Meal Planning: Busy Mom Style

Meal planning can sometimes feel like a fine art that seems impossible to master - but I am here to tell you it's not, and you can do it! Mom life is hard. It doesn't matter if you're a working mom, a stay at home mom, or even if you don't have kids but are still juggling all the things - meal planning and prepping can make for a much more peaceful, delicious and healthy week.

For next week's meal plan I am trying to keep everything under 30 minutes because, ain't nobody got time for that. When I do a meal plan, I am very conscious of the ingredients each recipe calls for. I don't want to waste something - especially if it's expensive, so I try and choose recipes that will use up the ingredients I need to buy. 

Menu

Sunday Meal Prep 
Chili Roasted Cashews
Thai-Basil Beef bowls
Hard-boiled eggs
Sweet potato hash
Paleo sweet potato chili (freeze or refrigerate for dinner later in the week)
Optional: Mexican Black Beans (probably depends on when in the week you plan to eat them)


Weeknight dinners
Tom Kha soup
Tacos
Pork-fried rice
Grilled salmon with avo salsa and Mexican black beans
Paleo sweet potato chili

Grocery List

Note: All ingredients in red are things I typically ALWAYS have available in the pantry and would likely not be on my grocery list. I suggest you look them over and cross off any you keep stocked and don't need to have cluttering your list!

Produce

• 5 Avocados (more if you want some with your hash)
• 5 Limes
• 1 tsp Onion powder
• 2 Red onions
• 2 White onion, small
• 4 yellow onions
• 1 bunch green onions
• 2 bunch Cilantro, fresh
• • Head of garlic
  • 2 Jalapeno peppers
  • 1 Jalapeno pepper, red (these seem to be hard to find, I used green and it was fine)
  • Ginger (fresh - get a larger piece as it's used in a few recipes)
  • 3 Bell peppers
  • 2 tomatoes
  • • 1 Lemongrass
    • 2 packages 8 oz Mushroom caps, white
    • • Bag or bunch of Carrots
      • 3 cups Leafy greens - bok choy
      • • 1 cup Basil, fresh leaves
        • 1 Basil, small fresh leaves
        • purple cabbage
        • 1 Seedless cucumber, medium
        • 2 cups Sugar snap peas
        • • 5 Sweet potatoes (1 pound), medium-sized
          • Head of cauliflower (optional, see taco information)

          
          
        • Seafood

          • 2 lbs Salmon
          • 
            

          Meat

          • 2 Chicken breasts, medium
          • 1/2 lb Ground pork (you could probably use a whole 1lb)
          • 1 1/2 lbs Ground beef, lean
          • 1 1/2 lbs 85% lean ground beef, lean
          • 1-2lbs ground turkey (depends how much taco meat you want)
          • 
            
  • Canned & Dry Goods
  • 
    

    • 2 cans Tomato sauce
    • 2-3 cans of tuna
  • 1 14.5oz canTomatoes
  • 2 15.5 oz cans Black beans
  • 1 4 oz can Green chiles
  • 
    

    • 4 cups Chicken broth
    • 4 cups Coconut cream or coconut milk, canned
    • 2 tsp Thai curry paste, red
    • Brown rice
    • Jasmine rice
    • Corn Tortillas
    • Refried or Pinto beans
    • 
      

Baking & Spices

• 1/2 tsp Ancho chili powder
• Paprika, powder
• Cumin, ground
• • Cayenne pepper
  • Chili powder
  • Oregano
  • Onion Powder
  • Garlic Powder
  • Red pepper flakes
  • Garlic Salt
  • Caldo De Tomate

  Coconut sugar (regular would be fine too)

  • 
    

Oils & Vinegars

• 1 tbsp Olive oil, light
• Vegetable oil (or bacon grease)
• Coconut Oil
• Vinegar
• 
  

Nuts & Seeds

• 3.5 cup cashews
• 
  

Dairy

Cojita Cheese (optional)

6-12 eggs (I know, not actually dairy)

Condiments

Fish Sauce

Soy Sauce

garlic chili sauce

Kraut (optional for hash)

Sunday Meal Prep Recipes

Tuna Stuffed Avocado
Drain and empty tuna in a bowl, mix in about 1 tablespoon of mayo, half of a diced red onion and some kraut if you wish (red beet kraut is my fave with this). Then store in a tuperware. When you are ready to eat, cut an avocado in half, fill with tuna mixture and serve.

