Two (and now three since I started this post) whole weeks have passed without my weekly dinner wraps up! Yikes. There were such good ones too. I always say that don’t I? Not to toot my own horn, but I don’t like making blah recipes so whenever I meal plan I try to pick out meals that are different (and delicious, obvs). Do you eat the same thing from week to week? Or do you read cookbooks and blogs and bookmark things like I do? I’m genuinely curious about how the rest of you eat…do you meal plan at the start of the week and shop once like I do? Or do you have a different approach? Where do you do the bulk of your shopping? Whole Foods? Trader Joe’s? A different chain grocery store? I feel like you all know my deal since I have a blog, but I don’t know how everyone else organizes their meals. We do Costco once a month for the bulk stuff and then WF and TJs on a weekly basis for whatever I’ve planned for 6-7 days’ worth of eats. The three of us eat together right after we put V down (around 6ish) and then P goes to bed after his bedtime routine (cleaning up, taking a bath, reading a story, etc). Then Kyle and I get the night to ourselves. With chocolate. Until we pass out at 9 (no joke we are so pathetic). I know people who make separate meals for kids and adults and that seems like so much effort. Do you eat with your kids? What time do you go to bed? Fill me in.
Anyway. Rather than ramble much longer I’l just get to the foooooooood.
Mexican soup with chips. It’s from Danielle Walker’s cookbook Against All Grain. I’ll do a recap of all the recipes I have made from her book because there have been a lot. I got it from the library and it’s been so awesome I will likely buy it now.
No bribe was necessary for this dinner with P, but he definitely ate faster knowing tortilla chips were awaiting his empty bowl. He still had seconds of the soup after a few chips though. Winner winner chicken soup dinner. He seems to have changed his tune on sweet potatoes by the way – he now loves them so yay for persistence.
These curry chicken lettuce cups were a HUGE hit. Initially I gave P the components separately but after he saw us make them into lettuce wraps he tried it himself and it was so cute. He was super proud of himself and ate a bunch more than I expected.
Clare’s IG inspired this next meal and I have to say it was such a delicious success that I decided to make it again the next week. I’m really into pasta lately. That’s weird for me, which is I guess a little abnormal. I mean, I love carbs, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a total robot. But yeah, noodles are not something I usually crave or look forward to.
I got these from Thrive and I have to say, they are excellent gluten free noodles. Maybe the best I’ve eaten? I’ve since reordered them and a bunch of different shapes by Ancient Harvest. Shells are fun.
The ingredients are bell peppers, zucchini, shrimp, sun dried tomato, fresh parsley, and feta (on the adult portion).
The zucchini was for me and the bell peppers were for Kyle. We swapped each other for the parts we didn’t want, while P ate both veggies. I didn’t know how he’d react to sun dried tomatoes, but this boy constantly surprises me.
The week’s real highlight was Angela’s recipe for a winter salad bowl with tricolor quinoa, kale, roasted potatoes and green beans.
Kyle wasn’t sure about this one when I proposed it for the weekly menu but he really really liked it. P loves kale so he was in from the second he saw the green. And me? Well you know how I feel about kale and quinoa and avocado…heart eyes emoji to the infinity.
Once again, P was all up in the potatoes. This kid is becoming a vegetarian. Ok, no he’s not, he still asks for bacon on a very regular basis, but he is for sure getting used to meatless meals.
We had leftovers the next couple of days to clean out the fridge before the weekend.
Friday night I made a repeat recipe, because the kale and Asian pear salad from last week was SO good. With brown rice tossed in olive oil on the side.
Presents from my friend. Oh baby.
Saturday night I made a Caesar quinoa with roasted chickpeas.
And then Sunday.
S-U-P-E-R-B-O-W-L.
Because there were chips galore during the game, dinner was a less carby affair, with the rest of the Sabra guacamole. They make legit guac that is so avocado-y. Real avocado, not that weird stuff.
Because you all know I’m an avocado fanatic.
Speaking of avo. V is also an avo lover and thief. Every day I scoop half an avo into my salad bowls and then she carries on AND ONNNNN until I feed her the second half. She will not give up until the avo is gone and even then she still gets all pouty and pissed about it. Factor in avocado dinners like the above and below and we are going through 10 a week no problem. Sheesh.
