Menu Monday

It's been a good day at the K residence. I broke out my new running shoes (purchased at a super sale price yesterday afternoon) and finished a three mile run on the treadmill at a slightly faster pace than I've run in the past, set up the oral defense for my proposal, and found an interesting article for my research. Plus, Federer beat Soderling, which means my husband will be in a great mood. A good day, indeed.

The husband is taking Friday off from work so we can make our semi-annual trip to visit our favorite dentist. We'll stay in W-town for the extended weekend, so our menu for the week is just for four days.

Monday
Breakfast: Toast and smoothies made from frozen organic peaches and blackberries, vanilla yogurt, a generous portion of powdered flax, and orange juice. They were the best we've had so far!
Lunch: G = Turkey sandwich, chips, pear, and Petit Écolier cookies (if you ever need to bribe my husband to help you with a task, offer him a box of the dark chocolate cookies); A = salad with feta, yogurt, and a pear.
Dinner: TVP tacos. These were on the menu last week, but our plans ended up changing due to house hunting.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Leftover tacos.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday, but G will have egg salad and I will probably have more leftovers from Monday night.
Dinner: Whole wheat cheese ravioli with tomato and basil sauce, beans.

Thursday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Wednesday
Dinner: Leftovers from Wednesday

Exciting, huh? Maybe I'll be more creative next week...or the week after my defense.

JC, I know that's you leaving the comments about chocolate and chips - there better not be any complaints this week!

Menu Monday

Our new diet and exercise plan is working! Losing weight wasn't the main objective of our quest for a healthier lifestyle, but we both admit it's a nice perk. By making simple adjustments to our diet and dedicating at least 30 minutes to exercise 5 days a week, G has managed to drop almost two notches in his belt and I've shed nearly 5 pounds.

What's on the menu this week?

Monday
Breakfast: G = one slice Canadian bacon, one slice cheddar cheese, one scrambled egg sandwiched between a toasted wholewheat English muffin; A = whole grain rice, eggs and onion sauteed in olive oil & a banana
Lunch: G = Chicken sandwich, juice box, baked potato chips, pear, cookie; A = salad w/ feta, yogurt w/ flax, pear
Dinner: Leftover baked chicken, carrots and potatoes from Sunday night.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: TVP tacos, apples

Wednesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Leftover TVP tacos

Thursday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: G = tuna fish sandwich, yogurt, chips, banana, cookie; A = leftovers
Dinner: G = turkey burger, A = veggie burger, mac and cheese, broccoli

Friday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Thursday
Dinner: We'll eat en route to our concert that night.

Saturday
* We're staying with my parents on Friday night after our concert and spending Saturday at an event taking place at my research site.

Menu Monday

Monday
Breakfast: G = eggs, turkey bacon (that stuff cooks strangely, but he likes it!), lemon ricotta toast; A = an egg/rice/vegetable concoction I came up with last night to try and increase my protein intake at breakfast (I do not like eggs by themselves)
Lunch: G = BBQ chicken sandwich, apple, string cheese, cookies, juice box; A = peanut butter and jelly English muffin, apple, string cheese
Dinner: Turkey burger/Veggie burger, broccoli, some sort of carb

Tuesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Bean enchiladas (we have some ingredients leftover from last week's chicken enchiladas that should be used), banana

Wednesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Leftover enchiladas

Thursday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: G = peanut butter and jelly sandwich, string cheese, apple, cookies, juice box; A = airport food (en route to Nebraska)
Dinner: G = Mac and cheese, turkey burger, apple

Friday
Breakfast: Fiber One cereal, yogurt
Lunch: Eat at work
Dinner: Brat, potato salad, banana

Menu Monday

For the last week, we've been trying to up the protein we consume during breakfast. It's a bit more time consuming, but the longer it's part of routine, the easier it will be. At least that's what I tell myself.

Monday
Breakfast: G = one slice Canadian bacon, one slice cheddar cheese, one scrambled egg sandwiched between a toasted wholewheat English muffin; A = yogurt with flax, 1/2 bagel
Lunch: A + G = Pasta salad (3/4 cup mini penne, chopped tomatoes and feta tossed in light Italian dressing), pear and string cheese. G also had cookies and a juice box.
Dinner: G= Turkey burger, A= veggie burger, steamed broccoli and carrots, roasted potatoes

Tuesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: G= Turkey burger, A= veggie burger; veggies

Wednesday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Chicken enchiladas (from the most recent Food Network magazine)

Thursday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: G = tuna fish sandwich, yogurt, chips and salsa, apple, cookie; A = leftovers
Dinner: leftover enchiladas

Friday
Breakfast: Same as Monday
Lunch: Same as Thursday
Dinner: Salad and pizza

Saturday
Breakfast: Fiber One raisin bran

Menu Monday

Sunday
Lunch: Cheesecake Factory, where I broke the rules and had the grilled cheese sandwich with fries. I'm hoping our afternoon of tennis, jogging on the treadmill and yoga crunches help to burn those extra calories.
Dinner: Yogurt and an apple. We had homemade rhubarb crisp for dessert - yummy.

