I’m a little behind with sharing last week’s dinners, but Kyle is out of town again so the bar is pretty low for me. What day of the week is it? What do we have today? What am I making for dinner?
First up, a veggie packed grain bowl.
Quinoa + roasted Brussels sprouts + roasted squash + avo + pepitas + orange miso vinaigrette.
Most of it was already prepped, so all I had to do was set up the rice cooker and then assemble everything when it was go-time.
I loved this so much I made the same thing for lunch the next day.
Plus candied walnuts. Because j’adore nuts.
Next was a summer pasta dish with roasted tomatoes and zucchini.
Yes, I’m in denial about the season. But we have been having random 70 degree days lately and they make me SO SO HAPPY.
While I cooked the spaghetti, I sautéed shrimp and calamari with sun dried tomatoes and their oil.
I also had leftover spaghetti squash that I had pulled from the freezer and thawed overnight, which I dispersed between our bowls.
I topped it all with the roasted veggies and feta.
It probably could have used some kind of sauce, but I had thought the feta would crumble into the dish a little better. This was a new kind of feta, though, which I’d never tried before (on account of having to order it from WF). It was good, but definitely not as good as the Meredith Dairy sheep’s cheese that I now buy in cases. Okay not really, but don’t put it past me.
This meal was not part of the meal plan. Sometimes I know we will have leftovers so I try to leave one night a week open making our meal plan (and now when I am buying groceries online). It’s also nice to have a little flexibility in case something comes up. In this case, it was a big sale on Beyond Meat burgers.
This was our second time having this brand’s faux meat burgers and once again they were a solid hit with everyone. Kyle grilled them and I don’t think the kids had a clue they weren’t meat (I didn’t even bother trying to explain what they were made from).
They were the Nugget “secret special” last week, which meant they were buy one get one free (so all four patties cost $6). I paired it with a side salad of spinach, strawberries, avo, and balsamic dressing. All of which I already had on hand.
Last thing I have to share is this veggie fried rice bowl with turkey meatballs.
I used both white rice AND cauli rice. And thanks to the amazing discovery of 365 fried rice-style riced cauliflower, dinner was SO EASY to throw together.
I bulked it up with some mixed veggies too.
Wanna guess how much of this pan we had leftover?
If you answered zero then DING DING DING you win a prize!!
I have had these (already cooked) turkey meatballs in the freezer for a while, so all I had to do was microwave them up and serve with the rice.
Admittedly, this was a pretty lazy round up of meals, but I’m realllly trying to focus my attention on making my life easier so that I’m not a stressed out miserable mom. Yes, I’d love to cook super elaborate meals from scratch every day because the kitchen is seriously my happy place, but it’s just not feasible if I want to be fully present. I can’t do it all. I can’t be the perfect this that and the other. So I’m just trying to learn to accept that. It’s all a part of managing my anxiety and I’m proud to say these steps are helping. I’m going in the right direction.
I feel the same way right now. I have a 6-month-old who won’t nap and starts melting down at bedtime around 5:45. I love making delicious dinners, but the late afternoon/evening was starting to become a nightmare. I would dread it looming from the second I woke up. My new motto is, “what can I do to make my life easier? ” I don’t want to start hating cooking, so if that means dinner becomes super simple and basic right now, so be it. It doesn’t mean I’m any less of a mom or wife or human being. Managing my anxiety needs to become as much of a priority as it can. Not just for my sake, but my family as well!
YES GIRL! YOU GOT IT!! Keep it up!!!