Posts filed under 'Meal Planning'
I stumbled through this past week, feeling like I’d barely been in the kitchen. But when I look back, I see that most everything I planned did get cooked, just not when I’d expected.
Did you see my revised recipe for Bunny Muffins (carrot & chocolate chip)? I cut down on the oil and added applesauce while increasing the carrot, and I was happy with the results this time. The boys have been asking for more!
My Bok Choy & Tofu Stir Fry was just OK, I might make it again if I got more bok choy from my farm share, but I wouldn’t buy some in the store to do so. The Roasted Kale was crispy and salty and good enough to try again, but only if I had more people eating dinner with me that night — it doesn’t keep well and was way too much for two adults (the boys wouldn’t try it).
I was really tempted to order take out again tonight, but I’m glad we stuck to the plan and had Slow Cooker Ratatouille over whole wheat spaghetti instead. I had forgotten how delicious that recipe is! Definitely try it if you are looking for a vegetarian crock pot recipe.
Monday: Oven-fried chicken breasts, sauteed greens (braising, collard, spinach), beet salad, rainbow elbow noodles
Tuesday: Eat out or leftovers/pantry
Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner: pancakes and fruit
Thursday: Acorn Squash Lasagna (I’ve made this before, pre-blog), greens, rolls
Friday: Chicken soup (from freezer) with noodles, challah, farm share veggies
Saturday: Take out
Sunday: Skirt steak (grilled if weather is nice otherwise in the crock pot), baked acorn squash, other farm share veggies
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
October 12th, 2008
I used to be able to cook dinner in the early afternoon, as the boys were relaxing and playing after lunch, but that block of time just doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I find I need to either cook in the morning (I did that Friday, with the chicken sausage that I sauteed with peppers, onions, and eggplant), have something in the crock pot, or make something that can be prepared in about 15 minutes, because I hate to leave a play date or the playground early just to get home to make dinner (Shannon and I were just e-mailing about this). I guess we’re all still adjusting to our new fall schedules.
This week I’m relying on food from the freezer as I prepare for a busy weekend ahead. I’m looking forward to seeing some of my extended family for the holiday!
Monday: Rosh Hashanah dinner — I’m bringing Collards, Golden Raisin, and Almond Saute and roasted delicata squash rings with maple syrup
Tuesday: Rosh Hashanah dinner — I’m bringing honey cookies
Wednesday: Curried chicken salad with grapes, challah rolls, crudite (chicken is frozen from last week’s chicken soup)
Thursday: Chicken Castillo (from the freezer), whole wheat spaghetti, sauteed greens
Friday: Homemade chicken soup (in the crock pot — cook on high for 6 hours), challah, farm share veggies
Saturday: J.’s Favorite Goulash (from the freezer), whole wheat egg noodles, farm share veggies
Sunday: Take out
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
September 28th, 2008
Laura has declared this week to be a “Family Favorites” edition of Menu Plan Monday, and the two meals I cooked late this past week fit the bill: Chicken Castillo and J.’s Favorite Goulash (a crock pot recipe). Chicken Castillo is my mom’s recipe, which I always enjoyed growing up and I’ve now passed on to my friends. J.’s Favorite Goulash is, as the name says, my husband’s favorite meal. (If you’d like to know how to make plain pasta, then I can share the boys’ favorite meal as well.)
This past week I also really enjoyed the Spicy Green Bean & Tofu Stir Fry I tried for the first time. It’s definitely a meal I’ll make again. And I finally posted about the delicious Rolled Turkey Breast Stuffed with Swiss Chard & Garlic, which I made several weeks ago.
It was a good cooking week. My freezer is stocked with several meals worth of food, which feels right now that the weather is getting cooler. This week will be lighter cooking-wise, with the highlight of the week being Thursday, when my sister visits!
