I am taking the time this morning to get back to my meal planning. I bought a new cookbook yesterday that I planned a majority of my week by. The Cooking Light – the essential dinner tonight cookbook. There are amazing recipes in this book and every recipe has a picture. That is my kind of cookbook. The rest of the week is from The Sneaky Chef  to the rescue cookbook. This will be the first time I try a few recipes from this book, too.

Monday: Spaghetti Carbonara

Tuesday: Pork Medallions with Olive Caper Sauce

Wednesday: Honey Battered Popcorn Shrimp &

Pasta with Better Butter Sauce

Thursday: Oven Fried Chicken

Friday: Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers

(I have posted this recipe before. It is so good. I even got my husband to eat the peppers!)

Click on any of the recipes for a link to the recipe online. Enjoy!

I am linking up with OrgJunkie’s Menu Plan Monday

We are going to add in a couple more healthy meal this week. We are trying lighter versions of some of our favorite meals. I got my new issue of Cooking Light so a couple of the recipes come from the new issue. Click on each menu item below to go to the recipe. I will be adding in side dishes with each of these items but I am not sure what I have in my pantry that will go with each meal. I am joining OrgJunkie today for Menu Plan Monday. If you need some dinner ideas, check out all of the great posts.

Monday: Fettuccine Alfredo with Bacon

Tuesday: Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Pepper

Wednesday: Taco Salad

Thursday: Mini Meatloaves

Friday: Date Night

Saturday: Cheeseburgers

With the start of 2010 as a family we are focusing on an active lifestyle and healthy eating. As a stay-at-home mom I have no excuse but to have a menu plan to accomplish our healthy eating goals. I am joining I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday. We want to eat healthy, but I also want to watch my grocery expenses.

I looked at the grocery store ads for the week and my pantry to make my supper menu for the week. The girls are back to school this week so lunches will be leftovers, smoothies and salads.

Chiseled Chicken Parmesan & Spaghetti

Grilled Chicken Enchiladas & Mexican Rice

Tomato-Tortilla Soup with Chips and Salsa

BBQ Chicken Tenders & Onion Rings (from February 2010 Eating Well Magazine see recipes below)

Pork Chops with Ginger Maple Sauce

Recipes:

BBQ Chicken Tenders

1 cup prepared BBQ sauce

2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 large eggs

1 3/4 cups coarse dry breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat

Olive oil or canola oil cooking spray

Combine BBQ sauce, mustard and honey n a large bowl. Set aside 1/2 cup of any sauce in a small bowl. Cut any large chicken tenders in half lengthwise, then add all the tenders to the large bowl with the remaining sauce; stir to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Coat a large rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Lightly beat eggs in another shallow dish. Place breadcrumbs in a third shallow dish. Coat each tender in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in egg and let any excess drip off. Then roll in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess. Place the tenders on the prepared baking sheet. Generously coat both sides of each tender with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each tender over and continue baking until the outside is crisp and the tenders are cooked through, about 10 minutes more. Serve with the reserved sauce for dipping.

Onion Rings

2 medium yellow onions

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs, preferably whole-wheat

1 tablespoon seasoning blend, such as Cajun, jerk or Old Bay

Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven, preheat to 450 degrees. Coat 2 large rimmed baking sheets with cooking spray. Cut off both ends of each onion and peel. Slice into 1/2 inch thick slices; separate into rings. place the rings in a medium bowl; cover with cold water. Combine flour and baking powder in a shallow dish. Lightly beat eggs in another shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs and seasoning in a third shallow dish. Working with one ring at a time, remove from water, letting any excess drip off. Coat in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in egg and let any excess drip off. Then coat in the breadcrumb mixture, shaking off any excess. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Generously coat the onion rings with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn each onion ring over and return to the oven, switching the positions of the baking sheets. Continue baking until brown and very crispy, 8 to 10 minutes more.

This is the first getaway that we have been on as a family where we packed our swimsuits and our snow pants. To celebrate the New Year we packed up and headed to the Black Hills for a little swimming and skiing.

This was our first family ski trip. Daddy and the older girls took lessons and skied all day. Nadia and I did a little shopping and got in on the end of the day for a few pictures.

Next time Nadia and I will have to try to ski, too.

Maybe this is why we live in South Dakota in the winter. . .

For the past four weeks I have been a part of an exciting campaign on Bookieboo. Bookieboo is a fitness hangout for Moms online created by Leah Segedie. I discovered it a few months ago and I have met some wonderful women who have inspired me to focus on exercise and eating healthy.

Right now they are in week four of a new Mamavation campaign. Two wonderful women, Alyssa Bechtold and Stacie Connerty are the current Mamavation moms. For six weeks they are working directly with fitness and health experts to transform their lives. It has been so exciting to cheer them on in their journey. So far they have lost a combined total of 33 pounds.

They have been such an inspiration to me! I have been working with a trainer for the past few months and that has helped kick me into gear, but we are still suffering in the eating healthy department in our home. I love to cook and bake and I have never worried about the calories.

We are a pretty active family so to be honest I have never worried about how healthy we were eating. I realize now that I have a lot of habits to break to turn the nutrition in our family around.

I will still bake and my kids will still get some treats, but we need to do a better job of eating it in moderation. I am also on a mission to try to bake a little healthier.

I am going to start a category on this blog, “Get Fit Family”. I will have some guest posts and take you along on our journey to focus more on Healthy Choices.

Speaking of Healthy Choices. . .I know that I am already on the right track. My Christmas Wish List has a few of these items on it: A pair of Earth Footwear Shoes, EA Sports Active for my Wii, New Workout clothes, and a few awesome Workout videos I have discovered through Bookieboo.

I can’t wait to share more with you as we take the first step on our Get Fit Family Journey!