Nine times out of 10, I’m very good at being an expert juggler. I can typically handle and conquer multiple priorities, commitments and life to-dos while still managing to keep my clothes clean, dinner cooked and the house {mostly} ready for guests. Lately however, I’ve been in that 10 percent area where things don’t quite work so well. Picture this: I’m in one of those cages (before they were outlawed due to germs) filled with plastic colored balls kids loved to jump in, and my entire body is submerged below them. I’ve essentially been buried underneath something that probably looks like this due to all the balls I’ve been dropping and subsequently piling on myself the past few weeks.

There’s a million reasons. Working too much. Over committed. Blah, blah, blah. But I decided after a dose of tough love and a few too many confessions about losing my motivation, it was time to get back to being a competent juggler. The first place I started was the kitchen. I can sadly admit that I didn’t cook dinner once last week, and I skipped my weekly trip to the grocery store. Mr. rUnladylike and I were foraging for food like wild animals in our pantry day after day as if something decent to eat was actually going to turn up. Open pantry or refrigerator. Remember there is hardly anything in there. Close. Repeat. There were one too many runs for take-out. One too many bad choices made. So, it was back to the kitchen I went.

With a full pantry and refrigerator and a delicious meal plan for the week, I’m ready to fuel our house with good, clean food. I’m sharing my weekly menu with you in hopes it may help spur some dinner ideas if you’re scrambling to juggle too many balls and cooking is the first thing to go.

What’s for Dinner

Monday: Turkey Spaghetti Zoodles from Skinny Fitalicious (I’ve made this before and we love it at our house!)

Tuesday: Sweet Potato and Pineapple Beef Bowls with Mango Avocado Salsa from Real Food Whole Life

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chicken Chili from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Thursday: Brown rice protein bowl: Brown rice (if you want to make it really quick get the organic frozen kind at Trader Joe’s that takes 3 minutes to heat up if you’re pressed for time), any protein diced (typically chicken or chicken sausage at our house … beef and shrimp work great too … or use beans and make it a veggie dish), any veggies left over that you sautee (typically peppers, zucchini and sometimes onion or diced tomatoes), spices to taste (chili powder, cumin, garlic powder) and topped with diced avocado and freshly shredded white cheddar cheese once all heated and mixed together (This is my number one go-to dinner. It’s on the table in about 20 minutes).

Friday: Leave for the Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon, with my Brooks Running family (I’ll share more with you about this exciting trip later this week!)

Breakfast

For breakfasts, I made a batch of these amazing Morning Glory Muffins from my friend Tina of Carrots ‘N’ Cake. They are so good. I typically use dried cherries (no sugar added from Trader Joes) instead of raisins … or mix cherries with the raisins.

After a morning workout, I love to make a protein shake with skim milk or almond milk, a scoop of vanilla protein powder and frozen cherries OR skim milk or almond milk, a scoop of chocolate protein powder, a tablespoon of peanut powder (only ingredient is peanuts) and one frozen banana. So good and so filling.

Lunch

For lunch, my favorite is a mis-mash of yummy things, including veggies and organic hummus, Armenian crackers (Ak-mak which has just whole wheat flour stone ground, clover honey, sesame oil, dairy butter, sesame seeds, yeast and salt) with sliced white cheddar and a 1/4 cup of dried cherries (no sugar or oil added).

If you’d like to keep tabs on my food and fuel Pinterest boards, check these out:

• Recipes & Food Ideas (Lots of recipes of all kinds … some healthy, some not … for every kind of meal or dish)
• Paleo Clean Eating (Recipes that don’t have grains, flour, dairy, beans or sugar in the ingredients)
• 21-Day Fix Approved Recipes (Healthy, clean recipes of all kinds)
• Fuel (Mostly homemade energy bars and balls)

What are your favorite go-to weekday dinner recipes? Share links and/or Pinterest boards below to inspire others.