Monthly Meal Plan: March 2017

Hello March! Brussels sprouts are cheap here right now and as they are amazing roasted with butter, garlic, salt, and pepper, I’m taking advantage of the lower prices while I can. Prices in your area may vary, so be sure to see what’s on sale when you’re picking out your sides.

I’m also including a few fun recipes for St. Patrick’s Day which is my favorite holiday. If you’re of Irish descent or have an interest in Irish heritage, I can’t sing the praises of Darina Allen’s Irish Traditional Cooking cookbook enough. We use it not only on St. Patrick’s Day, but also throughout the year as the recipes are generally very easy to make and true comfort food at its best.

With this meal plan, I’m including five to six gluten-free, grain-free, mostly dairy-free (or very easily adapted to dairy-free) recipes for four weeks. You will see repetition in this list because I find that reusing a few different things (specifically sides) each week, also makes meal planning and cooking in general easier. I discover recipes that my family really likes and that are relatively simple to get on the table, and I add those into the rotation. The more I make them, the faster and more efficient they get, and then I can try new recipes.

A few notes… I’m going to include links to the recipes that are available online, otherwise, I’ll include links to the resource where I got the recipe. In all the recipes where butter is called for, you can substitute ghee to make it lactose/casein-free. Also, these recipes are meant to be easy for weeknights, but they do still take time. I usually start about an hour to an hour-and-a-half before I want us to eat. Obviously, if it’s a recipe I haven’t made before, it will take more time.

Without further ado, here are our March meals….

March 6 – 12

Monday – Spanish omelet, peppers and onions
Tuesday – out
Wednesday – slow cooker chicken marsala, garlic mashed potatoes, salad
Thursday – one-pan sausage and veggies, pan-braised green beans (ATK), salad, sauerkraut
Friday – poached salmon with Irish butter sauce (ITC), roasted Brussels sprouts (or other seasonal vegetable), acorn squash with maple butter sauce
Saturday – slow cooker poor man’s stew, salad
Sunday – out/leftovers

March 13 – 19

Monday – Denver scramble, sauteed spinach
Tuesday – out
Wednesday – basic baked chicken thighs (NT), pan-braised green beans (ATK), salad
Thursday – bratwurst, roasted herb sweet potato bites, baked kale chips, sauerkraut
Friday – potato soup, traditional Irish salad (ITC), paleo apple cake
Saturday – beef pot roast with red wine and thyme (from the old Nourished Kitchen meal plans), roasted beets & carrots, salad
Sunday – out/leftovers

March 20 – 26

Monday – Irishman’s omelet (ITC), sauteed spinach
Tuesday – out
Wednesday – one-pan honey garlic chicken and veggies, rosemary potatoes (NT), salad
Thursday – sausage, peppers, and onions; roasted Brussels sprouts (or other seasonal vegetable), sauerkraut
Friday – twice laid (ITC), carrots Vichy, salad
Saturday – lazy stuffed cabbage rolls, pan-braised green beans (ATK)
Sunday – kielbasa with melted Swiss cheese (just cooked in pan), roasted herb sweet potato bites, sauerkraut

March 27 – April 2

Monday – baked eggs with spinach, tomatoes, and garlic; pan-braised green beans (ATK)
Tuesday – out
Wednesday – roast chicken, roasted carrots & beets, salad
Thursday – sausage & potato casserole, pan-braised cherry tomatoes (ATK), sauerkraut
Friday – salmon cakes (PP), acorn squash with maple butter sauce, sauteed spinach
Saturday – steak, rosemary potatoes (NT), baked kale chips
Sunday – out/leftovers

Lunch Ideas

We’re pretty relaxed about lunch and usually rely on leftovers if we happen to have any. Otherwise, we keep staples in the house to throw something together fast:

Sardines – I know! Sardines?! Gross! Right? But they’re a powerhouse of nutrients, the kids LOVE them, and they’re extremely convenient for packed lunches
Tuna – I get skipjack as it’s lower in mercury than other kinds of tuna
Egg salad – Another of B’s favorites
Hard-boiled eggs
Butternut squash soup – The kids especially like this cold so they can drink it with straws
Roasted chicken drumsticks – Preheat oven to 400 degrees, top each drumstick with a pat of butter/ghee, sprinkle with salt or your favorite seasoning, and roast for 40 minutes
Coconut Wraps (or celery) with almond butter (NTC)
Raw cheese slices – We get this through our raw milk dairy; if you buy it from the store, be sure it really is raw as some cheese-producers will claim that it’s raw, but they still heat it to 160 (Azure has Organic Pastures which is also widely sold in California)

Lunch sides: cherry tomatoes, Bubbies pickles, red pepper slices, olives, steamed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots (10 minutes with lots of butter/ghee), sauerkraut, fermented yams, fresh fruit

Breakfast Ideas

We have the same thing almost every day of the week for breakfast because trying to come up with variety in this area would probably make my head implode. Sunday through Friday, we have scrambled eggs and the kids each get half of an avocado. They finish that off with a small bowl of frozen mixed berries (E and I have bowls of GF oatmeal).

On Saturdays, E breaks out the apron and produces a feast: scrambled eggs, bacon, and either home fries (MIP2) or banana pancakes (EGFB).

Resources

You can see my master list of recipes that are currently in rotation here, a list of places where I buy my food here, and a guide for buying kitchen equipment here. I also use Plan to Eat to collect recipes, make my meal plan, and generate grocery lists. It’s a fantastic little tool and I think meal planning would be a LOT more work without it. If you’re not sure about paying for something like that, they offer a free 30-day trial which is the perfect amount of time to give it a try.