Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Feb 18 - Feb 24)

Last week went pretty well.  We did great adjusting back to eating healthy and sticking to our meal plan.  We pretty much ate what we planned except for yesterday because we were at my brother's house for my niece's birthday party way longer than I was expecting.  We were all really hungry on the drive home and since Adrian wasn't with us, I called him and had him make pasta for all of us so it was ready when we got home.  It did not disappoint!

My instant pot was again the star of this week!  I cooked risotto in it for Adrian and I for Valentine's Day.  That is twice in two months that I have cooked risotto!  Before I got the instant pot I had made it once in my life, decided it was too hard & hadn't made it again.  I also cooked my first spaghetti squash in it and it was perfect!  And super quick!  I knew I would use it a lot but I continue to be amazed at how quick and easy it is to cook in it.  If you are on the fence about getting one, I say do it!  You will not be disappointed.

 

This week is off to a weird start for us with Adrian not feeling well today and everyone (except me) off tomorrow.  The good news is this makes it a little easier on me because we are just having leftovers or sandwiches for dinner today and then Adrian is going to grill steaks for us for dinner tomorrow.  I'll be back to cooking full time after that, but it will be nice to have two days off.  I do need to make a batch of my pumpkin chocolate chip bars for the boys' breakfasts this week.  They still have no idea there is pumpkin in them!  Even though they aren't the most healthy thing in the world, I'm happy to at least get some of the vitamins from the pumpkin in their systems each morning.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Leftovers/Sandwiches
Monday - Steak on the grill with roasted potatoes & green beans
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday!
Wednesday - Sausage & Spinach Soup
Thursday - Harvest Vegetable Rice Bowls
Friday - Parmesan Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes & Brussels Sprouts - we need a quick, easy dinner because we'll be eating in stages and all have different places to go on Friday night.  I will set this up in the morning & cook it when we're all home from school.
Saturday - Tilapia with whatever veggies we still have left over after the week

Water Flavor - Orange again.  I actually didn't use orange last week as I had planned.  I had some lemons that looked worse so I used those and the rest of my mint for last week.  It was delicious!

Overnight Oats - I continue to use my normal recipe and just add different flavors.  This week I set up one batch of plain which I will add blueberries to each morning, two batches of peanut butter chocolate chip and two batches of chocolate with white chips.  These should last us the whole week but if not I'll throw together a batch or two with the flavored yogurts I have.

Use it Up - This week is all about using up the vegetables I have.  I'm using up the spinach in the soup & my smoothies, the kale in the rice bowls on Thurs, and all of the other vegetables you see listed are already in the house and in need of being used up.  If I end up with anything left by Saturday, we will have them with the tilapia.  If not, I have corn in the freezer, potatoes in the garage & a butternut squash on my counter so I will use those up for the sides.  I also finished up the open bag of chocolate chips I had in my oats this week.  Finally I'll be using up all of the lettuce that I have for my lunches this week.

Lunches - I decided to wait on making my next lunch option until next weekend because I have a ton of lettuce to use up this week.  I have romaine, arugula, red lettuce & a salad blend so those will be lunches for the week with hard boiled eggs, avocado, lunch meat & other veggies I have that I use in salads (tomatoes, cucumber & peppers).