Meatless Monday for the second week in a row. I’m gonna try to see if I can remember to keep the MM trend going. My brain sometimes forgets what days are what, but since I’m trying to do more plant based dinners, I may as well go with the theme of alliteration.
Monday was the last day of “school” for me and P. 🙁 Since we get home late(r) after school, I usually try to have it ready to go before we leave. Make ahead recipes are invaluable when you are busy and it seems like that’s easier in spring/summer when cool meals are what I want. Salads for days.
Like last week’s MM meal, I made tofu again inspired by an oldie but goodie (Caprese Caesar pasta salad).
I used GF noodles, kale, tomatoes, tofu and Caesar dressing. It’s tomato season!
Made during nap time and chilled until dinner. So easy and so yummy.
On Tuesdays we eat together as a family because P has soccer til 6 pm so I try to make things that night that are safe for us all. Or else I just plan on giving him leftovers. Either way, it’s different than our usual routine (where I feed P first and then we do his bedtime routine, and then Kyle and I eat).
I made a kale salad in advance (balsamic vinaigrette, dried cranberries, and walnuts) and served it with leftover quinoa salad and then pan seared scallops.
I have never made scallops before but from what I researched you do high heat really quickly so they don’t overcook but still get a nice char on either side. I added bacon fat to the pan, waited til it got hot, and then sizzled them for about 5 minutes total (flipping halfwayish). That was riiiight before serving them.
Plopped on top of the salad. Yum. P ate the quinoa salad plus some bacon and watermelon. He’s been over shellfish lately (shrimp was a former fave) but I haven’t been pushing it. He will come back around and in the meantime I don’t wanna make him hate it through force.
Wednesday was market and Kyle was out of town but ended up taking an earlier train to get home in time to join us for a little bit. Still, I had already planned to eat back at home, so we didn’t do market fare this time.
I thawed some ragu from the freezer stash and added it to a Caesar salad, very much like the pulled pork Caesar that I frequently get at market anyway!
Thursday afternoon was free and since I was exhausted from swimming that morning I kept it easy and made a simple tempeh salad. I already posted the recipe here.
I roasted the potatoes during nap time and the rest was easy to chop and throw together while feeding P lunch. He ate bell peppers, corn, and romaine from our dinner. He doesn’t like potatoes and can’t do soy, so I gave him GF noodles and seeds too. Plus plums that he picked on our walk to the park that afternoon and I can’t recall what else.
Friday is pretty much the only day of the week that we don’t have anything planned (aside from a standing park date with friends, but that’s still really mellow and flexible). It’s nice to have a leisurely morning that doesn’t involve racing the clock to get to gym, library, music, swimming, or what have you on time. It sets the tone for the weekend…TGIF style!
I made chicken and mushroom marsala with wine that was not marsala wine. Ha. Does that make it something else entirely then? Probably. Maybe just veloute sauce? If you are French and totally insulted that I just referenced one of the mother sauces completely incorrectly, I am sorry. Wine, butter, stock, flour, and onion…seems veloute-esque.
For the record I used Earth Balance not butter, combined with shallot infused olive oil. I also used cornstarch to thicken. And Dorot onions (such a fantastic thing to keep stocked in the freezer because it means I never have to think about whether or not we have garlic or onion for a recipe – love!!!!). Modifications for days.
Saturday night was, like, the most dreamy summer night ever.
It was a completely spontaneous and perfect evening that I hope will happen time and time again.
Bubbles for no reason.
Kyle grilled corn and chicken that I marinaded with this spicy honey rub. I halved the amount of honey because it seemed excessive and replaced it with olive oil. Worked great!
We also had leftover wild rice, which I left cold and tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette for a chilled side dish.
P and I shared the breast of chicken and he even swooped on some of my corn on the cob (he has previously not been interested in eating it off the cob, but I guess we will be buying three ears from now on).
Plus rice mashed with avocado and olive oil, bell peppers, green grapes, and the last but of his smoothie (from lunch). I was a little nervous that he would find the rub on the chicken too spicy but he was into it (in truth, I gave him mostly inside pieces that didn’t have a ton of the rub on them, but he definitely is getting used to flavors of various herbs and spices more and more).
And with that, it’s time to relax and soak up the rest of this low key Sunday.
