Birth of the weekly meal planner

If you give up half of your Sunday to plan and shop for over a week's worth of meals you can't just let that go can you? Well, neither could I!

It all started with a subscription to Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. Each month this full-color, pocketbook-sized magazine landed in my mailbox and I cherished it. Recipes emphasized seasonal cooking, relative quick preparation, but with a dash of inspiration - be an exotic-sounding spice, or a cooking technique that required a new gadget from Williams Sonoma.

Then when Fall arrived last year I started swapping meals with a friend. I'd cook a large batch of something, she'd cook a large batch of something and we'd give each other a dish that could be frozen or warmed for serving. Genius! I began making lists of different dishes I could create throughout the week, on a whim. One list read: slow cooker arroz con queso, wild rice and mushroom casserole, tortellini soup, sweet potato-peanut bisque, and so forth. At random I would pick something from this list on my fridge and make it for dinner that night. Fresh new recipes, inspired dinners, I loved being in the kitchen.

After returning from vacation recently I discovered I needed more structure. The inner workaholic wasn't giving me a break - I'd forget all of cool breakfast options I had available and *settle* for toast or a boring bowl of oatmeal. Blah!

The Weekly Menu Planner was born - I googled for the perfect template that included everything I wanted: three squares, a snack column, reminders for the following day's meal prep, a grocery list and an area for notes. Then with the help of the most recent issues of Everyday Food and EatingWell magazines I dove in. This is what my first week looks like (keeping in mind that I'm a vegetarian who enjoys a little dairy, doesn't like eggs and struggles with breakfast, lol):

*Monday 2/1*
Breakfast - Savory Polenta with mushrooms and cheddar
Lunch - Black bean, brown rice, lettuce tortilla wrap
Dinner - Whole grain rigatoni with roasted vegetables and wilted arugula

*Tuesday 2/2*
Breakfast - Jamaican oatmeal
Lunch - leftover pasta from Monday night
Dinner - Veggie stir-fry (hubby's will have shrimp) with brown rice

*Wednesday 2/3*
Breakfast - Hot rice breakfast drink (using leftover rice from Tuesday night's dinner)
Lunch - Marscapone and strawberries sandwiches, handful of roasted almonds
Dinner - Baked Tostadas (hubby's will have canned pink salmon)

*Thursday 2/4*
Breakfast - Savory breakfast muffins (with veggie bacon)
Lunch - Mango Dal with brown rice
Dinner - Cabbage soup

*Friday 2/5*
Breakfast - Blueberry, banana protein smoothie with whole grain toast
Lunch - Feta, hummus, veggie tortilla wrap
Dinner - Warm apple and lentil salad, sauteed kale (cooking lamb for hubby's main course)

*Saturday 2/6*
Breakfast - Blueberry-Ricotta Pancakes
Lunch - Chickpea salad sandwich (egg salad sandwich for hubby)
Dinner - Treat! Go out for dinner

*Sunday 2/7*
Breakfast - Breakfast burritos (without eggs for me, with for the hubby)
Lunch - Baked tamale pie
Dinner - Honey Ginger stir fry (with chicken for hubby)

*Monday 2/8*
Breakfast - Brown rice porridge with honey and almonds (using leftover rice)
Lunch - Leftover tamale pie
Dinner - Black bean soup