Menu Plan Monday

My menu planning is taking a drastic turn this week.  I have long been contemplating a lifestyle change and I’m excited about embarking on a new culinary journey tomorrow. 

I hesitate to call my change a “diet”, because it’s really just the beginning to a healthier way of eating.  To facilitate my weight loss, I’ll be eating pre-packaged entrees and shakes from a local medically-supervised program, while supplementing my eating plan with fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Where does this leave Todd and Grace?  Well, I’ll still be cooking them the occasional entree, but I’ll mostly be grilling or baking different meats and serving them with my fresh fruits and vegetables.  While bread is out for me, I’ll keep dinner rolls and garlic toast in the freezer so I can quickly pop them in the oven to go with their dinner meal.

This actually suits Todd just fine, as he typically prefers the simple meat/potato/veggie/bread meal. 

I went to our local Whole Foods market to buy fresh, organic vegetables for the week, and I was pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive it was.  It’s really not that much more expensive overall compared to Wal-Mart, and it’s OH SO MUCH MORE fresh and beautiful. 

On this trip I bought fresh Honey Crisp apples, Mexican bananas, grapes, local tomatoes, zucchini, squash, purple onions, Idaho potatoes, garlic, broccoli, green beans, and red peppers.  I also bought some frozen mango, papaya, and strawberries to put in my smoothie shakes.

I’ll be steaming, roasting, and stir-frying these vegetables in a variety of ways to go along with my packaged entrees.  While I can’t use a lot of oils/butters, there are no restrictions on spices, so I plan to use spray Pam and experiment with lots of different spicy flavor combinations to keep things interesting.

For my next Menu Plan Monday post, I’ll share some of my favorite veggie dishes from this week.