Monday: Leftover chicken soup, noodles, roasted beets
Tuesday: Scrambled eggs with sauteed eggplant, red pepper, & onion, bagels, garden salad
Wednesday: Leftovers or choose from the fridge (yogurt or cheese, crackers, fruit)
Thursday: Spinach Burritos with Salsa Verde, brown rice, tomato salad
Friday: Spicy chicken sausage with peppers & onions, whole wheat pasta, salad
Saturday: Take out
Sunday: Barley Risotto with Chanterelles, farm share veggies (+ corn on the cob option for the boys)
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
September 21st, 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.
September 14th, 2008
I’m back in the habit of cooking, though not updating this site, it seems! We had a good, healthy week eating mostly home-cooked food which was honestly a relief from all the take out. (I’m all for letting someone else do the cooking, but when that becomes the default I think it loses its luster.) I baked chicken drumsticks twice this past week because G. was so enthusiastic about them. He calls the drumsticks “big chicken.”
We had two CSA-centric meals this week that used up all my produce. On Thursday, I made an awesome rolled turkey breast stuffed with sauteed swiss chard, garlic, and breadcrumbs. I served corn on the cob and a simple tomato salad with it. Then tonight we had family over and used up the rest of the tomatoes, all the lettuce mix, the eggplant, some garlic, herbs, and the broccoli. I just have some potatoes (maybe I’ll mash them tomorrow) and a couple of Carmen peppers kicking around.
Finally, I have a small milestone tomorrow: I’m packing A.’s lunch for his first full day of kindergarten! He has requested bow tie pasta (we have a Thermos), shredded mozzarella, and a banana chocolate chip mini muffin for dessert (I baked them today using my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe — I was able to pack four medium-sized bananas in there). I’ll also include water and some red pepper rings to balance it out. For morning snack, he is taking a milk box and a slice of watermelon. Somehow, I’m finding packing this first lunch to be much more emotional than sending him off for his first day.
I’m only going to plan weeknight meals this month, since our weekends are busy with travel, parties, and other events that will necessitate more on-the-fly meal decisions.
Monday: Leftover turkey meatballs, whole wheat pasta or mashed potatoes, salad
Tuesday: Spicy Sauteed Chickpeas, Beef & Cilantro, brown rice, roasted zucchini
Wednesday: Baked chicken drumsticks, whole wheat egg noodles, edamame & red pepper rings
Thursday: Something with chicken breasts (I have a lot in my freezer) and farm share veggies
Friday: Dinner at my parents’ house
Saturday: TBD
Sunday: TBD
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
September 7th, 2008
Hello, September. Vacation is over. A. starts school this week, and then G. begins next week. Time to get back into meal planning and cooking. I think it’s possible we’ve ordered more take out and eaten in more restaurants this month than we did in January through July combined. On one hand, I’m appalled, but on the other it makes me realize how good a job I was doing the rest of the year!
I’m going to start packing lunches for A. some days this school year, a first for us, so I’ll be writing about packing snack and lunch in the coming weeks. I’ve been thinking a lot about it this summer.
I’m keeping it simple this week, and since our weekend plans are up in the air we may just do some refrigerator dinners or easy pasta and vegetables.
Monday: Eggplant & mushroom “meat”balls in sauce, whole wheat pasta, salad
Tuesday: Kabocha squash & black bean burritos (from the freezer), brown rice
Wednesday: Baked chicken drumsticks, corn on the cob, farm share veggies
Thursday: Roasted rolled turkey breast (stuffed?), rainbow orzo, farm share veggies
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: TBD
Sunday: TBD
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
August 31st, 2008
Camp is over, and summer’s end is drawing near. We’ll be out and about the next couple of weeks, so posting will be sporadic, as will my cooking.
I know I’m going to use fresh green beans from our CSA to make a canned soup classic this week: Green Bean Casserole. I have chard to use up, which I’ll likely saute with olive oil and garlic and use as a filling for an omelet. Otherwise, I have no concrete meal plans — we won’t be home for as many meals as usual, and I plan on indulging the boys in some extra end-of-summer ice cream. We can get back to square meals when September rolls around.
