Category Archives: Menu Plans

This week’s menu has two pieces of inspiration: The Everyday Food Great Food Fast Cookbook (which I love!) and Pioneer Woman’s new show on Food Network. Did you watch it? I thought she was pretty cute. It also made me really wish I had red hair, although I’m fairly certain I full explored that in the 90s and it wasn’t a good look. Ah, well!

The recipes I’m posting below anyone could make, but most of them will need a few tweaks on my end to keep them Paleo, but that’s what keeps it fun right?

Enjoy!

Monday
Lunch: Grilled Chipotle Chicken Thighs + Roasted Broccoli
Dinner: Turkey Satay Burgers with Broccoli, Bacon + Apple Salad (This salad is To. Die. For.)

Tuesday
Lunch: Leftover Turkey Burgers + Garden Detritus (That sounds romantic! ha! Probably squash and tomatoes)
Dinner: Chicken Stir Fry Wraps + Cantaloupe + Salad

Wednesday
Lunch:Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps + Flavor Grenade Pluots (Ha! I bought these plums at the grocery store and they were listed as Flavor Grenade Plums, and Garrett and I have been laughing about it all week.)
Dinner: Beef Bulgogi + Cauliflower Rice Bowls

Thursday
Lunch: Green Curry Chicken with Broccoli Slaw
Dinner: Out with friends!

Friday
Lunch: Barbacoa Beef Salads
Dinner: Chicken Fried Steak + Gravy + Sweet Potato Parsnip Mash with crispy shallots + Marinated Tomato Salad with Herbs

Saturday
Lunch: Greek Salads with Romain
Dinner: Rye Crusted Pork Chops + Caramelized Cabbage and Onions + Homemade Apple Sauce

Sunday
Shop!

What’s cooking in your neck of the woods this week?

Well it has been a crazy weekend and it was all I could do to get my act together for about 30 minutes to throw this menu together.  I shopped as quick as I could and now I’m back at home and plan on curling up on the couch with a book and watching trash television before it’s back to work tomorrow.

It may not be the world’s most creative menu (I stole some dishes from last week that we didn’t end up making due to impromptu plans) but sometimes you need an easy cut + paste menu to get you through the week, right?  Every meal doesn’t have to be a gourmet restaurant outing.

Anyway, here’s what’s going on our table — tell me what’s going on yours?

Monday

Lunch: Grilled Southwest Chicken Salads

Dinner: Cajun Shrimp w/ remoulade + Spinach Salad (stolen from last week)

Tuesday

Lunch: Chicken Chorizo w/ Peppers + Onions and Kale Chips

Dinner: Grilled Rib Eyes with Asparagus + Salad

Wednesday

Lunch: Paleo-ified Minestrone-esque Soup (I’m wishing for fall and loving the hyphen, can you tell?)

Dinner: Grilled Chili Rubbed Tri Tip Salad w/ Grilled Vegetables on top

Thursday

Lunch: Ground Pork Chili

Dinner: Joe’s Special.  Have you ever heard of Joe’s Special? — because it is AMAZING!  (Note to self: blog this recipe soon!)

Friday

Lunch:  Minestrone Soup Leftovers — Maybe I should call it Italian Beef + Greens Soup, since that is more accurate

Dinner: Chicken with Shallots + Steamed Broccoli

Saturday

Lunch:  Taco Salads  (it’s a big lettuce week around here again)

Dinner:  Leftovers/Mustgo/Out — TBD

Sunday

Shop!

I’m aiming for another week of 5 workouts, which means lunches need to prep me for a good butt-whooping and dinners need to come together relatively quick.

Last week I kicked ass and took names at the gym and had the cleanest week of eating I’d had in quite a while. It felt notably better, so I’m going to try for a repeat this week.

Here’s what we’re eating:

Monday

Lunch: Grilled Southwest Chicken Thighs + Summer Squash with Blue Cheese Butter

Dinner: Cobb Salad with Rotisserie Chicken (Hooray for Costco!)

