meal plan with grocery list

Welcome to my comfy cozy spot right here in my very own space on the internet.Let’s face it, it’s pretty much the only space I can call my own with a 3, 4, and 6 year old running around these days. I am so excited to start these meal plans because in reality planning meals for the week can take a lot of time. For that reason, I wanted to start with 5 EASY AWESOME DINNERS!!

During the years I was working full time and then picking up a 1, 2, and 3 year old from daycare I had so much stress and anxiety about meal-time. There was no time to meal plan, when I did meal plan there wasn’t time to make the meals or I did not have the energy. Suppers became more like breakfast in that we just threw down what we could find in the fridge and call it good. We ate a lot of paninis, spaghetti, and whatever came out of the slow cooker when I remembered to wake up extra early in the mornings. However, since I have been home with the kids our meal-time has gradually improved and they have also gotten just a little older so they don’t usually throw food at the walls anymore, which you know helps!

So, I have decided to start putting together some meal plans for you guys that are looking for an easy way to meal plan without causing you a bunch of stress and time spent figuring out what to make. So, please let me know what you think and if you have any feedback just leave it in the comments below. I would very much appreciate your thoughts! Without further adieu, let’s get to meal planning!!

One more thing- I wanted these meal plans to be a one-stop shop so you will find the recipes, grocery list, and nutrition info available all within this meal plan post.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

A hearty and cozy soup full of shredded chicken breasts, wild rice, mushrooms, seasonings, and more veggies that is the perfect recipe for a cold winter day.

It’s done in the slow cooker so that you can set it and forget it until it’s nearly supper. Just prior to being done you can toss in the mushrooms and make the roux to give it that creaminess it deserves! It’s a great way to start the week!

Project Meal Plan: 5 EASY AWESOME DINNERS

Megan

A hearty and cozy soup full of shredded chicken breasts, wild rice, mushrooms, seasonings, and more veggies that is the perfect recipe for a cold winter day.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Soup

Servings 4 Quarts

Calories 416 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 cups 48 oz chicken stock
• 1 cup wild rice
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 carrots peeled and diced
• 3 celery stalks diced
• 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
• 16 oz button mushrooms sliced
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 1 cup 1/2 n 1/2
• Salt/Pepper to Taste

Instructions

 

• In at least a 6 quart slow cooker, combine chicken breasts, salt, pepper, stock, rice, onion, carrots, celery, and poultry seasoning.
• Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours.
• At the time soup has 1/2 hour left of cooking, add mushrooms and mix in.
• In a small saucepan, add butter and melt over low heat. Stir in flour gradually.
• Very gradually, slowly whisk in milk and 1/2 n 1/2 until all has been added and mixture is nice and smooth.
• Remove chicken from slow cooker, shred and return to slow cooker.
• Add milk mixture to soup and stir well. Salt and Pepper to taste.*

Notes

*When seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, I like to suggest adding a conservative amount and then letting each person season to taste once served just because people's preferences differ so much.

Bacon, Wild Rice, & Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin stuffed with turkey bacon, wild rice, jalapeño goat cheese, and chopped apples. There’s so much flavor going on here and it’s a perfect “date night in” kind of meal. 

This meal does require a bit more prep work so what I would recommend is to cook the wild rice the night before to save on time. Read the notes in the recipe for additional tips!

Project Meal Plan: 5 EASY AWESOME DINNERS

Megan

Pork tenderloin stuffed with turkey bacon, wild rice, jalapeño goat cheese, and chopped apples. There's so much flavor going on here and it's a perfect "date night in" kind of meal.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

Course Main Dish, Pork Tenderloin

Servings 3 -4

Calories 344 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1-2 pound boneless pork tenderloin
• Salt/Pepper
• 4 strips bacon I used turkey bacon
• 4 oz goat cheese I used jalapeño: was very spicy!
• 1 cup wild rice uncooked
• 1 golden delicious apple chopped

Side of Wild Rice

• Cooked rice minus 1/4 cup used to stuff tenderloin
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 fresh basil leaves chopped
• 1 cup shredded parmesan

Instructions

 

Cook Rice

• In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add wild rice, reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for about 45 minutes or per package instructions.