This is sprouted kitchen’s spicy butternut squash and kale salad. I loved the idea of roasted the squash in Mexican spices (I used a fajita blend I had already made). Combined with other Mexi flavors and ingreds like feta, pepitas, green onions and avo made it a mega win.
Happy taste buds. Repeat worthy for sure. P had everything minus the feta plus an extra bowl of rice and avo on the side.
This was basically the same as the pasta recipe from the week before, but I swapped in (canned) tuna for the shrimp because it’s super easy and makes it ever so slightly different. I also used TJs GF fusilli but it wasn’t as good as the Ancient Harvest shells in my opinion. I just placed my Thrive order, which included a few different Ancient Harvest boxes so more noodles to come. I again used bell peppers, zucchini and sun dried tomatoes though – just like the last one.
And added feta to our bowls only. Super simple, super good.
This was supposed to be white chicken “tuxedo” chili, which I loosely based on a few different recipes. It was a little more broth-y than chili so I don’t think I’d call it that. The green chilies gave it some serious heat, but P and Kyle were both totally unfazed by it. I guess I’m a pansy. I didn’t actually use corn in the recipe, but then I had to cool pacman’s bowl down in a hurry so I threw frozen corn in his bowl. Seems like it could’ve been a good move for the whole pot.
By the way. The reason there’s been a ton of chicken recipes in this post is because earlier this month Whole Foods had a #onedaysale for buy one get one FREE organic free range chickens.
So basically I got two beautiful birds (5-6ish dinners + broth + gelatin) for $15. Ah-May-Zing!
I think I skipped a bunch of days but I only have photos to help me recollect since it’s been so long since these meals were eaten. BUT. What I do remember about this meal was I saw the post with the recipe as I was scrolling through blogs (while nursing V) and immediately thought to myself “I have all those things on hand and I want to make this for tonight”. And so I did.
It’s this marinated kale and quinoa bowls with sun dried tomato sauce from Pinch of Yum and I highly recommend.
You may have noticed (or maybe not) I’m really into sun dried tomatoes recently. It’s like I just discovered them or something. Well, I kinda did. How 90s of me, huh? In my defense, I’m not a huge tomato lover to start, so I never really tried the dried version because it didn’t really appeal to me. Also, they are usually in dishes I don’t like for other reasons. I can’t think of examples now, but I definitely skip over them when I’m looking at menus. But then I had a jar from a million years ago (or 6 months for the less dramatic version) in the fridge and I put them in that earlier shrimp pasta dish and the rest is history.
Almonds and sun dried tomatoes make a bangin sauce. I made extra because I knew I’d want it in and on everything. It’s like a romesco of sorts.
P had the same meal just in a few separate dishes because I wanted to give him the option of the sauce on the side. I suspected (correctly) he wouldn’t really be into it because he doesn’t like tomatoes, but I knew that the best way to get him to try it would be to make it his decision to request it. So I had him “help” me make it earlier in the day and then when dinner time came I scooped some on Kyle’s and my portions and asked him if he wanted any. He said no at first and then after we all sat down he said “I changed my mind mama, I want some sauce” so I gave him some to “dip his chicken into”. He dipped both the kale and chicken into it maybe twice but then decided he didn’t want it after all so I asked if I could have his portion and he said yes. No problem. More for me plus he still tried it and happily ate the rest of the meal.
The next day was P’s birthday and he requested bacon so I obliged. Fridge cleanout meal above with broccoli slaw sautéed in bacon and it’s own fat. I then added white rice and eggs to make it a fried rice kind of dish. I gave all the bacon to the boys.
And now that I’m only a few days behind I’ll stop and come back with the more fun recaps of the last couple of weekends, which have included lots of visitors and birthday celebrations. Weeee.
I try to shop once week, but i always end up making one more small trip mid week because we’ve run out of something. I try to make new recipes from books or blogs a few times a month. I shop at either shop rite or wegmans, we don’t have TJs, wholefoods, or costco locally.
