You've been asking...

I make a meal plan every week (I was an overachiever and made it for the month this past time). I chop, slice, cook, and pack up 6 meals in one day to last us for the week. Why 6 when there are 7 nights...one night is left overs (hopefully... sometimes Nic is overly excited and takes all the left overs for lunch...in that case I make something up. Whatever I can find in the fridge that tastes good together gets thrown into a pan!). I budget $200 dollars a month for groceries and that's it. It's like when I lived in the dorms and at the end of quarter you had to eat whatever was left...usually cereal and boring stuff. Yup, that's how the end of the month is if you don't budget right... it's whatever is in the fridge. Moral of the story, you will quickly learn how to budget correctly so at the end of the month you are not eating dry cereal (because you've run out of milk)! This weeks meals are tortilla soup, orange chicken, breakfast, roast, and burritos. We are out of town for the weekend so we only have 5 this week.

The soup was easy because it cooked all day in the crock pot. If you do not own a crock pot GET ONE NOW! I used a lb of ground beef (you can use chicken or ground turkey we were out of ground turkey so I used beef), can of corn, can of santa fe beans (safeway carries these...I stock up when I go home since the closest safeway up here is Lyden!), finely chopped onion, 1 chopped green pepper, 1 garlic clove, can of petite diced tomatoes, 3 tb of taco seasoning, 1 tb of chili powder, 1 tsp of tabasco sauce, and 3 cups of water or broth. Brown the beef first then put into the crock pot, if using chicken just put that in the crock pot raw over time it will soften and shred! Then put all the "fixings" into the crock pot and turn it on! I let ours cook on high for 4 hours if you are doing chicken leave on high for 6 hours or it will not shred (shred the chicken when still hot if it cools it won't shred). I served it with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh diced tomato, avocado, and tortilla chips! Makes about 6 servings.

I cheated on the orange chicken. I don't do this often but I caved! We all have our faults! I bought the pre-made orange chicken at trader joes. I made herb quinoa to go with it and put that in a sealed container in the fridge. All Nic had to do was heat up the already cooked quinoa and the already cooked chicken. EASY! Quinoa is a grain. Without any seasoning, quinoa is very bland. I don't really care for rice so quinoa is a great substitute. It is a grain and that is it. Which means with one ingredient it is VERY healthy for you! It does take some time to cook but well worth it instead of minute rice (which has no nutritional value whatsoever)!

Nic thinks breakfast for dinner is the best thing on earth. I stole this one from Aunt Jodi! I bought the trader joes tater tots and quartered them. Then you add whatever you would put in an omelet. We put tomato, green pepper, onion, chicken breakfast sausage (trader joes), and cheese. The day I am doing my prep I cut up the tomato, green pepper, and onion and put in a container so you just have to dump it in instead of wasting time cutting. Cook your tots on the stove in a skillet, then add your fillings, cook for 3-5 min., then add in your eggs and scramble it all together! So very simple...and so very good! Servings is about 4 depending on how many eggs you use

The roast is another crock pot meal. The prep day: cut up your potatoes, onion, carrots, and celery. Cooking day: put the roast into the crock pot with beef broth. How much beef broth depends on how big the roast is. I like to make sure the roast is fully submerged. Throw in your prep day items and put the cover on. Cook for 6 hours on high. Budget tip: there is a section in your grocery store of the meat that must be sold that day. Check it out and see what deals you can get. You do not have to eat it that day just freeze it until you do decide to eat it!

Burritos is another Nic favorite. Normally, I would do taco soup and burritos in one week. I would do a pasta dish or fish dish. This is simple. Prep day: chop up tomato, lettuce, and avocado. Brown the meat so that all you have to do is heat it up the day of. Make sure you have tortillas, cheese, salsa, sour cream, (I am different and I like to use cottage cheese instead of sour cream... don't make that face until you try it! Less fat and more protein and I think it tastes better.) and anything else you wish to put in your burritos. Yum!

All in all, cut up anything you can on prep day so that you do not have to cut anything on eating day! You can pre-cook your meat or cook it on eating day. It's a lot easier to cook it and reheat the day of. Crock pots are key... set it and forget it until you get home and dinner is made! I have lots of containers and tupperware that these get put into on prep day. I keep the containers that go to each meal in separate sections of the fridge (this helps Nic know which ones to grab and all the meals stay together) or you can label the containers if you forget what went in each meal. The best part is on eating day there is usually only ONE pot or pan to clean NOT a cutting board and 2 pans and 2 knives...etc.

Hope this helps! Next week is quiche, sliders, white fish tacos, and spinach ravioli! I will be out of town for the weekend and Nic will fend for himself the rest of the meals! I was even a good wife and asked if he wanted me to prep the other meals out for him... he said he will be okay!

Side note: CONGRATS KIERSTEN AND RYAN ON YOUR BABY BOY!!!!! I cannot wait to meet him!!!