Meal planning. It seems people either love it or hate it. I embrace pretty much any excuse to bust out a calendar, so I am clearly a big fan of the activity. It really does save me time, money, and mental anguish when I have a few recipes picked out ahead of time. My typical “flow” is that I buy what looks good at the store in terms of produce (as seen in this post) and come up with a few meal ideas that incorporate those ingredients. I find that I spend far less money (and buy much fewer random ingredients) this way than when I pick out specific recipes prior to shopping.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to share what a week’s work of dinners look like in our household. See below!

monday: zucchini “noodles” with pesto, tomatoes, + goat cheese

This dish sounds like way more work than it actually was. I typically buy prepared pesto (shh! don’t tell anyone), so really all that was left to do was spiralize the zucchini and chop the tomatoes. I also lightly steamed the zoodles, as they upset Seth’s stomach when they’re raw (?). I try to make at least one dinner per week meatless, and this was it.

tuesday: cashew-ginger chicken + veggies with cauliflower rice

As a vestige from my vegan days, I still use the Cashew Ginger Tofu recipe from Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan all the time…I just substitute chicken for tofu. Not exactly vegan, but dang delicious. If it makes it any better, I typically use a 3 oz portion of chicken to feed both Seth and me. This time, I chopped up the chicken and added it to the pan with carrots, mushrooms, and green bell pepper.

wednesday: cabbage with ground beef, avocado, + tomatoes

My dad actually introduced me to this concept of a meal (not a recipe, really) when he served it to us for lunch on a recent weekend at the lake. I just cook some grass-fed ground beef with a little soy sauce and plop it in a bowl with shredded cabbage, tomatoes, and avocado. This particular rendition featured some heirloom tomatoes–aren’t they pretty?! As a bonus, this meals comes together in less than 10 minutes.

thursday: pecan-crusted salmon with roasted broccoli

I might have been inspired to make this dish by something on Pinterest, but I honestly don’t remember. Let’s just say it’s a Broccoli Hut original. I mixed some Dijon mustard with some Lemonaise, spread it on some salmon, and packed on some chopped pecans. I love this combination of flavors, plus the mustard/mayo mixture keeps the fish quite…moist (sorry, I know that word is upsetting for some people). I might try playing around with other nuts/seeds as the topping in the future.

What did you have for dinner this week? Do you like to meal plan?