Meal Planning Archives - Nutritious Eats

What I Ate This Month & Meal Planning

April 28, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD13 Comments

I had such a wonderful weekend in Seattle with my girlfriend Heather. I had no idea Seattle had such an awesome downtown- the shopping, the restaurants, the market! Fabulous! We live about 50 miles south of downtown so we haven't had a chance to visit much since we moved here almost a year ago. I am definitely going to start my list of places to try before we leave. Luckily we stayed in such a great location that we were able to walk everywhere- Pike's Market was 4 blocks away, shopping started at 2 blocks away and all restaurants were visited by foot. I loved that we didn't have to get in the … [Read more...]

Filed under: Meal Planning, Weeknight Favorites Tagged with meal planning, sample menu

Tomato Kale Soup and Meal Planning

February 24, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD21 Comments

What do you get when you have a big bag of kale to be used, a husband with a cold and a Dietitian wife trying to make him better? Homemade tomato kale soup! I have been trying hard to work on my own recipes- as in no adaptations, no inspiration or guidance from cookbooks or the internet and ya know what? It's not easy! Sometimes the recipes-in-progress take several tweaks or repeats until I get them right which makes blogging tough. It can be expensive and a long evolution so to all those food bloggers that post all (or mostly) original recipes, kudos to you! This soup however, I dreamed up … [Read more...]

Filed under: Meal Planning, Nutritious Eats Original, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged with kale, meal planning, quick and easy, soup, tomatoes, under 30 minutes, winter cooking

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows & More Valentine’s Treats

February 11, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD11 Comments

I totally on board with a little dessert splurge around the Holidays. I tend to gravitate towards chocolate but that's just me. I wanted to make an easy Valentine's treat for the kids and when I saw these heart shaped marshmallows I knew I needed to make something with them. I didn't have to think very long because as soon as I got home and looked at the back of the package I saw this easy recipe for chocolate covered marshmallows. Better than buying the store bought ones! I used a few different options for toppings- sprinkles, shredded coconut and candy hearts. Use your imagination … [Read more...]

Filed under: Desserts, Meal Planning, Other, Valentine's Day Tagged with chocolate, easy, marshmallows, treats, Valentine's Day

Spinach-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms & Meal Planning

February 3, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD18 Comments

How was everyone's weekend? Two of the kids caught a cold last week and passed it along to me. Luckily I caught a mild case of it and with a good nights' sleep Friday was still able to run 8 miles with my running group. The only problem was that running for over an hour in the cold didn't exactly make me better. Sore throat, congestion and fatigue set in...probably not a good move. I'm going to crawl back in bed as soon as I can. Aside from being a little sick I did manage to get out of the house a few times. My husband takes the kids fishing quite a bit so I joined along on Saturday and got … [Read more...]

Filed under: Meal Planning, Nutritious Eats Original, Vegetarian Tagged with cheese, meal planning, mushrooms, portobello, tomato sauce, vegetarian

What I Ate This Month and Meal Planning

January 27, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD21 Comments

Hi friends! I hope you all had a restful, rejuvenating weekend. We had a lot going on at church this weekend, spent Friday making homemade deep dish pizza and Saturday night tried out a new Greek restaurant which unfortunately ended up being very average. We had a brief period of warmer temps (mid 40s with no rain) so the kids rode bikes and took lots of wagon rides. The rain is back today but luckily I have a lovely view of the beautiful evergreens to keep my spirit high even when it's gloomy out. Today in addition to meal planning, I will share a sample of my iphone food photos of things … [Read more...]

Filed under: Cooking, Meal Planning Tagged with daily food, food at home, food collage, meal planning

A Washington Catch & Meal Planning

January 13, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD10 Comments

I am so excited that DietBet starts tomorrow! You still have time to sign up and even if you decide to join in later you can (you will just have less time to lose the your body weight). Remember the deal each player puts $25 into the pot. You set the goal to lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks and if you succeed, you get to split the pot with the other players that lose. I think it will be a great motivational tool and it's a great time at the start of the new year to get healthy. Like I mentioned before, I am hosting the DietBet and although I don't need to lose 4% of my body weight, I am … [Read more...]

Filed under: Family, Meal Planning Tagged with dietbet, meal planning, razor clams, Washington, weight loss

Fitness Goals and Meal Planning….The End of a Great Year!

December 30, 2012 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD13 Comments

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL few weeks celebrating the Holidays and hopefully you all had a little time like me to take a break from the computer and spend some quality time with family and friends. We stayed in Washington and since we don't have any family nearby it was a very quiet Christmas (well not exactly quiet as 3 kids are the complete opposite of quiet) but really a great one. Seeing the kids' faces light up at everything from baking for Santa to donating their old toys, made this one extra special. We sure did miss our family though! Here is my belated Christmas card to all of … [Read more...]

Filed under: Fitness, Meal Planning Tagged with 2012 highlights, christmas, fitness, goals, meal planning

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus & Meal Planning

December 2, 2012 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD7 Comments

I have mentioned before that I love serving vegetables for appetizers. They fill you up on less calories plus it's just nice to get extra veggies into the meal. These are a little more sinful than regular roasted veggies because of the addition of the salty crispy prosciutto. They've got the red and green going on which makes them perfect for a Christmas party. I love that they are so simple to make and require very few ingredients which is something I look for when planning an appetizer spread. Some prosciutto can be extremely salty so make sure to compare the packages at the store (there … [Read more...]

Filed under: Appetizers, Meal Planning Tagged with appetizer, christmas, easy, holiday, party food, prosciutto, roasted, vegetable

Crostini with Whipped Feta and Tomatoes

November 11, 2012 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD9 Comments

This is hands down one of my favorite appetizers ever. I made it for the first time a while back when my mom was in town and we ate it several nights for dinner. Wine and crostini. What more do you need? By the way, have you ever wondered the difference between crostini and bruschetta? I had to look it up but it's really just a difference of the bread used. Bruschetta, form the Italian word "bruscare" is to roast over coals and is made from Italian or sourdough bread. Crostini are toasted from a finer-textured bread like a baguette. They are both topped with a variety of delicious toppings … [Read more...]

Filed under: Appetizers, Christmas, Holiday, Meal Planning, Thanksgiving, Vegetarian Tagged with appetizer, crostini, feta, Holidays, make-ahead, parties, tomatoes, vegetarian

Roasted Vegetables and Cheese Tray Appetizer & Meal Planning

November 4, 2012 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD10 Comments

Ahh, Halloween is over and two of my children's birthdays have come and gone and now I can focus on family visiting for Thanksgiving and our trip to San Diego! Plus I can hopefully crank out lots of recipes between now and Christmas- such a busy time of year! In the military typically when you move to a new assignment you are assigned a sponsor, someone who assists you in becoming familiar with your new post and all the in-processing you have to do. For whatever reasons, we have never had one take care of us but we were so excited to be able to sponsor another family who recently moved here … [Read more...]

Filed under: Appetizers, Meal Planning Tagged with appetizer, Holiday appetizer, meal planning, menu, parties