The weekly menu

Hey guess what is finally gone?

YUP.  I ate an entire tin of bark (by myself) in under a week.  I’m guessing it was 4+ pounds of chocolate.  Should I be proud of this or mortified?  The worst part is that I actually considered going back to WF and getting another when this one was donezo.  WTF is wrong with me?  I need to only order chocolate from Thrive so I can keep myself in check.  Oh, and while we are on the topic of my habits that I should probably get a hold on asap…my 3 pm slump.  Um, it’s a thing.  A thing I used to experience when I worked day shift and now it’s somehow turned into a really really big problem in the last two weeks.  It started with an innocent trip to Target (ha! as if that’s a thing) where I got a decaf soy misto to enjoy while shopping with my littles.  It was such a delightful treat that I did it again the next day and the next and the next and shiiiiiiiiit I have a problem.  Now, please recognize these weren’t all Target trips.  I’m not THAT much of a mess.  But I did manage to find a way to get to a coffee place of some kind (or make some at home) in that time slot for way too many days in a row.  And now it’s a habit.  Halp.

Fact: carbs are better than not carbs.  Remember when I got preggo with P and wanted eggs for every breakfast every day over and over.  That was a 2 year long phase that I didn’t deviate from because the idea of anything besides eggs for breakfast was SO not appealing.  And now it’s the reverse again. It’s like my body had a weird little moment (which I went along with) but now it has returned to it’s former (pre-children) desires.  I do find myself bookmarking veg recipes way more now and including grains in my daily kale salad lunches (yup, that’s still going strong).  So maybe the pregnancy and birth of V reset my body or something.  Or maybe my body just knows what it needs and back then it needed eggs and now it needs carbs.  Whatever, I’m happy to oblige with whatever it wants as long as it tastes good.  [And no I’m definitely not preggo again]

Breakfasts this week (slash always since V was born) are whatever carb I’ve got on hand with as much nut/seed butter as seems appropriate.  Appropriate is a word I use loosely since my version is probably not your version.  I think at least 50% of each bite should be creamy oozy buttery goodness so if that means 1/3 cup of almond butter to tart the day then that’s what it means.  1/2 cup is okay too.

Randomly I craved Earth Balance on my banana buckwheat waffles this weekend.  That’s Gwyneth’s recipe (AGAIN – I know!) which I doubled so that I’d have extra for me and P on the busy week day mornings.

I got them mostly all to myself because P was sick (as in vomiting) and therefore obviously didn’t have an appetite on Monday.  Poor kiddo.  He was better (and ready for waffles) by Tuesday though. I gave him the last bit on Wednesday because I’m generous.  Just kidding, it’s because I made these.

I also baked muffins over the weekend.  Because we needed more baked goods (that was sarcasm because our freezer has at least enough quick bread and muffins to last through the rest of the year).

I used the sweet potato butternut squash casserole leftovers to make Gwyneth’s sweet potato and five spice muffins.  This was my first time using Chinese five spice and I didn’t know what to think.  Was it going to be a sweet muffin?  A savory muffin?  Either way I thought it was a pretty clever use for the last of the casserole.  I even used the walnuts because why not?

I was nervous putting a whopping 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS of Chinese 5 spice in the recipe but it was the perfect amount so I’m glad I didn’t chicken out and use less.  Gwyneth be knowing.

It made 13 muffins instead of 12 which is probably due to the fact that I used more puree than called for (because I didn’t know how much the one sweet potato in the recipe should yield and was guessing using the casserole mash instead).

It was a sweetish muffin but could easy accompany a soup or salad for lunch and not be weird.  I guess I’d liken it to cornbread in that way.  I liked them plain, but preferred them with either Earth Balance or a nut/seed butter on top.

P liked them too.  I didn’t think he’d show interest, but obviously I was wrong because as soon as I served myself one he decided he wanted in.

Moving on to dinners.  Sidetracked much?!

Sunday night was the last of the Thanks-mas fare.  Just in time for Friends-giving this weekend!  The holidays are full steam ahead until Jan and I’m already sick of turkey and the fixins.  Root veggies will never get old though.  Brussels for life!

This came with my last order!  Thrive Market is growing and I like it.  Have you joined?

Methinks I was holding a wiggly babe when I took this.

Dried figs from Thrive too.  P adores dried figs.  He eats them plain, but they are also a major component of the bars I make for him.

Kyle conceptualized this dish!  When I asked him last week what he wanted on the menu next week he actually requested a roasted butternut squash dish and then added figs and goat cheese to the idea.  From there I just turned it into a meal with quinoa and parsley.  Boom!

My goodness it was goodness.

I made P his own dish first before adding the cheese but I should have just added the cheese to our individual bowls instead because of course he wanted seconds of the squash and it was already allergen-ified.  I had extra quinoa though, which satisfied him well enough.

In place of dried figs, roasted (or raw?) grapes would be good too.  Or any dried fruit I guess.

We enjoyed the lasagna soup leftovers on Monday, although by then they weren’t very soup-y.

The noodles were slightly hardened but not bad for a GF pasta eaten four days after it’s initial cooking!  Not mushy in the least.  As you can see, they soaked up all the extra saucy sauce during the fridge time.

