(Two) Weekly Meal Plan(s) and Bonus Recipe: Speedy Chicken Curry

I enjoy sharing recipes with readers, and my top two posts of 2014 were both recipes. They were part of my sporadic "Recipe of the Week" series -- something I'm uncertain I'll continue going forward. Instead, I think I'll sporadically share my weekly meal plans. We'll see how it goes.

First, a little background on how I plan. I always require Ben's input. He has some favorites he requests fairly often, but he also enjoys finding new recipes for me to try, and I'm certain he would cook more if time allowed it. I usually plan 5 meals a week. There is always one night where we just eat a hodge podge of leftovers (I call it, empty the fridge night), and another night where we are traveling or running errands (or sick) and we just wing it. Also, I rarely cook both Saturday (usually the errand day) and Sunday. I view the weekend as my break from the kitchen. So 5 recipes a week is plenty for us. I rarely plan out our side dishes. Ben and I just look for the best fresh produce when we go grocery shopping, and then we try to serve a veggie and/or fruit with each meal. If all else fails I just zap a bag of frozen veggies and hope my kids don't notice I never eat them. I usually meal plan two weeks at a time, and sometimes I even have a six week outlook (I call that my empty-the-freezer-plan).

But without any further ado, here's a quick look at what we ate last week and what is in store for us this week.

Monday was a leftover night. We still had plenty of this yummy Slow cooker Ham, Sweet Potato and White Bean Soup from Sunday. It's my new favorite addition to our week of ham rotation.

Tuesday night I tried a new recipe courtesy Parents magazine. I'll share it here so I have it for my own keeping. It was yummy!

Speedy Chicken Curry
2 cups rice, cooked
Olive oil
1 tsp fresh ginger (I used a couple dashes ground)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 T curry powder
14 oz can light coconut milk
1 cup crushed tomatoes (I used diced, worked fine)
salt
5 oz baby spinach
1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
1/2 cup frozen peas

1. Heat the oil in a very large skillet over medium heat, add onion and cook until tender about 6 mins, add garlic and giner and saute for 30 seconds. Add curry powder and toast while stirring constantly, about 1 minute

2. Stir in the coconut milk, crushed tomatoes, and salt. Cook over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the spinach, chicken, and peas and cook until the spinach has wilted. Server over warm rice.

Wednesday we just ate whatever pleased each of our bellies, thanks to Mr Stomach Bug.

Thursday we had these Chipotle Chicken Tacos, a favorite in our house. We eat them Mexican style: corn tortilla shells and fresh pico de gallo. We had oranges and peas on the side.

Friday I tried this slow cooker turkey breast and no fuss gravy recipe that turned out fabulously! The meat was so moist and the gravy was perfect. Who needs Thanksgiving to eat Turkey? Not me! The sides were easy: stove top stuffing and canned green beans. Ben said it looked like a TV dinner served up on our kids Zak designs 3 section plates. And he's right, it did.

Saturday we went out to lunch with some of Ben's family that came by for a quick visit, and then I spent the rest of my daily calories on cake (we called it "better than sex cake" when I was kid). It was a good day.

Last night Ben slaved over the hot stove while I snuggled a sleeping baby (he's perfect, isn't he?). We used up the rest of our turkey with this wonderful Turkey and Wild Rice Soup recipe. It is easily one of my all time favorite soups -- which is a heavy competition over here. I love it best with our grocery store's fresh baked Wisconsin Cheese bread, but we're fighting the carbs so we had it side-less. The kids both enjoyed seconds.

Tonight we gobbled up these yummy curried chickpeas. To limit his carbs, Ben ate it over a bed of Curried Cauliflower Popcorn. The kids and I enjoyed the cauliflower as a side dish.

Tuesday will be another new recipe from Parents magazine, On Top of Spaghetti. If we like it I'll have to come back and share the recipe. I'm hoping I'll have time to make this roasted broccoli side dish as well.

Wednesday I plan on making pork carnitas.

Added after publication, because this post needed a photo. And bad. 

And because I only plan five meals a week, Thursday or Friday will be leftover night and the other night we'll enjoy some pre-made freezer enchiladas. Our weekend meal will be this super easy Rock Salt Roasted Chicken.