Let’s talk about meal planning today! Something that I always struggle with, getting meals on the table day after day for dinner and now that I’m newly married, I’m cooking more than ever, so I will probably be sharing more recipes with y’all that I find along the way.
I’d love to hear how you meal plan and what shortcuts or tips you use to make the meal planning and meal cooking a little easier and smoother. My man isn’t demanding at all about what I cook or how often I cook, but it’s way more economical to eat at home than it is to eat out all the time. We did a lot of eating out while we were dating, but with a house and more expenses, we are more aware of how much we go out now. The fact is, eating out costs more $$ than cooking at home, plus you can be more mindful of ingredients if you eat at home.
I’m not on any diet bandwagon these days. I’ve tried Paleo and couldn’t stick to it. The no bread or grains got me, not that I eat bread every day, it was just hard to cut out those things completely. So at this point I don’t have one way of eating that I always follow, I just try to cook “fairly” healthy most of the time and eat real foods. I’m not that mindful of calories or fat, we need a certain amount of both in our diets, so I just try to eat real food and not a lot of boxed things. I don’t always adhere to that, but it’s been a good rule of thumb. I still use some shortcut items, like some mixes and things, but overall I try to just eat real food. I’m not an expert at all though, but sharing some of the recipes I’ve tried and we liked is something I thought y’all might enjoy too.
My friend Debbie, told me about a Panko chicken thigh recipe that she makes for her family and I decided I’d try it too and this one is so easy and we really loved the flavors. I’m not sure that Panko bread crumbs are all that healthy (probably not, unfortunately good tasting things are usually bad for us!), but it really did taste good and a bit like fried chicken, which I definitely don’t ever make. Oven fried is better for us. I used skin on chicken thighs.
It just takes 3 ingredients to make this one. I picked up Panko bread crumbs and buttermilk. Debbie soaks hers overnight in buttermilk, but I hardly ever plan that far in advance. Am I the only one? I soaked mine about an hour and then dipped into the Panko. She added Cajun seasoning to the Panko, so I did that too to jazz up the flavor a bit.
After dipping in the Panko, they look like this. Debbie cooks hers on parchment paper, but I didn’t have any and I did find that they tend to get soggy on the bottom and not crispy on that side, so I’ll have to keep working with it to figure that out. I even heated up my pizza stone in the oven and then added the chicken on top of the hot stone, but that didn’t completely crisp it up on the bottom. But that being said, it tasted great!
Cook them on 400° for 1 hour and they will get crispy and brown. They could have gotten a little more brown than this, but this was after an hour, so they are definitely cooked through.
I served them with oven sweet potatoes and broccoli.
It was a delicious meal and Mark loved it too. Anytime I can find something that he loves, I’ll definitely add it to the rotation. He’s not a super picky eater, but he doesn’t love a lot of veggies, so I try to find things he will eat and love. The chicken was a big hit and we both loved it. He’s a meat and rice kind of guy.
The crispy Panko was so tasty and I loved picking at the crust and eating all those brown favorful bits. This is just a little something different to do with chicken, so I’m always on the lookout for more chicken recipes.
I’d love to hear some of your tried and true favorite recipes and how do you figure out what to meal plan each week? It’s hard isn’t it?? I’m going to start a list of our favorite meals and start them on rotation. I already have a few going and need to get more that we both love so add to the rotation. I’ll share them with you when I find more. I have another one that I’ll share soon that we both fell in love with too. Another one that I’ve shared before is Lemon Garlic Shrimp pasta, I shared that one over a year ago after I saw it on Facebook and it has become one of our go-to’s and Mark asks for that one. I love how easy it is to put together too. I tweaked it from the original recipe and added a few more ingredients to suit us. The last time I made this one I added some half and half to the tomatoes to make it a little bit creamy and it was delish.
We all have to eat every single day, so what do you do to shake it up and make good healthy meals? I’d love to hear!
My husband isn’t picky either and doesn’t mind leftovers. Considering I work 3 nights a week, this is very helpful. We love soup. Here is my favorite soup. Creamy Black Bean Chicken Soup. I will serve if with a fruit sàlad and tortilla chips. Very easy and delicious!
Creamy Black Bean Chicken Soup.
INGREDIENTS
2 chicken breasts
1 cup chicken broth
1 can seasoned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 cup sour cream
Tortilla Chips
Place chicken in crock pot. Pour broth, beans, corn, salsa, and taco seasoning over chicken.
Cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 3 hours).
