May 2015 Meal Plan

Hello, May!

I can not believe it is already May. This is a busy month for us. School registration is next week, Savannah's social calendar is full of birthday parties and we have so school activities this month. Not to mention Little Mike is quite the runner and climber these days so I have been very busy chasing him.

This is my first monthly meal plan in a couple months. I didn't realize that people were enjoying them as much as they were. I appreciate all the feedback that I received on instagram. As promised, here is a meal plan for the month of May.

I hope it helps you as much as it helps my family. This time around I included links to some of my favorite recipes. Click here  or on the pic below to get the version with the links. If these monthly calendars are helping you please let me know in the comments!

Have a great weekend!

Monthly Meal Planning: February 2015

It's almost February which means it's almost MY BIRTHDAY!!! (screamed like Oprah)

Since so many of you said you would attempt planning out your meals for the month starting in February I decided to go ahead and share our meal plan early in hopes of encouraging you to stick with it. Remember, you don't have to grocery shop for the entire month like I do but you can plan your meals.

Having a meal plan for the month frees up so much more of my time during the week. I don't have to spend time thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner. All budgets and families are different but if you are a weekly or bi-weekly shopper I encourage you to still give this a shot. Even if you keep your same shopping schedule I bet you'll experience a sense of relief knowing that you've already selected your meals for that month.

So who's still planning to try this for February? Feel free to share your meal plan with me on Instagram using the hashtag #ChicFEBMeals. Don't forget to tag me as well, @chicsahm!

How I Plan a Month of Meals

The monthly meal planning post got a nice response. Thank you to everyone that commented here and on IG. The feedback was great and I enjoyed hearing everyone's responses. A few of the main comments were:

• "I could never do a monthly plan."
• "Do you really do this?"
• "It seems like a lot of work."

The answers to these questions are:

• Yes, you can.
• Yes, I do.
• It kind of is but not really. I'll share how I do my planning and maybe it will help you. 

This is our January dinner meal plan. I do not normally type it up and make it look all fancy. That should make someone out there feel better. On the last day of every month I sit down with the previous month(s) plan and I begin to create a new month of meals.

Step One -Make a Calendar/Chart

The first step in my planning process is to draw a calendar on a piece of notebook paper. If I run out of space I flip the page over and put the last few days on the back. Normally my squares are always too big. I'm pretty sure that someone more artistically inclined can make a better looking chart.

Anyway.

Once my chart is made I label the days to reflect the calendar for that month. Easy, right?

The "X" means we've already eaten that meal.

Step Two - Fill in the meals

The next thing I do is fill in all of the Sundays. Sunday meals are important to me so I square those away first. Next I think of any days that will be busy for us. If I know in advance that we have long days of errands or appointments I automatically plug-in a crockpot meal on those days.

 Then I look at my previous plans to see what meals my family really enjoyed and what meals they didn't like as much. I always take into consideration that on Fridays I don't really ever feel like cooking so I try to put my "easy" or "fun" meals there.

After that it's just a matter of using some of the meals they enjoyed from the previous month(s) and finding new recipes to try on Pinterest. I also really love AllRecipes and the Food Network.

Don't forget to throw in a couple "Eat Out" days or days where you can expect leftovers.

Step Three (Optional)

Transfer your meal plan to a prettier calendar if you'd like. Make your grocery list based on the meals you've planned. I also make a weekly produce list at this time too. I put the weekly list in my purse so I always have it when I'm ready to stop at the store.

This whole process might take me about two hours. It really depends on how often I get asked to make a cup of milk or a snack while I'm trying to get it done. I haven't gotten to that point in my life where I save things like this until after they've gone to bed so I do this during the day.

So. It's not that much work and yes we really do follow the plan. As you can see we skipped Prime Rib night but we'll be having it one day this week. The plan always seems to work itself out even if you have leftovers you weren't expecting or if you skip meals due to your taste for that day.

I hope this answers a lot of your questions. Please let me know if you need me to clarify anything. I always respond to the comments.

Do you feel like you could try this out now? Oh. And by all means give yourself more breaks than I do. We're just not eating out much these days to save money. Gotta love a saving season!

