The 2020 Week 16 Menu Plan is complete, but as I have found in this new Coronavirus reality, the plan can only be instituted if the ingredients are available. I arrange my delivery nearly a week in advance due to the increased demand. I fill my cart with the groceries needed for the meals I have planned. Often I find out hours before the delivery that several items needed for the recipes planned are not available. Since I refuse to leave home at this point in time, I make do with what is delivered. At that point, meals may move to the following week, or be omitted completely.
Breakfast
The 2020 week 16 menu plan for breakfasts is laden with S meals. I have plenty of eggs at this point and received ricotta cheese, but no cottage cheese or sour cream on my most recent delivery…enter the sausage ricotta cheese casserole. I have also added sausage and biscuits, a favorite of the ‘Ole Buckeye. All of these recipes are tried and true favorites. I also plan to make a batch of savory breakfast cookies for the freezer.
Sausage Ricotta Breakfast Casserole
Lunch
The lunches planned for week 16 focus on E meals since the mornings have heavier offerings. The baked “potato” soup was on last week’s lunch offerings, but the radishes were not available on my delivery. That new recipe appears once again.
Dinner
The dinner plans for 2020 week 16 include family favorites, eat again meals and the first of three Green Chef meals due to be delivered on Tuesday. The meatballs moved to later this week to make room for a eat twice spaghetti squash casserole.
Hits and Misses
The ‘Ole Buckeye is not a quinoa lover so this recipe fed me for several lunches last week. I ate it as written, and on 2 days I served it over salad greens. I will definitely make this again.
One Pan Tex Mex Quinoa
Winner, winner, chicken dinner…no chicken, but this spaghetti squash casserole was definitely a winner…to a person (and I have some very critical participants in our evening eating extravaganzas.) A definite hit!
Million Dollar Spaghetti Squash Casserole
I am always looking for a good nutritious soup and this one fits the bill. It is hearty and serves the two of us for several meals.
Our Easter Dinner menu consisted of a spiral cut ham, roasted asparagus, a spinach salad and our family favorite Loaded Cauliflower Casserole. We topped it off with a new Keto Carrot Cake…KEEPER! Truly delicious.
Food for Thought
Over the past few years I have learned a lot about healthy eating. I have also learned more and more about foods to boost immunity, which is highly important during the current pandemic. My newest addition to our diet…
Pineapple.
Pineapples contain a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and enzymes like bromelain that may collectively boost immunity and suppress inflammation.
Studies have shown that those who ate pineapples had a significantly lower risk of both viral and bacterial infections. That study also showed that those who ate the most pineapple had close to four times more disease-fighting white blood cells (granulocytes) than the other two groups
The nutrients and compounds in pineapple has been linked to impressive health benefits, including improved digestion, a lower risk of cancer, improved immunity, relief of arthritis symptoms and improved recovery after surgery and strenuous exercise.
We now incorporate fresh pineapple or sugar free pineapple juice everyday.
It’s a Wrap
I will admit that we ate very well over the past week even though the plan needed adjustment due to lack of key ingredients. I will not complain because we defiantly had other options. We continue our journey through these unknown waters of social distancing. Luckily we can continue to share meals with our daughter, since the three of us have basically isolated ourselves together. The rest of the family is another story. It will be awhile before we can resume close contact with them one of the sad parts of our new reality. We will continue to strive for a healthy lifestyle. Bon Appetit!
