Sucked into Summer & Back to School Scramble!

Panzanella Italian Bread Salad -
The Best Part being olive oil
Sauteed bread cubes - Mmm!

I hope everyone got sucked into summer as much as we did! The sun, the fun, the outdoors, fresh air, and fresh foods!  What is not to love?  This is most definitely my most thriving season of the year, and if I could bottle up the summertime mojo and open it up in February, I would gladly do so.

What has been everyone's favorite summer foods?  I've literally not planned one week's menu this summer, and it's been a nice respite.  Summer = Simple & Fresh... Grilled Goods,  Salads, Fresh vegetables and fruit are all in abundance. 

I'm hitting up the zucchini this week, along with all of the great tomatoes that are springing up everywhere... Heck I'm even making my peach galettes... fresh sliced peaches over pie crust, topped with little dabs of butter (or fake butter shh), and raw sugar to make a lovely little glaze - Very simple, very delicious - Drool worthy recipe below.

Back to School!!  1st Day of school will bring warm, baked oatmeal.  A quick trip to Trader Joe's is providing some fun dried peas, good granola bars and produce for the lunch boxes.. not to mention Trader Joe's O's (organic, non chemically jacked up spaghettios), because what is the point of school, if you can't bring a thermos of Spaghettios I ask you?  A run to Grocery Outlet has given us Annie's Bunny Grahams, Some tasty almond cashew Pops cereal, as well as some Kashi cereal. Now, I know I've heard about Kashi getting a bad rap about non-gmo's etc... But if given some perspective and my 'upgrade' philosophy.. are they still wayyyyyy better than all the junk cereal out there?  Yes they are - no question.

This school year, I will be continuing:

• Sunday Soup night with a vengeance (follow my Pinterest Soup board)
• Fridays - just crock it
• Wednesday's let's make it over the hump
• and making sure a sandwich night gets thrown in for good measure too.  

As mentioned before, I don't like to make a meal more than once, so by logging these weekly meal plans, as well as dating them - I hope to increase my repeat-worthy meals, save a little time, sanity and my family's adventurous palate (Oh Wow, another concoction Mom?).  I also like to slowly upgrade our food choices, increasing health, one switch at a time.

Meal Planning on the road. This weekend, while wanting to cram as much fun & activity as possible before back to school routines, commitments and homework commences - I decided to plan my meals while in the car.  I am not a think up something on your own kind of person - I need a lot of resources to get the ideas rolling. So, I broke out my stash of cooking magazines (Oh yes.. I did), and tore out (GASP) the recipes that looked good.  Hey, if you don't use them/tear them out/whatever - chances are, the magazines will collect dust and then eventually be put into recycling - So I'm using these puppies :)  I've tried to find the recipes online.. If I couldn't you'll find a photo of them linked to the recipe.

xoxo,
Meg

WEEK OF MEALS:

(If you see a link, click for the recipe... if not, scroll down for mine):

• Sunday Soup Night - Next week!

• Monday - Mike's Bday Dinner Night with Family!  
• Addictive Panzanella & Go-To Grilled Rosemary Pork Tenderloin For Dessert - Fresh Peach Galettes with vanilla bean ice cream

• Tuesday - Egg Salad Sandwiches with edamame (Frozen edamame, cook and salt according to directions - Kids love them!)

• Make it over the Hump Wednesday - Dinner Sausage with potato/zucchini hash

• Thursday - Chicken Tostada Salad

• Friday - (Crockpot next week)  Vegetable pad thai,  side of stir fry vegetables courtesy of Trader's Joe's great produce department, & Teriyaki steak skewers - Marinate 1lb sirloin in teriyaki, sliced into strips, skewer and grill.

• Jar Salad - Beet, Spinach Salad with chicken

• Random - Power Juice - 1 bunch kale, 1 granny smith each - Breakfast Baked Oatmeal

• Favorite of the week - School Supplies - I <3 Them!

