Cooking and Living Healthy

One of my personal goals for the year before I go back to school is to develop healthy eating habits that include improved cooking skills.  Right now, I am trying to cook at home at least four times a week.  This is a challenge for me since I often work during traditional meal times.  I've made some adjustments to my schedule for next week and will be home to eat with my family Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I started planning our dinners and the shopping list by hand, but discovered a website called mealsmatter.org. It is a free meal planning tool with the goal of helping people make better food and meal choices.  It's new to me, so I will save my review until I have used it more.


My plan for the meals this week is thus:

Monday: Homemade whole wheat pizza with turkey pepperoni and a caprese salad. 
Tuesday: Curried pumpkin and peas with basmati rice and a mixed green salad
Wednesday: My family is gone in the evening, so I'll make tostadas for myself.
Thursday: Falafel with a Greek salad
Friday: Salmon Patties with rice and mixed veggies in cheese sauce

My goals are multiple.  I want to start eating fresher foods in smaller portions.  I want to try new recipes and teach myself to be a better cook. And lastly, I want to be more frugal about using food that we already have at home rather than always buying new groceries.  Each meal this week uses ingredients I already have, and several use food we have in the freezer that is in danger of spoiling.

I'm especially excited about the curried Pumpkin, since I love fall foods, so I will make sure to take pictures and let you know how it turns out.


What are some of your favorite at home meals?