Recommended Recipe & Meal Planning

First, I want to recommend this recipe. It's the All-Bran Muffins recipe from the box. Before you judge (ew, fiber!) bake these and taste them! They are just sweet enough (sugar could also be replaced with Splenda and still taste yummy) and yes, they do have some healthy fiber! But it's all mixed in with white flour and oil, so I wouldn't consider them a health food exactly. The great thing about these is that they freeze well. This morning, I am baking 24 muffins and they're going to go straight into the freezer when they're cool. I put 2 per baggie, then in the morning or for a snack heat them up for 30 seconds. (Or put them in a lunch box and by lunch time they'll be cool but thawed.)

Prep Time: 20 minutes 
Total Time: 50 minutes 
Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 cups Kellogg's® All-Bran® Original cereal

• 1 1/4 cups fat-free milk

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.



2. In large mixing bowl, combine KELLOGG'S ALL-BRAN cereal and milk. Let stand about 2 minutes or until cereal softens. Add egg and oil. Beat well. Add flour mixture, stirring only until combined. Portion evenly into twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin pan cups coated with cooking spray.



3. Bake at 400° F about 20 minutes (today they baked for me in about 15 minutes) or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes. Serve warm.

After these are baked I'm going to the grocery store to prep for my week of meals that I planned out. I decided against the Real Simple meal plan, because it would make too much food and most of the dishes wouldn't keep well as leftovers. So this week I'm going to try out Crock Pot meals, which I figure given their mushy and all-in-one-pot nature will make great leftovers! :)

I'm going to make squash lasagna today, chicken noodle soup tomorrow, and barbeque pork sandwiches Wednesday. Then I'm planning to serve the leftovers in that order: squash lasagna Wednesday, chicken noodle soup Thursday, and barbeque pork sandwiches Friday. To prepare, today I am headed to the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients for all three meals, as well as some side dish items (cole slaw and chips for the barbeque pork sandwiches). I'm also going to bake the burger buns today for the barbeque pork sandwiches and put them in the freezer.

I'll let you know if this attempt at a week of meals works! If so, maybe I'll even post the grocery list and recipes together :).