Welcome to my weekly meal plan and Real Food Recipe Roundup, a collaboration between Sassy Moms in the City and JoLynneShane.com.  

I’m hosting the Inlinkz widget. Scroll down to share your own recent healthy recipe or meal plan from your blog. We simply request you link back to one of us, and that the recipes you share use primarily real, whole foods.

This is the last week of the #EatFreshChallenge  sponsored by CookingPlanit and Colavita. It’s been a wonderful experience and saved me so much time prepping our weekly meal plan.

Another benefit was reducing our grocery bill and the amount of spoiled food we threw out. One of my favorite Cooking Planit features that I discussed last week was the Grocery List builder. Turns out when you create a grocery list for only the items you’ll be cooking, it can save a significant amount of money.

Rather than shopping for random items that I may or may not use for the week, I stuck to the grocery list I created with my Cooking Planit meal schedule. Of course there were a few basic items that needed to be added but that’s to be expected.

Creating recipes and shopping for food based on the number of people in our family also cut down on the amount of waste. There are many nights we have too much food left over because the recipe I’m using is based on 6-8 people. Occasionally I will modfy all the measurements to accommodate four people but with Cooking Planit it does it for you. That was an unexpected benefit for sure.

There have been so many recipes I tried that will be in my future meal rotation. One of my favorites was Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin Spice Marinade. Wow, what an unexpected union of spices combining pumpkin puree, smoked paprika, ground ginger and nutmeg. You have to try this. I paired it with  Creamy Spaghetti Squash. Perfection!

I’ve also enjoyed testing out Colavita products from the gift basket they sent me. I can’t stop using the Roasted Garlic Cooking Oil Blend!! I’ve used it on roasted vegetables, a marinade and salad dressing. So versatile and makes a great addition to your pantry.

cookingplanit.com weekly meal plan october 19th

Sunday:  Cheesy Spaghetti Squash + Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin Spice Marinade

Monday: Parmesan Pearl Couscous + Scampi Baked Fish + Sautéed Garlic Spinach

Tuesday:  Brown Sugar and Sage Pork Tenderloin + Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta + Arugula, Green Apple and Fennel with Honey Vinaigrette

Wednesday:  Spinach, Mushroom and Artichoke Casserole + Simple Kale Salad

Thursday: Bacon and Blueberry Jam Pork Tenderloin + Fall Salad

Friday: Leftovers

If you’d like to try a few shop enter promo code eatfresh20 at checkout and receive 20% off (plus free shipping on all orders over $99). Find products here.

This is a sponsored post.