Cook Bacon

• Meanwhile, in a large pan add bacon without overlapping. Cook over medium low heat until crispy and fat is rendered. Remove from heat and set aside on a paper towel lined plate.

Make Filling

• In the same pan used for the bacon, add the chopped apple and cook on low for 5-6 minutes. Add goat cheese, chop up bacon and add to pan and stir often until cheese melts. Remove from heat

Prep Pork Tenderloin

• Preheat oven to 450℉. Set tenderloin on a cutting board and cut lengthwise to about 1/4 inch thick being careful not to cut all the way through. Flatten the pork tenderloin with a meat tenderizer or place plastic wrap over the meat and use your fist like I did! Season with salt and pepper.
• Leaving a clean border around all the edges sprinkle about 1/4 cup wild rice followed by the cheese mixture. Roll pork tenderloin up the long way and tie with kitchen string every 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Season outside with a bit more salt and pepper, place on baking sheet and bake 30-35 minutes or until thermometer reads 160℉ with a 3 minute rest.

Side of Cheesy Wild Rice

• Over medium low heat, add 2 tablespoons butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder to wild rice. Continue stirring until butter melts. Add chopped basil leaves and parmesan cheese, stirring occasionally. Serve with pork.

Notes

For a lightened version serve pork tenderloin with side of fresh chopped apples rather than a side of cheesy wild rice.

If you cook wild rice the night before, go ahead and add 1/4 cup refrigerated wild rice to stuff pork tenderloin and then proceed to warm wild rice with other listed ingredients if going to serve the cheesy wild rice as a side.

Slow Cooker Spicy Chicken Tacos

Slow cooker spicy chicken mixed with avocado, jalapeños, cilantro, and a dollop of greek yogurt in a soft tortilla.

Weeknight dinners have a whole different kind of meaning in my world compared to the weekend. I was easy, I want delicious, and I want a slow cooker to do most of the work. This would probably work great in the Instant Pot too, I just haven’t tried it quite yet but it won’t be long before I do.

Project Meal Plan: 5 EASY AWESOME DINNERS

Megan

Slow cooker spicy chicken mixed with avocado, jalapeños, cilantro, and a dollop of greek yogurt in a soft tortilla.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Main Dish, Tacos

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 8 tacos

Calories 271 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 6 '' Tortillas
• 1 lime
• 2 jalapeños
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• Cilantro chopped

Slow Cooker Chicken

• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce seeds removed and chopped
• 1 teaspoon adobo sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 6 tablespoons lime juice

Instructions

 

• In a slow cooker combine chicken, chipotle chile and sauce, chile powder, onion, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, cumin, and lime juice. Cook on low 7-8 hours.
• Shred chicken and mix in juices from slow cooker.
• Warm tortillas in microwave for 15-20 seconds.
• Add chicken to tortillas along with either sliced or chopped jalapeños, greek yogurt, cilantro, and a generous squeeze of fresh lime juice.
• Serve with chips and salsa.

Notes

For a lightened version, skip the tortillas and make chicken taco bowls. Add spicy chicken to bowls topped with avocado, jalapeños, cilantro, and greek yogurt. Top with salsa and serve with a handful of tortilla chips.

Toasted Tuna Everything Bagels

The best tuna salad served warm on a toasted everything bagel for those evenings you literally want dinner in 10 minutes. I hear you!

This meal plan project has REALLY opened my husband’s eyes. I have been cooking away like Julia Childs the past week and he actually made the comment “I can’t believe I am looking forward to healthy food!”

My husband, yes my husband made that comment! It’s so hard to believe. HONEST! He’s a guy that could eat “fatty steak” as he likes to say nearly every night of the week. It’s a good thing for his heart that he married me! Anyway, he was blown away by these toasted tuna everything bagels as was I. These are the perfect substitute to the fast food fish sandwiches I sometimes resort to during Lent.

