week of 2/12 menu plan

sunday: our beloved grill and chill  ritual

• superbowl

• easy fish tacos, thanks to this brilliant, inspiring post

  • or our favorite bean and cheese nachos

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• our go-to easy, last-minute dinner: air fryer breaded chicken sandwiches

  • hoping to post this on Instagram, but know I keep these frozen patties from Costco in our freezer always for dinners like this. I heat them in the airfryer, I buy our favorite buns (Martin’s), and offer up onion, tomato, lettuce, etc. SO GOOD.

• but know there’s a chance I might cut up my chicken patty to make my absolute favorite chicken caesar wrap with crushed croutons and parmesan cheese instead

• big batch of comeback sauce (and either roasted broccoli and/or frozen fries)

tuesday: something easy

• our valentine’s traditions

• but tbh yall, we’re tired. and some things are going on behind the scenes that I omit from IG, so in order to give ourselves some more rest and grace, we may just take it easy this year with a heart shaped pizza or a heart shaped chick-fil-a platter. and that’s okay.

wednesday: pizza/pasta/rice

• lemony roasted shrimp and asparagus

• buttered noodles (or garlic butter pasta)

• frozen garlic bread or frozen ciabatta rolls

• big bowl of fruit

thursday: something easy

• balsamic glazed sheet pan gnocchi with sausage

  • one of our family favorites and the reason I keep TJ’s sweet potato gnocchi and TJ’s sausage in the freezer!

• our favorite cornbread or frozen biscuits

• big bowl of fruit

friday:

• my favorite build your own pinto bean bowl

  • my slow cooker pinto beans, omit sausage

  • brown rice, mashed avocado, shredded cheese, etc

• big bowl of fruit

• our favorite cornbread or fritos

saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones

I’ll clear out the fridge/freezer/pantry and make some sort of snack platter: produce, cheese, crackers, meats, dips, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, Trader Joe frozen appetizers, whatever’s hanging around.

• see a full list of alllll the things we love for Snack Dinner here

• but know I also love Yummy Toddler Food’s Snack Dinner blogpost, too

• and, and! we LOVE doing a muffin pan snack dinner like this

And really quick, here are few of my favorites for making dinner even remotely possible:

• my leopard baby carrier that makes me so happy

• these supportive house shoes

• our favorite bouncer

• a tripp trapp chair for Baby Boy with this incredible newborn insert

  • aka the only way we can eat dinner as a family…and with my hands free.

• and our twin-size kitchen helper stool (and a second tripp trapp chair) for our toddler

I talk more in my baby prep blogpost about how I set up my home for life with a toddler and a newborn, if you’re looking for more of my must-haves!

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meal prep

below is the list of what I hope to meal prep this week - it may not all happen, and that's okay!

• prep produce (like wash + destem grapes)

  • also make veggie box

  • here are my produce boxes

• prep gooooood salad ingredients for the week

  • with my favorite dressing containers

• prep the weekly pot of beans

  • for a quick dinner if I’m too tired to cook (like my favorite tostadas), for my favorite lunch, and/or a quick Leftover Night option (like Our Quesadilla Dinner)

  • recipes I love:

    • instant pot black beans, slow cooker refried beans, my slow cooker pinto beans, or copycat chipotle beans

• prep a few things for quick, easy breakfasts/snacks/lunches

  • make a batch of banana oatmeal muffins, freeze half

  • prep smoothie cups in these containers

  • make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal

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favorite things

• here’s a picture of KK’s basket from Mr. Valentine! a basket of red and pink art activities and crafts - basically one big gift for Future Haley. :)

  • everything is linked here

• finally posted a quick graphic of our daily rhythm - aka how I break up our days and things we do every single day. I will remember this season of my life with such joy, and I accredit a good portion of that joy to our daily rhythm.

• here’s a reel on the three places we store/organize KK’s books! i always receive DMs on that third location, so I thought a tour was way overdue.

  • here’s a list of February’s book rotation and March’s book rotation!

  • or, here’s the link to our 12 Months of Monthly Play Themes with allllll our monthly books, sensory bins, play dough trays, play kitchen activities, and more!

• shared links to our simplified gift wrap stash - and how we store it all - on Instagram this week! saved it all to my “hallway closet” highlight.

  • but know we love kraft paper bags like this, a roll of kraft paper like this, a massive pack of white tissue paper like this, a variety of fun ribbon, and an assortment of personalized gift tags.

  • here’s a photo of my go-to way to wrap a gift using these things!

