Today I’m talking about meal planning. Real planning. Yes, I know the name of my blog is Meal Planning Magic but lately I’ve been doing more recipes (which I do enjoy posting about and hope you all enjoy too!), but I want you all to understand something. Everyone is on this meal planning road at different points. And I’ve been doing it so long that it has become a habit. I hope that I don’t come off as being “perfect” but when I talk to people in person and online, they are simply overwhelmed and amazed by how it all gets done. The reality is “it” does not all get done. Goodness knows if you saw my desk or parts of my house you’d know “it” is not all getting done! But I do love cooking and meal planning so that’s where I focus my energy—sometimes too much to the neglect of other things. And there are day, some more recently, where we’ve just ordered a pizza. I am still human after all (read when Meal Planning Goes Awry—you know I’m still human!)

When talking to you all I am reminded of something that my Pilates instructor told us at the end of last year, before the new calendar year was to begin. She talked about setting goals and to really think about them. Now when it comes to exercise, we usually say things like “I’m going to go to the gym more” or “I promise I’ll start walking more often after work”. These are too vague. Think beyond the basics and think about the connections you can include in your goals. One of her suggestions was to reach out to more members in the class and learn their names or something about them—to make a personal connection. Or perhaps it was to learn to do a particular move (we’re speaking Pilates here remember) in the full position, not the modified. Or maybe it was just to come to the gym one more day of the week than usual. It’s about being specific.

So, I’d like you all to set some meal planning goals.

Maybe it’s just to pull out your binder or box of recipes and plan to try one of them this next week—something new, and something from scratch.

Or maybe it’s that you’re going to sit down with a calendar and think about what things will work on certain days and make a real plan.

Perhaps it to time yourself when you’re making that new recipe to show yourself that see, it really does take less than 30 minutes to get something to the table (and is usually faster than take-out or delivery anyway).

What about making the extra effort to go to the healthier quick-serve restaurant for dinner rather than the fat and calorie laden fast food (yes, getting food on the go sometimes is okay but try to be more conscious of where you are going).

Or maybe it’s calling up a few friends to get together once a month and share meals, like a potluck or that double batch of spaghetti sauce you made.

Or even plan a real-food potluck get together with friends one weekend? You know, where everything is made from scratch but the meal is easier because you only have to make one part of it?

I’m hoping to get a Meal Planning Basics series together starting this summer to share with you all. So no matter where you are on the journey, you can jump right in and join along. And hopefully be doing your family some good along the way.

No one ever said meal planning and cooking real food from scratch was the easiest but it’s certainly not hard. And it’s definitely worth it. Won’t you join along and set a goal of your own?

It’s looking like a comfort food type of week on my meal plan this week. Probably by coincidence but maybe I should stop and think about why I’ve planned it that way…..

Here’s what’s on our menu this week:

Monday: Ginger soy meatballs (from Freezer Meal Exchange Group), steamed rice and edamame
Tuesday: Homemade chicken noodle soup using the leftover rotisserie chicken from last week (recipe to come), garden salad
Wednesday: Gourmet Grilled cheese sandwich (with avocado & tomatoes!) and homemade Tomato Basil Soup (recipes to come for both!)
Thursday: Homemade slowcooker spaghetti sauce (recipe to come also!) and Italian meatballs (also from freezer meal exchange), garden salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Special activity-no cooking for us!
Sunday: Leftovers

Yes, you’ll just need to keep coming back if you want those recipes for all our yummy meals!
What’s on your menu this week?

For more recipe and menu ideas, visit OrgJunkie.com!

This is the best picture I could get--it was so tender is just fell apart when I removed it

A few weeks ago I bought two 5 lb. chickens from the local FFA. They were quality chickens at a great price! But I’ll admit, I was a little intimidated by the idea of cooking a WHOLE chicken. A couple of years ago a friend of mine, who had been to culinary school for a short time, showed me how to cut up a whole chicken. I was so confused and could not duplicate and figured my time with whole chickens was over. But I know they are cheaper so was determined to figure out a way to use them!

One thing our family loves is the rotisserie chickens from Sam’s Club. We LOVE them! One of our favorite ways to eat them is sliced up and served over a garden or Caesar style salad. That is such an easy weeknight meal. But I had read that the purchased chickens can be full of fat and sodium. No wonder we love them so!

Now back to my FFA chicken. I decided I wanted to try making a rotisserie chicken with my whole chicken but since I’m not always so great keeping chicken I cook from becoming dry I wasn’t sure what to do.