Monday
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel + OJ + banana
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich, yogurt, fruit, cookies, something salty.
Dinner: I'm having dinner with a friend (and her family) who's receiving her MPH tomorrow afternoon. G will dine on a turkey burger, leftover whole wheat pasta and leftover cheesecake.

Tuesday
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel + OJ + banana
Lunch: Peanut butter and honey sandwich, yogurt, fruit, cookies, something salty.
Dinner: Cheese tortellini, steamed broccoli, apple.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Fiber One raisin bran (sooooo good)
Lunch: Peanut butter and honey sandwich, yogurt, fruit, cookies, something salty.
Dinner: We have a band concert and the group we are playing for provides us with free beer and brats for dinner. I'll probably have a sandwich and some yogurt before we go to the concert. G will feast on free food.

Thursday
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel + OJ + banana
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich, yogurt, fruit, cookies, something salty.
Dinner: General Tso's Chicken, steamed broccoli, whole wheat rice.

Friday
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel + OJ + banana
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich, yogurt, fruit, cookies, something salty.
Dinner: Pizza, carrots, apple.

Saturday
Breakfast: Fiber One raisin bran
Our plans for lunch and dinner are open - we might have company.

* G has requested egg salad sandwiches almost every other week for the past month and a half. I've been messing around with recipes and we found one that he loves:

4 eggs
1.5 - 2 tablespoons olive oil-based mayonnaise (I start with 1 and add dollops until it is just
slightly moist)
1/2 bunch of chives, diced
1 1/2 stalks of celery, cut lengthwise into three strips and then diced.
salt and pepper to taste

Super simple. G thinks it's divine. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of chives at first, but quickly discovered that he really likes the way they taste.

We only had one egg left, so last night I made enough for one sandwich - everyone should start the week with a good lunch, right? It'll give him something to look forward to this morning. I'll pick up some eggs later in the week and make another batch for the rest of the week.

Menu Monday

Is this the the healthiest meal plan I've put together? Absolutely not. But it's not horrible...and all of the meals are easy and things we like! By the way, the smoothies we made for breakfast last week offered a perfect start to our days. They're really good and taste awesome. They're also really filling. Try them (with a little less OJ than the recipe I linked recommends)!

Sunday
Lunch: Leftovers (we ended up going out for Indian last night with friends instead of going to Tommy Chicago's - it was fabulous)
Dinner: Something we like to pretend is healthy: tater tots topped with organic refried beans, tomatoes, cheese and salsa. We know it's not the healthiest dinner in the world, but we love it and we're pretty sure it's better than this.

Monday
Breakfast: Peach and banana smoothies, peanut butter toast
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich (Last week I managed to screw up the eggs - hard to do, but I still did it), yogurt, organic chips and salsa, cookies
Dinner: Leftovers from Sunday

Tuesday
Breakfast: Peach and banana smoothies, peanut butter toast
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Whole wheat spaghetti with turkey sausage tomato sauce, garlic bread, beans

Wednesday
Breakfast: Peach and banana smoothies, peanut butter toast
Lunch: Same as Monday and Tuesday
Dinner: Same as Tuesday, but with peas (don't tell G - he hates peas, but he'll eat them if he doesn't know they're coming)

Thursday
Breakfast: Fiber One Cereal
Lunch: PBJ, rest the same as earlier in the week
Dinner: Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches

Friday
Breakfast: Fiber One Cereal
Lunch: PBJ, rest the same as earlier in the week
Dinner: Whatever my parents are eating

Saturday
Breakfast: Fiber One
Lunch: Whatever my parents are eating
Dinner: Ditto lunch

Menu Monday

One of the good things about being in grad school is that you still get to enjoy spring break. I missed mine, however, because of the substitute teaching gig. The good news is that the school I'm working at is on spring break this week. Awesome, right? Well, today and tomorrow will be awesome. Wednesday through Saturday? I'll be grading exams for my adviser. [I really can't complain, though, as my grading job helps to make a nice dent in my student loans.] I'm going to spend today and Tuesday cleaning and reading for school. For as much as I love my current job, I'm looking forward to investing some time into my school work. Wednesday through Friday I'll be power grading so I can catch bus back to the TC to spend some time with my husband.

On to Menu Monday!

