week of 4/23 menu plan

sunday: our beloved grill and chill ritual

• brett grills ribs or bbqs chicken

• brett roasts veggies from his garden

• ip mac and cheese or skillet mac and cheese

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• build your own grilled chicken sandwiches + build your own grilled chicken wraps

  • brett can grill some chicken like this (and plenty for the week, too)

  • set out goooood sliders and goooood tortillas

  • also set out: lettuce, tomato, mashed avocado, bacon, red onion, cheese cheese, bacon, ranch dressing, buffalo sauce, honey mustard dressing, caesar dressing, etc

    • like, Brett’s #1 favorite is to do a buffalo ranch style slider or wrap with blue cheese crumbles, but I almost always do a chicken caesar wrap with crushed croutons and parmesan cheese. or a grilled chicken slider with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. THE BEST.

  • with a big bowl of fruit. or sweet potato fries. or frozen French fries. or salad with ranch dressing. the heart wants what the heart wants.

tuesday: something easy

• burrito bowls (or BYO whatever speaks to your heart - arguably our favorite dinner ever)

  • leftover grilled chicken

  • Weekly Pot of Beans

  • a big batch of brown rice with chicken/bone broth for added flavor

    • I love my beloved rice cooker for this

  • various toppings: pico, cheese, mashed avocado, etc

wednesday:

• Trader Joe’s ravioli in our freezer + sauce

• goooood salad (post on our weekly salad prep coming soon!)

• those frozen ciabatta rolls in our freezer

thursday: something easy

• some frozen Trader Joe’s thing in our freezer, like Mandarin Chicken

• goooood salad (post on our weekly salad prep coming soon!)

friday:

• fajita friday

saturday: snack dinner saturday

• our sweet nephew’s birthday party, so we’ll eat there or on the way home.

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meal prep

• prep smoothie cups in these containers

• make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal

• make our favorite yogurt muffins, freeze half

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

  • or make these jam bars

• prep any fruit for easy snacking + easy dinner sides (like wash + destem grapes)

  • here are my produce boxes

  • also make veggie box

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favorite things

• my supplies for cutting my toddler’s hair

• ten things I do every month for our marriage and our household

• kk’s seven favorite bath toys (none of which are actual bath toys)

• five things I keep on hand for simplified gift wrap

• ten things saving my bottom in april

• march’s amazon bestsellers

• 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!

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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 4/16 menu plan

sunday: our beloved grill and chill ritual

• no grill and chill - we’ll be coming home from a wedding!

• we’ll do a simple Breakfast for Dinner meal with scrambled eggs and fruit, and hopefully do some easy meal prep (see “meal prep” section below)

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• BYO sandwich bar:

  • dave’s killer bread (or pick up bread from Jimmy John’s!)

  • bacon, turkey, and ham

  • lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and avocado

  • provolone, cheddar cheese

• chips

• big ol salad (post coming soon on our new salad ritual)

• big bowl of fruit

tuesday: something easy

• build your own tostadas

• leftover meal prepped chicken/steak (see “meal prep” section below)

• weekly pot of beans: slow cooker refried beans

  • but I usually omit the onion, use black beans, and reduce the butter

• big bowl of mashed avo

• big ol salad (post coming soon on our new salad ritual)

• big bowl of fruit

wednesday:

• pasta + jarred alfredo sauce

• leftover meal prepped grilled chicken (see “meal prep” section below)

• big ol salad (post coming soon on our new salad ritual)

• big ol bowl of fruit

• garlic bread, if time/energy

thursday: something easy

• our favorite Trader Joe’s potsticker stir fry

• big ol salad (post coming soon on our new salad ritual)

or, or!

• something with those frozen fish sticks in our freezer

or, or!

• fajita friday a night early

friday:

• parents night out at KK’s school, so we’re going out to dinner with Joey :)

  • 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

saturday: snack dinner saturday + movie night

• 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

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meal prep

• prep smoothie cups in these containers

• make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal

• prep any fruit for easy snacking + easy dinner sides (like wash + destem grapes)

  • here are my produce boxes

  • also make veggie box

• brett can grill some chicken like this for the week, too

• weekly pot of beans: slow cooker refried beans

  • but I usually omit the onion, use black beans, and reduce the butter

• let’s also make a big batch of brown rice with chicken/bone broth for added flavor

  • I love my beloved rice cooker for this

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favorite things

• fajita friday - our new favorite, restful Friday Dinner Tradition

  • see the comments of the post for a whole slew of Friday Dinner Traditions! LOVE!

