What's for dinner Week ONE

Here is the beginning of FOUR weeks of meal plans...

all different meals too!

and a weekly grocery list

this is my actual list so it includes snacks, lunches, breakfast and such... I have another list for our health food store. I'll share that later.
Since this is the list I use I do not note if it's organic or not because I know when I go to the store.

this is what I do...
beans always organic

produce... think surface space and peel.

Do you eat the peel? If so how large is the fruit/veggie

... how much of the veggie has been sprayed?

and then there is cost... if it's crazy more expensive to buy organic consider frozen... if that's a no go just buy regular and wash it good {even though you'll still get the pesticides because it soaks in}

hope that helps!

now on to the yummy food....


{green pea pesto pasta}

.Week ONE.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Curried Chickpeas & Rice with Cauliflower 
{i know i've shared this one before... it's a favorite}

Chunky Vegetarian Chili

Cilantro Rice & Beans

Pasta Primavera

New recipe - Green Pea Pesto Pasta

and Saturdays are leftovers

{cilantro rice and beans}

::Recipes::

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas:

Sauté garlic and onion with 2 t. chili powder, 2 t. cumin. Add 1 C. brown rice, sauté a bit. Add juice from large can of diced tomatoes plus 1 C. water and 1 T. tomato paste. Stir and bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer until done. Cook diced sweet potatoes. Fill tortillas with rice mix, sweet pot, 2 Cans black beans and wrap… top with Salsa and bake for 15 minutes at 375.



Chickpea Curry:

*skip if using canned* 1 bag dried Chickpeas, 8 C. water bring to a boil for 2 min. Remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and Rinse. Refill with 6 cups water, simmer 2 hours. Drain & Rinse Place chickpeas in a pot... cover with water add 2 t. salt & 2 bay leafs. Cook until Tender. Sauté cooked chickpeas, 1 T. Oil, 1 Onion (chopped), 3 Cloves Garlic, 2 t. powdered ginger, ½ t. turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamon Fry a few seconds then add 2 large tomatoes or canned tomatoes Cover and simmer 20-30 min. then add 1 T. Lemon juice Server over Rice



Chunky Vegetarian Chili:


Sauté 1 large onion, ½ chopped green pepper, ½ chopped yellow pepper & 2 cloves garlic in 1 T. oil. Add 1 T. brown sugar, 1 ½ T. Chili powder, 1 t. cumin, 1 t. dried oregano, ½ t. salt, ½ t. pepper, 2 cans diced tomatoes, 2 cans black beans, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can pinto beans & 1/3 C. salsa. Bring to boil and reduce heat and simmer for 30 min. Serve over rice or rice pasta



Cilantro Rice & Beans:


Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium pot over medium high heat. Add 2 C. wild or brown rice and cook, stirring often, until opaque, about 2 minutes. Carefully add 3 C. water and salt, then reduce heat to medium low. Cover pot and simmer, without uncovering or stirring, until rice is almost tender and liquid is just absorbed, about 25 min. Set aside.

Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 4 tablespoons of the cilantro, garlic, 1 chopped onion, ½-1 red pepper, and salt and pepper and stir well. Cook, stirring often, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add reserved rice, beans and 1/3 C. of the bean liquid. Stir gently to coat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until hot throughout, 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in remaining 4 tablespoons cilantro and top with tomatoes and avocado.



Pasta Primavera:


Preheat oven to 450, start a large pot of water for penne pasta

In a bowl, toss 1 sliced squash, 1 sliced zucchini, 2 sliced carrots, ½ red bell pepper, ½ pint grape tomatoes, 1 C. green beans, and 6 asparagus spears – cut into pieces, with 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, salt, pepper, ½ T. lemon juice, and Italian seasoning. Arrange vegetables on the baking sheet, and roast 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until tender.

In skillet heat grapeseed oil, sauté ½ chopped onion and garlic until soft. Add to cooked pasta, add in roasted veggies, top with 1/3 C. chopped basil, 1/3 C. chopped parsley & 3 T. balsamic Vinegar. Top with grated Romano cheese if you’d like.



Green Pea Pesto Pasta:


Cook wheat or rice pasta, drain and rinse. 1 C. green peas, 1 C. packed parsley leaves, ½ C. packed basil, 2 T. lemon juice, 1/3 C. olive oil, salt & pepper to taste. Toss with pasta and top with chopped walnut pieces, toasted.

**this is the first time I had made this, next time I would add a little bit more basil, add pine nuts to the pesto and a little bit more olive oil. But it was DELISH! A great alternative to cheesy pesto... which we love!



