delishplan week 59
I have been inspired to post again, thanks to my favorite Meal Planning blogger, Jane at This Week for Dinner. She announced on her blog today that she is also expecting a baby in September! Annnnnnnnnnd she didn’t abandon her blog just because she is preggo. I am impressed. And feeling a tad guilty!
Dinner in our household has been happening….barely. We have been eating so randomly. Some days all I can manage is toast and cereal, other days I gather enough energy to cook, and some days I bring home take out. Last week was the first time in 3 weeks that I did a real grocery shop (i.e. more than a jug of milk, bread and my current pregnancy craving, Sweet Tarts). It’s been bad, just ask my husband. He is probably hungry. Oddly enough, I don’t have morning sickness to blame. Just a sheer lack of energy (at 16 weeks, I thought I would have the famous 2nd trimester super energy I hear about…. still waiting….. ). I want to curl up in a ball after work and sleep until the baby is born. That doesn’t seem to be happening. Darn alarm clock waking me up every morning at 6:15 am! I am so thankful to have an understanding hubby, who although doesn’t help out too much with the actual cooking (it’s just better that way. For everyone!), he helps out in a gazillion other ways: dishes, vacuuming, laundry, picking up last minute groceries, filling my car up with gas…. nothing he won’t do. Plus he doesn’t complain about another night of toast and eggs. Lucky me!
Anyway, here I am, and will be attempting this week’s plan. The planning is the easy part – let’s hope I can muster up some energy to make it happen! Needless to say, I’m making super easy, barely cook meals, while trying not to trade off the healthy factor (can be difficult!).
Sunday (today): My friends and I did another round of “The Big Cook” yesterday (an all day event but I came home with 20 homemade meals for my freezer!), and I currently have a Mexican Casserole in the oven. And it’s huge, meaning it comes with built-in leftovers. I can smell it now – yummmmm.
Monday: Pizza, using a pre-made crust. I will decide on the toppings tonight when I do my grocery shop.
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Chicken Croissants from Jane at TWFD – these are SO creative and easy!
Thursday: Meatballs with Rice and steamed Green Beans
Friday: Going out. We need a date night!
I think I can handle this week of barely cook meals. As you can see, there is definitely nothing too complicated here. I could use some fresh ideas, so if you have some favorite “no cook” meals – please, do share!
Happy week to everyone!
delish living 
Hope you get your energy back… At least you do not have morning sickness which is a blessing, I have heard!
We buy frozen black bean burgers and salmon burgers that are life savers for busy nights. Steam some veggies that comes frozen but ready to steam in a bag, mix with pasta or rice, aged shaved parmesan ( I think you can eat hard, aged cheese) and some basil or italian seasonings.
And this winter, we have done a lot of soup/grilled cheese nights. We make the grilled cheese with gouda so it feels like we are eating fancy dinner:)
You are right – I am VERY blessed to not be struggling with morning sickness! I think I can handle being exhausted more than puking my guts out!
Thanks for some great ideas. I’m thinking a trip to Costco is in order for this week to find some good frozen options, like veggie burgers and other goodies that only Costco has.
I love grilled cheese, and it’s one “meal” that Kevin can master. It’s definitely come in handy. And gouda? My fav!!!
Get that hubby of yours to grill up some chicken, slice and dice, freeze it or refridgerate it and then you have it on hand for a couple of meals for salads, wraps or pitas! We also eat a lot of pita pizzas…the kids love them and you can load them with whatever you like…meat, veggies, whatever! Glad to hear that you are feeling good…your Mom and I were chatting about you today 🙂 she said that you have been very similiar to her with pregnancy, no sickness, just not energized! So hopefully that energy should come back, and come back more than you have ever had, 2 trimester did that for me!
Ooh good ideas Lisa! We do pita pizzas every now and then, but maybe they need to come out a little more often – Kevin LOVES them, haha! And grilling some chicken to have on hand is a great option, especially for me, packing my lunch for work every day. I’ll instruct Kevin on how to do it while I lay on the couch, LOL!
Yes, Mom and I seem to have much in common (I suppose that’s normal!). It’s nice to hear that, particularly for reassurance on certain things. I’m hoping the energy comes soon – I’m already 4 weeks into my 2nd trimester, so will it EVER come?!!!
congratulations to you! so fun we’re due around the same time! and do not feel guilty about neglecting the blog…or housework…or cooking…or any of it! you are busy incubating. that’s HARD work!! 🙂 anyway, glad I could inspire you to do a post, and I like your menu plan ideas… I might have to steal some, I’m thinking a boboli pizza crust with some sauce and cheese might end up happening this week 😉 anyway, congrats!!!
Funny that you say you’ll steal some of my ideas when literally HALF of this menu was directly inspired by your blog 🙂 Love it!!!
Yeah for getting your mojo back. Hopefully it just gets better. Seriously I struggled for a year to get back in gear. I was soooooo tired with my pregnancy too. Till about 20 weeks. Yikes. But things are going better now. I am super inspired and am trying new meals all the time. I browse cooking sites while I feed Cosette. Hope you get your energy back and don’t be too hard on yourself. Pregnancy effects everyone differently.
Hi friend. Love you, and thanks for the encouragement 🙂 If you try any recipes that are particularly wonderful, please do share! Especially if it’s 15 minutes or less, haha!!
You have to do a post of that all day cook day with you and your friends! Did you knwo that the Italian Centre Shop sells beautiful pizza dough balls – 4 for just under 4 dollars? Just take them out of the freezer and plop them in the fridge the night before you want to make your pizza – then out of the fridge an hour or two before you are ready to make your pizza – and you will have the best crust ever! No preservatives, either!
🙂
Valerie
looks like a great week of eating! hope you start to feel better too!
where is your date night taking you? somewhere new?
I hope you start feeling like yourself again soon!!
What a great idea to do a big meal swap like that! I get sick of leftovers, but it is so nice to pull a frozen meal out once in a while!! (or all the time, whatever you prefer.) 🙂
Congratulations! I sure hope that your energy returns soon. Although, since you have such a helpful hubby it doesn’t hurt to take advantage a little before baby comes, right? 😉
Here’s a favorite go-to meal for our family if cooking time is limited – lettuce wraps. I buy a pkg of pre-cooked diced chicken breast meat as a cheater, then saute until warmed through (I put peanut sauce in with it, but you could use others or none). I cut up slivers of cucumber, carrots, sometimes brocoli, and have even used coleslaw mix. Then its a “make your own” event at the table. We also add extra sauce to our wraps as we make them. So far the best lettuce leaves I have found are at Superstore – you can get a pkg that is meant just for this.
By the way – aside from chicken your recipe for spicy shrimp works terrific too. Last time we did a mixture of both and the kids loved it!
Good luck with everything!
As for the no-cook meals… I have a recipe for Posole that is SO easy and everyone who tries it says they love it! It’s one of my favorites. 🙂
http://pinchofyum.com/post/1397671800/posole