Sunday
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothies (minus the whey protein and flax - which I'll pick up next weekend)
Lunch: Organic rosemary garlic potato wedges (leftover) and chicken (the leftovers were used later that night)
Dinner: Chicken and sweet pea risotto (my favorite), pear

Monday
Breakfast: Fruit smoothies, eggs
Lunch: (for G - I'll eat leftovers at home) Egg salad sandwich, veggie chips, cookie, fruit, yogurt.
Dinner: Homemade pasta, vegetable tomato sauce (Newman's tomato basic with yellow squash and spinach), cheese slices

Tuesday
Breakfast: Fruit smoothies, eggs
Lunch: Same as Monday
Dinner: Slow cooked chicken and dumplings (this will be perfect dish to cook considering what the weatherpeople are forecasting and it will make dinner plans easier for G for the rest of the week)

Wednesday
Breakfast: Nutrigrain waffles, banana
Lunch: Same as Monday and Tuesday
Dinner: Leftovers from Tuesday

Thursday
Breakfast: Nutrigrain waffles, banana
Lunch: PBJ sandwich, rest the same as Monday
Dinner: Fish, au gratin potatoes, apple (from the box, so easy to make!)

Friday
Breakfast: Nutrigrain waffles, banana
Lunch: Same as Thursday
Dinner: Fish, leftover potatoes

Saturday
Breakfast: Nutrigrain waffles
Lunch: Fish, veggie chips, fruit
Dinner: Tommy Chicago's ** One of G's favorite places in the TC. If anyone's around this Saturday night, drop me a line. You should join us!

G's fending for himself from Wednesday to Saturday. He hates cooking (but I think he's actually pretty good at it!) so I try to come up with meal plans that involve foods that he loves and are easy to make. He has a super busy schedule this week, so the fish - which he can bake in the oven - and the potatoes should be both quick and easy for him to make.

Groceries for the week? Just under $60, but that's because I decided to buy some good chicken stock instead of the bouillon cubes. For some reason I decided to read the ingredient list on the back of the bouillon cube package and realized they included MSG, which is something my physician has told me to try and avoid. Our recipes this week called for 8 cups of chicken broth, so it ended up being a little pricey.

Menu Monday

It's a little late, but at least I'm posting it on Monday, right?

Sunday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Homemade tortellini, chicken sausage tomato sauce

Monday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: PBJ, veggie crisps, yogurt, snack
Dinner: Dinner with my parents

Tuesday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: PBJ, veggie crisps, yogurt, snack
Dinner: Leftover tortellini and sauce, pear

Wednesday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich, yogurt, veggie crisps, snack
Dinner: Chicken stir-fry (from Trader Joe's), whole wheat rice, pear

Thursday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich, yogurt, veggie crisps, snack
Dinner: Chicken stir-fry (from Trader Joe's), whole wheat rice, pear

Friday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: PBJ, veggie crisps, yogurt, snack
Dinner: Grilled cheese and soup, pear

Saturday

Breakfast: Fiber One, 1/2 banana, OJ
Lunch: Grilled cheese and soup, pear
Dinner: Open

Our grocery receipts came in around $55 for the week. Not too bad. We even bought some new yogurt for G. He found an ad for Fage Greek yogurt with honey in last week's New Yorker and actually went to the grocery store with me to make sure I didn't forget to buy it. It's a little pricey, but he thinks it's awesome. He let me try a spoonful and I have to agree. Anyone else tried it?

Menu Monday

For lack of more interesting things to post - and because I mentioned our weekly menu planning - I've decided to post our menu for this week.

Sunday:

[Breakfast] Oatmeal and OJ
[Lunch] Leftovers
[Supper] Homemade chicken chow mein, whole wheat rice, cheese slices, 1/2 banana

Monday:

[Breakfast] Nutrigrain waffles, 1/2 banana, OJ
[Lunch] Egg salad (G)/peanut butter (A) sandwich, yogurt, carrots, cookie
[Supper] Chicken chow mein, whole wheat rice, cheese slices, 1/2 banana

Tuesday:

[Breakfast] Peanut butter & honey toast, 1/2 banana, OJ
[Lunch] Egg salad (G)/peanut butter (A) sandwich, carrots, applesauce, cookie
[Supper] Vegetarian chili, rosemary garlic rolls, 1/2 apple

Wednesday:

[Breakfast] Oatmeal, OJ
[Lunch] Peanut butter & jelly, yogurt, carrots, cookie
[Supper] Vegetarian chili, rosemary garlic rolls, 1/2 apple

Thursday:

[Breakfast] Nutrigrain waffles, 1/2 banana w/ peanut butter, OJ
[Lunch] Peanut butter & jelly, applesauce, carrots, cookie
[Supper] Minestrone, rosemary garlic rolls, cheese slices, 1/2 apple

Friday:

[Breakfast] Nutrigrain waffles, 1/2 banana w/ peanut butter, OJ
[Lunch] Peanut butter & jelly, yogurt, carrots, cookie
[Supper] Minestrone, rosemary garlic rolls, 1/2 apple

Saturday:

[Breakfast] Fiber One cereal, OJ
[Lunch] Leftover vegetarian chili
[Supper] Open