Project Meal Plan: 5 EASY AWESOME DINNERS

Megan

The best tuna salad served warm on a toasted everything bagel for those evenings you literally want dinner in 10 minutes.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Dish, Sandwiches

Servings 4

Calories 477 kcal

Ingredients

  

• Everything bagels
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 5 oz cans Albacore tuna
• 1/2 cup light Miracle Whip or mayo
• 1/4 cup yellow onion chopped
• 1 celery stalk chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dill weed

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400℉.
• In a medium bowl, combine tuna, miracle whip, onion, celery, lemon juice, and seasoning. Stir until well combined.
• Slice bagels in half and place open faced on a baking sheet. Spray non-stick cooking spray on tops of bagels and place top side up.
• Spoon tuna equally over bottom halves of bagels and top with about 2 tablespoons parmesan per sandwich.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bagels are golden brown.
• Serve and enjoy!

Pretzel Black Bean Burgers

A black bean base burger combined with baby bella mushrooms, egg, ground flax seed, whole wheat bread crumbs and a blend of seasonings to create the best homemade veggie burger. 

True story- as I was prepping the black bean burgers my husband asked in his most serious voice, “where is the hamburger?” I told him these are the kind of black bean burgers that don’t have beef in them as I was holding in the sarcasm. He was skeptical, but as my go to recipe tester he agreed to try them. As I was shooting pictures of them, his interest grew by a long shot. After that first bite, the rest was history. He was amazed, intrigued, and down right excited about how delicious these black bean burgers tasted. I was pretty giddy myself.

Don’t let these bean burgers fool you, they pack a lot of nutrition in to one burger and my husband and me shared one the first time and still felt satisfied. There’s a decent amount of fiber in these burgers so take note if you don’t usually eat a fair amount every day.

Project Meal Plan: 5 EASY AWESOME DINNERS

Megan

A black bean base burger combined with baby bella mushrooms, egg, ground flax seed, whole wheat bread crumbs and a blend of seasonings to create the best homemade veggie burger.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 14 minutes mins

Total Time 29 minutes mins

Course Burgers, Main Dish

Servings 3

Calories 761 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
• 1 tablespoon Worcerstershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt divided
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 baby bella mushrooms
• 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage

Toasted Pretzel Buns

• 3 pretzel buns
• 2 oz goat cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Avocado Spread

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 avocado peeled and pitted
• 2 tablespoons nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

 

Prep Black Bean Burgers

• Combine flax seed, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, cumin, mushrooms, 1/2 can beans, egg, and garlic in a food processor. Process until mixture is mostly smooth.
• Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in remaining black beans and breadcrumbs.

Toasted Pretzel Buns

• Preheat oven to 400℉. Slice pretzel buns and arrange on baking sheet. Spray top halves of buns with non-stick spray and place top side up. Sprinkle goat cheese and parmesan cheese evenly over bottom halves of buns.
• Bake for 7-8 minutes until golden brown.

Make Avocado Spread

• In a small bowl combine avocado, salt, and lime juice. Mash avocado well with a fork. Add the yogurt, water, and stir until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Cook Black Bean Burgers

• Heat canola oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Scoop out 1/2 cup black bean mixture and form into burger patties. Place in pan and cook 2-3 minutes per side until browned. In order to keep patties together nicely, I like to use two spatulas and place around bottom and top of patties and flip. Flatten just a bit with a spatula.

Serving Burgers

• Spread avocado spread on top half of buns. Sprinkle shredded cabbage over the cheese on bottom halves. Place patties over the cabbage and serve!

Notes

Adapted from Cooking Light

Alright friends, there is your first meal plan and I hope you love the recipes you try!

Click here for your grocery list.

Also check back soon because I will be posting each recipe individually over the next week or so if you are interested in seeing more pics and details for each meal!! Also let me know if you like the recipes for meal plans all in one post rather than having links to each recipe!

Happy Meal Planning!

Hugs!
Megan