Even though I’ve been writing for OAMM since January, I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced! So I thought it would be nice to share a little about my family, our whole foods journey, and how I use OAMC. I have three wonderful guys in my life: my husband, a chatty toddler (2.5), and a smiley baby (just turned 1, and just started walking and talking too). All three are very active and very hungry, so it is a good thing I love to cook. As a college student and young wife I would go through spurts of trying to eat healthy based on the traditional dieting advice. But when I decided to have a natural birth attended by a midwife, I began rethinking the meaning of “healthy food.” The journey of pregnancy, nursing, and introducing food to babies has lead me to whole foods (or “real food”), and I’m still enjoying the journey, making changes one step at a time. The transition would have been much more difficult had I not discovered batch cooking through OAMM. Because even though I am passionate about cooking, I still want to have time to date my husband, play with my boys, entertain friends, serve in my church, dig around in my little garden, and enjoy a good story.

Fiesta Salad and Vinaigrette

Menu Plan Monday

I have a small kitchen, a normal freezer (over the refrigerator), and a busy schedule. So I tend to batch cook smaller amounts every 2-4 weeks with a good friend and neighbor while the kids nap. We usually prepare homemade bread, 2-3 dinners, and one other staple for breakfast or snacks (i.e. muffins, granola, cookies, etc.). I also do extra cooking on the weekends (including a big Saturday breakfast and the traditional Southern Sunday lunch) so that we can take advantage of leftovers during the week. I am not a morning person and it is easy to cheat on whole foods at breakfast. I no longer buy cereal, so if I don’t plan, we will be hungry. I usually make some sort of baked item (muffins, pancakes, etc.) on the weekend that we can eat once or twice during the week. The other mornings we stick to staples. We have a pretty standard lunch rotation (due to a round of picky eating from my toddler), but I use leftovers to provide some variety. A note about Friday nights: this is the one night I usually don’t plan. I find it fits our lifestyle to leave at least one night unscheduled. Usually we have dinner with friends or my husband and I have a date night. If all else falls through, we clean out the fridge! We also take it easy on Sunday evenings. Typically we have church activities, but not this week.

Some of the dishes we’re making are scheduled to post on the blog this month, so keep your eye out for them on Thursdays.

Monday -

• Breakfast - Green Smoothie Bags
• Toddler Lunch – Peanut Butter and Jelly (Jo-Lynne’s Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, Strawberry Maple Freezer Jam)
• Dinner – Coconut Curry Kebabs (recipe coming soon!) with grilled veggies and brown rice

Tuesday-

Strawberry Banana Muffins

• Breakfast – Strawberry Banana Muffins
• Toddler Lunch – Rice Cooker Mac & Cheese with Veggies
• Dinner – Buttermilk Herb Chicken Breast with sweet potato fries and side salad

Wednesday -

• Make Your Own Yogurt Cups (mine will use Strawberry Maple Freezer Jam and pecans)
• Toddler Lunch – Pizza (Homemade Pizza Dough, Homemade Pizza Sauce)
• Dinner - Fiesta Salad and Vinaigrette  (use leftover chicken from Tuesday)

Thursday -

• Breakfast – Scrambled eggs with chard (from the garden), Toast (Jo-Lynne’s Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread), fruit
• Toddler Lunch –  Crackers, cheese, cut up fruit and veggies
• Dinner – “Real” Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

Friday-

"Real" Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

• Breakfast - Strawberry Banana Muffins
• Toddler Lunch – Leftovers (from Thursday dinner)
• Dinner – Flex day

Saturday – Breakfast – Yogurt Multigrain Pancakes topped with Strawberry Maple Freezer Jam and fresh strawberries; and scrambled eggs

Lunch/Dinner – Spending the day with my husband’s family (they live an hour and a half away)

Sunday – Breakfast – Leftover Yogurt Multigrain Pancakes and bacon with maple syrup

Lunch – Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken (homemade taco seasoning recipe coming up this week on OAMM!), brown rice, salad, corn (if I can find it at the farmer’s market!)

Dinner – Leftovers

For more great Menu Plan Monday menu planning ideas visit orgjunkie.com!

All month long Jessie has been bringing you the tales of creating her own once a month cooking menu using whole foods. In her final post she is telling the tale of her adventures in the kitchen on her cooking day.

No matter what you are cooking, there are always tales to tell! Please go visit Jessie’s site and see how her cooking day went and give her some words of encouragement for participating in this month long adventure with us! She even jumped into doing vlogging for this great adventure. I LOVE IT!

Thanks Jessie!