Mesa de Vida and Jamaican chicken (recipe)

I want to share something today that may have possibly changed my life. I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks so the verdict is still out, but so far it looks like it might be life changing.

I subscribed to a meal planning thingamajigger.

I found it on Plum District which is kind of like Groupon for moms. Its called Mesa De Vida and here is basically how it works:

• Every friday you get a link to next weeks meal plan. 5 dinner recipes.
• Included is an entire ingredient list (in grocery shopping list form) so you know what you will need to buy (BEFORE you start the week preferably)
• You make the stuff and your family thinks you are incredible

The second bullet is always what would get me. I could have a decent idea of what we were gonna eat in any given week, but I was really horrible at making sure we had everything that we would need for the recipe. Then I would feel like a huge failure and throw myself on the floor in a tantrum.

Ok not really, but you know what I mean.

So anyway, getting these weekly menus has been G.R.E.A.T. I can not say enough good things about it.

• The recipes are pretty simple and don’t take a ton of time
• They have great variety so you don’t feel like you are eating the same thing all the time
• She includes a bonus desert recipe
• No one is standing over you with a knife forcing you to make all five. If one of them doesn’t sound like something you or your family might like, just sub in one of your normal dinner “staples.”
• They are all “health-i-fied
• One recipe per week (at least) makes enough for leftovers
• There is usually one crock pot recipe
• Having all the ingredients spelled out for you in such an easy way cuts down on grocery time and money. Who doesn’t want that?

So far I am loving this. I signed up for 6 months and I think I will be super sad when it is over. Here is the link to a sample menu so you can see what it looks like. CLICK HERE. 

Here is what I do.

• Every Friday when I get the menu planner I print it out and look over all of the recipes to see which ones I will make and which ones I wont.
• I compare this to the rough schedule we have for the week (bible study night, Paul coming home late etc…)
• I write everything down and then transfer to my meal planner frame (thank you Pinterest!)
• Then I copy the list of ingredients into my Evernote (one of my top 10 websites) and delete everything that I already have, leaving only the things that I need to pick up at the store. I add to the list other things that we need (milk, eggs, etc…) and then my grocery list is ready to go!

Yesterday I made Jamaican chicken in the crockpot (one of my Mesa de Vida recipes). The flavors were so good and all of us ate it up so fast and instantly wanted more that I thought I for sure had to share this recipe!

Slow Cooked Jamaican chicken thighs:

12 (I used 10) chicken thighs, skinless, boneless
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and finely diced
2TB honey
3TB red wine vinegar
2TB Tamari soy sauce
2tsp cinnamon (the best spice btw…)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves (I didn’t have this so I left it out)
1/2 cup OJ
salt and pepper to taste

Basically I mixed together everything but the chicken in a bowl, but the chicken thighs in the crock pot and then poured the sauce all over. Left it on low for about 7 hours.

Served over white rice.

Again, these flavors were so, so, so good. We all said we wanted to have this again as soon as we were done eating. That is what I call a success!

Have you ever signed up for a menu planner service?

Will you buy me another 6 months when this runs out? 

Tell me if you try this? 

Tagged as: chicken thighs, crock pot, dinner, Food, Mesa De Vida, recipe