This is Paleo in real life – our real life – with three hungry boys and a very busy schedule!
We have been loving your feedback about sharing our weekly meal plans! To read more about why we’ve been meal planning, how it saves our family time and money, reduces waste, and helps us maintain a Paleo lifestyle, check out our first installment of ‘What We Ate Wednesday’ here!
We look at approaching meals plans in three ways:
(1) when we can, we pick out seasonal, local produce and let that spark inspiration for our meals; other times
(2) we’ll take guidance from what we already have in the fridge and need to use up, and
(3) when we crave a recipe we put it on the list then grab the ingredients for it when we do our weekly shopping.
Frankly, each week is usually a combo of those steps. Once the plan is in place, any other requests have to wait until the following week. We’ve eliminated a number of additional stops at the grocery store with this method, saving us both time and money. Who doesn’t love that?!
♥♥♥
This week’s dinners were:
Thursday: NEW YEARS EVE FEAST!
We got together with friends and had a fun night with great food and company, topped off with sparkling juice to ring in the new year together as a family! Because one of our friends is allergic to nuts we created a menu where everything was nut-free, except the apple dip – and Cole made (an adorable) sign for it that says “Hey Jim, yeah you! This has nuts!”
—> Crispy Baked Wings from Real Life Paleo (brought by our guests!)
—> Bacon-Wrapped Dates from Beyond Bacon
—> Veggies and Chips with Dip (brought by our guests!)
—> Apples Slices with Raw Caramel Dip from Nourishing Meals
—> Angel Food Cake from Deliciously Organic with our homemade whip cream and fresh fruit
This cake is nut-free, super easy to make, and incredibly impressive for holidays!
Friday: New Years Day Brunch with Egg Bake, Bacon, and Sweet Potato Apple Hash
We had a lazy day together playing games, reading books and enjoying a hearty brunch.
—> Fresh oysters!
—> Frozen Waffles recipe from our blog (and Eat Like a Dinosaur and Real Life Paleo)
—> Frittata from Real Life Paleo
—> Sweet Potato Apple Hash recipe from our blog
—> Bacon from our local butcher (also at US Wellness Meats if you cannot find good stuff locally)
Saturday: Ribs (new recipe!!) with Cheesy Broccoli Casserole and Fries
Seriously, seriously some of the best-tasting and EASIEST ribs Matt has ever made. So much flavor and so tender without the necessity of an expensive smoker. Paired with our favorite cheesy broccoli casserole and asparagus for a Saturday night feast!
—> Molasses Horseradish Mustard Ribs recipe from our blog
—> Cheesy Broccoli Casserole recipe from Fed + Fit
—> White Asparagus (or “ghost” asparagus as our kids call it) Roasted from Eat Like a Dinosaur
Sunday: Lemon Dill Salmon with Twice Baked Macaroni with Bacon
A family-favorite recipe and our go-to meal every time wild-caught salmon filets are on sale. We made a side salad and twice baked macaroni (another recipe that is becoming a dinnertime staple!).
—> Lemon Dill Salmon recipe from our blog
—> Twice Baked Macaroni with Bacon recipe from our blog (guest posted by Paleo Gone Sassy)
Monday: Pork Pot Pie and Kale Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
Comfort food at it’s finest! Our favorite pork pot pie (you can easily sub in chicken!) and a big ‘ol salad.
—> Pork Pot Pie recipe from Beyond Bacon
—> Kale Salad from Costco with our homemade Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing recipe from our blog
Tuesday: Lasagna with Tomato-less Marinara, leftover Kale Salad
Grain-less, dairy-less, tomato-less lasagna… can you even believe it? And it is legitimately incredibly, thanks in part to Urban Poser’s Tomato-less Marinara sauce. Plus, we snuck ground liver in this one!
—> Less-Lasagna recipe from our blog (we left out the ricotta and it was still delish!)
—> Kale Salad from Costco with our homemade Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing recipe from our blog
Wednesday: Meatza and Brussels Sprouts
Homemade pizza, Paleo style – and fun for the boys because they each get to put whatever toppings they’d like on their individual Meatza pizza pie! We purposefully planned for this meal to use up the leftover no-mato sauce from last night’s dinner. We rounded the meal out with a big helping of easy roasted brussels sprouts.
—> Meatza recipe from Real Life Paleo
—> Brussels sprouts from Eat Like a Dinosaur
Thursday: Juicy Pot Roast with Cauli-mash
This meal always makes the most incredible leftovers!
—> Juicy Pot Roast recipe from our blog
—> Cauli-mash recipe from Real Life Paleo
Friday: Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard and Waffles
Everyone loves chicken and waffles, which is why this combo was the perfect meal for open gym night!
—> Chicken Fingers recipe from Real Life Paleo
—> Honey Mustard from Tessemae’s
—> Waffles recipe from our blog
**Better yet, see our Epic Tutorial on everything Chicken and Waffles!
♥♥♥
Books featured in our meal plans are among our favorites and ones we actually use ourselves.