Sweet Potato Hash
Peel and dice 3 sweet potatoes and add to pan with diced bell pepper, 1/2 diced red onion, some garlic and s&p. Cook until potatoes are soft. Put in Tuperware to eat throughout the week by itself, with toast or an egg. I also enjoy this with red beet kraut.

Hard-Boiled Eggs
Place 6-8 eggs in a pot, cover with water. Bring water to a boil. Once the water boils, let cook for 12 minutes. Remove from stove and rinse with cold water. These instructions will give you a well-done hard-boiled egg, if you like your yokes less cooked, take them out after 5-7 minutes of boiling.

Chili-Lime Cashews
https://healthylittlepeach.com/recipe/chili-lime-cashews/

**This recipe calls for Tajin, I would honestly not buy a spice that I may never use again. Here is a substitute for it (I plan to use what I have to make something similar):

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chili powder chipotle powder, or paprika*


1 teaspoon lime zest approximately 1/2 lime.


1/2 teaspoon ground cumin.


1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder.


1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.


1/4 teaspoon onion powder.


1/4 teaspoon ground coriander.


1/4 teaspoon salt.


1/8 teaspoon sugar

Thai-Basil Beef bowls
https://thecafesucrefarine.com/thai-basil-beef/

Crock-Pot Paleo Chili
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/58757970125111999/
Note: I am planning to eat this on Friday for an easy meal at the end of the week. If you are doing this, you should freeze and take out to thaw Friday morning or Thursday evening.

Meal Prep Tips

• If you have a rice cooker, get that started first 
• Chop all veggies before you start, it's time consuming - but probably the most tedious part of the process

Weeknight Dinner lineup

Tom Kha Soup

https://40aprons.com/tom-kha-soup-whole30/

Note: I would chop the lemongrass up smaller then the recipe says, I also added 2 drops food grade lemongrass essential oil (I love myself some lemongrass)

Taco Tuesday

• Pre-heat oven to 350 and place corn tortillas on a baking sheet. Let warm up in over for about 8 minutes. Depending on how many you want to make, you may need to do multiple batches. Another option would be to just heat in a pan. 
• Brown ground turkey with cumin, garlic salt, paprika, chili powder & Caldo De Tomate
• Chop onions & tomatoes
• Slice purple cabbage
• Mix 2 avocados with some garlic salt for guacamole (obviously however you usually make guacamole works, I feel like it's a personal preference)
• Heat up refried beans on the stovetop or in the microwave (or use pinto beans instead)
• OPTIONAL: clean and cut cauliflower in small pieces. Spread out on a baking sheet and toss with a tablespoon of avocado or olive oil. Season with cumin and garlic salt and roast. This is a good substitute for someone who doesn't eat meat, or it's honestly just a delicious side!
• You could serve with Cojita or cheddar cheese if you eat dairy
• Tip: I roasted the cauliflower, and prepared all of the veggies and grated the cheese long before it was dinnertime. You could do this in the morning before work or during the day whenever you have time. If took me under 20 minutes from start to finish including clean up! Then when it was time to actually cook dinner all I had to do was cook the meat, heat the beans and warm the tortillas (about 15 minutes)

Pork Stir-Fry

https://www.frugalnutrition.com/easy-ground-pork-stir-fry/

Grilled Salmon with Avo Salsa & Mexican Black Beans

https://www.thecookierookie.com/salmon-with-avocado/

https://www.adishofdailylife.com/2017/07/mexican-black-beans-recipe/

Note: I omit the cojita because we are dairy free.

Paleo Chili
If you froze the chili, take out to thaw in the morning and reheat!

Overwhelming Fixer Upper

If you are currently fixing up your fixer upper or thinking about buying one, you know just how overwhelming it can feel. When we started, we literally had 2600 square feet of the 60s. Talk about blast from the past! That's 15 rooms of old carpet, wallpaper, pink bathtubs, and finishes that I was less than fond of. But, our house has great bones and I knew we could make it beautiful. The only problem was wrapping my mind around designing each room (on a budget) and actually executing the plans. I get so easily distracted and overwhelmed, I needed all the help I could get.

