I used to post my weekly menus all the time. And then, I got burned out from the cold weather and started to stretch my weekly grocery shopping to bi/tri weekly. We were not eating pretty meals, or meals that were planned. We were more subsisting on eggs, meals that could be made from eggs, pancakes, and sandwiches. It was a dark winter, y’all. Anyway, I’m back now and trying to be more intentional about our family’s table habits. It also just helps me feel on top of the mom/wife game to have a good meal plan.
I’ve asked my friend and registered dietician to come by here and health-ify my weekly Pinterest Menu Planning. I told her that I wanted us to clean up our habits, but I would probably never be one of those people who lives on the Whole 30 plan her whole life (or any consecutive days of her life…let’s be honest). So, she’s helped me pick some exciting (look how colorful!!) choices that will satisfy my husbands desire for hearty meals, not make me a slave to the kitchen, and hopefully interest my boys, too.
If this is a column you find helpful on Tiny Twig, please let me know in the comments. Katie and I are looking at what kind of content we could create together that would help normal women eat better, while not becoming entirely crunchy by necessity. :)
I’ll let Katie speak for herself below!
Meal planning is a regular thing around our house, even though we’re still a party of 2. It has made my life a lot simpler, including fewer trips to the grocery. Meal planning looks a bit different for every household, I wrote about what it looks like for us here.
Hayley is doing herself a favor by getting all of her recipes from Pinterest, I love this idea. You can take a look at my boards, I’ve got ingenious names like “I will make this!” and “I made this and love it!” A lot of the meals below are on my “I made this and love it!” board because, well, I did. As a registered dietitian and married to a thin husband who has high cholesterol, we’re always trying to plan our meals around the Meal Plate Method.
The Meal Plate Method is uber simple; think of a dinner plate and draw the plate in half. On ½ of the plate we try to put our non-starchy vegetables (everything but potatoes, corn, and peas). On the other half of the plate, we try to put a quarter of our meal as carbohydrates, and a quarter of our meal as protein. Hayley, this means your husband is right in asking for meats! Although there is a lot of protein in meat, other complete proteins include fish, dairy, and eggs. And keeping carbohydrates to a quarter of your meal will really help create healthier habits. So what does this look like in real life, using Pinterest?
Lasagna Soup– Wow this soup is awesome, good in the heart of winter but too delicious to wait for the cold weather to come back around! It’s got carbohydrates from the noodles, meat from the sausage, and a little bit of vegetables but not quite “half your plate” so I recommend adding a side salad to this delicious, filling meal.
Quinoa Vegetable Salad– This dish screams it’s spring! And almost summer! All in this one dish is a carbohydrate (quinoa, corn, and chick peas), some protein (from the quinoa and chickpeas), and LOTS of vegetables. I do recommend picking up a rotisserie chicken and shredding that into this meal to increase the protein a bit.
Cashew-coconut crusted Mahi Mahi– this is super easy and fancy. We get frozen Mahi Mahi from Costco. You don’t have to make the fruit salsa topping, it is delicious without it. We like to add some baked sweet potatoes (cut up with peel on, olive oil, salt and pepper, bake til soft) and a side salad to this meal.
Greek Chicken Pita Folds– I love that this all goes in a crock pot, and it’s just an assembly line when time for dinner. Pita pocket, yogurt Greek chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions! And in that order you have a carbohydrate, protein, and good vegetables!
I’m Katie, and I’m a registered dietitian with a hunger for good food, good nutrition, and our very great God. I write about feasting on food and being satisfied in Jesus. I live in Indianapolis and am married to my best friend; let’s connect on Instagram while my blog gets a shiny new start!