Meal Planning: Week of March 17th

Review from last week:

It definitely felt good to eat again.  I swear, I thought I would never been able to look at food the same again.  Yes, I'm being dramatic, but it kind of was a traumatic experience ;)

At Greg's request, we made a batch of Santa Fe Chicken over the weekend.  It wasn't part of our plan, but he was craving it.  I stuck to Ramen.

The butter basted Halibut was really good.  (Isn't everything with capers good, though)?

Stir-fry with sweet chili sauce:



Chicken Parmesan - this was a funny night. Ben ate sooooo much of the pasta we cooked up for him to go with the chicken.  I think he had thirds.



This week we are trying something different!  My friend Denali recently blogged about her experience trying Blue Apron.  It's a food delivery system that will deliver a box to your doorstep weekly containing 3 recipes and ALL of the fresh ingredients to make those 3 meals.  Denali had a few links to send people a free 1 week trial, and I'm so excited she sent one to me :)

While I have been loving my meal planning each week, I sometimes do not enjoy the grocery shopping aspect of it - particularly buying an ingredient (like a whole bunch of parsley), when all your recipe calls for is 1 tablespoon.  I also tend to do my grocery shopping at the end of the week, on a Thursday or Friday, but we still find ourselves needing to swing by the store a second time by Monday or Tuesday for something we missed or a missing ingredient for a meal I plan to make.

So, I'm going to see how I like this system and decide if it will save us $ or if it will actually cost us more.  My thought is that I can meal plan for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, have food delivered to cook dinners on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then either have left overs or go out to eat on Friday.  This way, I can save my grocery shopping for the weekend and eliminate one more thing I have to do on a week day.

Also, you check out the Blue Apron Cookbook for a bunch of recipe ideas and easy, step by step instructions on how to prepare them.

Saturday:  On Saturday, we are have some friends over for another 'zaw pizza party!  We had so much fun at the last one that I had been watching for another deal to come out to do it all over again. I am planning on making a few appetizers though to serve before dinner, but I think they will be simple veggies and dips (to save room for the carb-fest later on)

Sunday: I'm teaching yoga Sunday night, so we will keep it simple for dinner.  Our favorite soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread.

Monday: Saint Patrick's Day!  We have been going over to the Christensen's for this holiday for the past few years, but this time I'm going to try making Corned Beef and Cabbage myself!

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Blood Orange Roasted Salmon

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Two Cheese Chicken Quesadilla with Chive Sour Cream and Spinach and Apple Salad

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Rice, Beef and Tomato Sauce