01: It saves money, any financial advisor will tell you the less trips you take to the store, the less you will spend.
02: It is healthier. I know what is going in my meals and I can choose to use light sour cream instead of regular.
03: I am a planner by nature, so meal planning is something I enjoy.
I usually start out meal planning on Mondays, I was just writing all my meals on a piece of paper until I saw a cute menu board at make and takes, I made one and I love it. I meal plan and write my grocery list at the same time, so I don't miss anything. I usually work 3 nights a week, so naturally those nights are leftover nights. No matter what I would suggest at least 2 leftover nights a week, so no food is getting wasted. My challenge with meal planning is finding new meals, I get bored quickly and I don't like to repeat a meal for at least 2 weeks. Although, I don't think my husband would mind a bit if we had pizza once a week, but that contradicts the whole healthy goal a bit. I love finding new recipes, but I am a bit picky with them. I like them to be easy, fairly quick, and less ingredients the better. I really enjoy cooking & baking and love to try new recipes. Every now and again I will share a recipe that meets my above mentioned criteria to hopefully add to your meal planning so that you can add something new! If you have any recipes to pass along I would LOVE to hear them! Are you a meal planner? What are your tricks and tips? Here is my favorite recipe for chicken enchiladas. Please ignore my chipped plate, I really need some new dinner wear.
Chicken EnchiladasBake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Makes 4 enchiladas.
1 large chicken breast, cooked & shredded
4 flour tortillas
3/4 C shredded cheddar cheese
Mix together the following:
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the reduced fat and cannot tell a difference in taste.)
2 TBSP Mayo (I use light)
1/3 C sour cream (I use light)
1 TSP dried onion
1/2 TSP garlic powder
3/4 C shredded mozzarella cheese
Mix half of the above mixture with the chicken. Cover a square glass baking dish with about 3 TBSP of the soup mixture. Warm each tortilla for about 10 seconds in the microwave. Put 3 TBSP of chicken soup mixture in each tortilla. Roll tortillas and put in glass dish. Spread the remaining mixture over the top of the tortillas. Spread the cheddar cheese over the top.
My plate above is an enchilada with salsa on top, corn tortilla chips, and corn. A special bonus for you, since I am counting calories, below is the calorie count for this plate.
Enchilada- 345 calories
Salsa (3 TBSP)- 15 calories
Corn (1/2 C)- 90 calories
6 corn tortilla chips- 87 calories
Total: 557 calories
