First of all, happy inauguration day! I woke up feeling positively giddy for the first time in a long time. I’ll for sure be tuning in at 10am.

For the next four weeks, I’m going to share 4 weekly meal plans with you guys. You can either follow along directly or use these posts as inspiration to create your own meal plans.

If you’re looking for recipe resources, here are a few of the places that I look first:

– Lemon Stripes recipe page: You can search by type of recipe which makes it helpful.
– Love & Lemons: By far my favorite food blog. I have both of her cookbooks too! She makes plant-forward clean recipes that never disappoint
– Cookie & Kate: She makes all vegetarian recipes but you can always sub in meat if you want
– Bon Appetit: I get exactly one magazine subscription and it’s Bon App. I also follow them religiously online and on social. They’re true experts on food and have a recipe for almost anything you can search.

You’ll notice I plan only for dinners. For lunch, I eat leftovers, make myself a sandwich, or pick up salads from local restaurants. You could definitely add lunches into your plan if you want, but this is how I do it for my household.

I’m taking a course on feeding picky toddlers so as of now I make Amalia a separate meal (never thought I’d be that mom but here we are!) but I’m hoping that within two months when I finish the course, she eats more of these recipes with us.

The only thing I usually add into my meal plans is a muffin recipe to make for Amalia’s breakfast. I riff off of these spinach blender muffins and these veggie-packed muffins each week or try something totally new. I almost always make them on Sunday nights when we’re all home and relaxed. Amalia loves baking and I love getting her involved in the kitchen.

Monday Night- Otsu: On Monday nights we usually go for our lightest/healthiest meal of the week after a weekend of probably eating more than usual. Otsu is one of my go-to’s because of the incredible flavor and the fact that it leaves you feeling good when you’re done eating it. I generally make it with tofu but if you want meat, you could marinate chicken or steak in the same sauce.

Tuesday Night- Slow cooker garlic chicken and veggies: I make this “recipe” often for my in-laws because they like to have meat with every meal and I’ve found that I’ve been craving more meat with this pregnancy and make some sort of slow-cooker chicken every week or two. I will serve this with a kale and avocado salad. I don’t have the slow-cooker recipe on my blog but here is what I do:

Ingredients:
– 1-1.5 lbs chicken breasts
– 4-5 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
– 1-2 yellow onions, roughly chopped
– Small bag of baby potatoes (or 3-4 large potatoes, chopped)
– 1/2 cup, butter
– 4 cloves, garlic, minced
– 1 Tbs each, thyme, parsley, rosemary (or whatever green herbs you like)
– Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Pat the chicken dry and top with a generous portion of salt and pepper. Sauté for 3-5 minutes in 1 Tbs of the butter on each side until slightly brown (my slow cooker has a sauté setting so I do that in the same machine)
2. In a small bowl, melt the butter, then mix with herbs, minced garlic, and some more salt and pepper.
3. Place chicken in slow cooker. Surround it with potatoes, onions, and carrots.
4. Pour the butter mixture over the chicken and veggies.
5. Slow cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
6. When it’s done, I usually pull the chicken apart into smaller pieces and let it soak in the cooked juices for a while so it’s not dry and tough.
7. Enjoy!

Wednesday Night- Leftover chicken and Otsu: I usually eat leftovers for lunch but Anel brings or buys a salad every day so we almost always have extra leftovers in the middle of the week. If I don’t add this into my plan, we end up wasting food every single time. To change things up, I’ll make a side of rice or pasta to go with chicken or a salad to go with the soup.

Thursday Night-Detox lentil soup: I made a double batch of my favorite lentil soup this week for two pregnant friends and regretted not tripling the recipe so I could have some myself. It smelled so good and now I’m craving it so I added it to the list for next week. It’s so easy because you just throw a bunch of stuff in the slow cooker in the morning and dinner is ready by 6. Bing bang bongo!

Friday Night- Order in: By Friday we’re all tired and ready for an easy dinner so it’s usually our night to order in. Anel and I generally take turns choosing the restaurant but pregnancy trumps all so I’ve made this decision more often than not lately. When not pregnant, we do a lot of sushi but lately, it’s been more comfort food.

Saturday Night- Pizza night: We do pizza nights in our house every week or two because Amalia loves it and gets really involved. Plus pizza is awesome. In the summer we grill it, and in colder months we cook it in the oven. When we’re feeling lazy we buy frozen crusts and cauliflower crusts and when we’re willing to put in more effort, we buy fresh dough from a local pizzeria.

I usually make a plain cheese pie for Amalia, a pepperoni and Mike’s Hot Honey for Anel, and pie with goat cheese with pesto for me. But sometimes we change it up and try new combos. Pizza night is so fun. Amalia puts on her little apron and gets so excited over it.

Sunday Night- Slow cooker meatballs: I make Eva’s slow cooker meatball recipe almost every Sunday because they can cook all day and make the most satisfying Sunday dinner. Plus it’s one of the few ways that Amalia will actually eat any meat. I usually don’t even serve them with pasta, but instead with a simple arugula salad and crusty bread. Growing up in an Italian family, we had meatballs every single Sunday so I love carrying this tradition through with my own family.

Will you be joining me? I look forward to hearing from you guys!