Meal Plan Monday

Hi!/Merry Christmas!/Happy New Year!/Happy Monday!/School is kicking my butt!/I'm back (again)!

Basically........Yes, I've been gone for a long time! Sorry about that. Life has seriously gotten in the way, but I want to get back into blogging again. I sure miss it! Between work (in-home daycare), college (almost done!), being wife/mom, transporting my kids to karate/dance 3 days per week, it's just hard to find time to blog. Bear with me as I try and make it a routine again. :-)

I have still been menu planning every week! Although I have a few new fitness goals, so my recipes and menus have changed a bit. I'm not going crazy counting calories like mad or avoiding anything in my diet - I just want to try harder to eat a much more well-balanced diet that is lower in fat. My goal is to drop 5-7 pounds by the end of May and to just do a general firming/toning of my entire body.

As a result of that goal, you may notice a few changes to my weekly menus:
-Much less dairy than before - mainly cheese and sour cream. I ate way too much of both of those in the first place, but in order to lose the weight I want I am cutting my consumption down by 50%.
-Doing more "vegetarian" dinners. For me this just means no meat. (Some people include dairy, but I don't.)
-I am focusing more on making sure each meal contains protein (which is what keeps you feeling full).
-I am switching to more health-conscious products, such as Greek yogurt.
-Menus will now include breakfast, lunch, and dinner to make sure I am eating properly all day long.
-I have added protein powder to my diet, so you will see protein bars and protein shakes listed on the menus as well. Some days the protein powder items aren't listed, and that's either because I'll be drinking them after my workouts instead of during the day (some days I can't workout until later in the evening) or because I don't need it that day. If there is another meal listed with the protein one, that's for the rest of my family.
-All of my salad dressings and breads are homemade.

Hopefully I didn't just scare off all of my readers! ;-) I promise I will still be posting delicious recipes! I have learned a lot about fitness over the past few weeks, so if anyone would be interested in learning any tips just let me know! As always, I will come back and add links to new recipes once I've posted about them. Enough babble, on with the menu.

Monday:
breakfast- protein shake/scrambled eggs and toast
lunch- pita pockets and chick's peas
dinner- BBQ meatloaf

Tuesday:
breakfast- granola bars and yogurt
lunch- avocado spinach egg salad
dinner- Monterrey chicken and salad

Wednesday:
breakfast- bagels and cream cheese
lunch- apples and peanut butter, veggies and dip, nuts
dinner- crock pot pork, mashed potatoes, and salad

Thursday:
breakfast- protein shake/cereal
lunch- sandwiches
dinner- leftovers

Friday:
breakfast- bagels
lunch- leftovers or dress to impress salad
dinner- tomato, basil, and feta pasta, rolls, and salad

Saturday:
breakfast- protein shake/breakfast pockets
lunch- out
dinner- chicken noodle soup, rolls, and salad

Sunday:
breakfast- protein shake/oatmeal
lunch- sandwiches
dinner- tostadas with homemade refried beans

So, did ya miss me? ;-) Are you interested in lower fat recipes?
Any recipes in particular you'd like to see made into a lower fat version?
Have any of your own fitness goals or tips/tricks you'd like to share??