I have a confession to make: lately I’ve been a mess when it comes to cooking.

We used to have a routine where we’d sit down every Saturday morning and plan out our meals for the week, then go shopping for the ingredients we would need to make them. Unfortunately, Shawn has been working a lot of Sundays recently which means we really only have one day for chores and relaxing (I guess we could do stuff on weeknights, but let’s be honest… that’s not happening). Grocery shopping and menu planning has been getting shoved to the back burner, which leaves me scrambling during the week with no plan and no fresh food in the house.

This month, I decided to try something different. Instead of doing a weekly plan I sat down and came up with a whole month of weeknight meals. I’m a few days into it and, so far, it’s working out great! I feel so much more organized and knowing that I have a plan (and the ingredients I need to make it work) make me much less likely to pick up the phone and order a pizza.

Here’s the plan I came up with for July – consider it a preview of the recipes I’ll be posting for the next few weeks. I’ll add links to the recipes throughout the month.

Week 1 (July 1-6):

Week 2 (July 7-13):

• Cajun Chicken Pasta
• Italian Beef Sandwiches
• Salad with Goat Cheese and Grilled Nectarines
• Southwest Potato Pancakes

Week 3 (July 14-20):

• Salad with Grilled Avocado and Jalapeno Vinaigrette
• Pan Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Almonds
• Red Pepper and Egg Galette
• Chicken Tacos
• Bi Bim Bap Burgers

Week 4 (July 21-27):

• Chicken and Spinach Meatballs with Yogurt Sauce
• Pasta with Arugula Pesto
• Greek Stuffed Onions
• Grilled Balsamic Steak with Zucchini

Week 5 (July 28-31):

• Jerk Pork Chops, Roasted Onion and Pear Salad
• Penne Pasta with Chicken Sausage and Vegetables
• Veggie Tacos