Meal Plan Monday: Paleo Friendly Recipes

Ang over at MommaYoung at Home and I have decided it’s time for us to be a bit more proactive on the meal planning for our families. Where in the past we’ve both had the best intentions, by Tuesday were usually wondering around the kitchen wondering where dinner is coming from (or like me, asking the kids what sounds good only to find I have none of the ingredients in my pantry). As we did some research, we decided that leaning towards a Paleo diet would be most beneficial to ourselves and our families. We started digging around Pinterest for some easy, yet tasty meals we could plan for the week without breaking our grocery budgets.  Since we do our grocery shopping on Saturdays  we planned a Monday through Friday meal plan, with one “leftovers” night, so we picked just 4 recipes to try that were going to share with you this week. As we move along, well share more of the recipes we ‘created’ ourselves, and hopefully a few desserts as well.

Monday – Creamy Crockpot Chicken & Tomato Soup

Ingredients Needed:            

8 frozen skinless boneless chicken breast
2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 14 oz. can of coconut milk (full fat), shake before opening can to avoid separation
2 14 oz. can diced tomatoes and juice
2 cups of chicken broth
1 small can of tomato paste
1/2 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
Sea Salt and pepper to taste

 

Tuesday – Chicken Cutlets with Olives & Tomatoes

Ingredients Needed:

4 (4-6oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (optional)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 (28 oz) can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped—or equivalent amount of fresh plum tomatoes, blanched to remove skin and chopped
18 black olives, drained, pitted, and chopped (about 1/2 can)
3 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped fine (divided)
2 tsp fresh thyme (chopped)

Wednesday – Ground Turkey Picadillo Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients Needed:

2 tsp. + 2 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. lean ground turkey (less than 10% fat)
1 large onion, chopped small
1 large green bell pepper, chopped small
1 can (14.5 oz.) chicken broth (Or use 1 2/3 cups homemade chicken stock if you have some.)
1 can (14 oz.) crushed tomatoes
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste (I didn’t use much salt, about 1/4 tsp.)
2-3 tsp. Green Tabasco sauce (or more)
1/2 cup chopped green olives + a few sliced green olives to garnish (preferably Spanish olives)
1-2 T green olive brine (from the jar of olives)
2 heads iceberg lettuce

Thursday – Quinoa Chicken Soup

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 chopped onion
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced celery
2 tbls olive oil
2 cups chopped chicken
1 tsp minced garlic
1 sliced sweet potato
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can organic beans
1/2 cup quinoa
32 ounces chicken broth

Friday : Bring on the Leftovers!