Week ONE grocery list:


    Fresh Foods:

6 cans of organic black beans or 3 bags dried
3 cans garbanzo beans or 2 bags dried
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
4 large cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 Rice Milk
4 Almond Milk
4 Cartons of Eggs
Ezekiel tortillas
Salsa
3 Sweet Potatoes
5 Yellow onions
2 cucumber
1 green pepper
2 yellow peppers
3 red peppers
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
celery 
carrots
grape tomatoes
green beans
asparagus
3 avocado
cilantro
parsley
basil
Fruit
1 bag of frozen green peas

On Hand:

Rice
chili powder
turmeric
cardamon
coriander
cumin
garlic
ginger root
grapeseed oil
olive oil
lemon juice
brown sugar
oregano
Italian seasoning [tj's]
balsamic vinegar
cereal/granola
steel cut oats
Scottish oats
rolled oats
applesauce
agave's nectar
almond butter
peanut butter
Ezekiel bread
safflower mayo
salmon
Annie's Mac & Cheese
Walnuts
 Rice Pasta


ENJOY! And please feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

26 comments:

  1. Great week of recipes. Very similar to what we make around here! We are gluten free (celiac!) and low sodium, little to no dairy.

    In fact we have thrown out the salt now for 9 months. Any food that is not fresh (canned etc) that I buy must be low sodium or not have any added salt. It was tough for the first month but now we eat completely without adding to any recipes.

    Have you considered not adding salt to your recipes? When you buy canned beans or tomatoes do you buy them with no salt added?

    As salt is found naturally in all fresh food, it is quite easy to maintain the appropriate salt levels your body needs without adding actual salt to your cooking. The herbs and spices (mostly fresh) that I cook with now make the food sing! And I seriously think it awakens those deadened (by too much salt) taste buds to come alive again!

    cK

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  2. Ck...

    I agree with you about salt... I am not a salt lover. I can't stand that over salted taste. We hardly ever use salt. We are actually only on the 2nd container of sea salt since Paul and I were married 9 years ago. :)

    Most recipes that call for salt I just leave it out... one of the only ones that I always put salt in is lentil soup.

    Thanks for your comment and input!

    Brittany

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  3. Brittany,
    I stumbled onto your blog a few weeks ago and have enjoyed reading. We are not healthy eaters, and I would love to change. I am cooking lentils, for the first time ever, tonight. I'll see how it goes with my crew of four (ages almost 2, 4, 6 and almost 8). I'm so glad you're posting recipes. Keep it up!
    Sharon

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  4. Brittany, I am so excited to see this post! I've been waiting impatiently for it :)
    I am the cook in my family (because I enjoy it), and I am trying to get my family to eat healthier. It's a tough battle to win! I wish I liked all the stuff you cook, I would be really healthy {smile}
    I might try the cilantro rice and black beans this week.. Yummo!
    Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Mmm- this all sounds wonderful. What awesome suggestions. I am newly vegetarian again- so I just might be cooking these up soon!

    Steph

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  6. phew girl, ur way healthier than me! LOL great recipes tho and awesome u can keep that up with as many kids as u have. We have trouble buying organic due to the prices... ive tried.. but to buy non organic we are able to pay off our hospital debts from years back.

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  7. Mmmm...these all sound so good!

    Thanks for the ideas and the food list!

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  8. Mmmmmm - I loved looking through this! And I love that you posted the recipes! Thank you!
    Does your family eat any meat? Just curious. :)

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  9. Oh I love a good grocery list...everything looks great! I make a very similar chili, the girls love it. Enjoy!

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  10. Wow, that IS healthy! I'm inspired.

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  11. I'm REALLY looking forward to your posts. We eat healthy but I'm looking to expand the repertoire. We'd love to incorporate more meat-free dishes into our week.

    Plus, I have such a hard time getting my son to eat beans. He is SO picky! He's a total carb-a-holic and he just loves dairy. Do your kids actually eat what you make for dinner or do you have to change it a bit for them?

    Wondering what you make with the steel cut oats and Scottish oats. What's the difference?

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  12. I try to do weekly meal planning at my house too...but you are quite a bit more organized ....everything looks so yummy! Thanks for adding the recipes too....i'm gonna have to try a couple of them...my boys are pretty picky, but i like to introduce them to new things as often as i can....

    i had to come over here and tell you that although it's not twins....we are having a girl! you'll have to help me think of a new blog name :)

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  13. Please don't call me a "hater" for this because I am not trying to be a meanie. But how do you afford the groceries? You're grocery bill must be huge! A "normal" middle-class family-especially in these times-would have a very hard time affording all the things on this list. Not to mention that you seem to live on a low income. How do you pay for it?

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  14. So what beans are in the rice and bean dish? Did I miss that? Otherwise everything sounds good!

