I love reading blog posts with weekly meal plans. I always like to see what other families eat for dinner in a typical week and can usually find new ideas for my own weekly meal plan.
I’ve been hesitant to post my own meal plans here, though, because I don’t always stick to them. Sometimes I plan for a certain meal and it turns into something else all together. Other times I only have a vague idea of what dinner is going to look like because I know I want to use certain ingredients but am not exactly sure what I’m going to do with them. So you can see that posting my meal plan ahead of time wouldn’t work so well.
Then a thought occurred to me: Why not post the plan after the week? Then everyone can see what we had for dinner the previous week and possibly get some ideas for their upcoming week.
So the How Dinner Went Down feature was born. At the end of each week, I’ll post what we had for dinner the previous week. My commitment-phobic side is coming out just typing out the words “each week”, but I think I’m ready to take this step. I can do it.
In a typical week, I try one new recipe, either from one of my cookbooks or one I’ve found on the web. I also try to create one new recipe each week. The rest of the meals are comprised of meals we’ve had before and like, with at least one being from Tim’s favorite list. He needs to have at least one favorite meal each week to make up for any possible new recipe fails. Yep, those happen.
While that is my typical week, we haven’t quite gotten back to normalcy around here. Just getting meals on the table is an accomplishment right now, and I haven’t had the time to search for new recipes to try. In my sleep-deprived state, new recipe creation hasn’t been happening at dinner time much, either. So this week you’ll notice our meal plan was made up of tried-and-true recipes. Those weeks are good, too. But you’ll see more of a variety in the coming weeks.
How Dinner Went Down: January 29th-February 4th
Sunday
Pizza. Not homemade. It happens, folks.
Monday
Vegetable and Tempeh Stew with Herb Dumplings
Tuesday
Vegan Sloppy Joes with sweet potato fries. Tim absolutely loves these vegan sloppy joes. I added a cup of tomato sauce to make them extra saucy and made a double batch so I’d have some to freeze.
Wednesday
Spaghetti and meatless balls with a green salad. I made a double batch of the meatless balls so I’d have some to freeze. This is a go-to quick and easy meal.
Thursday
Smoky black bean and feta tacos with no-mayo slaw
This is another Tim favorite. This week he declared this his “favorite vegetarian meal”.
Friday
Vegan sloppy joes, again. This was not planned, but I was so glad I made an extra batch earlier in the week!
Saturday
Layered Vegetable Crockpot Casserole This was my night to work in the church nursery, so having a meal ready when I got home was perfect.
As you can see, cheese is back on the menu. I cut it out for three weeks, and then after adding it back in didn’t notice a difference, so I don’t think Luke has a sensitivity after all. I was so glad because as much as I love a good vegan meal, I do love cheese.
The name of my dinner game lately is quick and easy. I can’t believe I ever thought getting dinner made with one child was hard. Ha!
So what was the best thing you had for dinner last week?
Great idea to do the post-week recap. I make a meal plan most weeks and generally at least one meal doesn’t get made. Life happens and it wears this mama out. 🙂
I’m off to check out the sloppy joes. And singing ‘sloppy joes, slop sloppy joes’ a-la Adam Sandler. And will be singing it for the rest of the day. Thanks a lot.
Ummm…now it’s in my head. Thank YOU. 😉
Yum! I might also try the apple fritta for breakfast. I’ve done mini-frittas with spinach and peppers in muffin tins before. In fact it is on my menu plan for the week because I liked them so much. They weren’t as big a hit with my little ones as they were with me. I’m always trying to find new breakfast items that are full of nutrients to give my family before I send them out to conquer day. As always thanks for your yummy meal suggestions!
What a yummy lineup of dinners. I so understand wanting to make something your husband really loves each week. I try to do this too. We are lucky to have supportive husbands when it comes to our healthy cooking. I would love to hear what your husband’s favorite meals include– maybe a blog post of all of his favorites? We are vegan (well, I am and my husband is a good sport), but even if they aren’t vegan, I am usually able to adapt them. I am going to try your sloppy joe’s this week! They look great!
