As I mentioned earlier, I find that a tad bit of planning maybe for 20 minutes or so every Sunday evening goes a long way to keep our weeknights and mornings stress and yell free. (Well, the energy conserved is now channeled to run around for things we forget when we get to the bus stop – it never ends:)
I did get a few requests to share our weekly menu calendar here so will attempt to begin sharing them this week. I still haven’t found the best wordpress plugin to make this look sophisticated, so bear with me as I share links by day in a post like format for now. Hope you find this as useful as I do. Do keep the comments coming here and on FB and Twitter of course.
Oh and while I don’t mean to bombard you with a daily log of our nutrition calendar I figured giving you a peek into the breakfast menu wouldn’t hurt. I did mention earlier that our morning breakfasts are now increasingly dotted by juices and smoothies , didn’t I? This has been quite a life changing step into a healthier lifestyle so this menu also gives you a sneak peek into some of the green smoothies and juices in my kitchen and breakfast suitable for kids and adults alike. Again I have provided links where the recipes are available here on RKK.
On a separate note, I plan to start a 30 day smoothie/green smoothie recipe list on my Tumblog here and on Facebook beginning Monday, September 30. So do keep a look out for some shopping lists every week and daily recipes and pictures. Let me know if this is helpful to you too. I meant every letter when I said that green smoothies and green juices have been quite life changing so more on that in a later post.
WEEKLY MENU FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 16TH
DAY 1 – MONDAY
BREAKFAST – South Indian Style Oatmeal (lovingly called Thachi Mammu Oatmeal in our home:)
GREEN SMOOTHIE – Kailan or kale, carrots, banana, orange, chia seeds and coconut water
JUICE – Green apple, cucumber, celery
LUNCHBOX – Peanut or almond butter, banana and maple syrup sandwich on a multi-grain or gluten free bread
Note : Do use raw organic peanut or almond butter. I prefer almond butter over the PB but it is an acquired taste for kids so experimentation and substitution is acceptable. I have found it is tough to wean kids (who grow up on sodium and hydrogenated fat laden Jif and Skippy PB) off to raw PB or AB or even Cashew or Hazelnut butters, but baby steps are totally worth it. If you can make the peanut or almond butter at home in a high power blender (Vitamix or Blendtec) nothing like it. Also use pure 100% maple syrup, not the flavored kind.
SNACK – Sliced peaches
(We only have one snack break in middle school so this suffices for us, but in the past I would also send a vegetable for snack. Carrot sticks, celery sticks, Kind bars etc worked great.)
DAY 2 – TUESDAY
BREAKFAST – Egg half fry and toast
SMOOTHIE – Spinach, mango, mint, celery and ginger
JUICE – Carrot, orange and celery
LUNCHBOX – Scrambled Spicy Tortilla/Paratha (Kothu Parotta)
SNACK – Carrot sticks with hummus or avocado dressing
DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY
BREAKFAST – Toast with cream cheese (plain or onion chives or any savory flavor) topped with avocado salad (sliced avocados, onion slices and tomatoes with a squeeze of lemon)
SMOOTHIE/JUICE (recipes will follow in a separate post)
LUNCHBOX – Bombay Sandwich and Green salad
SNACK – Apple slices with almond butter
DAY 4 – THURSDAY
BREAKFAST – Muesli or Cereal with Bananas
GREEN SMOOTHIE/JUICE
LUNCHBOX – Sabudana Khichdi (Sago Stir Fry)
SNACK – Orange segments
DAY 5 – FRIDAY
BREAKFAST – Oatmeal with maple syrup and pecans
GREEN SMOOTHIE/JUICE
LUNCHBOX – Scrambled tofu/paneer wrap or Sandwich
SNACK – Celery sticks with almond butter and raisins
Send in your comments to let me know if this worked for you. I can continue to post every Sunday night as my menu gets scheduled if you find this helpful.
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Hey Malini…this is WONDERFUL….extremely helpful to plan for the week. I will go thro in detail and add other comments….but wanted to say a BIG Thanks for posting this and taking the time…looking forward to more..!! love…vidhya
Excellent Malini. Really like the way you have it organized/simplified.
Thanks Anu. Keep some ideas and tips coming too.
Thanks! This helps enormously! Now for my second question- how do you find the time to get all this done in the morning? In our house, breakfast is toast with Nutella or banana and even that is mostly eaten in the car on the way to school. It would be dreamy to have enough time for a nice sit-down breakfast but it aint happening anytime soon. 🙁 Add to this a nice lunch (prepared on the day of?) and juice and smoothie – you must wake up very early, my friend.
Hi Priya – Great questions. I have to admit that juice and smoothie is a luxury but I currently have help so it’s more than manageable:) However in the past when it was just me, I would prep for the smoothies the night before. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and keep in the fridge and the next morning add the liquid ingredients to the Vitamix and give it a whirl. The muesli actually tastes good only if assembled the night before. The sandwiches can be packed the night before too. Oatmeal is best made in the morning. Since I don’t have to drop off Nikhil in the am it’s not crazy to make the oatmeal or something like the sabudana the morning of as long as you prep for other ingredients the previous day.
BTW, got several great ideas from this post. Keep ’em coming! Also, recipe for the avocado dressing, please.
Recipe for avocado dressing: 1 avocado, 1 small garlic clove minced, 1/4 cup water, 1 tbsp fresh dill or basil, 3 drops stevia or raw honey, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 tbsp lemon juice. Blend till creamy. Use like ranch dip.
I add chopped tomatoes too and use olive oil instead of water. Will try adding honey the next time.
wow, great malu, you are indeed a super mom 🙂 and your son needs to be commended on his expansive palate. he is indeed a foodie.
R refuses to take indian food to school, apparently it smells, A doesnt mind so much but she’s still in elementary. 🙂 breakfast is still cream of wheat for A and shake for R , daily. apparently they dont prefer change.
But this has given me great idead for MY breakfast 🙂 and we do thayir oats too…I love it.
I’m going ot try aunty tadka , never thought of that ..
Hey Mythili – its good they don’t need change – you’re done with just one week’s worth of menu planning. You know it’s mostly me who craves variety – I have over 5 weeks worth of menus yet I keep looking for more;) I need to try your cream cheese/hung yoghurt on toast. Yes that thachi mammu oatmeal is amazing. G will eat it every day if you let him. Again its me who changes it up so oatmeal is not more than twice a week and that too when he is not traveling;)
Malini this is great!!! please keep the weekly menu coming. Do you do both the smoothie and juice for breakfast?
Surekha it’s mostly smoothie. I take the juice to work to drink later in the day.