The weekly menu

More like menussssssssss.  Get ready for a lot lot lot of dinner ideas.  This post is especially good for quick meal ideas.  There are lots of things thrown together from freezer and pantry staples so hopefully it will be useful to busy peeps wanting (budget and allergy friendly) home-made dinners that don’t take much time to prepare.

I roasted broccolini and potato wedges inside while Kyle grilled salmon outside.

  

P had the same meal.  Plus medjool dates.  This was also his first time “dipping” his potatoes in ketchup.  He saw Kyle doing it and wanted in, so I figured why not.  We use Annie’s ketchup which is pretty clean in the ingredients list and allergy free (although definitely sugar packed).  I only gave him a tiny bit because he doesn’t like tomatoes and I figured he wouldn’t actually like the ketchup and I was mostly right.  He was iffy on it and only dipped his potatoes a few more times for no reason other than the novelty of it.

Pork tacos!  I made this with nearly everything from the freezer.  Frozen pineapple.  Frozen pork loin chops.  Frozen corn tortillas.  The rest was a simple cabbage and mayo slaw and avocado.  Topped in some drips of sriracha.  Talk about end of the week scraps – made gourmet!  I cooked the pork in the slow cooker for 5 hours with some pineapple juice.  Then shredded them easily with a fork.

Kyle was raving about this the rest of the night.  And P loved it too!  I kinda rolled his tacos up like more of a tostada or mini burrito, but it was all the same with the pork and avo.  He asked for the pineapple slaw on the side too and liked it so much he asked for more.  Wasn’t expecting that.

Freezer meal to the rescue this night.  As you can read on the tape, this was a quinoa quiche with andouille sausage and goat cheese.  Since it had goat dairy, P couldn’t eat it, but I had enough leftovers for him to make quickly.

He had the rest of the salmon from the other night, some quinoa pasta, butternut squash, and cucumber.

Ancient Harvest noodles are some of the best gluten free ones out there.  You can get these fun ones on Thrive.

It was a rough rough week so the rest of the freezer dinner was good for Kyle’s lunch the next day and his dinner a few days later.

And hooray for more stuff from the freezer stash.  As you can see, this is half a chicken (one of the rotisserie ones I got on sale back when WF had it’s #onedaysale).  Already shredded and ready to throw in whatever.  Like, perhaps, a Caesar salad.

I got this dressing from Thrive too.  I’m ordering off the web like it’s my job.  Makes shopping in stores super quick.  Produce and I’m out.

Nooch was from Thrive too.  Ha.  I’m like their poster child.

My mom was in town helping me (by holding a fussy pants of a little girl) as I prepared this.  It was a bit ambitious for a weekday meal, and I probably wouldn’t have tried it on a day my mom wasn’t helping me.  But it felt good to be in the kitchen trying something a little outside my cooking comfort zone.  It was also really good!

I love spaghetti squash.  This was the first of the season and I’m thrilled to keep it going.  Both Kyle and P enjoyed the squash too.

I loosely followed this recipe.  I nixed the cheese on mine and used shredded mozzarella for Kyle’s.  But then I decided to put some lactose free cream cheese on top at the end.  I looooooove Green Valley organics lactose free sour cream.

The inside stuffing portion was onion sautéed in garlic infused olive oil, ground turkey, dried Italian seasonings, and diced tomatoes.  I set some of it aside for P to eat separately.

Meanwhile the squash was roasting.  I didn’t roast it until it was all the way done because I wanted to cook it again once it was stuffed with the meat sauce.  After 30-35 minutes it was just done enough to scoop out the noodle-y flesh but was still pretty firm.  I only scooped out some of it, then put in the tomato meat sauce, then added the rest of the noodles back on. With Kyle’s, I layered cheese in too.  Lasagna-esque but in a squash boat.

Delishhhhhh.  Pacman ate both the meat and squash noodles separately but it definitely wasn’t his favorite.  Still, he was a trooper and ate what he was served.  And then he got dried apricots.

This one has been on my radar for a really long time.  It’s a dream of a vegetarian dish – with all my faves including quinoa, kale and sweet potatoes – served a new way with a dressing I’d never dream to create on my own (parsley!!).

The only tweak I made was using walnuts instead of pecans because Pattycakes tolerates walnuts (haven’t tested pecans yet, because their skin reaction was inconclusive).

Gorgeous no?

Definitely a favorite meal for me.  Big time.  Repeat.

And we are back to the weekend again.  Kyle grilled a family pack of organic chicken.  I roasted broccolini on the side and then pulled some home-made cornbread from the freezer stash.

