I’m linking up with Nell again with my meal plan for the week.

My meal plans always start on Wednesday, so let’s backtrack a bit.

Wednesday

My husband had requested a Spanish dish with seafood in it.

I made scallops in garlic cream sauce with tomato jam from this cookbook. This recipe might be similar. I caramelized some fennel bulb for a side dish.

Thursday

The older two girls have gymnastics until 5:15 on Thursdays now, so I have to go with a slow cooker recipe most of the time. This week I tried one out of one of the cookbooks I got for Christmas (many of the recipes are also online):

Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker

It was pretty good, though the breast was dry. I got a bag of organic microwavable green beans to make with it. My girls love them.

Friday

We are beginning a new effort in our house of going meat-free on Fridays throughout the year, not just during Lent. Also, our FIAR book this week was Papa Piccolo, set in Venice, so I found a recipe for Venetian Fish Soup.

So, so yummy. Especially with a little pat of butter stirred into the bowl.

As an aside, for lunch on Friday the girls had meatless spaghetti in keeping with the theme of the book,

and, except for Sis, who is going through a very picky phase right now, we all tried sardines. The girls said they liked them!

I had recipes planned out for Saturday and Sunday, but I forgot that my husband is working this weekend, which means Vigil Mass on Saturday, which means we go out for family dinner after. And then we got invited to watch the Packer game tomorrow and have dinner with friends. So I changed around things around mid-plan (am I the only one who frequently does this??) and what I had planned for Sunday will be on Monday.

Monday

Fish tacos. This was the dish Lass requested. We’re having a very seafood-heavy week! I bought frozen fish things to throw in the oven, flour tortillas, and some avocados. I have some cabbage leftover from my Beef and Beet Borscht, and I’ll make some yummy sauce with mayo and chile powder and maybe a little lime juice. Done.

Tuesday

Nachos. One of my girls’ favorites, and I’m making dinner for Super Friend and her family too. This is an easy meal to make for your own family and another family at the same time.

Nachos (makes enough for two families of 2 adults and 3-4 smallish kids)

• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• 1 lb ground fresh chorizo
• 1 onion
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• Guacamole (this is my recipe, and the amount is probably nearly enough to split for two families, maybe add one more avocado and adjust the recipe accordingly to have plenty)
• 2 bags of corn chips
• 2 bags of shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 containers of sour cream
• 2 small cans of sliced black olives
• 2 pints of grape tomatoes, halved
• several scallions, chopped
• 2 jars of salsa and any other nacho toppings you like

I brown the ground beef with a pound of my husband’s homemade chorizo, then take the meat out, drain off most of the fat, leaving in just a bit for sautéing the onions, which is the next step. While the meat is browning and the onions are cooking, mix up the guacamole. After the onions have softened, put the meat back into the skillet and add the beans. Keep warm while you finish up the guacamole, slice the scallions, and get the rest of the ingredients ready.

If you’re making this to take half to someone else, put half of the meat/bean mixture into a travel container. Pack a bag with half of the rest of the ingredients – 1 bag of chips, 1 bag of cheese, 1 container of sour cream, 1 container each of black olives, tomatoes, and salsa. Chop some scallions and put half in a baggie for your friends. Put half of the guacamole in a bowl to travel. Take it to your friend’s house and you’ll both have dinner ready in a few minutes from that point:

Spread chips on a baking sheet, cover with the meat/bean mixture, and top with cheese. Bake at about 350 until the cheese melts (maybe 5 minutes or so). Top with any or all of the other ingredients. Done.

Note: If I’m making this just for my family, I use just one pound of ground beef or venison and season it as I do for taco night, then mix it with one can of beans, and obviously halve everything else.

What are you eating this week? Be sure to check out the link up at Whole Parenting Family for more meal plan ideas and recipes.

 

I love to cook, but on an average evening, I loathe the chore of making dinner. This is because I am terrible at meal planning. Far too frequently I spend much of my day with a low-grade anxiety about what in the world I’m going to make for dinner, and then by 4:30 I’m in all-out panic mode, “Aaahh! What am I going to make for dinner?? I need to feed people. Again!! Cooking is so stressful.”

I need to do meal planning. I try to do it, but I don’t usually follow through very well. I typically grocery shop on Wednesday mornings, and I never remember on Tuesday evening that I need to plan a week’s worth of meals and shop for them accordingly. I usually don’t even remember to make a list at all. So I end up with no eggs and 10 bottles of ketchup and four bags of dried dates and no coffee.

Clearly, I need to get my rear in gear on the planning and listing of food stuffs.

Enter Nell, of  the Whole Parenting Family blog (and Etsy shop). Apparently meal planning was not Nell’s strong suit either, so she decided to start a weekly link up of meal plans. She posts hers. We post ours. It forces the meal plans into existence. Ideas/recipes get shared. Win/win. Brilliant, right?

This is my first attempt at joining Nell’s party, and I am far behind on joining the link up this week (it starts every Saturday), but it’s Thanksgiving week, and I am quite excited about our plans for this year, so I’m jumping in, late or not (I’m backtracking to start on Sunday).

I got this magnet dry erase thing at Target a while ago, with meal planning in mind. It has Sunday at the end, which is where I’ll be starting.

