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 am actively looking for some good meatless meals – love idea of the Venetian Fish Soup! You’ll have to let me know if you find some good crockpot recipes….I also got some cookbooks with crockpot recipes in them for Christmas…..unfortunately, so far we’ve been pretty disappointed. I was really hoping to find some recipes you could make in advance and then freeze….then put them in the crock pot when you want to eat them……but so far we only found one shrimp jambalaya that was OK-everything else was a pass…… Do you complete one book of the FIAR a week? Just curious 🙂 I am seriously considering using that program….
I have a few really good crockpot recipes, but I make them so often I need to find more! Maybe I’ll write a post with them one of these days…
Regarding FIAR, yes, we pretty much just do one book a week. I think I once extended a book to two weeks when we were really busy and didn’t get to do much with it the first week. I’m pretty flexible in my scheduling and it’s taking us longer to get through the whole first set of books than the suggested timeline, but I’m okay with that. I really enjoy it and so do the girls. I think I’m going to finish out the year with some unit studies though once we finish the last book instead of getting the next set.