Simple enough.

For Sunday night’s dinner we didn’t have a plan and we hadn’t yet gone grocery shopping.  What to do??  Only make the best meal everrrrrrr.  Hyperbole be damned, this was actually my favorite meal of the week and it was so random and so easy.

I pulled another 1/2 chicken from the freezer rotisserie stash, doused it in BBQ sauce once it thawed, and combined it with corn, black beans, and romaine.

Looks fancy too huh?

This is my favorite BBQ sauce.  If I’m being honest, I’m sure it’s because it’s pure sugar.   It has smoky hints but is definitely molasses through and through.  It’s also allergy free.

Kyle topped his with tortilla chips which I immediately copied after taking photos.  I knew he was a good one.

P ate parts of our meal but the rotisserie chicken had a warning on it (may contain wheat) so I didn’t risk it.  I added BBQ sauce to his plate after.  He also had leftover salmon, roasted butternut squash, and dried apricots.

This is a good thing to have in the freezer.  It’s perfect for last minute WTF am I going to make for dinner because it’s Monday and I STILL HAVEN’T BEEN TO THE STORE.

Throw all the veggies into the skillet with the seafood.

I made white rice and an Asian dressing of sorts to bulk it up.

I didn’t measure things but there was tamari, grated ginger, rice vinegar, and fish sauce.

P ate it all too.  Even the calamari.  He helped stir things and put the lid on so naturally he felt his participation earned him extra shrimp and broccoli.  Sure bud, you got it.

Here’s a fat slab of Costco salmon from the deep freezer.  Heyoooo bulk purchases (and vacuum sealer!) coming to my aid.  This was exactly a big enough piece for all three of us.

I poached it in oil with salt and pepper.  Basically I added a bunch of oil to the pan, seared one side, turned down the heat and put the lid on and let the steam cook the rest.

Meanwhile…

Honey and oil in a pan.  Plus walnuts.  Cooked until they turned into a bronzed candied smoky nutty mess.  At the last minute I added spinach and let it wilt.

Boom.

Little dude ate the same thing.  As much as I dream of the day if/when we return to a vegetarian lifestyle, I do love salmon a lot.  It’s kinda become my favorite thing.  He does too.  It’s one food (of many) that he will never turn down (of course I’m jinxing it now just by typing that).

The next night we treated ourselves to sushi after going to farmer’s market.  I took the kiddos so P could play at the park and dance to the live music but we had to leave before Kyle got off work so we all met back at home.  Since I didn’t have to make dinner we got to stay out a little later though, so that was a nice treat for P.  He hasn’t gotten as much market time since her bedtime schedule is on the earlier side.  Anyway, our favorite sushi vendor was closed for the day, so we had to branch out and go to a different place (for the first time ever).  Boo.  It wasn’t good so I won’t say where we went.

P had a separate meal – avo rice with tamari and tofu and black beans.  So random.  I think he had cucumber too that he finished off first before I took the photo.  And likely some fruit after he finished the main meal.

Thursday night I went out (!!!!) for dinner with my mom friends.  We were celebrating a friend’s birthday and it was such a fantastic treat.  We went to Mexican food and I got the vegetarian tostada with avocado – hold the queso.  Why is it the refried pinto beans and rice at Mexican restaurants are so much better than anything I can make at home?  [Don’t say it’s the lard, don’t say it, don’t say it.]

Anyway, I couldn’t leave Kyle high and dry so I made him dinner too (and since I wasn’t meeting my friends until later I just sat with my boys and hung out while they ate).

Look!  I used the pasta faucet! [We’ve used it maybe three times, ever]

I added broccoli and a tomato sauce.  Then I made a very similar meal for P (but with GF noodles instead).

Nothing fancy about olive oil and noodles.  Whatever.  The crackers on the side were home-made.  With my mom’s home-made peach jam.

The next night was meatloaf.  I used this recipe, which was perfect because Kyle has been all about sriracha lately.

Our family eats more than the average bear, so I increased the meat to 2 pounds total (and I used both pork and beef).

It was basically like an Asian style burger without the bun.  Pretty easy.

I served it with peas on the side.

Kyle had several servings and then told me meatloaf was one of his favorite dishes ever and he had forgotten how much he loved it.  P wasn’t really into it.  I guess they aren’t all winners.  Kyle got the leftovers for his work lunches.

 

And that brings us to this past weekend.  Phew!!!!  Maybe I can get caught up by this weekend…before I get all behind again…ha.