Menu Plan Monday 2/13-2/19

I must confess something. I don't always follow my own advice! I wrote this post which outlines a schedule of sorts to follow when planning meals for the week. While I think that is a great idea and I tried it for a few weeks, I quickly realized that it just doesn't work for us. I was disappointed, at first, because I wanted to do what I thought was the MOST ORGANIZED WAY EVER to plan meals. I was forcing myself to find soup for Tuesday and sandwiches for Thursday and whining my way through making homemade pizza on Saturday nights until I realized...hey, I don't HAVE to follow that schedule. I am imposing that on myself...nobody is standing in my kitchen, judging me on the fact that I am serving my family soup on Thursday instead of Tuesday. Whew...what a relief that was!

I do still plan a crockpot meal for Monday nights because I am gone all day doing laundry, but I do not stress if I am not serving the meal that corresponds with the day in my thematic menu planning. And, you know what, I am pretty sure I am more fun to be around because of it. Silly me, stressing over getting dinner on the table.

Here is our plan for this week...

Breakfast

• Soaked oatmeal and fruit x 5
• Whole wheat heart shaped cinnamon rolls and fruit
• Soaked whole wheat pancakes, bacon and fruit

Lunch

• Leftovers and smoothies x 4 (for me)
• Standard lunch x 4 (for hubby)
• Valentine's lunch (Kerry is planning this!)
• Hot dogs, chips and fruit
• Church lunch

Dinner

• Unstuffed cabbage rolls, whole wheat biscuits and fruit (recipe below!)
• Leftovers x 2
• Stir fry, mashed potatoes and fruit
• Spud special soup, whole wheat biscuits and fruit
• Meat and potato meal, whole wheat biscuits and fruit
• Popcorn and smoothies

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

 

Kerry LOVES cabbage rolls, but they are SO time consuming. I made them the traditional way a few times before Julian came along, but now that I have a baby to keep an eye on, I don't really have the time to devote to traditional cabbage rolls. Enter the unstuffed cabbage rolls!

1 lb. ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

4-5 c. cabbage, shredded

1 can tomato sauce

1/4 c. sucanat (you can use brown sugar)

3 tbs. apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. onion powder 

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 c. cooked brown rice

In a crockpot set to low, layer the ingredients in order given. Put the lid on and cook for 4 hours. Add cooked rice and stir. Put the lid back on and cook for another 4 hours on low. 

Menu Plan Monday