This Week's Eats! {A link up}

Yesterday, while I was hanging out with some awesome blogger friends, painting portraits of our pups, my fantastic husband planned our meals for the week, without me even asking.  Granted he forgot that I will be out of town for a portion of the week, but I'll take it.  Here's what he planned:

Sunday: my favorite turkey chili
Monday: BWW to watch the NCAA game, he's a UK fan and I'll never say no to BWW
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Biscuit Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday: "Spaghetti. that's all; just spaghetti. oh, and garlic bread"

Thursday I'm taking my cousin out for her birthday then hopping on a red eye back to Ohio to spend the weekend with some of my favorites!  A hockey game, bridal shower & bachelorette party for my BFF, a baby shower for a good friend and lots of family time.  I cannot even begin to express how excited I am, this week cannot go by fast enough.  I have been craving some family time and time with my best friends like crazy lately.  Be prepared for me to blow up your IG feed this weekend!  Follow me, @bleudressjes, to see all the festivities.

This Week's Eats! {A link up}

Having friends in town for a week means no time for blogging, reading or writing (except for that one scheduled post that I totally forgot about until someone commented on it).  I hope to catch up this week!  1st things 1st, back to meal planning that doesn't involved eating out at all our favorite local restaurants.  Before our friends arrived, this month's FNM arrived in my mailbox.  It sat neglected for too long, until I flipped thought it today and found the best spread I've ever seen in a food magazine!

I walked over to my husband and told him, "This is what we're having for dinner this week".  We agreed that this is a pretty much perfect week of meals for us.  Lots of international flavors, lots of chicken (I don't eat beef or pork) and they can all go into the crock pot and be ready for us when we get home from work/school.  PERFECT!  We're trying 5 new recipes this week, if any of them turn out well, maybe I'll share the details.

Sunday: Moroccan Chicken & Squash

Monday: Chicken Nacho Soup (SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!)

Tuesday: Chicken Tikka Masala

Wednesday: Ginger Chicken with Watercress

Thursday: Turkey Pot Roast

Friday: Dinner with friends at a gender reveal party (not mine) that you will certainly see more about next week.

What are you eating this week?  Link up with Jessica Lynn.

This Week's Eats

I love this link up because it keeps me accountable to meal plan every week, even when I don't want to.  Somehow last week I only planned for 5/7 days, like we weren't going to eat the other 2 nights.  I made sure to account for dinner all 7 nights this week.  I've also started our meal plans on Saturdays since that is when I go to the farmers market and I can start with the ingredients that need to be eaten first (for freshness factor {what up unintentional alliteration}).  Plus it keeps all of my recipe links for the week consolidated nicely.

Saturday: Fondue!  Cheese, cheese and chocolate.
Sunday: The Pioneer Woman Sloppy Joes
Monday: Minestrone Soup
Tuesday: Sesame Ginger Salmon & Veggies
Wednesday: Okonomiyaki
Thursday: Eggplant Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (this is SO GOOD)
Friday: BBQ Chicken Quesidillas

I'm so excited to eat this week!

This Week's Eats!

Once again, I've been riding the blog roller coaster.  5 posts in a week then 1 then 5 and then a week of nothing.  I've got to get better at spreading these things out and being more consistent.

Anywho, I'm here now and I'm linking up with Jessica Lynn to share with you what we'll be eating this week.  I am a magazine junkie and Cooking Light and Food Network Magazine are two of my favorites.  Until Pinterest came around, I almost exclusively cooked out of those two sources (and The Pioneer Woman's blog).  Since I discovered Pinterest, my magazines show up, I tear through them, eagerly dog ear marking pages with inspiring recipes then the get put on the shelf, forgotten.  This week I decided I'm not going to let all that inspiration go to waste, so everything I'm cooking this week comes from either Cooking Light or Food Network Magazine.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday: Chicken and Dumplings {We love my go to recipe but want to try something different.  On a completely random note, that was one of my 1st recipe posts, I think it's about time I go back and redo it with some legit photos!}

Monday: Grilled Steak (for the husband) and veggeis {ok, so there is no recipe for this one, it was the husbands request}

Tuesday: Coconut Curry Halibut with Stir-Fried Veggies

Wednesday: Ramen {so excited to try this one, I hope my expectations aren't too high}

Thursday: Trying a new restaurant, still haven't decided which one.

Friday: Four Citrus-Herb Chicken and salad with a Warm Tomato Dressing

Saturday: We'll cook based on what we find at the farmers market that day.

Speaking of farmers market, we tried out a new one in Little Italy this weekend based on some recommendations from coworkers and friends and loved it.  It has a gorgeous view of the ocean and a great selection so we plan to make it our Saturday morning thing.

While we were there this past Saturday I had my grocery list for the week with me which included carrots for two different meals.  Jason wanted to try some of the fun, colorful carrots we always see but never try so we picked some up.

I used them in the chicken and dumplings recipe above that we had for dinner tonight....

and look what happened!  They turned the entire dish a lilac/grey color.

Luckily it tasted much better than it looked!  We both prefer the slight spice of the other recipe I use but agreed this one was also delicious!

I'd love to see what you are cooking this week!

This Week's Eats

Even after the major fail I had on Friday, we're back to eating paleo.  This is the last week we planned to stick to it super strict but we are discussing extending our efforts to some degree.  Maybe switching over to a clean eating plan more so than strict paleo.  We'll see.  Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Grilled meat (Steak for Jason, chicken for me) & Ratatouille
Tuesday: Thai Curry Soup (was on the menu last week but we wanted something else so this got the boot)
Wednesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup (in the CrockPot)
Thursday: Orange Chicken Stir-fry
Friday: Chicken Cacciatore
Saturday: Stuffed Eggplant
Sunday:  ANNIVERSARY DINNER

This is a mostly routine/unexciting week for us until Sunday when we'll celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary.  We're still trying to decide what to do for our anniversary.  All these great restaurants in San Diego get together for San Diego Restaurant Week (SDRW) a couple times a year.  We celebrated my 31st birthday at their kick off party in September and the 10th annual SDRW starts on our anniversary this year.  All of the participating restaurants have preset menus for discounted prices, we just have to choose one!  Anyone in SD have a recommendation?

I'm linking up with Jessica again this week to share my meal plan.  Head over to see what everyone's cooking this week!

Weekly Meal Plan {a link up}

Just like last year, we're starting the year our with our own made up paleo/cleanse.  I don't have time nor the desire to go through the caffeine withdraws so beside my down to 2 coke a day habit, we're eating completely clean.  No sugar, no processed foods, no fast food, no JUNK!  Week 1 was ok.  Everyone talks about how good they feel and how much energy they have but my body didn't react that way.  I was tired all week and had a nagging headache (that wasn't from caffeine withdraw because I didn't give that up).  It was miserable.  Yesterday and today were better.  I'm still waiting for that incredible feeling I hear about.

I'm a little late to the show but I decided to join in on Jessica's weekly meal plan link up.  I love meal planning, I think it has to do with my general preference to have control and make lists.

Monday:  Cabbage Soup (I normally love cabbage soup but this was really disappointing.)

Tuesday: Rotisserie Chicken Chili

Wednesday: CrockPot Pot Roast

Thursday: Thai Curry

Friday: Grilled Salmon and sesame noodles (using julienne zucchini for the noodles)

Saturday: Pulled Pork

Sunday: Fajita Lettuce Wraps

Some of these recipes call for sugar and I'll simply substitute honey, or soy sauce and I'll substitute coconut aminos.  It's so easy to make little changes and still eat your favorite foods in a much healthier fashion.