• first sticker book: dollhouse is absolutely captivating KK. we’ve tried a lot of sticker books, and these continue to be our favorites. (and when you buy through my link, KK and I earn free books! we send you the biggest hug of gratitude when you do.)

• the big list of things, systems, and routines that help me feel my best - I’m always updating this post and it’s the best place to start to get a lot of FAQs answered!

---

want more?

i’m always sharing our favorite routines, our favorite systems, and our favorite dinners on Instagram.
and know that when you share kind words with me or share my page with your followers, I do a happy dance. your support means everything, and your support allows me to spend time creating free content, like this menu plan. xo.

week of 2/5 menu plan

sunday: our beloved grill and chill  ritual

• brett grills chicken like this for tonight’s dinner + plenty of lunch leftovers

  • freeze a breast or two of grilled chicken for easy future meals

  • or pull grilled chicken from the freezer if too tired to grill

• and we’ll set out ingredients to make our favorite Grill and Chill Meal

  • or my favorite bean and avocado bowl

  • or our beloved burrito bowls

  • Brett may do this too to make our week easier while the grill’s still hot

  • I’ll also set out flour tortillas if someone prefers a taco-type situation. Whatever speaks to our heart!

• ingredients like:

  • instant pot black beans or slow cooker refried beans

    • I omit the onion in both recipes out of personal preference, and often times I’ll use black beans in the refried beans recipe

  • plenty of mashed avocado + pinch of salt to taste

  • pico, queso*, shredded lettuce, salsa, crema, onion, cheese, etc

    • *we always get the Queso Mama queso at Costco

  • flour tortillas + rice

  • could also grab sauces/sides/fresh tortillas from one of our favorite Mexican restaurants

• we THRIVE on this Build Your Own Dinner and we thrive even more on the leftovers all week. and that way if I’m too tired to make dinner later in the week, nbd. we just throw together some quesadillas or tostadas or something.

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• our menu plan was thrown off last week due to that Ice Storm, so let’s do a few things I never got around to making:

• grilled ham and cheese on brett’s sourdough bread

• the best tomato soup, pulled from the freezer

  • I froze the soup in these containers

  • here’s how I freeze + thaw soups

  • see full list of how I prepped for baby #2 here

  • see full list of what I froze for postpartum here

• roasted parmesan sweet potato or frozen sweet potato fries

• big bowl of fruit and/or salad + ranch dressing

tuesday: something easy

• random clean out the pantry/freezer:

  • Trader Joe’s frozen fish or a Costco rotisserie chicken

  • my favorite way to eat canned green beans

  • those frozen biscuits in our freezer

  • that packet of cheesy rice in our pantry

  • strawberry spinach salad, if time/energy

  • big bowl of fruit

wednesday: pizza/pasta/rice

• yummy toddler food’s shortcut bolognese

  • or homemade hamburger helper

• my favorite rosemary bread (or frozen garlic bread)

• my favorite green salad (or bagged caesar salad)

thursday: something easy

• tamales from freezer

  • or Quesadilla Night with Sunday’s leftover grilled chicken

• big bowl of mashed avocado

• big bowl of fruit

friday: date night or something from the freezer

• that Trader Joe’s ravioli in our freezer + jarred sauce + gooood parm

• my favorite rosemary bread (or frozen garlic bread)

• whatever produce is hanging around at this point in the week

saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones

I’ll clear out the fridge/freezer/pantry and make some sort of snack platter: produce, cheese, crackers, meats, dips, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, Trader Joe frozen appetizers, whatever’s hanging around.

• see a full list of alllll the things we love for Snack Dinner here

• but know I also love Yummy Toddler Food’s Snack Dinner blogpost, too

• and, and! we LOVE doing a muffin pan snack dinner like this

And really quick, here are few of my favorites for making dinner even remotely possible:

• my leopard baby carrier that makes me so happy

• these supportive house shoes

• our favorite bouncer

• a tripp trapp chair for Baby Boy with this incredible newborn insert

  • aka the only way we can eat dinner as a family…and with my hands free.

• and our twin-size kitchen helper stool (and a second tripp trapp chair) for our toddler

I talk more in my baby prep blogpost about how I set up my home for life with a toddler and a newborn, if you’re looking for more of my must-haves!

---

meal prep

below is the list of what I hope to meal prep this week - it may not all happen, and that's okay!

