Weekly Meal Plan September 11th - September 17th

This week is all about getting variety and partly about ease. When the cooler weather arrives (like it did this week) I try to do at least one sheet pan meal and one crock pot meal per week. Those are easy to put together and quick to clean up. I’m also trying to use some of the meat and sides we have in our freezer because another Trader Joes and Costco run is looming. I like to clean out before I restock. See the explanations below for how it all comes together.

Meal 1: If you’ve read my past posts you know this meal. I’ll fire up the grill to cook the Trader Joe’s Carne Asada and while it cooks I’ll sauté the pepper, onions, and zucchini with lime juice and cumin (zucchini is a new addition inspired by fajitas I get at my favorite Mexican restaurant). Then I’ll just heat up a can of beans, some frozen corn, tortillas, and pull out all the toppings like sour cream, guacamole, cheese, chips and salsa. There is always something for everyone. To be honest, I hate serving the shredded cheese. My kids adore it and eat it with a spoon and its a huge mess!

Meal 2: This meal is simple enough, but I thought I’d “beef up” my traditional jar of marinara sauce with more veggies. I’ll sauté some chopped peppers, zucchini, onion and maybe some mushrooms then pour the jar of marinara over top of the veggies and let it all cook together while the pasta cooks. I’ve got my Big Batch Meatballs in the freezer that I’ll heat up, and all this will be served with sour dough bread and side salads.

Meal 3: I use a Real Simple’s Slow Cooker Chicken and Mushroom Farro Risotto. I’ve made it for years and it’s one of my husbands favorite dishes. It’s rich and creamy and perfect for the transition to the fall (but now I’m looking at the weather and its supposed to be in the 90s again… oh well!). All the ingredients go into the crock pot for about 4 hours and we’ll serve it up with green peas, side salads, bread and fruit.

Meal 4: I created this recipe a few months ago and need to take a photo of it for the blog! Before coming up with this I would use a stir fry sauce with lots of ingredients, but this 3 ingredient (do I call it a recipe?) concoction is super simple - Trader Joe’s Mango Ginger Chutney, soy sauce, and corn starch. Throw that mixture in a pan with Kirkland’s frozen stir fry blend (or broccoli) and some shrimp and dinner is done! We’ll have it with white rice (since we did brown rice last week) and Trader Joe’s Mini Chicken Cilantro Wontons (they’re so good!).

Meal 5: I’ve got lot of chicken sausage in the freezer to use and my favorite way to have it is a sheet pan meal - it gets crispy and golden! On that same sheet pan I’ll put some butternut squash, carrots, and broccoli. Once it’s all roasted to perfection I’m just going to toss it all in some Kirkland brand pesto and serve it with some quick-cooking Trader Joe’s Harvest Grain Blend (cooks in 10 minutes), fruit, naan and hummus and tzatziki sauce. Actually - I didn’t buy naan at the store… but I have been craving corn bread, so that miiiiight happen. Reed loves cornbread… but who doesn’t love corn bread?

Meal 6: Leftovers or pizza - lately this has been Friday night. The adults will have leftovers or pizza and the boys usually have easy mac. For some reason they come home from school on Friday tired, hungry and cranky and want to eat at like 5:00pm. Easy mac is the fastest thing I can get on the table. They stand on their stools and wait for it while I dole out fruit and veggies telling them, “Be patient, it has to cool… you’ll burn your tongue!”

Meal 7: OUT! A MUCH NEEDED BREAK!!