A Week in the Life

I get it. You don't have a lot of time to devote to planning a week-long menu. Turns out, all I do is think about food morning, noon and night (yes, I dream about food). So here you go. A one-week full menu with sustainable, seasonal ingredients. It also has repeat ingredients throughout the week (with minimal repeat dishes) to keep your costs and waste to a minimum.

You have: a menu, a grocery list and the full recipes for each dish. Some of the recipes are linked to outside sites...these are the food blogs I most frequently visit for inspiration.

I'll provide these for you routinely if you're finding them helpful. So let me know what you think.

The Menu:
Sunday
Brunch: Eggs (any-style) with sausage, toast and orange slices
Per person: 1 egg, 1/2 sausage link, 1 slice toast, 1/2 orange
Dinner: Spicy shrimp tacos with carrot slaw and black bean soup (shrimp recipe serves 2; soup makes 6 servings)
Per serving: 3 shrimp in a flour tortilla topped with 1/2 cup carrot slaw.
Carrot slaw: Peel and julienne 3 carrots. Toss with 1/2 cup champagne vinaigrette
Champagne vinaigrette: 1/4 cup Dijon mustard, 1/2 cup champagne vinegar, 1 1/2 canola oil. Whisk mustard and vinegar together. Slowly which in oil until thick. (Keep excess for recipes throughout the week)

Monday
Breakfast: Yogurt with honey, orange and almonds
Per serving: 1 container of yogurt, 1/2 orange, 1 Tablespoon of almonds, 2 Tablespoons of honey.
Lunch: Black bean soup with avocado salad
Avocado salad: 1 avocado, 1/2 shallot, juice from 1 lime, salt, pepper. (Serves 2)
Dinner: Mushroom Bhaji over barley (recipes serves 2)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Breakfast tacos
Per serving: 2 scrambled eggs, in a flour tortilla, topped with a dollop of avocado salad, cheese and warmed black bean soup
Lunch: Veggie wrap
Per serving: 1 flour tortilla, 1/2 avocado, carrot slaw, cheese, black bean soup, champagne vinaigrette
Dinner: Spaghetti and meatballs (recipe makes 2 servings for 2 people)
I cooked the two pieces separately so my meatballs and my sauce are separate for other recipes used throughout the week. I also used only ground beef for the meatball recipe since we have a ton of beef in our freezer.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Fried eggs diablo
Heat up remaining spaghetti sauce in a small skillet. Once simmering, lower heat to keep the sauce just barely simmering. Crack 2 eggs into the sauce and cover skillet with lid. Once the egg has reached your desired doneness (about 2-3 minutes), salt and pepper. Serve with toast.
Lunch: Meatball sandwich
Per serving: 2 slices bread, 2 meatballs, sauce for topping
Dinner: 3-bean chili (scroll down about halfway for the recipe)

Thursday
Breakfast: Yogurt with honey, orange and almonds
Serving suggestion above.
Lunch: Winter salad
Per serving: 2 cups escarole, 1/2 orange, 1/4 cup almonds, 1/4 cup cooked barley, carrot slaw and champagne vinaigrette.
Dinner: Mushroom bourguignon over barley (recipe makes 2 servings for 2 people)

Friday
Breakfast: Poached eggs over chili
Heat two servings of chili. Poach two eggs, one at a time. Serve poached egg over chili with some hot sauce on top.
Lunch: Mushroom bourguignon
Dinner: Pasta with sausage, escarole and fresh mozzarella
Per serving: 2 oz. uncooked pasta, 1/2 link sausage, 1 cup escarole, 1 oz. mozzarella. Cook pasta in salt water till desired doneness. In a skillet, brown the sausage. Add the escarole and slightly wilt. Remove from heat. Combine pasta with sausage/escarole mixture and add mozzarella.

Saturday
Brunch: Huevos Rancheros
Heat up 2 servings of black bean soup. In a dry, hot skillet, warm up two flour tortillas. Top tortillas with black bean soup (which will have thickened throughout the week), avocado salad, 1 fried egg and cheese. In the summer, serve with fresh tomato salsa (not in season right now)
Dinner: Barley risotto (recipes serves 3-4 people)

Grocery List:
It looks extensive, but I would be stunned if you didn't have a ton of these ingredients already living in your pantry and fridge.

Dairy and Protein

• 1 dozen eggs + 6 eggs
• 1-2 lbs ground beef
• 1/2 lb. shrimp (I advocate wild-caught, U.S. shrimp)
• 2 links of pork sausage (any seasoning type you like)
• 4 containers plain, Greek-style yogurt
• 1 lb. unsalted butter
• Chunk of Parmesan cheese for grating
• Mexican cheese (queso fresco)

Fruits and Vegetables

• 3 oranges (or other in-season citrus fruit you can find)
• 1 head of escarole (or chickory, arugula, etc.)
• 1 bunch carrots
• 14 oz. button mushrooms
• 2-3 large portabello mushroom caps
• 1 head of garlic
• 5 yellow onions
• 2 red onions
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 small bag of pearl onions
• 3 avocados
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4 limes

Grains, Bread, Packaged Goods and Spices

• Panko bread crumbs
• Barley
• Pasta of your liking
• 1 package flour tortillas
• Wheat bread (or other whole grain bread you like)
• 16 oz. bag of dried black beans
• 15 oz. can pinto beans
• 15 oz. can black beans
• 15 oz. can kidney beans
• 15 oz. can white beans
• 28 oz. can chopped tomatoes
• 28 oz. can whole San Marzano tomatoes
• Small can chipolte peppers in adobo sauce (Mexican food aisle)
• 1 bottle red wine
• 1 bottle white wine
• 1 bottle champagne vinegar
• 1 bottle canola oil
• Vegetable broth (2 containers)
• Small can or squeeze bottle of tomato paste
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Ground coriander
• Cumin
• Chile powder