My Plans for the Year: 1st, No More Boring Meals

Hey, beloveds! I hit a wall in a couple of different ways this past week, toward the end. I think going to from rest to daily blog posts in what felt like 60 seconds is taking more out of me than I expected. I believe I will take weekends off from now on. The other wall was about this month's blog plan. I had an outline planned for each week & when I looked at it to start this post, I thought "meh." So I now have a plan for this week only, which is to tell you more about what I intend for my year, and then, maybe share how each part might benefit you.

A Break from the Routine

Confession: in many ways, I actually like routines. I get up in the morning and have a cup of tea. After we eat, my son and I do homeschooling. I read for a bit when we finish, and then, sit myself in front of my laptop.

But, as I said last week, our meal routines are boring us both. Our food budget is limited, so there are some meals that are both easy and cheap that we will keep out of necessity. But if I can add some excitement every other day or so, that will help tremendously to make dinner - and possibly, even breakfast & lunch - much less boring.

In order to do that, though, I need to create our meal plans in advance, and not just with an eye to honoring the budget. And, as I mentioned, I'd like to add some health without displeasure. 

My Meal Planning Solution

Last week, I mentioned that I purchased the Healthy Meal Planning Bundle.

With over 1000 recipes and tons of meal planning help, I am sure I will have what I need to start our meal planning adventure.

I put off digging into it, though, until this weekend, since last week's meals were already taken care of, and am just beginning to look through it now. I like broccoli, and a doctor once told me it's so good for you, we should it all be eating it every day (every day?? Probably not), so I wanted to find a couple of meal ideas with broccoli in them first.

Dinner for a Dollar

My budget is LOW, so the first thing I started reading in the bundle was Dinner for a Dollar. It starts with the author's story about a child with food allergies, and how they were convinced that planning meals around that had to be expensive, so it was. Then, she slashed their budget and got it down to dinner for a dollar per person (they are a family of 6). I recommend checking out her advice on how to reduce your grocery spending if your family is on a budget, too. I love what she says about not wasting money on "the food of good intentions." LOL! 

 Vegetarian Meals + Salads and Sides

If you’re the type of vegetarian eater who loves big flavors and
lots of variety, you’ll love these meal ideas. Each week contains a variety of ingredients so you never get tired of eating the same meals over and over again.

Gotta admit I struck gold here, because most of these meals are easy to make for myself and my son can add meat to his. Do you remember what I said last week about salads? But the Sides part was awesome. I'm looking at these, so far...

Broccoli with Garlic Lime Butter
Deeply Flavorful Baked Sweet Potato
Simple Vegetables and Rice Pilaf
Slow Cooker Crockpot Baked Potatoes
Garlic Parmesan Roasted Vegetables
Simple Potato Salad

I think potato salad might be tricky for me - I tried it once and it wasn't quite right. I'm kind of picky about tastes, but I guess I'll try again, and see how it goes.

Have you ever made quiche? And if so, will you tell me the secret? :)

Soup's On

 
My son is not as in love with soups as I am during fall and winter, but he can be appeased by adding meat to his, draining out a bit of the liquid, and calling it stew. Soups are comforting to me, and I'd like to have a big bowl with a roll on the side at least a couple of times a week. Like these...

Cheesy Cream of Broccoli Soup
Fully Loaded Baked Potato Soup
5-Ingredient Broccoli Cheese Soup
Chunky Cheese and Vegetable Soup
Poor Man's Potato Soup
Roasted Vegetable Soup
Spicy Tortilla Soup

There's a recipe called "The Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make" that can go with these soups. And I haven't included the meat dinner recipes or soups, but there are tons of them. My son will be interested in the beef, hamburger and chicken ones.

Which soups do you like?

Breakfast for Dinner

About once a week or so, we eat breakfast for dinner, usually on the weekends. My son tells me he'd eat cereal all day long if I'd let him. But we have fun with breakfast for dinner, so I thought I'd look for a few different recipes we can try. The Breakfast book has 147 pages of recipes. I don't need that many, but I do want to try some of them - they all seem so yummy...

Baked French Toast
Breakfast Fried Rice
Easy Breakfast Quiche
Egg and Broccoli Muffins
Freezer Friendly Thick & Fluffy Waffles
Hearty Breakfast Casserole
Loaded Breakfast Biscuits
Kid-Friendly Sweet Potato Breakfast Bake
Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole
3-Ingredient Pancakes
Vanilla-Spiked Protein Pancakes

I have to admit that these might be the recipes I am most excited to try. Do you ever eat breakfast for dinner?

I'd like to try the protein pancakes for breakfast sometime.

I love quiche and there were several recipes for it, but I have never tried to make it myself. There's a restaurant here that serves it for breakfast and it's delicious. Perhaps, I'll give it a try at home.

Have you ever made quiche?

The Healthy Meal Planning Bundle

If you'd like to try any of these recipes, yourself, they are all available in the Healthy Meal Planning Bundle.

I bought it and joined as an affiliate, so if you buy it through one of my links, I will get a bit more to add to my "no more boring meals" budget. :)

See you tomorrow!

Love, Jeanine