Flash back to Easter. My mother-in-law made a traditional ham but made it in the slow cooker because we were going to be out much of the morning and she didn’t want to miss any of the activities by staying close to the oven. That ham was one of the best we’d ever had! So I wondered, “Could I do the same with the rotisserie chicken and make it in the slowcooker?”

Thanks to Google, the answer I discovered was yes! I found a few different versions online and I found Our Best Bites’ version to seem quite easy so I started there.

I decided to use the Wildtree Rotisserie Chicken blend I already had on hand for my rub. I rubbed it on the outside of the chicken, placed it on some foil balls in the slowcooker (to allow the fat to drip away—another plus b/c it is healthier that way!), then turned it on to cook 7-8 hours.

The kids declared the chicken the best they’d ever had.

Ever.

For real!

It needed a little salt but otherwise it was great. Next time I will try using some fresh herbs like rosemary or bay leaves and maybe some sliced lemons to add a little more flavor.

This is life changing I tell you. So super awesome I can’t wait to try it again. And what I love about it is that I can make this ahead to have ready when we are at the end of a long day. And I can use the leftovers to make some chicken noodle soup (or whatever uses shredded chicken). Did I say how easy it was?

Here’s the “recipe” if you want to try it yourself:

1 4-5 lb. whole chicken
3-4 T salt-based spice rub (I used Wildtree’s Rotisserie Chicken spic blend this time)

Wash outside of chicken and clean out inside if needed.

Make three foil balls and place inside slowcooker

Rub spice rub on chicken and place in slowcooker.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Voila! Chicken is cooked and ready to use however you like it!

Make three medium size foil balls and place in bottom of slowcooker. Chicken will cook on top and fat will drip down.

Spice rub and chicken, ready to go!

The chicken is cooking up nicely and retaining its moisture!

I’ve been on a bit of a muffin kick lately, if you haven’t noticed. You know, what with my Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins, Banana Muffins and Lemon-Orange Blueberry Muffins that I’ve posted about recently. I love making healthy muffins for breakfast on busy mornings or tasty after school snacks. What I especially like is that I can choose the quality of the ingredients and know exactly what’s going into them.

This week’s Real Food Friday is for a muffin that is another one of our favorites: Pear Walnut Muffins. I’ve been making these for several years and they are just loaded with nutritious yumminess which is why I also call them POWER muffins. They have very little oil as their moisture comes from plain yogurt (I use regular or Greek) so they are a healthy muffin. Filled with diced pear and ground walnuts (sometimes I use pecans) they are a very moist muffin all around and I like to keep a stash on hand in the freezer. They heat up beautifully in the microwave from frozen–perfect for when we’re on the go!

I hope you’ll try them and that you like them too!

PEAR WALNUT POWER MUFFINS
Recipe originally from “Cooking Light“

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour (about 1 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8-ounce) carton plain fat-free yogurt
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups finely diced peeled pear
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place walnuts in a food processor; process until finely ground.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in ground walnuts. Make a well in center of mixture.

Combine brown sugar and the next 4 ingredients (through egg) in a small bowl; add to the flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in diced pear.

Spoon batter into 15 muffin cups coated with cooking spray; sprinkle batter with turbinado sugar. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pans immediately. Place on a wire rack. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

Just a few simple ingredients is all it takes to whip up these muffins!

If you don't have a food processor you can grind the nuts in a blender or chop finely by hand.

Blend all the wet ingredients together in a measuring cup or small bowl. It will make it easier to incorporate into the dry mixture.

Diced pears ready to go. I don't peel my pears--we don't notice and it saves time (& waste!)

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Its not.”–Dr. Seuss

Last week we went to see The Lorax and this quote was at the end of the movie. I think it was a sign that this food blogging thing of mine has a greater purpose.

You see, the following day I went to my first School Health Advisory Council (S.H.A.C) meeting for our school district. I was so looking forward to it and I was not disappointed. The council, which is required in every school district in Texas and many other states, is made up of parents, community members and school district employees. But the majority of the members should be parents. There were only a handful of us but the good news is when I introduced myself and my reason for wanting to be there, the members welcomed me with open arms! They said that changing school food was something they’d like to focus on but in the past hadn’t had many members who knew a lot about where to start. The district’s food service director was also there so I’m hoping we can work together (and that I can recruit a few more parents to join our efforts!)

I first heard about the S.H.A.C. on The Lunch Tray blog whose owner, Bettina, primarily focuses on kids and food, in school and out and keeps us updated on all things school food. The S.H.A.C.’s purpose is to focus on issues that relate to the whole health of the students including physical, mental and nutritional. They are charged with a big job! At this particular meeting the focus was on some preventative mental health issues and follow up to sex education curriculum that had been discussed at a previous meeting, both topics needing attention.

