Meal Plan Monday & Family Meals

Good morning!  I am blogging from my couch this Monday morning.  I'd say that's a pretty good start to my week.  My meal plan for this week has a bit more significance after last night's women's Bible study.  It was on bringing the family back to the table.  I was absolutely floored at the statistical evidence showed to support the impact of family dinners.  I mean, I absolutely love having sit down meals and always have, but I had no idea it was making this big of an impact.  More than anything else, it has been shown time and time again that children who have sit down dinners (no matter the parents' marital status, religion, or any other demographics) are less likely to smoke, do drugs, drink alcohol, participate in pre-marital sex, etc.  And even though I don't have any kids, it's still so important for me and my hubby to have that one-on-one time over a meal.  So much of Jesus' life revolved around food and meals so it makes sense for us to practice those same principles.

I've won half the battle of family meal time because I do plan ahead and have all of my groceries on hand.  That eliminates SO MUCH stress from my life.  I never have to worry about what I'll be making for breakfast, lunch or dinner because I already have it planned out.  That's a big reason I share this with others - I want to help all of you see just how easy it is to make a meal plan and stick to it.  Now as for the second half of this battle - actually sitting down at the table without ANY distractions - that's what we'll be working on in our household.  We used to sit together at the table and talk, but we got TV trays as a wedding gift and have lazily been using those almost every night to have dinner on the couch.  We've both been talking about how we feel like we haven't talked all night even though we've been sitting next to each other, and last night's message was exactly the push I needed to get us back on track.  We will be having dinner together...at the table...no cell phones or TV.  And I'm really excited.  With that said, here's this week's meal plan.

Monday: Flank steak and baked sweet potatoes
Tuesday: Sauteed shrimp and zucchini
Wednesday: BBQ pulled pork (from paleopot) with steamed broccoli
Thursday: Blackened snapper with steamed broccoli
Friday: Baked lemon chicken with steamed broccoli

Source: barefootcontessa.com

**Fresh broccoli was on sale, so I stocked up.  I absolutely love it so I don't mind eating it three nights in a row.

In memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I'll end this post with a great quote from a very bold man...

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."