A Chic Thanksgiving: My Cooking Plan

Now that we've made a menu and gone to the grocery store let's talk about our plan of attack. How are we going to get all this done? With little kids and no one to help it can be difficult to cook such a large meal. To keep frustration and rushing to a minimum I start prepping days in advance. Doing a little bit each day helps me stay organized and in the holiday spirit. 

To start off the week of Thanksgiving I normally check (and double check) my grocery list and recipes to make sure that I have everything. I do any last minute store runs and get all of my fresh produce. If I plan to buy flowers or anything like that I go ahead and make those arrangements too. Or I take note of what my grocery store is offering for decorations. Normally when it's the week of Thanksgiving you can get a pretty good deal on anything Fall/Thanksgiving related.

On Tuesday, I do my mise en place. (Can you tell I'm a Top Chef fan?) I chop up all my celery and onions. I clean and shuck my corn and cut it off the cobb. I cut and clean all my veggies. Once everything is clean and chopped up I place everything in a zip-loc bag or a tupperware container. Everything goes back in to the fridge.

Wednesday afternoon, maybe around lunch I'll start cooking. I make the cornbread for my cornbread stuffing. While that's in the oven I start on my pie fillings and appetizers. When my pies are ready for the oven I get all my veggies going. After my collards, corn and green beans are on the stove I make my potato salad. So by the time Wednesday is over I've cooked all my desserts, the potato salad and all the veggies. If you're like me and you only have one oven then you know it only makes since to make some this stuff a day ahead. 

I normally wake up at about five on Thursday morning because I like to have my dinner ready around one or two. I make my rice and dinner rolls the day of too. Thursday morning is all about the Turkey and casseroles. I make the Turkey last. While the stove is working hard I mix up the lemonade and make sweet tea. I begin heating all the veggies about half way through the Turkey's cook time. Once the Turkey is done I let it rest for a while and then it's time to eat!

This is how I tackle getting all that cooking done. I plan to have Savannah help me as much as she wants. I know it may seem like a lot but splitting it up really helps. I have been asked about sharing the recipes for the Thanksgiving menu I created. I am working on that and hope to share it early next week. How do you prep and plan for big dinners?

7 Days of Love: Romantic Dinner Date

They always say that the way to a man's heart is thru his stomach. That couldn't be more true for my husband. I make him dinner everyday but every now and then I make something a bit yummier than my normal crock pot one pot weekday wonders. When I really want him to feel extra special I make one of his favorite meals that he'd order if we were out at dinner.

He always orders a salad with his meals when we're out for dinner so I make sure to do that for him at home. Then I'll make his favorite pasta dish and we'll have brownies for dessert. Come to think of it tonight's dinner would have been perfect to share. I made a steak and shrimp pasta with mushrooms, spinach and roasted zucchini. It was delish. 

I tried to find some pins that are similar to what we had tonight. Pair this with his favorite wine (or beer if he's a beer guy like my man) and one of those outfits from yesterday's post and you're all set for a great start to a nice evening. 

Visit Fatima, Drea and Carissa to see more romantic dinner ideas!

Quick Dinner Idea: Sofrito Shrimp Tacos

This is one of those dinner ideas that you accidentally stumble upon because you're tired of eating all of your normal meals. You're in the grocery store and you just grab things that you've heard people say a lot on the Food Newtork…Am I the only one that's done that? Maybe so.

This is a less than 30 minute (cook time) dinner. It is so good. When I say good I mean it's so good that there weren't any leftovers. Maybe we were hungry or greedy but it was banging.

So the first thing you'll want to do is season your shrimp with this...

This is the main ingredient for this Sofrito super fast tacos. I get the Goya brand. Cause you know, if it's Goya...


I use about 4 heaping teaspoons for a pound and a half of shrimp. You want it to look like this. Covered and smothered. Pop that in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes.


I then chopped my veggies.


And sautéed them with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper...


These are the tortillas we use. They are so good and good for you...


Here they are on my plate. (don't judge me. i needed all three of these.)


And folded up ready to meet their fate. Yum!! So easy and so fast. I topped them with some of my homemade salsa. That recipe is here...

Will you be making these? They are so good and so fast and easy to make. I can't say that enough, LOL! They are a little spicy if you add the salsa so keep that in mind when you plate for the little ones.