Weekly Meal Plan 9/27 – 10/3

In the weekly meal plan, enjoy 5 days of breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Plus, this week, I’ve included a dessert and a fun side dish to try.  And, feel free to swap dinner for lunch and vice versa – plenty of room for creativity!

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Notes from the weekly meal plan:

Freezer Frittata Recipe (with Salsa and Sausage)

• This is a make-ahead, gluten-free recipe
• I highly suggest making and freezing this recipe, so you can enjoy it in just minutes (from frozen)
• Use whatever your favorite breakfast sausage is for this recipe
• You don’t want to be too heavy-handed with your salsa because it will mess with the liquid ratio, and you want your frittata to ‘set’ as it bakes.
• I like using chives instead of onions in frittatas because it’s a less harsh breakfast flavor.
• Using a sharp cheddar helps contrast the egg mixture but you can use any cheese you would like.

Sheet Pan Pork Chops Sweet Potato and Fennel Dinner

• You can marinate the pork chops overnight or as little as 30 minutes.  The longer the marinating time, the deeper the flavor.
• The sweet potato and fennel hash served as a side with a the juicy pork chop make for a gluten free meal you’re going to make on repeat.

5 Ingredient Tuxedo Chip Cake Mix Cookies

• The secret to making these cookies better than ever is the high quality chocolate chips.  My go-to brand brand is Ghirardelli.
• These cookies are made with cake mix and are so super easy (and delicious)!
• Have fun and get creative with the recipe:
  • Add sea salt on top
  • Try mixing in M&Ms
  • Dip half way in melted chocolate
  • Use only white chips or whatever combination you have on hand

5 Ingredient BBQ Chicken and Quinoa Bowl Recipe

• The dish is ready in under 30 minutes
• This is a perfect dish for picky eaters because you can add whatever mix of toppings you like
• Make your own BBQ sauce, using this recipe or use any store bought option!
• For more flavor, you can cook your quinoa in chicken stock or 1 tsp. Better than Bullion instead of water.

The Best Pumpkin Loaf Ever 

• This is a Starbucks copycat recipe and is made gluten free.
• Makes a great food gift and a great recipe to freeze and enjoy.
• You could add chocolate chips to the loaf if you want
• This loaf can be made with either gluten free flour (my recommendation is this gluten free flour) or regular flour or even whole wheat flour – because there’s pumpkin puree in the recipe it keeps the loaf nice and moist.
• This recipe uses pumpkin puree. I’ve also used sweet potato puree or butternut squash puree and have had equally amazing results.
• I like to use a 9 x 5 loaf pan for this recipe like this one.
• I’ve also made this recipe as muffins, the bake time is reduced to 18-20 minutes.

Corned Beef Pockets Recipe

• This recipe only uses 4 ingredients
• If you’re looking to cook with kids in the kitchen, this is a great recipe to try
• Try this recipe with ham and cheese if corned beef isn’t your thing.  Or even turkey.  Have some fun with the fillings!

5 Ingredient Rigatoni with Eggplant and Chorizo

• This is a dinner ready in under 30 minutes.
• I use rigatoni noodles, but you can use any that you’d like.

Chocolate Chip Waffles with Strawberry Cream Cheese Sauce

• The base of this recipe are eggless waffles that I make week after week, but you can use any waffle recipe you like (or even frozen waffles)
• The strawberry sauce is the star of this recipe and made with only 4 ingredients
• If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by simply combining milk and lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes.
• The recipe calls for using frozen strawberries.  The water content in the frozen berries will help the sauce be more liquid.  If you want to use fresh strawberries, the sauce will just be thicker.
• The strawberry cream cheese sauce was originally inspired by one that Ben picked out of the Let’s Cook: Elmo Cookbook (a cute kids’ cookbook). It was a recipe for strawberry cream cheese stuffed French toast, but we didn’t have 1/2 the ingredients, so we made a sauce and waffles instead.

5 Ingredient Oven Baked Pork Chop Recipe with Mozzarella Crumb Topping

• The wire rack on top of the sheet pan is important because it helps air circulate under the pork chop so it cooks evenly on both sides.
• If you prefer less garlic, feel free to cut a bit from this recipe.  I like to add plenty of garlic!
•  If you only have plain breadcrumbs on hand, just add in some simple Italian seasoning to help boost the flavor.
• If you have an Air Fryer, this recipe would be a great one to cook in it.