Meals and more...

Our new year focus for meals is to continue to cut grocery costs while still eating whole and mostly homemade food (eliminating as much processed food as possible.)

In October, my grandmother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Luckily, Grandma's cancer was only at Stage 1.  She had a double mastectomy, but her treatment has only consisted of medications...No Chemo and No Radiation therapy!  Since cancer can be genetic (although in this case it probably isn't) we are focused on eliminating a lot of processed foods.

Also, in November, I found out that my father is having some pretty serious heart issues.  He underwent exploratory surgery to define exactly how bad things are.  The surgery revealed that his heart function is only at 30% capacity.  This is scary for him and for us as well.  The one thing (besides medication) that the doctors have told my dad is to lower his sodium intake.  This means cutting a lot of processed foods.  For that reason...I am really trying to maintain a relatively low-sodium diet...especially since heart issues usually run in the family.

So here is this week's menu...

Monday

B: Smoothies/Oatmeal

L: Pork (Slow Cooker Carnitas) Quesadillas 

(i know pork is high in salt...but I had a large pork roast in the freezer that I needed to use.)

D: Salad 

Tuesday

B: Yogurt with Blueberries/Granola

L: Parmesan Tilapia with steamed broccoli and 

Balsamic Roasted Carrots

D: Egg salad Sandwiches with red peppers spears

Wednesday

B: Oatmeal with Bananas

L: Leftovers

D: Pulled BBQ Pork Sandwiches w/ 

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

(It was a 14 lb roast...looks gross in the package!)

Thursday

B: Scrambled Eggs with peppers

L: Chicken Kiev (I will add recipe later)

D: Dinner with Friends

Friday

B: French Toast Stars

L: LO's

D: Memorial Service Dinner

Sunday:

B: Energy Bites

L: Make Ahead Stuffed Shells

D: Superbowl Feasting

(We are gonna try to watch the sodium intake...)

Notes:  I made both the Carnitas and BBQ Pork ahead of time...I was able to freeze more than half of both for future meals.  I also plan to make the stuffed shells  and energy bites a day early.  I will double the recipe and freeze some for a future meal.