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Menu Plan Monday, 9/15 – 9/21

September 14, 2008

My mom made fantastic baked chicken Friday night — the skin was crispy, not greasy, and the chicken was really moist but clearly cooked through. My chicken-baking skills are nowhere near as good, unfortunately — I remain a little panicked about under-cooking, yet I hate dry, overdone poultry. So when I bake my chicken this week I’m going to do just what my mom did Friday: lightly spray the bone-in chicken pieces with Pam, sprinkle on lots of herbs and spices, and bake at 375° for an hour to 70 minutes. We’ll see how it works in my own oven.

This week I’m recommitted to including one item in each meal that I know for sure the boys will eat. I served a couple of meals without an obvious “kid” component — such as Spicy Chickpeas & Beef with Lemon Squash (with no pasta or similar on the side) — this past week and I wasn’t happy with the results. A. was willing to at least take a teeny-weeny taste of squash and “earn” a different dinner (some cheese and crackers). G. is my stubborn sweetie, though, and no amount of cajoling could convince him to sample even a “mouse-sized” bite of dinner. So he went without. There were no tears, he was clearly not very hungry — I would not withhold food from them just to prove a point! He just accepted the conditions with a little complaining, and then told us he was all done. I refuse to spend dinner talking about eating dinner, and doing so goes against my overall mission, which is to raise my children with a healthy attitude about food. So each meal this weeks includes a bread or pasta. I hope we can get back to the importance of family conversation around the dinner table, and get the focus off the actual food. I continue to hold out hope that exposing them to a wide range of foods, and having them see me and the rest of the family enjoy them, will eventually win them over to at least trying something new.

Monday: Stir-Fried Tofu and Green Beans in Hot Sauce, whole grain udon

Tuesday: Oven-baked chicken, Bean & Tomato Salad with Honey Vinaigrette, challah rolls

Wednesday: Whole wheat pasta served with sauteed greens (braising and arugula) and tomatoes in garlic and olive oil, fresh Parmesan

Thursday: Egg salad, sliced cheese, bagels, garden salad (and plenty of sliced tomatoes, too!)

Friday: Chicken soup, farm share veggies, challah

Saturday: Take out

Sunday: J.’s Favorite Goulash, whole wheat egg noodles, roasted broccoli

For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.

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Filed under: Meal Planning,Memes

Tags: bake, cooking, dinner, farm share, Favorite Goulash, food, Friday Chicken, greens, Menu Plan Monday, Thursday Egg, Tomato Salad, Tuesday Oven, Wednesday Whole, whole, whole grain