Thanks for the idea–I’ll have to put together a post of Tim’s favorites. I hope you enjoy the sloppy joes (and your husband, too!).
I’m always interested in seeing what other people eat for dinners. Looks like you had a ymmy week. I usually plan my weekly menus for each dinner Sunday through Thusday and we eat something out (or get pizza) on Fridays. I have to plan it out because I only want to shop one day a week because I work and never have time on weeknights for a last minute grocery store run. I usually try one or two new recipes and the rest are standbys. I usually make something more involved on Saturday and Sunday that hopefully has good leftover potential, and then make quick dinners or heat up leftovers the rest of the week.
This week we had your quinoa vegetable stew on Saturday (yum!), red lentil & chickpea soup on Sunday, and will have ravioli with mushrooms and peas and a slow cooker spiced lentil soup with butternut squash Monday through Thursday (using leftovers).
Leftovers are the best! We eat a lot of leftovers for lunch.
Loved seeing how your meal plans play out. It makes me feel more normal, honestly. Quick and easy and the not “homemade super healthy” pizza are part of our regular deal here too. Moslty healthy though and that’s what I try to focus on. 🙂
Exactly–I think a lot of people think healthy+quick don’t go together, but they totally can.
I love this idea so much! Dinners are the meal I need inspiration for- can’t wait to try those tacos too!
Last week I actually went out to dinner twice (not typical)- once for mediterranean food and once for sushi! I did manage to whip up a lentil stew one night though with sweet potatoes, mushrooms and kale, it is really delicious! I made the recipe up based on what I had- love when those turn out!
Those meals are the best! That’s usually when I forget to write down what I did and I can’t replicate it, though.
I enjoy cooking – but I don’t cook everyday (i work 12 hour shifts 3 times a week). Some of these were lunches.
Last week I made some Broccoli soup (no cheese added 1/4 nutritional yeast instead)
omelets (with soy sausage, mushrooms, sauteed onoins and peppers & mozz cheese)
a savory bread pudding (with Rosemary bread from Costco cut up with mustard, Wham (vegatarian ham) swiss cheese and sauteed onions and peppers) coated and surrounded with eggbeaters and milk
Your Quinoa pizza balls (I cheated and used frozen mixture of whole wheat cous cous and Quinoa from Costco – which just so happened to be in 8 oz packaging yeah!!!), used black beans and added a little cheese. They didn’t stay in ball form but my 2 year old enjoyed them with me (my husband refused to eat them – as he didn’t like the stuff from Costco (we tried that by itself earlier in January.))
Sauteed head of cabbage with 3 soy sausages, butter and 3 George Washington seasoning (golden)cooked down until no liquid remains – can add jiffy cornbread cubed up and it is delicious.
Sounds like a great week of food! Thanks for sharing. I have some leftover cabbage I need to use this week and might use your idea. 🙂
Sounds fantastic! I just printed out the Sloppy Joes, Vegan meatballs, and Layered veggie croclpot casserole. Thanks again. I am loving all the ideas because I have no brain power to even think of anything new at the moment! 🙂
The first trimester was crazy because all I wanted was meat (red meat) and potatoes. I have not eaten in about 3 years…my husband was loving it. Im back to more of my normal eating habits now that I am feeling better.
Oh, I hope you get into the 2nd trimester energy phase soon! Life was so much easier for me once my energy returned in the 2nd trimester. I also ate much, much more red meat than usual during my pregnancy. When I craved it, I ate it because I figured my body was telling me it needed the iron. My husband loved it, too! 🙂
I’ve been meal planning fo Mon-Fri dinners and it’s been helpng me a lot!
I love that you make extra and freeze leftovers. I do that sometimes, but not as often as I’d like!
All of your dinners looked great!
I’ve been working on the freezing thing because I am finding it so handy to have meals ready for those nights I just can’t spend time in the kitchen. It works better with certain meals than others.
I need to get on the ball of trying a new recipe per week. Just to expand my base. 🙂 I think that will make me a better cook when I’m strapped for time when the time comes that I get to have a family to feed. Your week looks yummy! 🙂
Yes, get prepared now! You’ll be ahead of the game. 🙂