Meal Planning Week of June 4th - June 10

When it comes to eating clean, one thing you know for sure is that you need to plan and be organized. Those are two goals I hope to reach, but currently, I would consider myself in Planning Preschool and *maybe* Kindergarten of Organization Elementary. I try. I really want to be organized and have a plan, but I am SO easily distracted. I feel like Dory in Finding Nemo. "Oh, look, shiny object!"

So here is my weekly dinner plan. You can click through to the original recipe on the respective websites and I hope to have pics and reviews after I make each recipe if it is new to us. Let me know if you try any of these and what you think.

First off, I am making some sauce to put away for later this summer. Here is a pic I managed to take before I ate all of the last batch! I'll put up a recipe for it this week and snap some more pics as I go.

Monday - Soup and Cheese Quesadillias
I LOVE this soup and so does Chad. I am going to add black beans this time and roast the tomatoes in the crockpot to add flavor.

Tuesday - Pineapple Chicken with brown rice and side salad
Randall's sell frozen Organic brown rice in packets and we are going to try this for the first time. I am southern, but I am horrible at making rice, especially brown rice. I'll let you know how the rice is.

Wednesday - Sweet and Spicy Citrus Tilapia with asparagus
We love roasted asparagus in the oven. Heat oven to 425. Snap asparagus at end to remove tough ends. Set the asparagus in a bowl of cold, filtered water, stem side down, while prepping garlic and heating oven. Mince a large clove of garlic. Spread asparagus out on a cookie sheet with sides, drizzle with olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper and minced garlic. Roast for 12 minutes or until tops start to turn brown.

Thursday - Balsamic Grilled Bruschetta Chicken, roasted squash

Friday - Penne with Spinach, Olives, Capers and Feta
Cook 1 box of whole wheat penne pasta according to directions, omitting fat and salt. Drain and set aside. In same pot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 3 cloves minced garlic, 2 tablespoons capers, 1 cup pitted kalamta olives. Stir until fragrant and heated through. Add cooked past and 3/4 cup feta cheese. Stir until combined and serve warm.

Saturday - Crispy Herbed Shrimp with Chive Aioli, roasted broccoli
Don't omit the lemon on the broccoli, it adds a lot!

Sunday - Fish Tacos with Avocado Mango Salsa
You have to scroll down a bit to see it. :)

What are you eating this week?

A Fresh Start

I started a blog a few years ago to try to give me some type of creative outlet with cooking, photography and a compelling need to be sarcastic in print. Cooking and photography have sort of gone by the wayside with two little ones requiring so much focus but luckily, sarcasm sticks with you for life. Hooray for that! I thought I'd give it a try again since the girls have grown up some; don't get me wrong, there is no more time in my day, but I need to get organized so I thought maybe this would help.

At the beginning of the year, a friend of mine asked me to be a meeting buddy for Weight Watchers and it's been a great year to shed weight of all varieties. I'm down 20 pounds and have reevaluated the way we have been eating. With the new WW Points Plus plan, fruit and vegetables are "free", meaning zero points plus values. I thought that would lend itself to us eating more fresh fruit and veggies and it has, but I just felt like we had to rely so much on processed "fake" food to get us through the rest of the day. Fat free string cheese, puffed cheddar cheese rice cakes, artificial sweetener added to the top of berries, it just didn't seem right. So, for the past few weeks, we have been trying to "eat clean" and cut out processed food and drink, and really work on having natural, nature-made foods. So far, thing are going well and I hope to post pictures of what we are eating to maybe help give some new ideas on the age-old question "What's for dinner?"

Our philosophy on eating is this: To be aware of where and how our food was made and be able to identify all ingredients in any pre-made food. Fresh, natural and from the Earth should be the rule. We are focusing on organic and local food first, and trying to eat seasonably. Our goal is to strive to eat this way 80% of the time. Of course 100% would be great, and anything is better than the way we were eating. We are trying to visit our local farmer's markets and supporting their farms but with two little ones and a hubby who travels, we do hit the local grocery quite often. We do have a new Whole Foods that opened not too far from us so I'm hoping that will be a good resource for us.

This is a learning process for us and we are doing our best, just like everyone else. My hope is for improved health and energy for my family and an awareness and respect for the food that is put on our table, from seed to purchase to plate. I hope out children will learn the same values.

I hope you can join us on our journey and am happy to hear any comments, tips or recipes you may have to share.

And what is a post without a picture? Here is one of my new favorite things...hard boiled eggs cooked in the oven!

Oven Baked Hard Boiled Eggs:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place eggs in a muffin tin to keep them from moving around. Bake in oven for 25-30 mins. Place eggs in ice water for 10 minutes to stop cooking. Peel, store and give to your kiddos fr breakfast in the morning!