• prep produce (like wash + destem grapes)

  • also make veggie box

  • here are my produce boxes

• prep gooooood salad ingredients for the week

  • with my favorite dressing containers

• prep the weekly pot of beans

  • for a quick dinner if I’m too tired to cook (like my favorite tostadas), for my favorite lunch, and/or a quick Leftover Night option (like Our Quesadilla Dinner)

  • recipes I love:

    • instant pot black beans, slow cooker refried beans, my slow cooker pinto beans, or copycat chipotle beans

• prep a few things for quick, easy breakfasts/snacks/lunches

  • pull a batch of banana muffins from the freezer

    • here’s the full list of things I froze for postpartum.

  • prep smoothie cups in these containers

  • make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal

---

favorite things

• see a peek into our Mr. Valentine Baskets for this year - Brett and I each get one, too!

• here’s a full list of our simple Valentine’s Day Traditions

• my little couch armrest clip-on tray table might be my breastfeeding mvp

  • here’s all my other baby/breastfeeding favorites

• checked on our emergency stash + our evacuation bag this week

  • on my yearly tasks + expenses list, i have written down to check these two things every January

  • an easy first step to creating your own emergency stash? invest in a good light source(s) (here’s my favorite!) and add a gallon or two of water to your next few grocery carts.

• we officially have an LLBean tote bag that lives in our hallway - our easy way to keep library books both contained and available <3

• buying this storybook for my “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” loving girl

• my favorite thing KK received in her stocking this year? these blank postcards to decorate and mail loved ones. (we gave her cousin these dinosaur ones to color - preaddressed to KK - and we received our first one from him! so much fun!)

• the big list of things, systems, and routines that help me feel my best - I’m always updating this post and it’s the best place to start to get a lot of FAQs answered!

---

want more?

i’m always sharing our favorite routines, our favorite systems, and our favorite dinners on Instagram.
and know that when you share kind words with me or share my page with your followers, I do a happy dance. your support means everything, and your support allows me to spend time creating free content, like this menu plan. xo.

week of 1/29 menu plan

sunday: our beloved grill and chill  ritual

• no grilling this week!

• slow cooker chicken tikki masala

• rice + naan + fruit

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• grilled ham and cheese on brett’s sourdough bread

• the best tomato soup, pulled from the freezer

  • I froze the soup in these containers

  • here’s how I freeze + thaw soups

  • see full list of how I prepped for baby #2 here

  • see full list of what I froze for postpartum here

• strawberry spinach salad or apple pecan salad with creamy lemon dressing

• big bowl of fruit

tuesday: something easy

• cowboy quiche

  • pulled from the freezer - more details on how I freeze this in the below link

  • see full list of what I froze for postpartum here

• strawberry spinach salad or apple pecan salad with creamy lemon dressing

• roasted parmesan sweet potato

• big bowl of fruit

wednesday: pizza/pasta/rice

• creamy tomato tortellini

• our favorite green salad

  • and/or roasted asparagus

  • and/or my favorite way to eat canned green beans

  • and/or a big bowl of fruit

• brett’s sourdough bread

thursday: something easy

• build your own breakfast taco

  • favorite scrambled eggs

  • slow cooker refried beans, but I omit the onion in both recipes out of personal preference, and often times I’ll use black beans in the refried beans recipe

  • bacon, roasted potato, cheese, salsa, tortillas, etc

• or pancakes, bacon, and eggs

• or build your own tostadas

• or build your own club sandwich bar

I usually have all these ingredients anyway, so I’ll just see what we’re feeling that day for dinner.

friday: date night or something from the freezer

• Date Night at some restaurant from our Local Places List

  • one of my monthly routines is to plan a Date Night or two

  • but here are a few other things that help us prioritize Date Night

• but, tbh, we haven’t been sick in awhile, so I have a sneaking suspicion another Toddler Cold (or something!) is on the horizon. and if that be the case, we’ll postpone the date and rest at home with some of those frozen Trader Joe’s dumplings and egg rolls (or one of the options listed for Thursday’s dinner) instead. <3

saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones

If we’re feeling up to it, we’ll be doing our next stop of our Year of Beer for lunch! YAYY!!

And for dinner I’ll clear out the fridge and make some sort of snack platter: produce, cheese, crackers, meats, dips, whatever’s hanging around. (I could also do some frozen chicken nuggets or fish sticks or taquitos or PB&Js - nothing’s set in stone here.)

