Meal Plan Monday Post

The meal plan for the last week was definitely a bit more fluid than others past. We moved a few things around throughout the week as things came up. For example on Tuesday I had planned for potato soup but opted to move the orzo dish up since there was more fresh produce in that. Then the potato soup was moved to Thursday but I was feeling a little under the weather that evening and didn't feel like cooking so Patrick did a throw together with some pasta. Potato soup is now slated for this coming Tuesday! The food challenge didn't alter our meal planning but did ask us to be more mindful of how much we were eating!

In other news we're trying out a new produce delivery service to get some local/regional produce back into our kitchen on a regular basis and hopefully we will continue it as we supplement some items when our CSA starts back in April. It's called Papa Spud's and they describe themselves as "a farm to fork delivery service, working to bring the entire NC food landscape to your front door! Since 2008 we have been expanding our network of local growers and food artisans, and are happy to be able to offer over 200 food products a week, and we are still growing! Our goal is to greatly improve access to local foods in our community through transparency, communication, affordability, and the convenience of our delivery infrastructure."

We enjoyed our first box - chard, onions, lettuce, beets, apples, and oranges! Dupree approved too. If you're local you might find them doing a Living Social promotion which is why we tried it.

Week 8: Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.

This was definitely a challenge for us - and, I think, more so for me than Patrick. I feel like I had a bit more pressure with the "clean plate club" than he did growing up. It's really hard to break that habit. One thing this weekly challenge made me do was to be more mindful of the portions I put on the plate. This way I could still eat everything on the plate! There were quite a few meals this week that were meatless or didn't feature a heavy protein and that certainly made the challenge better. There were also a few meals where we did leave something on our plate. So I'd call this a success for the weekly challenge!

Meal Plan for Monday March 2 - Sunday March 8

   Monday - Bacon onion and goat cheese pasta, salad
   Tuesday - Orzo with caramelized vegetables
   Wednesday - PATRICK'S BIRTHDAY!
      Seared tuna, brown rice, brussels spring rolls

Sake for the birthday

   Thursday - Pasta throw together

   Friday - Smoothie and heavy hors d'oeuvres at party
      Beer & Cheese Tasting Party

   Saturday - Brunch Baked oatmeal
      Dinner Ravioli with beet filling
   Sunday - Brunch Breakfast hash with chard
      Dinner Thai turkey chili

Challenge Meal Plan Summary: Week 1 Fruits & Veggie | Week 2 Beverages | Week 3 Meat | Week 4 No Fried Foods | Week 5 New Whole Foods | Week 6 Labeling | Week 7 Grains | Week 8 Internal Cues | Week 9 No Refined / Artifical Sweeteners | Week 10 No Refined / Hydrogenated Oils | Week 11 Locally Grown | Week 12 No Added Sweeteners | Week 13 No Artificial Ingredients | Week 14 5 Ingredients or Less