Meal Plan Week of February 22, 2010

We're switching things up a little bit here because Lil wanted to do a video yesterday afternoon.  Here she is to tell you about our Mindful Menu of the week!

Monday - Lil is eating with my Mom, Alex and I are FEASTing at Haiku.  Perhaps I'll earn a $1000 grant for a play with your food workshop!

Tuesday - Roasted chicken and alphabet vegetable soup

Wednesday - Lentil spaetzle and chard -  Columbus Foodie wrote about spaetzle last week and it reminded me of this dish I used to order at the Bier Garten when we lived in Portsmouth VA.

Thursday - Chicken / bean burritos - using leftovers from Tuesday's chicken

Friday - Select winners of the Central Ohio Home & Garden Show ticket giveaway, grilled sandwiches using leftover pork from Sunday

Saturday - Chinese restaurant and we're going to Disney on Ice.  We're the best parents ever for sacrificing our good taste to be part of the mouse magic and I hope Lil never forgets it.

Sunday - my How to Cook with your Kids class, 1 - 2 pm at Sprout Soup, birthday dinner for my sister

The meal planning lesson for this week is: cook extra meat to use in dishes later in the week.

Finally, if you haven't had enough video in this post, here's an interview I did with a Hallmark greeting card writer during my trip to Blissdom.

Meal Plan - February 15, 2010

Mardi Gras!  Olympics on TV!  No conferences!  Stomach bug is outta the house! More snow falling! This week we are looking forward to relaxing, cooking well and enjoying each other's company.

Monday - valentine's breakfast for dinner - pink waffles, strawberries, and eggs Lil and I had a nasty stomach bug yesterday, so we're celebrating Valentine's today

Tuesday - King Cake, dinner and a show with my Mom

Wednesday - Pulled pork, roasted root vegetables, citrus salad with my parents and sister

Thursday - Taco salad with friends

Friday - Bob Evans blogger event, homemade pizza

Saturday - leftovers

Sunday - pork shoulder roast with Alex's parents

You read it correctly, I'm going to a blogger event at Bob Evans in Westerville.  While I personally advocate for cooking at home most of the time, Bob Evans is a local restaurant chain and I'm curious to see how local they really are.  They have given me the opportunity to invite a blog reader to join me.  If you are interested and available Friday from 2 - 4 pm (childcare available), please leave a comment below.  I will use random.org to choose my companion from the comments at 9 am tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

Meal Plan - February 8, 2010

We're gearing up for another busy week here. I am preparing for my OEFFA conference session on Urban Edible Gardening.  I was told they expect it to be popular and well attended.  Eek!  Because I am working so hard, I plan to offer it as a stand alone workshop for those who couldn't come to the conference.  I'm thinking sometime in early March?  If you are interested and want to suggest a good day and time, please do.

Alex and I both have appointments to finish our tattoos this week.  We're madly painting the front room and deep cleaning the house in preparation for hosting an Olympics opening ceremony party too.

On to the meals!

Monday - general tso's chicken and tofu, miso soup, rice

Tuesday - TVP tacos, grapefruit

Wednesday - spaghetti and home canned sauce, salad

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - international potluck at our Olympics party!

Saturday - Alex and Lil - baked fish, rice, veggies, Rachel - OEFFA conference

Sunday - family dinner

As always, hop over to Mindful Menus to share your meal plan for the week if you wish.  Jenna just wrote a great article about what to do if your meals are feeling uninspired.

Meal Plan - February 1, 2010

This week is going to be a short one for me because the fabulous Amy Turn Sharp shared an extra ticket to the Blissdom Blogging Conference! I am really excited to spend Thursday - Saturday in Nashville making connections and learning about how to improve Hounds in the Kitchen. Alex is staying home with Lil and said they didn't need meal planning for the weekend. I predict they will eat fill up on meat while this vegetarian is out of the house.

Monday - roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, fish Tuesday - pad thai (I had a request for my recipe, so I'll take pictures and post soon) Wednesday - cheesy baked pasta, salad

Don't forget that Kids Cook classes resume this week! I hope to see lots of hungry kids on Thursday morning at Sprout Soup.

