Meal Planning When Life is...Life.

Happy Spring, y'all! I don't know about you, but I'm THRILLED winter is over. For me, it's the beginning of a new season, the start of a few projects around my house, renewed energy to shop/cook/eat a bit better (let's face winter in the Midwest = carbs and forgiving sweatpants) AND the start of my third trimester!

Pregnancy is the weirdest. My husband says that I take better care of myself than I ever have before. I get more sleep (sometimes that's out of my control. Don't judge). I eat better, drink more water and less pop, and exercise more intentionally. Isn't it crazy that it takes my expecting a child to invest in my one and only body? I'm trying to be the healthiest mom I can be, while still indulging here and there!

In my house, we do our best to meal plan. I make sure I make dinner on the nights my husband is home, crock pot meal on Mondays, plan for leftovers for Thursday nights (cleaning night!) and do something  "fun" and easy on the weekends (like homemade flatbread pizza). I take into consideration our giant abundance of social commitments so I know when we're eating out. It sounds pretty easy, right?

Now howsabout this monkey wrench- my husband's schedule can often change without a lot of notice, so I'm stuck with all this food and no one to cook for. Or, overhauling the whole menu and adjusting as necessary. It's really NOT that big of a deal, but I do put some, energy and thought into that menu, so changing it constantly gets frustrating.

So after a little squabbling about it, we decided I'm only planning to have the fixin's for a handful of dinners per week, still planning for leftovers for lunches. That way, I'm not dead set on spaghetti or whatever on Tuesday night, but I have everything ready to go to make it just in case.

Right now, we take a birth class on Monday and Wednesday nights. Two separate classes, because obviously we're crazy. Actually, they are fun. The Monday night class was recommended to me by about 4 people as soon as I announced our pregnancy. It's eye-opening and educational for those of use that have never witnessed a birth (no, Call the Midwife doesn't count). It's great for the dads, too, so they know what to expect through the process. The Wednesday night class is Spiritual Birth Class and that's so cool because it readjusts you focus back to a Christ-centered birth. It's amazing how quickly that can take a back seat to the overwhelming racket that is preparing for a baby. Seriously.

ANYWHO. Monday nights. We decided we would keep dinners simple because of the aforementioned commitment and we'd plan for crock pot meals. I've talked briefly about my adventures (sometimes misadventures) with this device. There are some really delicious meals you can get out of one of these gadgets, but also some real duds.

Last night we tried one that was pretty good if I do say so myself. Crock Pot Greek Pitas. Easy to prepare and fast to eat.

The whole recipe is in the recipes tab. Like always, I tweaked it a little bit to suit our tastes and to make up for a couple of ingredients I thought we had but didn't. Here's how I changed it...

- It calls for lemon pepper, which of course we didn't have. So I used pepper and little lemon juice.
- It calls for allspice, which we didn't have (although I swear I saw it! I gotta organize that spice cupboard), so I decided to forego that altogether.

- It calls for onions, but the hubs doesn't eat them. But I can get away with onion powder, so that's what I did!
- I forgot the dang feta cheese, but that would have made this AMAZINGGGGG.

The best part about any meal in my house is it's qualification for good, easy to pack and eat leftovers. I snapped this picture of Randy's lunch I packed last night. Two pitas and some delicious strawberries fit perfectly in a deep square Tupperware container.

I'm always looking for awesome recipes or tips on how to make recipes HEALTHIER, so send 'em my way!