Tags
homemade pizza, homemade pizza crust, homemade pizza dough, homemade pizza sauce, meal planning, meal plans, weekly meal plan
Meal planning…
Cooking…
Working in the kitchen…
These items are not on my list of favorites. I would rather clean toilets, do laundry, and clean up after my dog outside than do these three things. That’s a pretty bold statement but it’s true. But, despite my lack of desire (or energy) these are obviously very regular duties in my life. Chris works full-time outside of the home and I am blessed to be able to stay at home full-time with our daughter. Thus, the cooking falls on me (Though, I must admit, Chris does make breakfast and often fills in on Saturdays and Sundays. I have a wonderful husband!).
And unfortunately, I did not get the “throw something together in 20 minutes” gene. My mother-in-law is extremely gifted in this. She can have 5 ingredients that I would never consider to put together and make into a delicious and healthy meal. Or she’ll have 3 different leftovers that she pulls into a completely new meal…and it’s good! I wish they taught this in school. Fortunately though, I have had many great bloggers to learn from and I will be linking many of the recipes that I use back to their blogs. They literally have taught me how to cook. I still cannot throw together a meal but now I CAN make great tasting food that is healthy and inexpensive.
My meal planning has developed more since Isa was born 10 months ago. Before that, I often meant to have meal plans but rarely would this happen. I had all day to figure out what I was going to make and could run to the grocery store if I needed something at a moment’s notice. Now though, I am much more intentional about meal planning. I don’t have the time (or the energy!) to run to the grocery store whenever I need something.
There are many ways to do a meal plan. Some people do it week by week. Others, month by month. I would love to eventually work up to a monthly meal plan but at this point in my kitchen adventures it seems too overwhelming to me. Some use the same recipes once a month or once every two weeks. **I’m sure you all have way better and smoothly run meal plans than I do. But it’s nice to be able to share my blunderings in this area!**
Here is what works for me:
I use categories…
Monday ~ Soup
Tuesday ~ Mexican
Wednesday ~ Vegetarian (usually some form of beans or lentils)
Thursday ~ Meat
Friday ~ Pizza Night
Saturday ~ Other/New Recipe
Sunday ~ Popcorn and Smoothies
Of course I’m known to not follow this schedule exactly but it gives me something to work with.
As of now, I only do meal planning for supper. Chris is our breakfast man (some form of eggs and usually either oatmeal or farina). Lunch is always leftovers from the day before.
I’ll spare you any more of my beginner-level cooking talk. Please feel free to email me with any great dairy-free recipes (though I can convert most of them anyways). I’ll gladly review them and post on the blog!
My meal plan for the coming week:
Monday ~ Gingered Carrot Soup
Tuesday ~ Taco Salad
Wednesday ~ Dahl
Thursday ~ Meatloaf
Friday ~ Pizza (sans cheese)
Saturday ~ Stuffed Acorn Squash
Sunday ~ Popcorn & Smoothies
Click on Friday menus to grab my recipes, and keep checking back as I will be sharing all of these recipes with you in the coming weeks (plus the Deep Dish Cookie Pie that Rusty alluded to in his post!). So, come back for a visit as we build our recipe database with REAL FOOD – get these great recipes that others have shared with me!
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shelly said:
thanks for the pizza sauce gretchen!!! i too, hate to cook…but kevin can whip up anything with anything!!! i am really trying to get better at this, but this pizza sauce seems like something i can do! we’ll give it a try!! and … congrats on the new baby coming!!
shelly
CheekyBumsBlog.com said:
Shelly,
You too?! 🙂 The pizza sauce recipe is great and so easy. We’ve used it a lot. Plus, if you don’t want to put it in bags, I’ve read that others freeze in ice cube trays and then get out as much or as little as they need.
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents said:
Thanks for tagging my pizza sauce recipe! 🙂 I hope you enjoy it.
CheekyBumsBlog.com said:
I love it! Thanks for sharing it!
Lora Lynn @Vitafamiliae said:
I tell myself that I keep my meal plans vague in order to be “flexible.” That’s what I tell myself anyway. 🙂
Olde Buffalo Inn Bed and Breakfast said:
We needed the pizza sauce recipe 2 years ago when we visited you in Ecuador! Remember?!
CheekyBumsBlog.com said:
Yes, I do! 🙂
sanjaywa said:
I really like the idea of categories! It cuts down the scope of ‘what the heck should I make’ quite considerably. We meal plan, but not like this, so will have to give it a go.
CheekyBumsBlog.com said:
This has helped me out A LOT! I was so overwhelmed with all of the many recipes before but couldn’t figure out which to pick. Now I can do it fairly quickly.