First, thank you for all of the love from last week’s post. I received the funniest comments from so many of you! I’m still cracking up. Now, onto this week. On Sunday as I was sitting down to Harris Teeter Home Shop, I opened my freezer to take inventory of what I already had on hand and found it completely empty. Well, not completely – it’s still full of a number of unidentifiable objects. I’d like to think it’s all food but I can’t say for sure. Am I on my own here, or do some of you have similar freezer situations? Don’t tell me if I’m on my own. Any who, I found an empty freezer so off to Costco I went. And what did I find as I rounded the initial Costco corner? CHRISTMAS. The whole season, right there, taking up half of the bloody store. Trees, wreaths, ornaments, candy canes, inflatables and more. Y’all, I got so mad.
Well, first I panicked. I seriously believe I experienced my first panic attack in Costco this past Sunday. Someone actually ran into the back of me with their cart as I was stalled in the middle of the aisle, mouth agape, just staring up at all the twinkling lights. My mind immediately went to Christmas lists. I started doing a mental rundown of who I need to buy for this year. HOW CRAZY IS THIS??? My husband’s birthday is this coming Sunday, and I haven’t even begun to think about what I will buy him. But seeing all of that red and green sent me down the crazy Christmas rabbit hole. It has to stop. Y’all, I won’t survive. I get that Christmas is the most wonderful season, and I totally agree, but Halloween and Thanksgiving are pretty fabulous too. And more importantly, they allow us to keep our heads in the clouds, for two glorious months, so we don’t have to think about all that we have to do before Dec. 24th! We need the orange and brown holidays to stay sane people!! So, right here and now, I commit to all of you that I will not purchase a single Christmas gift until after I digest all of my turkey and stuffing. I’m going to force myself to ignore all of the sparkly red & green and focus on the neutrals for as long as possible. You should join me – I may even take it a step further and boycott Christmas cards…..stay tuned!!
Tip of the Week: Get the My Fitness Pal app on your phone. It’s a free calorie counter app, and I love it. I am really bad at “guessing” how many calories are in a serving size, so for many years I was eating healthy but still not losing weight. I couldn’t figure it out until I uploaded this guy onto my phone and started plugging in what I was eating. I was shocked. The great thing about My Fitness Pal is most of the recipes I share on the blog are pre-loaded, so all you have to do is enter in your serving size. This helps me to see where I am, calorically, at the end of the day so I know how many glasses of wine, or pieces of my kids Halloween candy, I can have/steal and still make my daily goal. It takes some getting used to – stopping to enter in everything you are putting into your pie hole takes time – but you will get used to it, and it will definitely help you stay on track. My PSA for the week.
Note – A number of you have asked how to find my weekly meal plan once you land on the blog. So, I’m going to place the day of the week in front of the recipe to help clear up any confusion. Hope it helps.
Sunday 10/7 Weekend Braised Beef Ragu with Pappardelle – Today is the hubs bday so I will not be cooking him dinner. I will force him to eat out of the house which is no easy task. BUT, if I was cooking dinner this dish would be it. And, if he sees this blog prior to Sunday, I may be eating my words. Slow cooker is an option here people – perfect for a Sunday supper!
Monday 10/8 – Skinnytaste Pepper Steak – This is one of those child hood meals we were all served because it’s tasty, inexpensive and super easy to throw together. The only difference is this one is low calorie! I will serve with brown rice and call it a day. Short and sweet.
Tuesday 10/9 – Green Curry Salmon – Get excited about this one y’all. SO good and healthy. Packed with flavor. You may have to purchase a few more items than usual for this recipe, but I promise it will be worth it. You don’t need to buy the “red boat” brand fish sauce – any will do. Harris Teeter brand is just fine. This calls for cauliflower rice, but I just can’t bring myself to make cauliflower rice. Some things just shouldn’t be messed with, and rice is kind of one of those for me. I’ll happily grab my bag of basmati to sub.
Wednesday 10/10 – 15 minute Mediterranean Chickpea Stew – I used to think chickpeas would not satisfy my appetite, but I was 100% incorrect. These little boogers are totally filling. Nigella seeds are one of the ingredients – I have to be honest, I had to google nigella seeds, and when I entered “nigella” into my Harris Teeter search box it got angry. I have never heard of such a seed, so I would imagine you can just go without or sub cumin seeds if you have them. I googled that, so it’s for true!!
Thursday 10/11 – Old Bay Shrimp and Sausage Sheet Pan – I’m amazed I have not thought of this before. I LOVE frogmore stew but it’s kind of a pain to cook on a weeknight. Plus, you feel like you should cook enough for 25 people as it’s one of those dishes you serve to a crowd. BUT, not this one. Instead of potatoes and corn you have asparagus and shallots – genius. The Modern Proper does call for you to make a lemon aioli, which I’m certain is delicious, but I will bypass and just eat as is. Too much time and too many calories.
Friday 10/12 – Mediterranean Style Zucchini Casserole – Apologies for all of the Med dishes, but the flavors are on point. Easy, warm dish for a perfect Friday night in. Casserole bakes for 40 minutes, so you have plenty of time to unwind and relax after a long week while the oven does the hard part. Plus you should have leftovers (unless you are feeding my husband) for Saturday lunch. 2 for 1 – I like it like that!!
There you have it. Meals for the week of 10/7! Healthy, Easy and Delicious!!
Tag and follow along on Instagram – I love seeing your fabulous food pics!!
XO ~ Kelly
joanneruss22@gmail.com says
Hi Kelly. Any chance you could get me your fatherinlaws email. He asked John to get him on a lunch club list and John failed to get his email.
Kind Regards,
Joanne
Joanne M. Russ 843-819-5600 (cell) Joanneruss22@gmail.com
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Beverly Jennings Raschke says
I’m with you against Christmas items assaulting us in stores before Halloween.
Enjoying your blog and recipes.
Bev