Now that March is here it’s time to make rough plans for the meals for the month. I did that last month and it went pretty well. I didn’t make all the meals I planned (about 60%) but it helped to have something I could react to instead of coming up with a whole week’s worth of meals every week.
I also like looking at the month and figuring out what is missing in terms of variety, etc. So I will go into detail for this week with hints on the rest of the month. (By the way, Lent begins on Wednesday so Fridays will be no meat days).
For more meal planning inspiration, head over to Org Junkie.
What’s Cooking This Month?
Monday Mexican: Tilapia Fish Tacos with toppings (chicken taquitos, turkey tacos and slow cooker chicken)
Tuesday Italian: Chicken, Pasta and Veggies with homemade white cream sauce (spaghetti with meatballs, meat lasagna and spinach and cheese ravioli)
Kids’ Choice Wednesday: I give the kids 2 to 3 choices of something easy I have on hand.
Thursday (no theme at the moment): Baked Shrimp with Fried Rice (lentil and ham soup, chicken tenders and white bean chicken chili).
No Meat Friday: Baked Falafel with toppings (baked salmon, salmon cakes and cheese/veggie pizza)
More from Cooking Light
A Really Cool (Non-Food) Fundraiser
When I started up a health and wellness committee at Big A’s school, we were looking for non-food fundraiser ideas. There is nothing wrong with bake sales but they seemed to be happening all the time. So when a friend told me about a fundraising idea that includes a really cool Grow with Me Tee, I got excited.
>Here’s how it works. You get a tee customized to your child’s high school graduation year. Then you take a picture of them every year in the tee on their first day of school. Each year the tee fits a little better until, well, it fits (and you cry!). And what you are left with is a nice photo-journal of your child’s growth you can always look back on — and frame. They also have onesies to showcase baby’s growth that first year.
If you organize a fundraiser, they will give your organization 10% of sales. Fundraiser organizers will receive one free tee if at least 40 tees are ordered through the fundraiser, and a second free tee if at least 75 are ordered. A fundraiser typically takes 8-10 weeks from the date you contact them to the date you receive the tees. For more info see this flyer or email growwithmetee@gmail.com.
You can also order the product directly if you are interested. It makes a great Mother’s Day, baby shower or preschool graduation gift.
What do you think?
Links
Because research shows that dieting is ineffective over the long term, I write about Dieting Rules to Break for success in this WebMD post.
It’s National School Breakfast Week! In this guest post on the California Dairy Council, I discuss 5 Ways Breakfast Helps Kids Thrive.
Did you hear about the new, proposed food label changes? Janet Helm does a good job of providing an overview over
at Nutrition Unplugged.
As usual, Sally of at Real Mom Nutrition hits the nail on the head when she talks about the reality of family cooking in From Scratch Cooking Confession: I Can’t Keep Up. And David Grotto asks the question What is “Processed Food” Exactly? over at WebMD (the most overused term in nutrition these days).
Over at Parents.com, Natalia Stasenko provides a good list of foods to feed baby based on the latest research on starting solids.
Jill Castle writes about stopping the allergy insanity in the classroom from the perspective of a mom of a child with food allergies.
Super Healthy Kids dishes on tips for encouraging children to eat salads.
And who can resist this three-ingredient recipe for Crispy Chocolate Coconut Hearts from Katie Morford at Moms Kitchen Handbook?
Well, that’s it for now. Have a great week!
I love the idea of a monthly meal plan, I think I’ll have to try that (and the pasta primavera). Thanks for the inspiration!
Your welcome. I hope you are enjoying life as a stay at home mom ; )
I love your blog! I refer people to it frequently.
Love your breakfast article. We are definite breakfast eaters here, but I struggle with what to serve, especially for my always-hungry 7.5 year old son. He would love to have honey-nut cheerios and toast with peanut butter every morning. While I know these aren’t terrible choices, I’d love some ideas that are less carb-heavy, since he eats so many carbs during the rest of the day (sandwich for lunch, crackers for snack, etc). He’ll sometimes sub oatmeal for the honey-nut cheerios, which is a bit better than the sugary cheerios, but still quite carb-y, right? Suggestions for a hungry boy? Thank you!
Thanks! I do a breakfast rotation — eggs and whole wheat bagels one day, french toast, cereal etc. As for protein options you can try eggs and lean sausage, a fruit/veggie smoothie with peanut/but butter or Greek yogurt with fruit/nuts. There’s a nice list of breakfast ideas from Jill Castle over at Just the Right Byte http://justtherightbyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/32-breakfast-ideas-for-kids.pdf
I hope that gives you some ideas!
Those are great suggestions – thank you so much!