Want to start a S.H.A.C. in your community or just get more information on what it does? Check out this link from the Let’s Move campaign for tips on how to do so.

I haven’t really posted much on my blog about my involvement and interest in changing school food. There’s so much to be done and I feel like I’m still in the beginning learning stages. But over the last year, I’ve spoken to our school district’s food services director a few times and he was very nice, answered all my questions and was generally very informative. I feel like I can’t sit back and wait for other people to do the work for me. I’ve read far too many critics on the blogosphere who criticize all that is wrong with the way we eat but I know very little about what they are DOING to make a change. Stop talking and start doing is what I say.

And here’s the thing. You can be part of the changes you want to see too. Call your school district. See if you can join the S.H.A.C. for your district. Ours only meets four times a year for two hours. Certainly it’s worth it for eight hours of your time each year, right? Of course, there are sub-committees that do more work than that but at least you’ll be making a step in the right direction. Maybe your work schedule does not allow you to be a part of your S.H.A.C. Then think of a friend, neighbor or family member that might be interested and point them in the right direction.

Because like Dr. Suess said, “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Its not.”

This week I actually have a menu plan done and on Monday too! After getting off track a few weeks ago, I got back on track last week and I’m feeling so much better to be back to routine.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a Make It Ahead Monday post for you this week. In looking back through my photos I realized I had lots of the steps for a few recipes but had forgotten the final photo–doh! It’s really only been a few months that I’ve been upping the number of recipe posts with photos so I’m still learning in a way. So I will get those photos done and get back to you! Speaking of which, let me know any time either by leaving a comment here or by contacting me via Facebook or Twitter about the types of foods you’d like to learn how to make ahead to save time and money in the kitchen.

Now on to this week’s menu plan!

Monday: Special occasion–out to eat
Tuesday: Southwest Marinated Chicken and quinoa of some kind, steamed or grilled asparagus (on sale this week!)
Wednesday: Pork Wellington (from the freezer), garden salad
Thursday: Slowcooker Rotisserie chicken, garden salad; I can’t wait to try this–I bought a couple of whole, organic chickens a couple of weeks ago from the local FFA so am excited to try this out as we love rotisserie chicken but now I can make a healthier version
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: fajitas and fixin’s
Sunday: leftovers

For more great menu plan ideas, be sure to visit OrgJunkie.com for the weekly link up! Or just need some recipe inspiration? Check out my Pinterest boards for some ideas (you don’t have to have a Pinterest account to check them out!)

Here we are at the third installment of the Eating the Alphabet series! It’s the blog hop where I and other bloggers share our creations using fruits, vegetables or grains/beans starting with a different letter of the alphabet. Each month we’ll be sharing recipes that highlight fruits and vegetables that start with different letters of the alphabet. This month it is E or F.

The first month I chose Brussels Sprouts and last month I chose Cauliflower. This month I went out on a limb again and chose Eggplant. Actually, my daughter suggested it when we were in the store one day but she later said she didn’t think I would REALL make it! Silly girl, doesn’t she know me better by now? I probably would have chosen figs but like to eat those when they are fresh in the summertime. So, since it’s still only April I deferred to eggplant.

Full of antioxidants and important phytonutrients and fiber, it is a great vegetable (although actually a fruit) to add to any diet. Sliced thick and sautéed, it is really filling with out being too heavy.
I’ve never actually cooked eggplant. I’ve had it in restaurants but frankly, it seemed intimidating. So I went with a safe recipe of Eggplant Parmesan. I found several recipes online and developed my own.
Here’s my recipe:

EGGPLANT PARMESAN
2 8 oz. eggplants
2 T coarse salt
2 eggs
2 T water
¾ cup flour
1 ½ T Italian seasoning blend
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 C plain Panko style breadcrumbs
1-2 T olive oil
2 ½ C prepared spaghetti sauce (or use 28 oz. canned petite diced tomatoes with about 1 T Italian spice blend and cook for about 30 minutes)
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice eggplant into about ½” slices.

Salt slices on both sides and put into colander to drain about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix flour and Italian seasoning together in shallow dish. In a separate dish, whisk eggs and water together.

In last dish, combine Panko breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.

After about 30 minutes, take eggplant slices and pat dry using a towel (or paper towels).

Dredge slices first in flour mixture, then egg mixture and finally breadcrumb mixture.

Saute breaded eggplant in olive oil over medium heat until crispy and golden on both sides about 3-4 minutes.

Transfer to greased 9×13 baking dish. Layer eggplant and top with half spaghetti sauce and half shredded mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers ending with cheese.

