrots and hummus

Wednesday

Vadouvan shrimp with aromatic rice - Blue Apron recipe, again with leftover spice packet) + spinach salad

Thursday

Leftovers! Knowing I would have cooked some solid meals 4 nights in a row, there's bound to be some leftovers - and some lagging energy for cooking - so I planned in a break. Along with some roasted veggie of whatever variety I purchase at the farmer's market on Wednesday.

Friday

Skillet brats with apples and brussels sprouts - recipe from my new America's Test Kitchen last-minute dinners booklet, because it's quick and easy, and it's also apples and brussels season at the market

Saturday

Mini Greek lamb burgers in pitas (an old favorite Everyday Food recipe) + veggie from Wednesday's farmer's market run

All the meals usually also include whatever kind of fruit we have on hand - lately sliced apples or peaches from the farmer's market, or a bunch of grapes.

Whew, I think that we might be due for some takeout after that. But I'm hoping this motivates me to pull out some more recipes I haven't used in a while (like maybe this hummus chicken), and maybe to try something else from my new little cookbook as well. Plus I can use the lasagna idea again, given that we didn't actually end up having it (and Hendrik was bummed about that!).

eating lately: meal planning, v. 5

Somehow I forgot all about this take-one-pass-it-on meal planning series, and I decided it's high time to bring it back. Each item on the shopping list is used for two of the meals, so that's some cost efficiency in grocery shopping, and it also makes it easier to come up with a full weeknight roster of meals.

ground chicken: start off with a great one-pan option of Thai chicken meatballs with zucchini noodles, and then the next night you can take the rest of the ground chicken to whip up these amazing sounding BBQ chicken burger bites with avocado slaw.

avocado: one of my favorite ingredients of all time, and I love that this lineup uses it in some slightly different ways - after the avocado slaw, you can put it into the next meal of grilled salmon with avocado Greek salsa + orzo.

orzo: such a quick pasta to prep, you can use the rest of your box of orzo for a fresh lemon orzo salad with asparagus and tomatoes (which uses up a couple of other ingredients from yesterday's Greek salsa as well!).

asparagus: then take that asparagus and turn it into a shrimp and asparagus stir fry with lemon sauce (clearly you'll need to make sure to buy some lemons this week as well!).


What are you cooking this week? If you need even more meal ideas + corresponding shopping lists, check out the archives. Scrolling back through was an excellent reminder to me of some other great recipes I should bring back again soon!

eating lately: meal planning, v. 4

With the September is the new August philosophy my mom has imparted this month it's been fun enjoying any and all last bits of summer, like getting to the beach whenever the sun's out no matter if the date is Thursday, September 17, and it's also been a great excuse to continue the summer approach to dinner - on the fly, lighter stuff, whatever's available at the farmer's market, last-minute takeout, bread and cheese trays, etc. Now that fall really is upon us this week though, it's probably time to get back into a better grocery shopping and dinner routine... so I turned to my Pinterest board for some ideas for another take-one-pass-it-on meal plan.

Here are the main 4 things to put on your grocery list to get two meals from each:

pitas: for a crazy Monday keep things quick and simple with a hummus and pepper pita pizza - tasty, plus a bonus of using an additional two ingredients that will show up later in the week (sundried tomatoes and bell peppers). And then for another meal, the rest of your pitas get used as pockets for some harissa spiced fall veggies.

sweet potatoes: transform your sweet potatoes into something entirely different with this chicken sausage and peppers with sweet potato dirty rice recipe. I have yet to try this sweet potato treatment from Inspiralized but am quite intrigued.

chicken sausages: and then take the rest of your chicken sausages and cut them up for a sundried tomato, quinoa, and kale bake. (I'm usually partial to Aidell's sausages, but the Simply Balanced Italian style ones from Target strike me as a good option to suit both of these recipes.)

kale: bake up the remaining kale with a whole different set of fall flavors: butternut squash baked risotto.

I think these are a great mix of flavors and some warm comfort for the season, plus a nice balance of quick and easy meals alongside a few others that might take a little longer to bake but will be worth it for tonight - and tomorrow's lunch leftovers.

