Weekly Paleo Meal Plan + AMAZzzz Paleo Veggetable Soup

Mann what a weekend! Easter! Sports! Beer watching sports! More sports! More beer watching sports! I'm not a huge fan of the NCAA tournament because it brings back traumatic childhood memories of being a die-hard Jayhawks fan and writing tear-stained diary page after page about how this time I won't recover from our loss, we truly deserved to go all the way this year and life is so unfair and if the Jayhawks can't have the title then what is left to believe in. (direct quotes from my 5th grade diary. I did in fact have a swift recovery that year as the entry two days later weighed my future husband options: Taylor Hanson or Lance Bass or Paul Pierce?).

Anyway, onto le weekly meal plan:

Breakfast for the week: Hearty Breakfast Casserole / Green Smoothies (I'm getting bored with my smoothies...suggestions for new smoothie recipes please!)

Lunch for the week: Slow Cooker Picadillo 

Monday Dinner: BLT Breakfast Salad, because LOOK AT THIS

Tuesday Dinner: Sweet Potato Burgers (subbing a few ingredients, updated recipe to come)

Wednesday Dinner: Breakfast for dinner! Trying out some paleo pancake and/or waffle recipes - anyone have suggestions for this??

Thursday Dinner:  Paleo Gnocchi (Hi can someone please tell me the correct way to pronounce this? I love it. I love to eat it at restaurants. When I order it at restaurants I'm always like "I want the nock-eyyy, wait I mean neeyokeyy I mean..sorry I'm simple" and everyone is like:

Friday Dinner: Leftovers

Desserts: Banana Cake, dark chocolate (72% or higher cocao)

Snacks: almonds, veggies, fruits, sweet potato chips.


Ok so I read this New York Times article and at first panicked that I'm going to die or my body will turn 80 in approximately 6 years because I love meat so much (I'm an end-of-the-world type thinker), then got a reality check and decided to just try to stop relying so much on meat and incorporate some more plant-based meals into the meal plan. Last week I made this vegetable soup that turned out DELICIOUS and really filling and packed with 1000000 servings of vegetables (I measure servings loosely):

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 6 hours (set it and forget it in my new crockpot)

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 3 stalks of celery, sliced ($.50)
• 1 package of frozen green beans (15 oz) ($2.00)
• 1 package of frozen peas (12 oz) ($1.50)
• 4 carrots, chopped ($1.50)
• optional: 14 oz navy beans ($1.00)
• 2 zucchini sqashes, chopped ($1.50)
• 32 oz vegetable broth ($2.30)
• 1 14 oz can of tomato sauce ($1.00)
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes ($.1.00)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoon minced dried onion
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (this came out pretty spicy so maybe lay off on this a little - easier to add more later)

Throw all the ingredients in the crockpot for 6-7 hours, then enjoy veggies like you've never enjoyed them before.

I need suggestions: plant-based meals/blogs, paleo pancakes/waffles, and smoothie ideas. HELP!