Bake uncovered in oven for about 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and eggplant is cooked. Enjoy!

Just a few simple ingredients are all you need. I made the sauce from scratch with the canned tomatoes and Italian seasoning blend.

Sliced eggplant!

Let the salted eggplant drain in a colander in the sink for about 30 minutes.

Can you see the glistening of the water droplets after the eggplant has "sweated"?

Layer the salted eggplant on a towel (or you can use paper towels) to soak up the moisture.

Line up all the dipping mixtures into shallow dishes for easy and quick dipping!

Dredge eggplant in flour mixture.

Dip the floured eggplant quickly into the egg water mixture.

Dredge eggplant in breadcrumb mixture.

Saute' the breaded eggplant in olive oil until crispy.

Layer the sauteed eggplant and sauce and cheese in a baking dish.

We had mixed results. My husband and I really enjoyed it, the kids, not so much. I will say I don’t think I baked it quite long enough because the skin on some of the slices was a bit tough. But still ok! I must say I really enjoyed the leftovers though!

So, what’s your family’s favorite fruit or vegetable that starts with the letter E or F? Share in the comments below.

And if you’re a blogger and want to join us in the coming months for the Eating the Alphabet series link up, click here for details and to complete the form to sign up. And be sure to check out all these other fabulous blogger’s interpretations of the letter E or F fruit, veggie or grain-style this month with the links below. I know I’m planning to try a few!

All grated and in the storage container. Don't forget to date and label your container then throw it in the freezer! It will last "forever" (or a really long time at least before you use it all up!)

For those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I didn’t post a Real Food Friday post last week because our internet was acting SO slow due to a tower being down in the area. But I did say I’d have something for you this week. And I do, but it’s not the pumpkin waffles I had planned. That will come soon, I promise!

Instead I’m doing kind of a “cheater” Real Food Friday post because it’s not really a recipe but it is a real food. How many of you are still using that grated cheese in the green can? I’m not sure about you but anything called CHEESE that doesn’t require refrigeration just doesn’t seem right to me.

First few ingredients look ok but it's the cellulose & potassium sorbate that are suspect for preservatives.

Simple, understandable ingredients here on the whole chunk of cheese.

Now I buy our parmesan cheese in a big wedge from my local wholesale club and grate it myself using the food processor. Yes, it’s more expensive but it acts like real cheese and tastes like real cheese, so it’s worth it to me. And the bonus? I grate it up all at once, put it in a labeled storage container and pop into the freezer. It lasts forever! Ok, well, it lasts a long time and we use it up well before any sort of freezer burn sets in.

It’s so easy and takes less than 10 minutes all together. I also save the rinds and cut off any outside wax then keep them in the freezer too to add to any sauces or soups that would normally be topped with the cheese (like spaghetti sauce!)

Super easy, super yummy, super good for you because it’s real food with no extra preservatives.

Cut the parmesan cheese wedge into about 1-2 inch chunks.

Fill the bowl of a food processor about half full with the chunks.

Food processor is ON, grating up all that cheese!

Sometimes big 'ol chunks will just start spinning while the rest is grating. Take that chunk out and use it in your second batch.

Save the rinds in the freezer to add to your next batch of homemade spaghetti sauce!

I’ve probably been making these muffins for about five years now. A friend of mine made them for my original freezer exchange group and they were an immediate hit with my family. I like that they are a nice alternative to banana bread when I have overripe bananas to use up (I love to buy them on “clearance” when they are a deal too!)

The original recipe calls for nuts in the batter but my family does not like nuts in baked goods (except for me!) so I left them out. I love to make up a batch of these and since they make plenty, they are great for stashing extras in the freezer. Just warm up and serve on busy weekday mornings with some yogurt or bacon and fresh fruit on the side. So easy!

So this week’s Make Ahead Monday is banana muffins—serving two purposes of using up bananas and reducing waste (and bonus if they are bought on sale!) and having some made up ahead of time for busy days. My kids even like to have them for snacks—yum!

I hope you like them too!

EASY BANANA MUFFINS
½ (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400º F. Grease 12 standard size muffin pan cups or use paper liners.

Beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas until smooth.

Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Alternately stir flour mixture and buttermilk into egg mixture until dry ingredients are just moistened.

Stir in nuts and vanilla. Do not overmix batter; it should into be completely smooth.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, filling two-thirds full. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer muffin-pan cups to a wire rack to cool slightly. Turn out onto rack. Serve warm.

Yield 12 muffins (I usually get at least 18 though).

Just a few simple ingredients are all you need to whip these up in a jiffy!

Creaming all the "wet" ingredients together--minus the buttermilk.