My biggest tool - Pinterest! Not only did I use Pinterest for ideas, but I used it to pin things I found on various websites that I wanted to buy for each room. I used this as an organizational tool and what's nice, things can easily be deleted or changed. 

Check out my Pinterest board for our den: Alisa's Den Inspiration Board

You will see I have an inspiration room that I just LOVED the look of (see below) as well as other inspiration pieces and items to think about buying. 

Below: A little sneak peak of my Mom painting in the Den - wait until you see the finished product!

In a future post I will share the results of our Den (office) design and you can see how much I used my Pinterest board as a guideline. We still have a few more finishing touches before the big reveal. I did this with EVERY SINGLE ROOM in our home and it helps me stay on task. I refer to my Pinterest when I am garage saling, shopping sales or looking for specific items. That way I make sure I don't purchase anything that won't fit the style I have in mind. 

In a nutshell:

Step 1 - Take a deep breath and KNOW that by buying this project house you are making an investment for your future

Step 2 - Create a board for each room that needs fixing (in my case...ALL)

Step 3 - Start by finding an inspiration photo that helps you visualize the style and colors you are looking for (remember: you don't have to stick with every aspect of the inspiration photo, just see where it takes you)

Step 4 - Start researching paint colors, look for decor on the website's of your favorite stores and pin away

Step 5 - Put in a little sweat equity by removing wall paper, sanding/painting trim and painting the rooms you are improving

Step 6 - Step 5 takes a LONG time, but that's okay - because while I was completing the process I was able to shop around, look for deals and only buy things that I found good deals on and that were perfect for our space

 

Dining Room Before and After

Dining Room Before:

 Nasty smelly carpet, "retro" light fixture and 70s wallpaper - maybe this dining room was stylish about 50 years ago, but I am happy to see it go.



Dining Room After:

As you can see, we made a HUGE improvement, and I now feel good about inviting guests over for dinner. We still need to get white trim, but for now - I am one happy wife! 

Table: Made by my husband and stained with Ebony stain from Home Depot. This table took him a LONG time - maybe because he works 11 hour days. We were literally staining two days before Thanksgiving because we were hosting. Talk about procrastinators! The days of having guests eat at a picnic table in our dining are over. 

Chairs: Target and believe it or not, Goodwill. we already knew we wanted the metal chairs from Target and I just happened to be perusing at Goodwill and found a set of 2 still in the box in perfect shape. Turns out Goodwill and Salvation Army often get new merchandise from Target still in it's packaging. Since then, I have purchased a set of decorative mirrors, dishes, a vase and a bedding set all brand new and all from Goodwill/Salvation Army.

Rug: Lowes (and it was very cheap, thank goodness - seeing as our dogs use it to nap on).

Flowers; One of my go to centerpieces is Hydrangeas. They are simple, beautiful, long lasting and better yet - I can get them in my front yard! These are just placed in super cheap Ikea Vases and made a STUNNING Thanksgiving centerpiece. 

Hutch: Fred Meyer and massively marked down. We had been looking for ages and all of the hutches we found were $400+. We ended up getting this one on sale, plus used a 10% off coupon and got an additional 10% since this was the floor model. In the end it was around $239.

Love getting to show off my Grandma's copper she recently passed down to me

                                               

I keep all my vintage Pyrex and some special occasion items in the top for display

One of my Thanksgiving tables from last year (we had so many people we needed two) 

We still need to get white trim and figure out the window situation - either blinds or curtains. It gets quite sunny in the summer.

Home Sweet Home???

I can't believe it has been six months since we got the keys to our new (to us) home. Although it has been a half of a year, I still have a hard time calling it home. We lived in our first home for about two years and shared so many great memories there. It was newer, beautiful and completely functional. We got married while living in that home, I became a real life teacher and we got our first fur babies!

While this home is MUCH larger - it is also MUCH older (outdated, seriously...I am talking straight from the 70s!). After six months, I look around and feel overwhelmed. I feel like we have already done so much, yet, we still have so much work ahead of us.

Come along for the ride and see the improvements we make along the way. I warn you - there will be a lot of wallpaper standing in our way!

Here a few pictures of our when we bought it. You can see - there are some amazing parts to this house as well as a few eye sores.

Photos Taken from Zillow.com