• see a full list of alllll the things we love for Snack Dinner here

• but know I also love Yummy Toddler Food’s Snack Dinner blogpost, too

• and, and! we LOVE doing a muffin pan snack dinner like this

And really quick, here are few of my favorites for making dinner even remotely possible:

• my leopard baby carrier that makes me so happy

• these supportive house shoes

• our favorite bouncer

• a tripp trapp chair for Baby Boy with this incredible newborn insert

  • aka the only way we can eat dinner as a family…and with my hands free.

• and our twin-size kitchen helper stool (and a second tripp trapp chair) for our toddler

I talk more in my baby prep blogpost about how I set up my home for life with a toddler and a newborn, if you’re looking for more of my must-haves!

---

meal prep

i usually do a little meal prep on Sundays as a part of our Grill and Chill, but I may instead do a bit here and there throughout the week. below is the list of what I hope to meal prep this week - it may not all happen, and that's okay! even 5 minutes of prep is super beneficial.

prep some sort of dessert for the week:

• see here why this is our new favorite thing for our marriage.

• none this week - I’m tired!

prep some things to make eating at home this week smoother:

• prep produce (like wash + destem grapes)

  • also make veggie box

  • here are my produce boxes

• prep gooooood salad ingredients for the week

  • let’s just chop up a bunch of produce to make salads like my favorite green salad, strawberry spinach salad, and/or apple pecan salad with creamy lemon dressing

  • we learned we eat a ton more salad 1) when it’s gooooood salad and 2) when I do the prep work for multiple salads ahead of time

    • (ie prep greens, cut produce, make dressing, crumble cheese, etc)

  • could make some Mason Jar Salads for Future Haley’s lunches, too.

• make a salad dressing or two

  • pick up our ranch dressing for the week if needed

  • and/or make homemade salad dressing for this week’s salads in my favorite dressing containers

• make the weekly pot of beans

  • for a quick dinner if I’m too tired to cook (like Our Quesadilla Dinner), for a quick lunch, and/or a quick Leftover Night option

  • I love to eat beans plain, with eggs, with rice, in this favorite quick breakfast/lunch of mine, as my favorite tostadas, in breakfast tacos, in quesadillas, in a bean and cheese taco, as nachos, etc etc etc

  • recipes I love:

    • instant pot black beans or slow cooker refried beans, but I omit the onion in both recipes out of personal preference, and often times I’ll use black beans in the refried beans recipe

    • my slow cooker pinto beans, omit sausage

    • or copycat chipotle beans

  • freeze leftover beans in these containers

    • see full list of what I’m freezing for postpartum here

• prep a few things for quick, easy breakfasts/snacks/lunches

  • pull a batch of our favorite yogurt muffins from the freezer

    • I love love love these muffins when eaten like this!

    • here’s the full list of things I froze for postpartum.

  • prep smoothie cups in these containers

  • make a big stack of freezer pb&js

  • make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal

• make bread, if time/energy

  • we’ve been getting into sourdough, so finger’s crossed we have time to make a loaf or two for the week. we find a lottttt of joy in homemade bread, and I love how it also stretches our grocery budget…and elevates our dinners.

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favorite things

• our Year of Beer - aka what we’re calling THE BEST GIFT EVER

• my Local Places List - aka the simplest, most joyful list that helps us prioritize family time, Weekend Adventures, and Date Night. we swear it’s the secret sauce to our marriage - an easy way to instill adventure into our days, even when not in seasons of solo getaways and faraway travels.

• big book of big dinosaurs - kk and brett’s current favorite book to read together

• ordered this Valentine’s Day coloring book for KK’s Mr. Valentine Basket to color during Evening Quiet Family Time

  • see a peek into our Mr. Valentine Baskets for this year - Brett and I each get one, too!

  • here’s a full list of our simple Valentine’s Day Traditions

• added these acrylic hearts to KK’s February Play Dough Tray

  • see KK’s February Play Dough Tray - and all her other easyyy February activities - in Our February Month of Play

• ordered these disposable barf bags to keep in our medicine cabinet, per the recommendation of a dear friend

• gave a video tour of how we organize our games and our art supplies on Instagram - or see this new blogpost, see my “art/game room” highlight, or see my Amazon store where I linked what I could!

• the big list of things, systems, and routines that help me feel my best - I’m always updating this post and it’s the best place to start to get a lot of FAQs answered!

---

want more?

i’m always sharing our favorite routines, our favorite systems, and our favorite dinners on Instagram.
and know that when you share kind words with me or share my page with your followers, I do a happy dance. your support means everything, and your support allows me to spend time creating free content, like this menu plan. xo.