This is Part II of my Meal Planning posts. If you missed Part I… go here.
One of the keys to meal planning is having your tried-and-true recipes that you know your family will love. It takes some time to develop that list, but once you do, it makes meal planning so much easier. Take a minute and try to jot down 5-10 recipes that your family always enjoys and then come back and read the rest of this post… 🙂
Another key is having your tried-and-true resources to go to in order to hunt down new/fresh recipes. That’s where cooking blogs, Pinterest, and wonderful cookbooks come into play. I enjoy flipping through cook books so much. Pinterest is so helpful when I have certain ingredients in my pantry/fridge that I need to use up. I just do a simple search in the Pinterest search engine using those key ingredients… and voila- a list of recipes pop up!
A few of my favorite cook books are:
Feeding a Family. Sarah is a mama of two little boys and her cookbook is arranged by seasons. The recipes are different, but easy, and they don’t require a bazillion ingredients. I received this one for Christmas last year and have enjoyed it every season since.
If you are a cook that likes down home cooking and comfort food… Magnolia Table is the book for you. I have made several recipes and we have enjoyed each one. Most of these are a bit heavy for us to eat on a regular basis, but we do enjoy them from time to time. I think it is a great book to have on hand in every lady’s cooking arsenal.
My Family Table is a great one to have for when you want to include delicious, healthy meals/sides into your meal planning. These recipes have good ingredients and come together nicely. This book is arranged according to types of meals/foods.
And every cook needs a basic, stood the test of time cook book. This is where the Betty Crocker cook book slips in. I was given this one for our wedding and I have pulled it out countless times. It has basic recipes that turn out every time and sauces, spices, and roux recipes.
The latest cookbook that I’ve purchased is The Minimalist Kitchen. I usually like to get a new cookbook every winter to thumb through and to inspire me in the kitchen. This one has been amazing. We have tried many of the recipes and have loved them all. The ingredients are simple and they easily double if you have a larger family. I highly recommend this cookbook!
Now to jot down a few of our favorite recipes for you to check out:
Tacos are a favorite and we eat them in one form or another every week. Some weeks we eat them traditional. Other weeks, I might make them as a taquito, quesadilla, or as a taco sweet potato.
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are loved here in this house. I will usually make a meat of some sort for my kids to eat along with the potatoes. Mark and I simply eat the potatoes.
Hamburgers are always a hit at our house. I like to sauté mushrooms and onions to slather on top. Or, maybe some sliced avocado and cucumber. I usually make baked sweet potato fries and recently I baked these squash fries and they were amazing! I like to take the normal “boring” meal and jazz it up a bit so we don’t get bored with it.
We like to combine BLT ingredients with Chicken Salad ingredients and eat either on a whole wheat pita or inside of a lettuce wrap. We’ve even been known to put a spoonful of the mixture on a slice of cucumber and eat it just like that. :). To make this you will need to combine:
7 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
2 cups of chopped chicken
Quartered grape tomatoes
chopped pecans
diced bell peppers
diced red onion
Mayo and Dijon mustard to taste
Maybe some “everything but the bagel” seasoning from Trader Joes
Lay on a bed of lettuce or inside of a pita!
I hope that helped get your cooking juices flowing. Enjoy!
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