Yeah, awesome plan, huh? I know it’s a little, um, lacking in substance (does anyone else love leftovers as much as me??). But it’s better than nothing, so here I go.

Sunday – Paleo Mini-Meatloaves and Asparagus

Generally, dinner around here consists of a meat dish and a vegetable. I almost never include a starch. So Meatloaf/Asparagus is it. This meatloaf recipe is a fast prep one that I got from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Best 30-Minute Recipe. It’s one of my favorite go-to meals, because I almost always have the ingredients on hand. The original calls for cracker crumbs, and I prefer to keep processed carbs to a minimum, so I paleo-ized the recipe for my family. Here’s my revision:

Paleo Mini-Mealoaves (with Ketchup Glaze, of course)

Meatloaves

• 2/3 cup Almond meal
• 1/4 cup whole milk (if you’re strict about non-dairy, you can use coconut or almond milk here, but the fat in the whole milk makes it better)
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Aminos (you could also use Worcestershire sauce)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp Onion powder (optional, you could also use chopped onion if you happen to have some on hand)
• 1 Garlic clove, minced or pressed (optional, you could also use 1 tsp garlic powder)
• 1 pound Ground venison (or beef)
• 1 pound Ground breakfast sausage
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 tsp Oil of choice (I use olive or coconut)

Glaze

• 1/3 cup Ketchup (make your own if you want strict paleo)
• 2 Tbsp Coconut sugar
• 4 tsp cider vinegar

Place your oven rack in the center position and preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Mix thoroughly all meatloaf ingredients except the oil. Form the meat mixture into five mini loaves. Heat oil in a large non-stick, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Let it get nice and hot before you put the meatloaves in it. Place all the meatloaves in the pan and let them get brown on one side, about three to five minutes.

While the loaves are browning, mix together the glaze ingredients. Flip the meatloaves over carefully. Spoon the glaze over the browned sides, and then put the whole thing in the oven. Bake at 500 degrees until the loaves register 165 on an instant-read thermometer (about 15-20 minutes). Serve.

For the asparagus, I just snapped off the woody ends and put the tops on a baking sheet. I drizzled a little bit of olive oil and sprinkled a bit of salt on them, mixed it all together, and put it in the oven. Since the meatloaves need 500 degrees, and that’s a bit too hot for the asparagus, I put the asparagus in first at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or so, while I was prepping the meatloaf. Then I turned up the oven for the last few minutes before taking the asparagus out and putting the meatloaves in. This is my typical technique for cooking most veggies: oil, salt, roast. Easy.

Monday – Jambalaya

I use the recipe in The New Best Recipe. It’s the mother of all cookbooks.

I can’t put in a link to the recipe I use, but here’s one that looks pretty good. The recipe I linked says to chop the celery, onions, peppers, and garlic. It’s easier to just put big chunks of these into the food processor and pulse them six or seven times to get them nicely chopped but not pureed. Also, I think it’s better to cook the meat (chicken, then sausage) in the hot oil until it’s mostly done (then take it out so it doesn’t get over cooked), then cook the veggies until they’re softened, then put in the rice and stir it to get it coated with the fat in the pan, then add in all the liquids and seasonings and cook until the rice is done, adding the chicken and sausage back in and then the shrimp right at the end so it gets cooked just enough. Just my two cents.

Tuesday – Leftovers!

I love leftovers. Tonight we’re having leftover meatloaf and jambalaya. I might throw some baby carrots into the oven to roast because the asparagus is gone.

Wednesday – Date Night 

My husband and I have a meeting with our priest tomorrow night, so I have a sitter and we’re going to go out for dinner afterwards. I usually have a few things on hand to make for the girls on nights like these: Annie’s mac-n-cheese, frozen mini-meatballs, chicken tenders, peas, etc.

Thursday – Thanksgiving!

I don’t like turkey, and we never ate it for Thanksgiving when I was growing up. My husband doesn’t like turkey. So we don’t ever make it in our home on Thanksgiving either. Last year my husband cooked one of the hams from our pig in his smoker. But this year it hasn’t quite had enough time to cure, so we’re going with prime rib. Here’s our menu:

• Roast Prime Rib of Beef with Horseradish Crust – Recipe here
• Savory Bread Pudding with Caramelized Onions and Gruyere – Recipe in this cookbook 

• Celery Root Mashed Potatoes
• Mashed Acorn Squash with Butter and Brown Sugar
• Biscuits (from a can, thank you Pillsbury)
• Green Salad
• Pumpkin Pie – Recipe here
• Pecan Pie – This one is pre-made this year, from a fundraiser at Miss’s school.
• Cranberry Bread (because we are reading this book from FIAR, and the bread features prominently in the story, which comes with the recipe)

We are having the Super Family over for Thanksgiving dinner, and I can’t wait!

Friday – Leftovers again. Of course.

It is a criminal offense to eat anything other than leftovers on the day after Thanksgiving if you spent all day cooking on Thanksgiving Day.

Saturday – I don’t know yet. Either more leftovers or BLTs or something easy.

I have to go get my kids up from naps and run to the grocery store to pick up all the ingredients I need for our feast. Go check out Nell’s blog for more meal plans and recipes!