January's Whole30ish full plan, by popular request

Including links (!) where I have them

I’m not sure how many requests you need to get before you can cite a request as “popular.” I only got two. But one of them came from my lovely sister-in-law (hi, Kari!) and the other from Per’s client (hi, Michael!). And since I’ll eventually need to document them from Per, who does most of the cooking these days, I figured capturing them all here will earn me a gold star for a day’s worth of writing without a lot of deep thinking required.

I’m already actively learning that meal plans are made to be adjusted, maybe especially when you draft them a month in advance. For example, I planned meals for next week, conveniently forgetting that I will be in NY getting four-month scans. Or you may, like me, have a spouse express concern that you’ve selected a recipe which is significantly more complicated than the energy or attendees for dinner might warrant. (But that spicy Thai pork salad really did sound good!)

And yet!

Once you have an initial list, it’s a lot easier to edit as needed; and it’s in that spirit that I share the plan here, with links and/or pics where I can find them, but without Per’s proofreading, because he’s currently making a labor-intensive spicy Thai pork salad.

Week of Jan 1:

Wednesday: Lemon & Garlic Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes and sauteed zucchini (NYT)

No paywall version here

A new and worthy of repeating recipe. The leftover tomato sauce was killer with eggs the next day.

Thursday: Lemony Turkey Beans & Greens Soup (my real recipe coming soon, but it was inspired by this NYT recipe, in which I doubled the turkey and got fancy with Rancho Gordo dried beans and a pressure cooker!)

I'm in love with this soup - my own recipe coming soon

Friday: Thai Chicken Skewers with Girl & The Goat Green Beans

Ask ChatGPT for a Thai Chicken Skewer recipe like I did!

Thai chicken and beans - kids agreed beans were the best part, maybe because ChatGPT forgot the salt?

Saturday: Norwegian meatballs with boiled potatoes, roasted carrots and parsnips, stewed red cabbage and steamed broccolini (I’ll need to ask Per to document this one – but not sure meatballs are ever really Whole30 compliant, and this is the kind of meal that requires a few days to cook, so maybe just get a bag of frozen meatballs at IKEA and call it a day?)

Sunday: Tomato ginger chicken soup with cauliflower rice (NYT) and sauteed zucchini

Week of Jan 6:

Monday: Copycat Chipotle Chicken bowls with Black Beans, with and without rice, with Obsessively Good Cucumber Avocado Salad

Note: we make these black beans all the time and keep them in the freezer and I’d have a whole post about how amazing they are if I hadn’t already made a bean exception for my hummus.

Tuesday: Spicy Thai Pork Tenderloin salad (NYT – start marinating in the morning, I might evaluate it with less or no sugar)

Wednesday: Inspired Indian Mangalorean Chicken Curry and Dal Makhani with cauliflower rice and sauteed spinach

Inspired Indian: Obsessed

We are obsessed with Inspired Indian spice packs and have ceased the fruitless exercise of trying to create better Indian dishes without Kalpana’s magic. The dal makes a huge batch and freezes well.

Thursday: Chicken with Chickpeas and Tomatoes with baby broccoli

Friday: Butterflied Shrimp with spicy miso glaze (new) and Broccoli Kale Slaw (without chicken)

The salad that may save us during Whole30ish

Saturday: Chicken Shawarma and hummus bowls with pickled red onion and salad

Sunday: Pork Chops with Quick Pickled Veggies (Grilling Cookbook)

Week of Jan 13^th

Monday: Chicken potato nuggets with Broccoli Kale Slaw Salad (without chicken)

Tuesday: Sheet Pan Fish Tikka with Spinach (NYT)

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken, Asparagus and Red Onion Salad (Rachael Ray)

Thursday: Lemony Turkey Beans and Greens Soup (NYT - my recipe coming soon)

Friday: Shrimp with Burst Tomatoes with Zucchini added (NYT)

Saturday: Sheet Pan Chicken with Potatoes and Arugula (NYT)

Sunday: Piri Piri Chicken with Coconut and Smoked Paprika (Grilling Cookbook) with haricots verts

Week of Jan 20^th:

Monday: Curried Mustard Pork Loin with baby potatoes and baby broccoli (NYT – new)

Tuesday: White Beans and Shrimp (NYT) with zucchini or green beans

Wednesday: Copycat Chicken Chipotle Bowls with Black Beans and with rice / cauliflower rice

We had this last night - not sure I'm sold on the cauliflower rice for this

Thursday: Halal chicken and hummus bowls with pickles and salad

Friday: Roasted cauliflower with crispy chickpeas on cashew butter (I’m going to try to fake a dish I had at Crate and Barrel and think I will start with this: Yotam Ottolenghi’s Roasted Cauliflower With Harissa Chili Oil - 2025 - MasterClass)

Saturday: One-pan pork tenderloin with mushrooms and salad and green veggie (NYT – new)

Sunday: Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallions and stir-fried haricots verts

Week of 1/27:

Monday: Chicken paillard with roasted asparagus and salad topping (Grilling Cookbook)

Tuesday: Tomato Ginger Chicken Soup with cauliflower rice and sauteed zucchini

Wednesday: Cumin-Lime Shrimp with Ginger (NYT - new) and Obsessively Good Cucumber Avocado Salad and cauliflower rice

Thursday: Thai Peanut Chicken Bowl with Zucchini (Kitchenmomy.com - new)

Friday: Inspired Indian chicken and dal (from freezer) and baby cauliflower or cauliflower rice

Yes, this was our Christmas gift to family one year. That obsessively good.

Saturday: Sheet Pan Chicken with Potato and Arugula (NYT)

Sunday: Lemon and Garlic Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes (NYT) and sauteed zucchini

Open link is here

I am sure that I’ll keep editing the plan as I go; this feels like way too much chicken and literally no beef?? Open to any Whole30ish recipe that is a “F yes!” for in your book. Leave a comment with your suggestions!