We usually shop twice per week, maybe more if we’ve run out of something. We shop at too many stores trader joes, food lion, harris teeter, costco, and BJ’s warehouse. We don’t go to all those stores every week, just depends on where we are and what we need. I have tried to hard to meal plan, but it hasn’t worked out for me. My goal is to have a rough meal plan every week. I’m so type A, so i’m surprised meal planning hasn’t worked for me. My hubby and I eat together after we but our son to bed, usually around 730. My son eats what we eat, just at an earlier time. What time does P go to bed, and when did he start eating with you all? I would love for us to eat together but they days I work I don’t get home early enough. We go to bed around 10, wish I could be in bed by 9!
I think it started around 2 years for him eating with us but don’t quote me on that. It was definitely a nice improvement eating all together and I look forward to when V can join us and then maybe we can do their bedtime routines together…maybe when the weather is nicer and it’s light out later. Or maybe that is just wishful thinking. V goes down around 6 and then we eat right after and then P goes down at 7ish (once he’s cleaned his toys and we have done the bath/PJ/story routine). He takes foreverrrrrrrr to eat so we seriously have to get an hour of lead time. Kyle and I are always done eating long before he is so I just use that time to pack Kyle’s lunches and prep for the next day, etc. It’s nice to have a couple of hours to ourselves before bedtime and I am definitely glad Kyle can get home as early as he does. If he’s traveling or working late I still stick to the same timing but just do it by myself.
We are kinda the same way with the shopping too. So many stores! Just depends on what we need and where there are sales and whatnot.
As a kid we always had dinner as a family, every night, everyone had the same meal. No kids of my own here but I don’t think that making a seperate “kids” meal does anyone favors in the long run- just more work for the dinner making adult and potentially limiting for the kid to ever broaden their choices.
I dont meal plan but i do have an ongoing megalist of recipes i want to try that i scroll through before going to the store. I know in winter i’ll make one big pot of soup/stew for the week, and in summer i make a lot more salads.
If i know the coming week will be especially insane i’ll make a batch of roasted veggies and baked tofu and quinoa, maybe a peanut butter sauce so that when i stumble in the door i can eat asap.
Once a week or so i shop at trader joe’s, during the week there’s a kinda crummy local market where i’ll buy some veggies midweek or anything i decide i need. I go to whole foods maybe once a month or so, it’s not especially convenient to get to and kind of a zoo, i take advantage of the sale items in produce and hit the bulk bins for nooch and random stuff i can only get there. (Like those carob energy nuggets with seeds that i love)
omg those carob things. i miss those so much. our davis WF isn’t nearly as good as the NYC or LA ones I’ve been spoiled to have at my fingertips so it’s not exactly the thrilling treat to go there as it once was. there’s a store called nugget market that’s basically a bigger and fancier version of WF that is my “treat” store nowadays. i go there so rarely though because it’s just not in my regular rotation due to price and location.
Oooh, i’m so jealous of your nugget store though! My sister went to college in davis so i’ve been to that nugget and remember it was amazing… And of course thought everything was cheap coming from nyc (the market near me has broccoli at $3/bunch, iceburg at $3/ea, cauli at $5). I always got those energy nuggets back in high school at the local hippie health food store- they taste like CA to me :))
You just reminded me that the co-op may have them! I totally forgot about that place (I’m brainwashed away from bulk bins due to P’s allergies). I will never forget buying pears and avocado in NYC and thinking it was the most insane thing ever. Those two things in particular for some reason always stick out to me and I think of it every time I buy them here (for so cheap!). Come visit!!!!
Totally a co-op kind of item!! I know they don’t have peanuts but not sure what other allergens they may contain, i’ve been so lucky that’s not an issue. When I’m starving i’ll smear nut butter on a few and it puts out the hangry in a hurry 🙂
Yeah when i come visit my family at the holidays and usually once in the summer (they’re near carmel/monterey area) I seriously hoover all the veggies i can get my hands on- the huge safeway is almost overwhelming with so many choices and piles of fresh cheap produce in the best way possible….
People here buy mostly frozen veggies- which i have tried to like but aside from edamame and peas are just nasty.
Pingback: Link Love #66 {Favorite Articles of the Week} |