What's on your September menu?

eating lately: meal planning, v. 3

This month's plan-by-ingredient dinner menus are inspired by my preparation to do a Whole30 (eek!), so I'm working on upping the veggies and proteins in rotation. While not all of these recipes are compliant, they could pretty easily be made so with some substitutions (including make-your-own sriracha), and they're all easy and tasty enough to get me excited about the prospect of a month with no sugar...

zucchini: I keep seeing all of these recipes made with spiralized veggies so I just had to have one of these cool tools... so this week's meal plan starts out with two yummy recipes to utilize it: make up a big batch of zucchini "noodles" to start with creamy roasted red pepper zucchini noodles, and then the rest for pesto squash noodles with burst cherry tomatoes.

cherry tomatoes: the remainder of your pint of tomatoes then gets roasted in this super easy, one-pan salmon with roasted tomatoes and corn dish.

salmon fillets: buy a enough salmon fillets (I think the frozen kind are handy because I can pull out just the number I need to thaw on each day) that you can use the rest to whip up these simple salmon burgers with sriracha mayo.

sriracha sauce: this has become a staple around our house, and pretty much any recipe that includes it ends up being a winner for Peter. Bonus: this slow-cooker honey sriracha BBQ chicken not only uses some more of your sriracha but also is really easy (crock pot!) and makes for great leftovers.


Anyone else got great ideas for the spiralizer? Or Whole30 meals?

eating lately: meal planning, v.2

The last round of menu planning by ingredient re-use was so fun - and so useful for reminding me of some great recipe inspiration from my Pinterest board - that I thought I'd do another for this month. Here we've got some tried-and-true and new favorite ingredients that you can totally get your money's worth out of by utilizing across these 5 recipes.

shredded chicken: make a big batch with this easy crock pot recipe and then start with one of our long-time favorites, easy chicken tostadas (with lots of guacamole!). The next night, transform your chicken and give it a whole new flavor as BBQ sandwiches (I love this recipe, but it's even easier to just reheat shredded chicken with sauce, if you already have chicken left over).

BBQ sauce: the rest of your bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's (or whatever your household's favorite is) becomes the sauce for this BBQ brussels sprouts pizza. And if you still have leftover shredded chicken, you could toss some on here too!

brussels sprouts: chopped up along with some carrots and potatoes, the remaining sprouts make an amazing hash to serve with this hummus chicken. (Tip: roast the hash in the oven for 30-40 minutes. It works much better than on the stovetop. Done this way, it has become my new absolute favorite side dish.)

hummus: and then for a low-key dinner or a lunch you can serve up the rest of your hummus in these veggie wraps.

All looking pretty enticing, right? What are you meal planning for the week?

eating lately: meal planning

I'm lucky that I don't have to worry that much about grocery bills, but I still try to be smart with my shopping - and even more so with my time. So lately I've been thinking about weekly meal lineups that utilize overlapping ingredients, to save money of course, but also to get dinner on the table fast by utilizing leftovers or already chopped up/prepped ingredients in the next night's meal. Here's a recent special ingredient shopping list + recipes culled from my Pinterest board.

Here are 5 tasty dinners that make re-use of these 4 key ingredients:

Cooked quinoa: make a big batch ahead (even easier, get the frozen one from Trader Joe's!), and you can do a spicy chickpea stew, perfect for cold winter nights; on another night you're ready to go to use the leftover quinoa for quick black bean & quinoa burritos.

Corn & beans: toss the leftover beans & corn from the burritos into the slow cooker to make Jamaican jerk pork chops.

Sliced bell peppers: while you're prepping peppers for the jerk pork, slice some extra ones and save them for an easy sausage, peppers & onions meal on another night.

Italian sausage: and then with the remaining sausage links from your sausage, peppers & onions dinner, you can do this one pot roasted red pepper & sausage alfredo.

The meals don't have to be made in this order, of course - move things around within the week for variety if you get tired of the ingredients!

What are you planning for dinner this week?

Sharing on Shea Lennon's Weekly Eats.