Shred chicken and add sour cream 30 min. Before serving
I like to make a blackberry balsamic marinade for chicken. I use dijon mustard, mashed blackberries (just slightly with a fork), balsamic vinegar, a bit of honey, then your fave spices & herbs. Mix well, pour over the chicken & turn to coat, leave to marinate several hours to overnight. Then either bake in the oven or grill. This is always a big hit whether here at home for my husband & my mom, with the granddaughter who is 5, and also my in-laws all really enjoy this one & have requested it several times.
I’ve also used nearly the same for my lamb, though for that one I do a bit less on the mustard, add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and then otherwise I make it the same. We do love lamb here!
Chelle, that sounds delicious too. It definitely help to marinate chicken (or any meat) before cooking, but that’s something I hardly ever think about the day before.
I make fried rice and it is healthy and easy. I buy the Uncle Bens Brown Rice in the microwavable pouch .(use 2 pouches)
and also buy some Chungs egg rolls to serve with it. This makes enough for 2 nights. Cook several pieces of bacon in a skillet until crispy. Drain most of fat off but leave the bottom covered . Dice carrots, onion and celery and add to the bacon fat. Cook till tender. Add the crumbled up bacon back to the mixture and then add your cooked rice. Add soy sauce to taste. Delish! I used to make this with chicken but we like the bacon flavor better.
I have used corn flakes instead of panko and had great luck…very flavorful too. Also, whenever I chop veggies and toss them in a bowl w/olive oil & balsamic vinegar (a sweet one) then marinate for 10 minutes before roasting…every single one gets eaten by some picky eaters around here…even me!
Hi, Cheryl Ann, I need to marinate my veggies more too and roast them, that would add a lot of flavor.
I just discovered pan tray meals. There are many to choose from butlowing, red potatoes, butternut squash,mushrooms, brocolli and smoked sausage all cut up to about the same size so they will cook at the same size. Toss in oil and then spread on a baking tray and bake 15 mins in a 400 degree over, flip or stir and the next bake another 20 minutes. Lots of ways to make these meals look at Pinterest.
Hey, Nancy, I just saw someone post a bunch of these and I pinned it, so I’ll go and take a look at those. That’s my kind of meal. All on one tray and cook at the same time.
you have to get an Instant Pot – I got one for Christmas – it is like the old fashioned pressure cooker with the jiggler (our Mom always made us leave the kitchen when she used it like it was going to blow the ceiling off or something) last night I made Chicken and Dumplings -it cooked the chicken in 3 minutes! it was really good and fast – and they have an Instant Pot hotline that is open until 10 PM – I’ve called it a couple of times as I learn how to use it, I love it!
Definitely love the Instant Pot. You could make a stew and keep out one meal’s worth….we do this….freeze the rest in 2 additional meals. Bring out and reheat a week or two later….it’s kind of like a new meal and not *leftovers*.
Hi, Sandy, I do not have an Instant Pot, but I keep hearing how good they are. I may have to consider getting one. I just didn’t want another gadget that just sits in my pantry that I don’t use, but sounds like these are really good.
I’m one of the lucky ones that after 35 years of marriage my husband has become the chef. He really enjoys cooking and serving me meals and he works from home, so it works out well. I do help with meal planning, though.
One tool I like is a website – plantoeat.com. I uploaded my frequently used recipes and also add recipes that I see on the web using a tool they have that is very easy to use. Once you have your recipes loaded you can drag what you want for each day to a calendar and it will create a shopping list for you for the time frame you select. You can edit the shopping list to omit items you already have. It is grouped by grocery store categories so it makes it very easy to shop. We don’t use the shopping list option every week, but depend on it when we are having guests in for a few days. I really like having all of my recipes easily accessible no matter where I am. Being able to add from the web gives a good place to gather inspiration when I want to try something new.
I have also used Hello Fresh – similar to Blue Apron. I have it on every 4 weeks delivery, and it is just a nice break from meal planning. We have found several recipes they provide that we have added to our rotation as well.
Hi, Kim, lucky you to have a cooking husband. That sounds like a good plan on the online meal planning site. I’m not sure I’d do all that, but it sounds like a good idea to keep things more organized.
Here is one of our favorite go-to recipes, perfect for any type of fish or even chicken…so easy and delicious.
BAKED HADDOCK
1 lb. haddock
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. mayonnaise
Place haddock in foil lined pan and sprinkle with lemon juice. Spread with mayonnaise and mustard, mixed together. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over all. Paprika to garnish. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until fish is flaky.
thanks, Rebecca, that does sound good. I’m trying to add more fish into our menu.
I originally found a recipe on the French’s French Fried Onion Rings. It was for chicken but works great for pork chops too. Crush the onion rings, dip the meat into a beaten egg & then into onion ring crumbs put on lightly greased pan & bake at 400 for 20 minutes.