Dinner Planner for Week of March 14th

I'm starting a new feature called Dinner Planner which will list my own Dinner Menu Planning for each week. To cut down on grocery costs I've been planning weekly dinner menus on the weekend based on what's arrived in my vegetable bin and what's on sale at my local grocers. I try to make two or three meals out of what I cook by making extra some nights, such as grilling an extra chicken breast to cut up and use in pasta the next day.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas about how to come up with a variety of nutritious meals from week to week. I always have some form of protein on the plate with starch taking a much smaller role. Starches are always whole-grain. With my family's meals, I always ensure the vegetable portion takes up a third or more of the space on our plates.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday - Roast chicken with purple potatoes and collard greens

Monday - Make your own pizzas with whole wheat pita and leftover chicken, bell peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and cheese [lunch: chicken salad on multigrain, green salad]

Tuesday - Snapper with basil butter, brown rice, asparagus, fresh tomato slices with basil leaves and olive oil

Wednesday - Free range ground beef meatballs with whole wheat spaghetti and red chard [lunch: egg salad sandwich and asparagus steamed in silicone steamer at work]

Thursday - Turkey dogs and leek and pea soup [lunch: last night's pasta with added green peas]

Friday - Veggie stir-fry with bell peppers and snow peas [lunch: turkey weiners and brown beans and raw veggies and dip]