PREP DAY - 

• Clean & Chop weekly veggie picks - Carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, Mushrooms - Chop for snacks and the no-whining before dinner bowl, as well as any other veggies needed for the week.  (Except onions... only chop your onions before making a meal..some weird fact about  onions will absorb toxins from plastic storage/air around - best to chop fresh!)

• BBQ 4 Chicken breast halves with skin (Olive Oil, sea salt, bbq until lovely) - Chop after cooled - Using for dinners during the week.

• Quinoa  - Cook 2 cups of  quinoa (bulk @ Winco) in chicken or veggie broth.   - Use it in jar salads, heat up for breakfast.. .eat with salsa & fried or hardboiled egg / or chop up an avocado with fried egg & quinoa... 

• Dressing/Sauce Prep - Balsamic maple glaze

• Jar Salad- Beets, Red Onions, Garbanzo's, spinach, Trader Joe's red wine vinaigrette dressing, Quinoa, frozen peas, walnuts

• Other - Hard Boil Eggs for Egg Salad Sandwiches, freezing grapes for lunches/snacks

Balsamic Maple Vinaigrette (Eat Like a Farm Girl)

This will make a good-size batch, and lasts for a couple of weeks in the fridge.  I use this on my egg and quinoa breakfast, and pretty much everything else!  Will be using with Panzanella this week!

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 T maple syrup
• 1 T Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic (I always do 2 cloves)
• S&P
• 1/2 cup EVOO

Blend/Emulsify/or whisk with your fork until it is a creamy consistency!

GROCERY LIST (Including everything needed for recipes, just cross out the staples you already have)

Produce -

• Bag of avocados (4 or 5)
• Bag of carrots - 2lb bag
• Bag of onions
• 4 Bags of Spinach ( Or jumbo container - Panzanella & Jar Salads are spinach happy)
• 1 head of romaine (egg sand/tostadas)
• Tomatoes - Grape/Heirloom - panzanella & tostadas
• Apples
• 2 limes
• 2 lemons
• 1 Bunch of cilantro
• Potatoes
• Chives (dn)
• Scallions
• 4 bunches of kale
• 8oz of mushrooms
• 3 bell peppers (Love our bells) (dn)
• 2 red onions (dn)
• Garlic
• Zucchini - 4
• Pico De Gallo
• Peaches!

 Bulk - 

• Almonds - Dry roasted/salted (dn)
• Peanuts - Roasted/Salted
• Walnuts
• Oats

Breads -

• 2 loaves Dave's
• SinDawg
• Corn Tortillas
• Crusty Loaf of bread
• Pita Bread

Protein -

• 2 Pork Tenderloins
• 4-6 chicken breast halves with skin on (For great natural seasoning!)
• Breakfast sausage (NY&Company - found at Winco - Nitrate and preservative free!)
• Cubed Ham - Nitrate/Preservative free - found at Winco, not freddies
• Turkey lunchmeat
• Aidell's or other organic dinner sausage ( I like chicken apple!)
• EGGS
• 1 sirloin steak

Freezer -

• Outshine Popsicles (UGH - Not the sugar free kind that we accidentally got last time - blech)!
• Bag of Unshelled Edamame
• Frozen Peas

Dried Goods -

• 2 cans of garbanzos (during the week snack with avocado cubes, cilantro and lime juice.. toss and eat all week)
• Triscuits
• Soy sauce (dn)
• Balsamic Vinegar (dn)
• Dijon (dn)
• Tortilla chips
• mayo (dn)
• Raw sugar (dn)
• Craisins
• Teriyaki Sauce
• BBQ Sauce
• Dried Rosemary (dn)
• Grapes

Dairy -

• String Cheese
• Block o' cheddar
• Mozzarella (buffalo)
• Individual hummus's for kids' lunches
• Prepared Pie Crust (NOT a food upgrade - If I had more time... but this is about busy working Mom making food upgrades, not making things from scratch all week long - ok guilt party over, please move on ;-p)

(dn - don't need, but want to store on list for using this menu later!)