I've assembled three weeks' worth of mostly-healthy main dish recipes. When my kids were still living at home and evenings were crazy-busy, I used a three-week rotation to save me the trouble of having to figure out day-by-day what we were having for dinner. I resisted this level of planning for a long time, but once I started using it, it freed up SO much brain-space and simplified life so much, I loved it.
Most of these are my recipes; some are not. Most of these I've tried and tested. The asterisked ones I have not.* Most of them are pretty healthy.
A few notes:
Every Monday is a salmon dish; I try to eat salmon at least once a week for health reasons. I like to do it on Monday, because I'm usually not on top of things most Mondays, and salmon cooks in 10 minutes! If fish on Friday is part of your routine, feel free to switch it up.
Once you've tested these recipes and decided which are keepers, you can make up the seasoning mixes in bulk to streamline that part of weeknight cooking.
Note that some recipes can have part of the prep work done the night before, or earlier in the day, to further simplify your evening prep time.
Many of my recipes incorporate vegetables so I don't have to make a side dish, but for those that do need one, my side dish usually consists of this: pulling a bag of frozen vegetables (green beans, cauliflower, mixed veggies) or pre-sliced carrots out of the fridge, steaming them, and adding some butter and salt. Other possible additions: cheese, for broccoli or cauliflower; pine-nuts, almonds or pecans for green beans; orange marmalade or cinnamon for carrots.
Week 1:
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| Asian lettuce wraps |
Tues: Super easy shredded chicken tacos (start early; uses a slow-cooker. make extra for tomorrow's salad)
Wed: Tex-Mex salad
Thurs: 10-Minute French dip
Fri: Asian lettuce wraps
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Week 2:
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| Almost-Panera's Asian salad |
Tues: Honey-mustard grilled chicken * (make extra for tomorrow's salad)
Wed: Almost-Panera's Asian salad
Thurs: Chipotle pork tacos
Fri: Salsa verde chicken
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Week 3:
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| Herb-crusted salmon |
Tues: Easy roasted chicken breasts (make extra for tomorrow's and Friday's salad)
Wed: Caesar salad; here's a recipe for easy homemade Caesar dressing without raw or coddled eggs.
Thurs: Herb-roasted pork tenderloin
Fri: Orange-cranberry chicken salad (Try it with the small amount of curry, then adjust or omit to your liking)
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For Fall and Winter meals, I would substitute the following soups for the Wednesday night salads:
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*These recipes have not been tested by me, but they're all highly rated on AllRecipes.com.
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