• my four big seasonal tubs - packed away Easter things in the Spring tub this week

• BYO Sandwich Bar

• three of the best things we ever did in our home in this season

• five things I keep on hand for simplified gift wrap

• 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!

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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 4/9 menu plan

sunday: our beloved grill and chill ritual

• no grill and chill - easter with my family!

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• buttered english muffins or simple avocado toasts

• that quiche in the freezer (or the trader joe’s quiche in the freezer)

• my favorite strawberry spinach salad or my favorite green salad

  • or just a big bowl of fruit

• frozen sweet potato fries or my favorite roasted sweet potato

or, or!

• BYO sandwich night:

  • dave’s killer bread (or pick up bread from Jimmy John’s!)

  • bacon, turkey, and ham

  • lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and avocado

  • provolone, cheddar cheese

• chips or frozen fries

• big bowl of fruit

tuesday: 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!

• leftover cornbread

• big bowl of fruit

wednesday:

• my favorite pinto bean bowl (or here)

• big bowl of mashed avo

• leftover big batch of brown rice with chicken/bone broth for added flavor

  • I love my beloved rice cooker for this

• leftover weekly pot of beans

  • my slow cooker pinto beans

• leftover cornbread

• big bowl of fruit

thursday: something easy

• the fresh pasta in our freezer + the marinara sauce in our freezer

• with italian sausage? and bagged caesar salad? and a big bowl of fruit?

friday:

• rehearsal dinner

saturday:

• a wedding! YAY!

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meal prep

• prep smoothie cups in these containers

• make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal

• prep any fruit for easy snacking + easy dinner sides (like wash + destem grapes)

  • here are my produce boxes

  • also make veggie box

• make a big batch of brown rice with chicken/bone broth for added flavor

  • I love my beloved rice cooker for this

• make the weekly pot of beans

  • my slow cooker pinto beans

• prep a bunch of fruit for the week

  • here are my produce boxes

• brett can grill some chicken like this and some fajita steak for the week, too

• and maybe I’ll make a pan of cornbread

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favorite things

• our favorite books, art activities, play dough trays, and sensory bins for april

• things I keep in my car

• 10 things saving my bottom right now

• our sock system - an easy way I simplified an impactful area of our life

• the laundry system that works for me in this season

• our newest dinner themes!!

• my Decide Once baby gift (and a whole list of my other Decide Once gifts)

• my three go-to, quick meals for myself

• the four things I keep on hand for toddler/preschooler birthdays

• my two favorite ways to use those Dollar Store caddies + your favorite ways (the comments on this post are AWESOME)

• my simple go-to potluck contribution :)

  • I love keeping this basic, 3-pack of white trays on hand for KK’s playdough and KK’s activities with several pieces that I want to keep corralled, but these trays are also awesome for charcuterie boards and Snack Dinner. And POTLUCKS. :)

• my neck/shoulder heating pad

• why Past Haley bought six white baskets, how she uses them twice a year, every year - and how I simplified Valentine’s Day baskets + Easter baskets

• this weighted vest + slow neighborhood walks

  • I wear this weighted vest when I walk - doing so releases the overused trap muscle. When I don’t prioritize my weighted walks, I often tweak my trap muscle - causing gnarly back/neck pain. These weighted walks help prevent that.

  • This book taught me the wonderful benefits of weighted walks. In fact, this book is what I read during The Great Meltdown of 2017, inspiring me to start taking care of myself.

  • But this article is a great excerpt of the book and talks about the benefits of weighted walks.

  • Anyway, that’s my little speech about why I love my quiet, early morning walks in this weighted vest. I can’t tell I haven’t been prioritizing them lately, because my back/neck have been killing me from mom-ing/adulting. So these weighted walks just jumped to the top of My List of Priorities. :)

• 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.