Tuesday

Lunch: Ground Turkey Zucchini Boats + Salad w/ almonds + cranberries

Dinner: Paleo Fried Chicken + Garlic Cauliflower Mash + Broccoli

Wednesday

Lunch: Green Curry Chicken + Broccoli Slaw

Dinner: Peppered Grilled Flank Steak with Tomatoes, Avocados + Onion Jam with Grilled Salad

Thursday

Lunch: Chicken Chorizo + Peppers and Onions with Salad

Dinner: Grilled Cajun Shrimp with Remoulade + Spinach Salad

Friday

Lunch: Greek Salad with Ground Gyro Beef (it was so good last week it’s making another appearance!)

Dinner: BLTA Burgers with Baked Zucchini Fries + Salad

Saturday

Lunch: Brunch!

Dinner: Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps + Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Sunday

Shop!

I’m thinking I’m going to brave cooking lamb next week — maybe for Sunday dinner. Are you cooking anything next week that’s new to you?

*photo credit

This chart always makes me chuckle — The Paleo Diet in a nutshell.  Jokes aside, I know that meal planning can seem super time consuming and overwhelming and I get asked quite a bit how I do it. So tomorrow I’m going to break down how I get 10-12 hot meals on the table each week while working dealing with normal busy life.

You know, How To Meal Plan LIKE A BOSS.

In the meantime, let’s get to the good stuff — what’s going on the table this week:

Monday

Lunch:  Pioneer Woman’s Brisket (adapted for the crockpot – 12 hrs on low — which I am cooking today) + Buttery Herbed Spaghetti Squash

Dinner: AndreAnna’s Asian Beef and Fried Cauliflower Rice Bowls (a perennial favorite around here)

Tuesday

Lunch:  Stovetop Carnitas + Sauteed Squash + Onions

Dinner: Grilled Marinated Flank Steak, Grilled Asparagus + Salad

Wednesday

Lunch: Greek Salad with Gyro flavored Ground Beef (inspired by my AMAZING lunch last week with Sarah

Dinner: Turkey Taco Burgers with Homemade Guacamole + Roasted Carrots + Onions

Thursday

Lunch:  Grilled Sausages and Leftover Veggies/Salad

Dinner: Breakfast For Dinner!  (To Be Determined, but I’m thinking it will involve sun-dried tomatoes and eggs for sure!)

Friday

Lunch:  Grilled Chicken Thighs + Hot Bacon + Cabbage Slaw (recipe coming soon — hot damn, it is easy and delicious!)

Dinner: Southwest Burgers + Sweet Potato Fries + Salad

Saturday

Lunch:  Paleo Orange Chicken + Steamed Broccoli

Dinner:  Italian Beef Stew

Sunday

Hit up the grocery store, lather, rinse, repeat.

So…watcha cookin’ this week, friends?  Any new recipes you are excited about?

After scrambling through last week with no menu plan at all  (which I hate because I end up spending hours staring at the fridge wondering what to cook when I could be doing super productive things like watching Bravo or painting my fingernails) I got my act together and made a list for the coming week. There are a few things that I didn’t get around to making from 2 weeks ago so I need to use up ingredients, and of course there is the overflowing garden to contend with so if the vegetable side dishes seem a little repetitive, that’s why.  Also, coincidentally I managed to randomly pick out a bunch of recipes that originated at Simply Recipes.

Here’s what’s on the menu:

Monday

Lunch:  Taco Salad
Dinner:  Pesto + Goat Cheese Chicken + Garlic Butter Spaghetti Squash

Tuesday

Lunch: Grilled Chicken Salads (chicken grilled up this weekend!)
Dinner:  Blue Cheese Burgers + Caprese Salad (Garrett is addicted to this salad and it’s basically all he wants to eat.  Good thing I pulled 30 lbs of tomatoes out of the garden last week!)
 
Wednesday

Lunch:  Chicken Tikka Masala + Broccoli
Dinner:  Flank Steak Stir Fry with Asparagus + Cauliflower Fried Rice

Thursday

Lunch:  Garam Masala Ground Beef with Cabbage + Onions
Dinner:  Salsa Chicken  (I made an ENORMOUS batch of fresh salsa with a lot of those tomatoes…MUST USE) + Salad
 
Friday

Lunch: Out!
Dinner:  Bison Burgers (Summer Bucket List item!) + Chili Rubbed Squash
 
Saturday

Leftovers, pick up meat share.

Sunday

Go Shopping!  Usually I Sunday nights since I go to the store I make an impromptu dinner based on whatever impulse buy I feel like making.  😉

Ok, it’s YOUR TURN…
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