Meal Planning is a Homemaker MUST + Our Dinners of the Week
The Daily Connoisseur
5:09 AM
12 Comments
Meal planning is a homemaker must. Through the years, I've gone for long periods of time when I was on top of meal planning, and long periods of burn-out where I didn't meal plan at all. And I can definitely say that meal planning helps my life go more smoothly, it's better for our food budget, and I end up producing more appealing meals that the whole family actually enjoy.
In today's video I'm sharing the meals we made this past week. I write them down on this magnetic meal planning paper pad and place it on the fridge. I always get the days wrong (as you will see), but it's helpful to have a meal plan written down, as well as a grocery list. To give you an idea on what we spend on groceries, our bill for this week, which included all of the ingredients I needed to make the meals, plus breakfast items, snacks for the kids, and other fresh produce, ended up being $170. This is a great price for a family of six considering that many of the items I bought (milk, eggs, etc.) would last for more than one week as well.
The potato gratin recipe comes from William & Sonoma's Bride and Groom cookbook, the chicken roll-up recipe was one I originally found on Kristin Stepp's channel and she got it from Plain Chicken (links below). The Linguini with Clams (pantry staple) is from All Recipes. I will also leave my versions of the recipes down below as I did alter some of them a bit.
Featured in the video:
⚜️Meal planning notebook/ grocery list
⚜️Lemon juicer
⚜️Instant Pot
⚜️Slow Cooker
⚜️Cast Iron skillet
⚜️Cellar Door Candles
⚜️ Kitchen-Aid white mixer
⚜️Copper measuring cups
⚜️Kristin Stepp's YouTube channel
⚜️Plain Chicken blog
⚜️Boos block
⚜️Vintage kitchen timer
⚜️French apron
⚜️Blue & white Churchill plates
⚜️Red Le Creuset casserole dish
Potato Gratin
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 tsp butter (room temp.)
- 2 lb russet potatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 tsp salt
- black pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 2 quart baking or gratin dish with the butter. Peel the potatoes and cut into slices around 1/8 inch thick. (You can also use a mandolin.) Crush the garlic and add into the pot along with the potatoes, cream, half and half, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the temperature and cook for around 10 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to your greased baking dish and cook in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes.
Chicken Piccata
Ingredients:
- 4 thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Flour for dredging
- 4 Tbs unsalted butter
- 2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- juice from 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup capers
- 2 Tbs parsley, chopped
Instructions:
- Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour to coat it lightly. In a large pan, melt 2 Tbs. butter and 2 Tbs. olive oil. Add the chicken and cook until brown (roughly 3 minutes on each side). Transfer the chicken to a plate. Add the broth, lemon juice, and capers to the same pan. Bring this to a boil, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pan and cook until it is fully cooked through (about 5 minutes). Transfer the chicken to a platter. Stir the remaining 2 Tbs. butter into the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garnish with parsley.
Salmon with Dungeness Crab a la Balboa
Ingredients:
Salmon
- 4 6 oz. salmon steaks
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 Tbs butter
- salt and pepper
Crabmeat topping
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 oz. butter, melted
- 1 Tbs mustard
- 1 egg
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 Tbs. Old Bay seasoning
- 1 lb crab meat
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Mix all of the topping ingredients. Heat the olive oil and butter in your roasting pan in the oven. Place the salmon in the pan and top with the crab mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
The tacos are pretty self-explanatory. I like to make taco meat in large batches and freeze it (ground beef or ground turkey cooked with taco seasoning according to the package directions). Then I freeze it. I have cooked mine in the Instant Pot.
The Chicken Roll-up recipe can be found on Plain Chicken. I initially discovered it on Kristin Stepp's YouTube channel.
The Linguini with Clams recipe can be found here.
The Peach Crisp recipe can be found here.
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Comment of the Week
Caryn writes, "Larsson has been a favorite of mine for years--my kitchen wall calendar is always Larsson prints, so I can be inspired while working. I envy everyone who is discovering him (and Karin, his very talented artist and homemaker wife) this month!
I will listen to the Elgar with dark chocolate...just in case :)
Thank you for what promises to be a lovely month.
~Caryn"
Caryn, I am so excited to learn more about the Chic Assignment artists this month too. I will be learning right along with all of you.
I hope you enjoy today's meal planning video. Let us know how you meal plan and what your process is. If you struggle with meal planning, I hope this video inspired you and gave you some new great recipe ideas too. Your comment could be chosen as comment of the week on the blog.
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