Meal Plan Week of January 25, 2010

Before we get to the goodies of this week's plan, I wanted to feature a few things that help us follow our plan: the whiteboard and refrigerator shopping list. I write out the meals on the whiteboard so those who aren't paying attention when we meal plan and don't keep up with their RSS feed (ahem, Alex) have another reference point during the week.

I keep the post-it pad on the front of the fridge to write down foodstuffs as we run out of them.  When I go grocery shopping I add to the bottom of that list and take it to the store.  Does anyone else have a system like this?

This week's Mindful Menus will be:

Monday - salmon, salad, rice (Rachel will have dinner at Whole Foods before book club with Food Matters Columbus.)

Tuesday - root vegetable gratin topped with fried egg, applesauce

Wednesday - parmesan rind soup with chickpeas and kale, spaghetti and home canned sauce

Thursday - leftovers or quesadillas

Friday - vegetable pie with cornbread top crust

Saturday - Rachel's parents?

Sunday - Alex's parents

Meal Plan week of January 18, 2010

This week is going to be busy.  Both Alex and I have appointments to add color to our tattoos.  Sadly, our friend's husband I mentioned last week died on Friday, so we will may go to a funeral.  I'm thrilled that the week will end on a good note with a date night. Sunday - leftovers

Monday - Homemade lasagna, possibly with family

Tuesday - tuna, roast chickpeas, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad

Wednesday - tacos with veggies, beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, sour cream

Thursday - dinner at a friends (we'll bring something yet to be determined)

Friday - date night! I'm thinking Dragonfly NeoV and Gipson and Fitz bluegrass band at Vic's Midnight Cafe

Saturday - TBD

If anyone wonders, breakfasts are usually oatmeal for me cereal and milk for Lil, and a glass of kefir for Alex.  Lunch is ususally leftovers, a sandwich, quesadilla, or smoothie with fruit and veggies.

Remember you can join the Mindful Menu's roll too.  Just click on the icon above to read everyone's menu and add your own.

Meal Plan week of January 11, 2010

Thanks for the great response about meal planning.  I'll continue writing and linking to Mindful Menus.  If you have a blog and meal plan, please join us! Someone asked me how well I follow through with the plan.  Last week, I made Monday and Tuesdays meals as planned, cooked up faux Reuben sandwich and tomato soup instead of dinner with Dad on Wednesday, and made homemade macaroni and cheese on Thursday instead of lentil barley soup.  None of the changes required a trip to the grocery!

On to this week:

Monday - Corn chowder and salad with sprouts

Tuesday - Tandoori chicken, palak paneer (homemade paneer), and rice

Wednesday - leftovers or dinner with Dad

Thursday - barley lentil soup, homemade sausage

Friday - spinach lasagna

I'm making an additional lasagna to deliver to a friends in a tragic situation.  The father is terminally ill and mother is five weeks from delivering their third child.  Their oldest son is in my daughter's preschool class.  If you live locally and want to offer support or can donate money to their need, please visit the Support Amber and John facebook page.

Meal Plan week of January 4, 2010

One of my personal resolutions is to more consistently meal plan this year.  A twitter friend, ChiveTalker, hosts a weekly round up of meal plans in which I might participate.  So tell me, would you read what this locavore eats a week in advance?  Would you rather I keep meal planning to myself?  Here's  this week's post as an example: This week Alex is traveling on business to Arizona.  Usually we have a time zone difference and this time we will have a nearly 60 degree temperature difference to boot.  Without Alex around, meals are simpler, contain less meat, and are often soup-y because he doesn't love soup like I do.

Monday -baked potatos with steamed brussel sprouts and cheese, tomato soup, tuna fillet for Lil

Tuesday - leftover Ohio pumpkin soup with cheese toast

Wednesday -restaurant with my dad

Thursday - lentil barley soup, kale chips

Friday - date night with Alex

Saturday - family dinner at my parents

Sunday - family dinner with Alex's parents