Lots of weeks seem to have passed without me sharing food recipes or menu planning or anything. I have been busy busy. But isn’t it annoying when people say that? Who ISN’T busy? Kyle’s been gone…and then we ditched town for the weekend…and then we came back home…and ditched town again. Home with only one adult for random days makes economical meal planning difficult, which is why most of my dinners look the exact same as my lunches. Kale salads.
Copycat-ing the Costco bagged salad I heart so much!
Kale + cabbage + pumpkin seeds + dried cranberries + (Brianna’s) poppyseed dressing.
If I make it in a HUGE tupperware I can get 2-3 meals out of it without doing the prep work over and over again. I add avocado and/or chicken from time to time and that’s because WF had a #onedaysale last Friday that led to this…
I shredded and froze two of them in half chicken portions. The remaining chicken was used over the course of two weeks (in sandwiches and salads and such).
I’m pretty proud to have cobbled together meals from leftovers rather than re-stock at the grocery store and spend $$$$. It’s like a food challenge. I know we have enough food to NOT go to the store, so despite it being a little more difficult, it makes sense to be frugal and (a la Tim Gunn) “make it work.”
Kale salad on the left, Caesar with nooch on the right.
Leftovers from these meals.
I HEART THIS SALADDDDDDD <3
This next meal was legit randomness. Kyle was supposed to be away for dinner and then switched his schedule at the last minute so I had to make something big enough for two adults.
What to do with spinach and bacon? Um, salad?
Add goat cheese, grapes, olive oil and balsamic glaze and call it a day.
Not bad if I do say so myself.
This was also random success. Frozen shrimp + frozen scallops + (frozen from last season’s crop) eggplant + frozen veggie medley looks weird going in…
But if you add in eggs, freshly grated ginger, tamari, rice vinegar, fish sauce and rice…
It turns into a legit fried rice!
P ate this same exact dish too! No tweaks whatsoever.
More kale. Shocker.
It’s the winningest way to lunch. One day I had the same thing for lunch and dinner back to back.
Which was basically this whole salad plus 1.5 avocado. And more home-made crackers on the side.
Speaking of baking things in bulk…
I made Gwyneth’s buckwheat and banana pancakes (part of the Paltrow Project).
P and I had some for brekkie and then I packaged up the rest (froze on a baking sheet and then transferred into a freezer baggie). That’s what you do when you have mega mega bananas browning. Oh and you also make banana muffins.
No recipe to share because I just kept throwing things in a bowl until the texture was right.
They were gluten free because P reacted to wheat so we are still avoiding it. 🙁 It’s not that big of a deal I suppose because I still don’t eat much wheat personally, but (of course) I was hoping he’d continue to outgrow things.
I used zero sweeteners in these because there were super sweet bananas, but then I tasted the batter and it wasn’t sweet at all so I added some brown sugar on top at the end. Turned out perfect!
Kyle even took some in for work breakfasts which is saying a lot since he’s not a baked goods for breakfast person.
I’m still on team smoothie for breakfast but the weather is cooling so maybe warm (pumpkin?) things are in my future!? Yogurt bowls are good too.
Oh! I made these chocolate zucchini thingies too! Did I ever blog about them? I don’t think I did…oops.
First time trying coconut manna. I got it from Thrive (obviously) for cheap. Beyond pleased with joining Thrive Market. You should use my referral link and get 25% off!
Smoothiessssss.
My fantasy draft went well thanks to the chocolate that fueled me through it.
This is my nightly struggle…
What to have, what to have…
The struggle is real.
Ok well that will have to conclude the photo dump because Kyle and I are on vacation and the kids are asleep and there’s college football on. ‘Nuff said.
So I made these bars & thought you! Just thought I’d share because they’re amaaazing! http://acleanbake.com/superfood-protein-bars/?utm_content=bufferbf2e8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer (I left out the sweetener!)
How did you freeze the eggplant? Was it raw or cooked (how did you cook it)? Also, did that rotisserie chicken stay good in the fridge for two weeks? I didn’t realize they lasted that long. Those muffins look yummy.
It was raw and diced. It had big time freezer burn because I didn’t use a proper freezer bag but I think it was quite brilliant because (once semi thawed) it made it more porous and I avoided the whole salt press charade that you do with fresh eggplant. Worked out well!
Yay! Thanks!
Gah! That costco salad kit is SO good!!! I made my own version with the cruciferous crunch blend from trader joe’s that came out really well- i totally have done the back to back meals of it too 🙂 i like to add in sauteed tempeh cubes or just chickpeas.
Your spinach bacon salad reminds me of one my mom always made that had a hot salad dressing that would semi-wilt the greens. I actually never did like bacon anyhow but hot dressing on cold salad is appealing.
Too bad P didn’t do well with wheat (yet!) , but he is lucky to live in an era of gluten free and celiac friendly products being widely available.
The banana muffins look fabulous!!!
You just reminded me that I forgot to mention that in the recipe! I definitely poured the hot bacon fat over the greens too. I love wilted salads 🙂
Hi Elise,
I recently commented on your allergy post. My pediatrician just shared a new study with me regarding introducing peanuts early (4-11 mos) for high risk infants, bc they think delaying allergenic foods may be what’s causing the rise in cases of food allergies. Anyway, here is the link to the study: http://www.leapstudy.co.uk. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting bc you’re into science like myself!
And, please email me with any questions you have, or if you’d like to discuss how I’ve fed my other two little guys since #1 has the allergies. 🙂
Ashleystack@msn.com
Thanks Ashley – I just read this study myself a few days ago but thanks for passing along to me. So, I introduced peanut butter to P when he was 9 months and he wasn’t “high risk” which to me seems pretty early. I’m not sure how much sooner I could have introduced it realistically…
Now I’m trying to figure out what I’ll do this second time around. V is almost 6 months and I gave her some sweet potato over the weekend. She didn’t get it and (as I’m sure you know) mostly just played with it in her mouth before it came back out. With practice she will get it…but with in terms of timing…say I’m doing one new food every few days…it begs the question…how could one introduce peanuts at 4 months old?!?! Practicality aside, I’m even thinking anatomically it doesn’t seem like any infant would be able to ingest it at that age.
When did you trial things with #2 after knowing what you knew about your first?