August 18th, 2008
I cooked this week, just not what I’d planned. Monday I was going to make Spicy Sauteed Chickpeas, Beef & Cilantro, but wound up pan-frying some meatballs instead. On Tuesday I wound up baking the tofu for lunch, and then I made up a swiss chard & cauliflower gratin for dinner. It was delicious, but I am holding back on posting it because I may enter it in a local recipe contest.
Thursday I made my Slow Cooker Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs, which are always delicious. (Yes, meatballs twice in one week.) The side of CSA veggies was the best part: yellow squash, small eggplants, and onion sauteed in olive oil until they caramelized, and seasoned with a little kosher salt.
If you have a lot of vegetables you need to use up, either from your garden or farm share, check out my Vegetable Jalfrezi (an Indian twist on a stir-fry).
Our summer is winding down now, so our schedule is becoming less predictable and I’m sure my menu planning will reflect that until school starts in September.
Monday: Corn, tomato & avocado salad, fresh mozzarella, Italian bread
Tuesday: Chicken sausage with onions & Italia peppers, whole wheat pasta
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Chicken Castillo (from the freezer), whole wheat spaghetti, farm share veggies
Friday: Roasted Rolled Turkey Breast, farm share veggies, challah
Saturday: Take out or go out
Sunday: Breakfast for dinner: eggs and Silver Dollar Pancakes, fruit salad
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
August 10th, 2008
It was a great week for cooking — lots of variety, lots of success with new recipes. We enjoyed a Swiss Chard & Gruyère Frittata, Basil Green Beans with Tomatoes, and Strawberry-Coconut Muffins. I need to try making the Hoisin & Ginger-Glazed Chicken & Onions again, this time with the sriracha.
One of the best parts of writing this blog is the e-mail I get from people I’d never otherwise have met. Several weeks ago, a gentleman named Dara (it’s a name with many origins) wrote to me from India. He has taken over the cooking in his household as his wife is ill, but he tells me she was a wonderful cook while she was still able. He had stumbled across my site while searching for recipes, and since our names are the same (our last names are similar too) and we both cook, he e-mailed me to ask if I’d like some of his wife’s recipes. I’m going to try my hand at their vegetable jhalfrezi later this week — the measurements and some ingredients are very different than what I’m used to, but we’ll see what I come up with. I hope I can do the other Dara proud.
Monday: Spicy Sauteed Chickpeas, Beef & Cilantro, pita, celery sticks
Tuesday: Baked Tofu with Garlic Chard, noodles (so the boys don’t revolt)
Wednesday: I’m out to dinner with friends; Annie’s mac & cheese + crudite for the boys
Thursday: Slow Cooker Italian-Style Turkey Meatballs, whole wheat spaghetti, farm share veggies (sauteed greens or salad?)
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: The Other Dara’s Vegetable Jalfrezi (recipe sent to me straight from India!), paneer (if I can find it), brown basmati rice
Sunday: Eat out
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
August 3rd, 2008
My favorite new recipe this past week was the Spinach Burritos with Salsa Verde — delicious and I will make them again! We also made some Plastic Bag Ice Cream, which was yummy, but the novelty was lost on my boys. All in all it was a good week, and it was easy to work through our CSA share.
This week I have fresh strawberries to use up, so I’m thinking of making a batch of Berry-Smash Muffins, adding shredded coconut to the batter. I’m also going to try my hand at making refrigerator pickles with four cucumber I have kicking around.
Monday: Mini swiss chard & gruyère quiches (made in muffin tins), leftover corn on the cob or bagels
Tuesday: Crock pot roasted chicken, Green Beans and Cherry Tomatoes (I sub olive oil for the butter), whole wheat egg noodles
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Sriracha-Glazed Chicken and Onions over brown rice (I’ll make a mild version), sauteed greens or squash
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Take out
Sunday: Grilled rib eye steaks (didn’t get to them today), corn on the cob, farm share veggies
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
July 27th, 2008
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I'm Dara, the chick in the kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 3 and 5, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Reach me at .