Meal Plan // Week 4: Quick and Easy Dinners
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Quick and Easy Dinners
Weekly Dinner Meal Plan: Jan 21 – 25, 2019
If you’ve been reading our Meal Plan menus… you’ll know I always like to come up with a theme. It just makes me happy… and feel organized. Kindof…
The only theme I could come up with for this week’s weeknight dinners… is quick and easy. And, of course, healthy. They’re always healthy.
But when the January chill starts creeping into my bones… I’m looking for quick, easy… and healthy. Hearty too… and filling… and wintry.
These ideas are all that and more. But here’s the catch. To make them truly “quick and easy,” we’ve included a little homework. A few minutes of weekend prep, I do this on Sunday afternoons, will get dinner on the weeknight table in no time.
Weekend Meal-Prep Homework
1. Make the quinoa for Tuesday’s Southwestern Chicken Quinoa Bake on the stove top, rice cooker, or Instant Pot. Refrigerate until Tuesday.
2. Roast a chicken (or buy a Rotisserie chicken) for a Sunday or weekend meal. Reserve 2 cups of shredded chicken for Tuesday’s meal.
3. Chop the veggies for Monday’s Country Style Minestrone Soup with Kale.
4. Make the marinade for Friday’s Chile-Marinated Skirt Steak and refrigerate.
5. Prepare salad greens and refrigerate.
Get ready for some quick, easy and delicious meals. It’s what’s for dinner this week!
Have a great week everyone!
Be sure to print your dinner planner at the bottom of this post.
RELATED: More 31Daily Dinner Ideas
Week at a Glance
Monday: Country Style Minestrone Soup with Kale
Tuesday: Easy Southwestern Chicken Quinoa Bake with Spinach
Wednesday: Blue Zone Spiced Chickpeas and Sweet Potatoes with Rice
Thursday: Miso Marinated Black Cod
Friday: Chile Marinated Skirt Steak
Treat: Crispy Curry Roasted Chickpeas and 2 Minute Gingerbread Cake in a Mug
Monday: Country Style Minestrone Soup with Kale
When I’m looking for comfort food ideas– I’m most often drawn to bowls, and particularly, bowls of warm and hearty soup. This is one of my favorites. It’s packed with veggies, soul-satisfying… and perfect for a Monday jumpstart. Serve with slices of warm from the oven (or toaster) French bread. If you’re counting carbs — skip that last idea!
Get the recipe >
Tuesday: Easy Southwestern Chicken Quinoa Bake with Spinach
This is where your weekend meal prep homework pays off! Precooked quinoa and chicken will make this a 20-minute meal! Plus, it’s incredibly delicious, hearty, and filling. Another bonus — most likely you’ll have leftovers for lunch! Serve with salad.
Get the recipe >
Wednesday: Blue Zones Spiced Chickpeas and Sweet Potatoes with Rice
“Sweet potato is one of the foundational foods for centenarians in Okinawa and it is a great fuel food with its combination of simple and complex carbohydrates. When combined with kale in this recipe, it’ll give you a whopping dose of Vitamin A. Chickpeas and brown rice pack this dish with filling fiber and protein, while the simple seasoning mix of ginger, garlic, cumin, cinnamon and turmeric will take your tastebuds on a multi-layered trip.”
Get the recipe >
Thursday: Miso Marinated Black Cod
A super easy and quick weeknight meal. “All you need are a few ingredients, which I tend to grab from my local Asian market but Whole Foods would have them too. Then just marinate the fish and broil it to perfection. Serve it up over some steamed white rice and charred green veggies and dinner is done.”
Get the recipe >
Friday: Chile Marinated Skirt Steak
“In this Mexican-inspired steak recipe, dried chiles are toasted, soaked and pureed to make a flavorful marinade. Toasting the chiles in a heavy, dry skillet is the key to unlocking their flavor (not just their heat). You can find dried chiles in the produce section of many markets. Because you already made the marinade, all that is left to do is let the steak soak up the flavors for anywhere between 2- to 24-hours and then grill it to perfection. Serve the steak with black beans and a leafy-green salad.” Plus, any leftovers will make delicious weekend eats!
Get the recipe >
Treat I: Crispy Curry Roasted Chickpeas
“When it comes to snacks, healthy, of course, is always best. But they need to taste good too. These Crispy Curry Roasted Chickpeas are a favorite. They’re easy, and make nutritious snacks or additions to salads and more. And… they’re really, really good!”
Get the recipe >
Treat II: 2 Minute Gingerbread Cake in a Mug
So simple, so quick… so cozy… and so, so delicious! Treat yourself.
Get the recipe >
More Weekly Dinner Plans
To view all weeks of our dinner plans, click here……
Download & Print Dinner Planner
Dinner planner for this week’s menu: Download Weekly Dinner Meal Plan with Recipe Links >>
