Menu Plan Monday, 9/5 – 9/11
September 5, 2011
These last several weeks of summer have been a free-for-all in terms of meals. I wanted a break from meal planning, and we did well without that weekly structure during the very unstructured days of late summer. This past week, J. has been home so we’ve all benefited from his time in the kitchen. One night he whipped up a pear and greens salad with sauteed tofu on top, in a sesame-soy dressing. Another night he fried up some fluke he’d caught into breaded fish nuggets (AKA Poppy Fish, after his grandpa who was a fishmonger and often made this dish). And this weekend he smoked a bone-in rib roast, which we enjoyed along with a chopped pepper & corn salad, beets & arugula with wheat berries, and sliced tomatoes with basil. All the vegetables were from our farm share or from a farmer’s market, and they were fantastic.
The downside of no meal plan is that I can’t look ahead to see how I can proactively balance the boys’ meals, I can only look back and be slightly horrified that G. ate a carbohydrate with melted mozzarella cheese for all three meals in a day (today? on a bagel, on a challah roll, on pasta). While A. has continued to try new things regularly, G. has pushed back and self-limited himself even further. Currently, his only fruits and vegetables are applesauce (unsweetened, at least) and an occasional piece of celery. He will sometimes eat roasted chicken, but only a drumstick and only if I make it myself, and not as leftovers. Otherwise, it’s pretty much pasta, bagels, and challah. He doesn’t even love yogurt anymore. I’m trying not to worry about, and I will just continuing serving up all the good stuff that the rest of us eat, hoping he will come around without too much pressure.
That’s a long-term issue, though. For now, I am looking forward to the immediately pleasure of grocery shopping by myself, while the kids are in school.
Monday: Order in
Tuesday: Roasted chicken (+ make enough for leftovers), green beans, couscous
Wednesday: Easy Chicken Chili, whole grain tortilla chips, carrots & celery sticks
Thursday: Spaghetti with Eggplant Pasta Sauce, salad
Friday: Chicken Soup (make a new batch), challah, Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms, roasted squash
Saturday: Eat out
Sunday: Hamburgers on the grill, salad, gazpacho (from the freezer)
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
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Filed under: Meal Planning,Memes
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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