Week of February 10, 2013 I decided to make a meal plan for dinners and lunches for the whole week and to grocery shop accordingly, so as not to over/under buy. Basically, I am doing this because I really enjoy eating my home-cooked food and I need to loose a few pounds AND save some money because I want to move and go on a sweet vacation : ) First, I had to make sure I accounted for the days we would not be home for dinner and remember that I am never home for lunch during the week so I had to plan easy make-ahead meals that are filling and still make me excited about eating lunch!
Sunday: Make meals plan, compile grocery list, go to Trader Joes, put away groceries, prepare dinner for this evening, prepare salad lunches for Monday, measure and prepare ingredients for crock pot meal for Monday evening.
Sunday's meal included: Oven baked chicken, a pretty amazing margarita pizza + mushrooms and a healthy mixed green salad. I made enough chicken to give us each a half breast sliced up in our lunch salads.
For the chicken, I simply set boneless skinless breasts in a pan with cheap white wine (I used the cheap Trader Joe's Pinot Grigio), lemon juice from one fresh lemon, a little olive oil, onion flakes, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and some herbs de provence. Bake it in the oven at 375 for 30-35 minutes.
For the salad, I used mixed greens and baby spinach together with cucumber, tomato, avocado and herbs and garlic pita chips crushed up with a Parmesan garlic dressing.
While I was preparing dinner salad, I had the 2 salad containers for Greg and my lunches with balsamic vinigarette at the bottom and then put sliced cucumbers and tomatoes on top, then a few slices of mozzarella and set it aside until the chicken was prepared, cooled and sliced. Once that happened, I layered in the chicken, mixed greens, baby spinach and, of course, the "chippies" before easily stacking them in the fridge for a quick grab in the morning.
For the Pizza, I used garlic and herb pizza dough from Trader Joe's and let it set on a little flour on my new Caphlon pizza tray to conserve space in my tiny kitchen. After about 15 minutes, I rolled the dough a bit before stretching it out a little by hand to make it the size and thickness of my preference. I then created a crust by rolling the edges and used a very light garlic olive oil brush over the whole dough and put it in the oven to crisp a little because I have had soggy margarita pizza before and its not my fav. Once it barely started to bubble I took it out and spread a prepared pesto on the entire center. Next I placed sliced mushrooms around, then sliced fresh mozzarella, topped by sliced heirloom tomatoes that received a quick balsamic vinegar splash along with salt and pepper.
It goes into a preheated oven of 450 degrees for about 10 minutes. I then added a tiny bit of shaved parmesan and broiled for like 2 minutes but be careful not to overcook your pizza!
Since we each only ate 1/4 of the large pizza with the rest of our meal, I am eating the rest for lunch right now :)
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