Use an ice cream scoop to put the batter evenly in the muffin cups.

I bake both trays side-by-side in my oven for even baking. But my new oven is wider than the last one. You can just layer the trays on racks if yours is smaller.

It’s time for another Crazy Cooking Challenge hosted by Tina at Mom’s Crazy Cooking. This month’s theme, blueberry muffins, was right up my alley! And coincidentally, I had already planned a post about one of MY favorites, the Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins that I posted a couple of weeks ago. So this is a bonus for me!

But since the challenge includes finding a recipe from another blogger and trying it out I naturally turned to one of my next favorite flavor combination and that is lemon and blueberry. I love just about anything lemon and with the combination of blueberry I just can’t resist.

So, when searching Pinterest for a recipe with those flavors, I came upon this one from the Fifteenspatulas blog. Let me tell, you we loved these so much that I actually made up two batches within about three days. They were devoured! My daughter especially loved them! Since the recipe called for Meyer lemons, which have a slightly orange-lemon flavor, I substituted some orange zest for some of the lemon zest to come up with some lemony-orange blueberry muffins. And let me tell you, these are bursting with blueberries. I mean bursting! I glad we have a ton of blueberries still left in our freezer from last year’s picking outing—no skimping here!

I actually prepared these two different ways for each batch. The original recipe calls for 8 oz. of flour which should be about 1 ½ cups. I have a new kitchen scale so I trust it pretty well, but when I measured out those 8 oz. it was barely one cup of flour and just didn’t seem like enough. So I went ahead and used1 ½ cups in that first batch. I will tell you, the batter was really thick but the muffins had a nice crown on them and were a perfect texture.

The second batch I followed the recipe using the measurements only by weight. The batter was definitely more like what I’m used to with a muffin batter. When they baked up though, they were kind of flat and not as pretty. They still tasted delicious but the texture was different. Not bad, per se, just different and we decided that the first batch was better.

One other tip, I have adjusted the amount of streusel to make from the original recipe. It made A LOT which ended up coming in handy for my second batch in only a couple of days. But for one batch, only about half of the original recipe is needed. We like just a slight bit of streusel crunchy topping but if you like a lot, go ahead and double what I’ve got written here.

In case you missed it before, you may be asking how does this Crazy Cooking Challenge work you ask? Well, once month (on the 7th specifically), a group of food bloggers get together to feature one food item for that month. We all make that item, in our own kitchens and in our own way, but add our own special touches.

The other unique twist on the Challenge is that we don’t just make a recipe from our personal files. We are to choose an all-new recipe found on another blogger’s blog! This was a bit of a challenge because there are LOTS of recipes out there. But I found this one on the In Between Laundry blog. What attracted me was the extra veggies like the shredded carrots and chopped celery. Those are new additions that I don’t normally have in my usual sauce. This is a chunky sauce so I ended up taking about half of it and pulsing it a few times in the food processor to make it a little “smoother”. Then I added that back to the rest of the chunky sauce and it was perfect!

Next time I may try to double this recipe and sneak a few into the freezer before they all get eaten up!

Here’s the recipe with my adjustments:
LEMON ORANGE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Adapted from Fifteen Spatulas

Ingredients
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Zests of two small lemons
Zest of half large orange or one small
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 extra large egg
1/3 cup milk
2 cups blueberries
Streusel Crumb Topping Ingredients
¼ Cup sugar
¼ cup flour
2 T butter
½ tsp cinnamon
Dice up the butter into cubes, and work all of the ingredients together with your fingertips, until it forms a bunch of crumbs and clumps. Sprinkle it over the tops of your muffins.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray. Prepare the streusel crumb topping (recipe below).
Whisk to combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and lemon and orange zest. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and toss it with the blueberries. This ensures that the blueberries stay suspended throughout the muffin, instead of falling to the bottom—very important!

Place the vegetable oil, egg, and milk in a bowl, and whisk to combine. Add that to the flour mixture, and remember, this batter will be thick! Lumps are ok!
Add the blueberries, and fold them in gently. Use a scooper to portion them out into the muffin cups, and sprinkle the crumb topping all over the tops. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with no wet batter. Let them cool, and enjoy!

Just a few simple ingredients are all you need to whip up these delicious muffins!

I used my microplaner to get this fine zest in a jiffy from both the lemon and the orange.

You can enjoy visiting the other Crazy Cooking Challenge participants through the links below. And the extra twist? If you like my recipe, please click the ‘like’ button by my entry to vote for me. The recipe with the most votes will be deemed the ULTIMATE RECIPE for this challenge. Enjoy!