Mmmm…I already reordered the tinkyada noodles from Thrive so this will be on the menu again soon.

My sis came on Tuesday and since we had swimming at night (a make up for being out of town on Saturday) I knew dinner better be crockpot action.

New toy!

This gem has been on my WANT LUST OMG PUHLEASE gift list for at least 1.5 years and each holiday I hope hope hope I get it.  And this year, Kyle’s parents totally surprised me by getting it for me!?!?  I think I mentioned it to them in passing like once.  And Kyle wasn’t even in on it, so he’s not the mastermind behind it.  It’s ALL my in laws.  So freakin lucky.

I love it already. LOOOOVE it.  You can brown/sauté AND slow cook AND steam in it!  Crazy stuff.  Now all those crock pot recipes that I have dismissed because they involve browning meat or sautéing onions first, don’t have to get the boot!

For the enchilada soup, I browned five chicken thighs in olive oil then switched it to slow cook and poured in two pouches of frontera enchilada sauce (got them from Thrive), a couple of cups of vegetable broth, and couple of cups of frozen corn.  After 5 hours of slow cooking on low I shredded the chicken and called it a day.

Served with lots of tortilla chips.  My sis asked for the recipe so I take that as a good sign.  Also P ate it happily (sauce and all!!!!).  Huge steps with new and different flavor profiles.  He also had quinoa with his to soak up the enchilada sauce (makes it easier to eat plus he doesn’t like soups), but naturally the chips were the highlight of the meal for him.

First time for making a frittata.  I burned my arm on the handle while serving it but aside from that the whole experience was fun.

It’s a pretty easy process.  I loosely based my recipe on this one, but instead of feta cheese I made tofu “cheese”.  Gena’s tofu feta has been a favorite so I went with a lazy (quick?) version of that.  In other words, I scrambled half a block of organic firm tofu in a pan with olive oil, miso paste, and lemon juice.

Once the tofu was cooked a bit, I added the kale and put the lid on until it wilted.  Then I tossed them together and added sliced sausage (four links of organic spicy Italian chicken sausage).  While they browned, I beat 7 eggs with 1/3 cup soy milk and poured it into the pan.

After a mere minute on the stovetop I transferred the pan to the oven where it was ready at 400 degrees F waiting.

20 minutes and boom!

P liked it too – spicy sausage and all!  As you can tell by the exclamation point, his adventurous eating has me so thrilled. And a little surprised.  But I won’t question it.

I went back to the crock pot for some fun on Thursday making this chicken and corn chowder.

I skipped the onion and dairy (obvs) but otherwise went for it – bacon and all.  In lieu of the butter/milk/half and half I made a cornstarch slurry with soy milk.

It didn’t get as creamy as Chungah’s recipe but that’s on account of the de-diary-ification.  I thought the cornstarch would thicken it up a bit more, but it didn’t seem to do anything really.  Oh well.  Maybe next time (or if I had the energy this time) I’d pull out a bunch of the potato chunks and puree them and then add them back in.  That would probably be an option that would work without adding extra ingredients.

Here’s Pacman’s portion.  He ate the whole thing (and then more of something else – I think raisins).  I’m not sure he loved it but he’s basically learned that he doesn’t have a choice and so he at least finishes the portion he’s served even if he doesn’t want more requests something different after it’s done.

Cheater lunch because it’s easy.

I should probably save this for another post (this one is SO long already) but here’s a sneak peak of a breakfast treat that I’m working on perfecting.  As I said earlier, I want sweet things in the morning.  Warm sweet things to be specific.  But sweet things are mostly carb-y things that don’t hold me over as long.  I think I need more protein than what gobs of sunflower seed butter can provide.  Vega just sent me this new sport performance protein.  So far I love it…since I work out first thing every morning before the break of dawn and run myself ragged all day long, I’m thinking this could be a helpful addition to my diet.  I’ll get back to you on it.

Aaaaand Friday.  Whew.  By Friday I was pooped.  Who isn’t right?  I had no meal scheduled for the day (I had been semi-planning on doing all of our grocery shopping on Thursday but then I didn’t have the opportunity), so I took pork loin cutlets out of the freezer to thaw overnight.  To pair with it, I basically just looked at what I had on hand.  Fig spread?  Check.  Balsamic vinegar?  Check.  Thyme?  Check!  So the sauce was taken care of.

In searching the pantry, I figured polenta seemed a good thing to pair it with.

So that’s what I did.

Not bad!  Kyle was a big fan.  P had the last of the leftover lasagna instead (the portion was too small for anyone else and I’m trying to clean the fridge out before Thanksgiving fills it back up again).  I guess this is why it’s good to have a decent supply of food in the freezer.  And a well stocked pantry.  Costco and Thrive are basically where I do my shopping now with TJs for whatever organic produce I can’t get at Costco.  It’s helped in slashing our grocery bill big time, which is crucial because holy moly does my little girl eat!  She’s obviously got the family genetic inclination to grub.  The amount of bananas we are going through on a weekly basis right now is kinda unbelievable and she’s only 8 months old!  I can’t even imagine what is in store for us…

Here’s to the weekend!  We have swimming and market and Friendsgiving and football.  All good.