Six day meal plan

Most of you know how crazy I am about the food my family eats daily. I'm somewhat neurotic about it, but that's another story. Food plays such a huge role in how we feel about ourselves, inside and out. Without a weekly plan, it's easy to become overwhelmed and find comfort in the drive thru. And you know what? The drive thru is ok too. I love some Chic-Fil-A; I'll be the first to tell you. If I could marry it, I would. But that's just weird and creepy...so let's change the subject back to good food. The point is, live your life. Eat junk, but eat it moderately. Don't get frustrated if you have a bad food day or meal, it's really no big deal. Eating healthy shouldn't be a DIET, it should just simply be eating.

So, for my dear friends, I'll post my dinner menus weekly for you to take a gander at and use what you want. Feel free to skip over anything crazy that you're not into or not willing to try (yet...because you'll eventually try it. LOL! Or I'll find you!) I'll try to also post snack/treat ideas too, but most of my recipes for that require what some people would consider obscure ingredients and don't have on hand regularly. My pantry/fridge is always stocked with weirdness, so I have the ability to whip anything up when I get a hankering for something. Did I really just say hankering? Who am I??

Ok, ok. Here's your six day forecast - my personal menu may change, dependent on whether I have time to cook that night's meal/Chase's crazy 'tude...I may switch days around, switch sides around with other things if a veggie is about to go bad, or not cook it at all. However, I always make a plan, otherwise I just wander around the kitchen aimlessly.

Day 1
Salmon patties with homemade mayo/mustard sauce

Maple Brussels sprouts and apples

Mashed potatoes (I generally do sweet, but used regular ones here)

*Notes: Salmon patties were ordered from US Wellness Meats, I'm sure you can get them from a regular 'ol market, but I like knowing my meat is GMO/crap free/raised humanely/and wild/pastured.
You can just mix store bought mayo and dijon mustard to make sauce or use whatever you want.
I omitted cranberries in the sprouts/apples. I didn't have any on hand, but I bet it would have been delish!
When I mash my regular potatoes, I mix in butter, a bit of raw milk, and sour cream.

Day 2
Skirt steak with chive butter

Sautéed kale in butter

Mashed parsnip and carrots


*Notes: I pretty much did everything that the person did with the skirt steak. I didn't have a butternut squash on hand, so I made mashed parsnip and carrots instead.
I don't follow the kale recipe linked, I just make it up as I go. However, this will give you a starting idea of how to cook it and you can deviate as you see fit.

Day 3
Lemon chicken

Crockpot broccoli

*Notes: I use chicken breast instead of thighs. Know that if you chose breast over thighs (or any other bone in cut) that you have to pay attention to cook time as your meat will dry out. I also use dried herbs/spices versus fresh.

Day 4
We typically do a pizza night in our house on Friday nights. So, for the sake of keeping up with that, I'm going to throw in a pizza date here. I use store bought dough (yup, I sure do!) and I make pizza sauce from organic ingredients.
You can also buy pizza sauce, Muir Glen makes a delish organic pizza sauce and their cans are now BPA free. Wooo!! Go crazy with whatever you want on your pizza.
I generally throw whatever leafy green we have in the fridge (kale, spinach, chard) on it, with cheese and pepperoni. I buy Hormel nitrite free pepperoni and Organic Valley Italian blend cheese for this.
I know, I know. I use a crappy, grain filled pizza crust with all these awesome things. I have zero desire to make a crust myself and almond flour crusts don't do it for me. Enough rambling.

Day 5
Taco scramble

*Notes: You can always use a tortilla shell, but we'll opt out. Well, I'll opt out. Steve will probably use a shell.
Also, you can buy the packet of taco seasoning, BUT it probably has junk in it to preserve it. Read the ingredients, but I'm sure it's crap. I make my own seasoning. Using THIS recipe. It's easy to double or triple and just keep it in an air tight container for later use.

Day 6
Bacon apple crockpot chicken

Steamed broccolini (baby broccoli)

*Notes: You can either use jarred BBQ sauce of your choice (read the ingredients) or make your own. I've done both with this recipe and I can say I prefer making my own using THIS recipe. There is no recipe really for steaming broccolini. Throw it in the steamer, squeeze a little lemon over it, steam until desired tenderness.

Sweet Treats
I try to always make one or two sweets a week, because I. LOVE. TREATS. A lot. I may not always make them, but I like to have a couple in mind, so if I'm missing any ingredients I can get them on my weekly market trip.

Pumpkin Ice Cream
Chocolate Bark

*Notes: I've never made the chocolate bark before, so I can't give much info on it. Let's just hope for the best.

*FINAL NOTES: Next week's plan won't be this intricate or long. I promise. I just felt the need to ramble and over explain. I won't continue to do that - unless requested. Also, I know that it's not possible to always use the absolute best ingredients, but please make an effort to just READ the ingredients you're using. I make every effort to limit my use of canned/jarred/boxed/etc items. In fact, I rarely shot in the center of the market...except the baking aisle. Gets me every time. Be aware of GMOs  in your food (which if it's boxed, it has GMOs) and stay away from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and other artificial sweeteners. Contrary to the popular American diets, fat is good for you, so you will see me using FULL fat milk, sour cream, cheese, etc. However, they will be quality, full fats. Also, stay away from canola and vegetable oil, stuff will kill you. Here's a list of safe oils to cook with.

If you're interested in the diet that I LOOSELY follow, you can google Weston A Price or Primal/Paleo diets.

Ok, that's it! I swear. Did you even read this far? If you did, you're dedicated and you're my new BFF. Once again, next week's plan will not be this long. I'll stop over explaining. If you would like for me to include a grocery list, I can do that too. Just let me know!

XOXO