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  15. I love your recipes however I am not sold on the Ezekiel bread. I was looking up the verse about it and came upon this post:

    You see, Ezekiel 4:9 refers to a passage in the Bible that describes how to prepare bread with wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and fitches (spelt). The problem here is that the biblical recipe was intended to help survive famine during an upcoming siege, not because it tastes good or that it's healthy for you. Barley and millet, throughout history, has been considered a poor man's food. Barley is a hardy grain that survives drought and frosts. It also grows in alkali soils. It is usually fed to livestock, but humans can eat it too if they can stomach the flavor. Millet is a bland tasting grass used mainly in disadvantaged counties to feed the poor (and the seeds are given to birds). It's also found in "natural" food stores because it's exotic (which means that its rarely eaten, especially by well-to-do people).



    I haven't a clue why they sell a Ezekiel 4:9 bread with sesame. Nowhere does the Bible mention bread with sesame. Sesame is a pagan food, go figure. I guess they put it in there to help make it taste better (it doesn't work). The bread also doesn't contain real beans (gee, I wonder why), but it does contain soybeans which is a legume closer to a pea than a bean (a soy pea), and it's native source is in East Asia, (not the Middle East) so it doesn't even meet the requirements of the Biblical recipe.

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  16. made the chunky chili tonight, it was DELICIOUS. what's funny is that i must eat rice with everything (the filipino 1/2 of me i suppose) and didn't think this would be good with rice but i was wrong. i didn't have pinto beans so i added a can of kernel corn instead and topped it with sour cream and a mexican cheese blend. we loved it. i wonder how it freezes and would love to hear if you freeze any meals ahead of time. thanks for sharing. tomorrow i try your veg pot pie!

    *namaste*

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  17. You know, my first thought when I read through the grocery list was how expensive it would be, too. But then I looked again and I bet it would be cheaper than what I normally spend buying meat and processed foods. I'm tempted to print it off and price check it when I go to the store. I'm hoping to add some more healthy meals to our menu. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  18. Thank you for doing this! I made your recipe for lentil taco's several times and they were delish. I am excited to try more of your yummy recipes! Thank you for the great vegetarian ideas!!

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  19. Bless you! I love your blog, and now I love you. We eat mostly veg., some vegan...but we avoid soy, too. Thank you! I've tried menu subscriptions before and found I could use maybe 2-3 recipes...and they were mostly processed ingredients. Anyway, thank you! And where do you find the time?!

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  20. Thanks so much for sharing the recipes. Made the Chunky Vegetarian Chili tonight and loved it! For the Cilantro Rice & Beans, what kind of beans do you use? How much garlic? I'm looking forward to more recipes.

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  21. Thanks Brittany...We always love your recipes around here! I'll be watching for the next installment :)

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  22. I love your blog Brittany. I don't even have kids yet and am looking forward to having some and trying to raise them on healthy eating!! :) Thanks for all the great recipes. Looking forward to testing them out :)

    Also. Ms. Anonymous up there needs to get a life about the Ezekiel bread. Who the heck cares about how not exactly Biblical it is -- it's great for you! "Poor man food" or not, I am down! And sesame seeds are pagan foods?! Oh good grief! Sorry lady but you sound like a fool :)

    Love the blog Brittany :)

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  23. Hey Brittany- Just wondering- are these recipes your own creations? I wish I had started my kids eating this way!! I'm going to try a couple of them this week and see how it goes. We have terrible allergies, eczema, and asthma here so I really want to go dairy and wheat free, but it's so hard when I've been eating whatever I feel like my whole life! Are there any cook books you can recommend? Thanks!

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  24. Hey Brittany!
    Wanted to thank you again for posting these weekly meal plans. I finally got around to making the Cilantro Rice last night. I made lentils to go with and it was SOOO delicious! We're only a family of 4 so I didn't use all of the brown rice and lentils to make the dish since I was unsure of how my 5 & 9 yr olds would like it. So...we are having Lentil Tacos for dinner tonight. I've really been wanting to try those since you first posted but just haven't.

    Thanks for all of the great recipes and have a great week,
    Pam

    p.s.Is it just me?...I still can't get the pictures to show in this post. And I'd LOVE to see them :)

    plus~you'd be proud...I've not only started eating (& LOVING!) hummus but started making my own by crockpotting organic dried chickpeas. It's SOOO easy!

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  25. You are quite the woman!! I am finally going to try your recipes!! We are going to try no (or VERY little) meat or dairy for the month of July. I purchased my ingredients and we had the cilantro rice and beans for dinner tonight!! Delicious! I look forward to the rest of this week!

    Thanks so much!!

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Thank you for blessing me with your words!

Brittany