Weekly Menu Plan – Week of April 18

I’m posting this week’s weekly menu plan a little early because tomorrow, I will be doing my post for April in the Raw.  In case you haven’t been following, April in the Raw is a month long blog event created by my friend Brittany over at Real Sustenance and featuring inspiring raw food recipes from 29 different bloggers.  The recipes have all looked wonderful and I think I just might try every single recipe myself during the month of May!

Monday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (I don’t typically follow recipes for smoothies, I just throw an apple, a banana, some frozen berries, broccoli, greens like Kale or cabbage, 1 cup of Tart Cherry or Pomegranate Juice and 3 cups of water into my Vitamix and let it rip.  The fruit overpowers the broccoli and greens every time and my kids are none the wiser!), Homemade Breakfast Sausage from Macheesmo and Nutty Nola from Lexie’s Kitchen

My boys’ Lunch: Applegate Farms Turkey Bologna Rollups, Carrots and Snap Peas with Hummus from Six Food Tolerance (I omit the Tahini), Homemade Sweet Potato Chips and Fresh Strawberries. Homemade Beef Jerky and Marcona Almonds for snacks (I buy raw nuts and “roast” them myself in my dehydrator, there are several benefits in doing this and The Nourishing Gourmet explains it well in this post).

Dinner: Thai Beef Salad from Taste.com.au (I will use olive oil instead of sesame, and omit the peanuts. If I can’t find Kaffir Lime leaves at my local asian market, I’ll try using lime zest instead).

Dessert: Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes from Elana Amsterdam’s new cookbook, Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour (I will use carob since we cannot have chocolate)

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie, Breakfast Sausage and leftover Nutty Nola

My Boys’ Lunch: Diestel Turkey Pastrami Rollups, Homemade Apple Chips, Homemade Strawberry Coconut Milk Yogurt and Orange Slices.  Beef Jerky and Homemade Roasted Sunflower Seeds for snacks.

Dinner: Grain/Gluten-Free Fish Sticks from Life as a Plate (I will omit the Parmesan and use chia ‘eggs’), Spring Slaw from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Dessert: Leftover Vegan Carob Cupcakes

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie and Breakfast Sausage

My Boys’ Lunch: Smoked Salmon (don’t ask me how, but for some reason my boys love smoked salmon!) with Tomato Basil Hummus and Grain-Free Almond Crackers from Caveman Food (I will use a ‘chia’ egg), Broccoli Slaw from Smitten Kitchen (I will use my GF/DF/EF/SF/CF Ranch Dressing), Apple slices with Homemade Macadamia Nut Butter.

Dinner: Sloppy Joes from Allrecipes (I’m going to try turning these into burgers, since we can’t have bread.  I will use coconut sugar instead of the brown sugar called for and use Homemade Ketchup from Serious Eats, using coconut nectar instead of brown sugar), Sweet Potato Fries, leftover Broccoli Slaw

Dessert: Fresh Mixed Berries

Thursday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie, Breakfast Sausage

My Boys’ Lunch: Left over Yeast-Free Crock-Pot Chicken Taco Chili (from my April 4 menu plan, thawed from the freezer), Raw Veggies with Hummus and Fresh Blackberries.  Beef Jerky and Homemade Roasted Sunflower Seeds for snacks.

Dinner: Seared Chicken Salad with Green Beans, Almonds and Dried Cherries from Martha Stewart.com

Dessert: Fried Plantains from Tasty Eats at Home (I’ve never had a fried plantain before!).

Friday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie, Wellshire Farms Dry-Rubbed Applewood Smoked Bacon (it’s free of gluten, dairy/casein, corn and soy)

My Boys’ Lunch (Good Friday, no school): Applegate Farms Organic Grass-Fed Beef Hot Dogs, left over Grain-Free Almond Crackers, Red and Green Kraut from Healthy Green Kitchen, Apple Slices.  Beef Jerky and Homemade Roasted Walnuts for snacks.

Dinner: Almond-Crusted Salmon, Alyson’s Broccoli Salad from Allrecipes using this recipe for Corn-free, Egg-free, Soy-free Mayo (I’ve updated the recipe with a grain-free option)

Dessert: Hazelnut Brownies from Lexie’s Kitchen (I will use carob)

Saturday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothies, Bacon

Lunch: Leftovers from the week

Dinner: Chicken Paprika from The Spunky Coconut and Blood Orange, Kale and Avocado Salad from Healthy Green Kitchen

Dessert: Fresh Organic Strawberries (my friend Elana wrote a “must-read” article about the importance of organic strawberries over at Elana’s Pantry).

Easter Sunday:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie

Lunch: Left overs from the week

Dinner: Baked Semi-Boneless Half Ham from Wellshire Farms (it’s free from: gluten, dairy/casein, corn and soy) Olive Oil, Caramelized Onion, and Sage Mashed Sweet Potatoes from Food Blogga, Roasted Asparagus, Spring Salad with Tangy Vinaigrette from Martha Stewart

Dessert: Rhubarb Crisp (using the “crisp” from this Peach Crisp recipe over at Elana’s Pantry)

I have an exceptionally crazy week ahead of me (I have no earthy idea what the Easter Bunny will be bringing my boys since candy is currently off the table), so I’m going to do as much food prep as possible today for this week’s menu plan.  Due to the fact that we eat mostly fresh, organic foods, I shop twice a week, Sundays and Wednesdays to reduce waste from spoilage.

Today’s grocery list will be for items needed up until Wednesday morning and I will wash, spin dry and chop all the smoothie greens and store them in a zip-top bag so they are easy to grab and throw in my Vitamix.  I also wash, dry, chop and bag my broccoli, cabbage, green beans, etc. but I never wash fresh berries until right before I use them so they don’t become mushy.

Three things that I do every night before I go to bed (to reduce the morning mayhem before getting the boys off to school and so I can sleep in a few extra minutes!):

1. Make the following morning’s green smoothies
2. Portion out our vitamins/probiotics
3. Make my boys’ lunches

Sunday Food Prep:

Make this weeks’ Breakfast Sausage Patties and freeze.

Make Nutty Nola, Hummus, Spring Slaw, Vegan Carob Cupcakes, Macadamia Nut Butter, Almond Crackers, Ranch Dressing and Ketchup.

What are your favorite time-saving tips in the kitchen?