Week 122

It's back to the blahs of post-Christmas dark winter times. Boo. Also, I am super tired as Mr. Elliott is toying with not taking naps anymore. What is that about?!?!  He was my best napper ever. And I really, really love when he naps. Sooo... I am keeping this pretty easy. My sister recently mentioned a pot roast, which made me start thinking about pot roast, so yeah. Pot roast.

Menu:

Pot Roast + Carrots + Potatoes + Rolls (Comfort food central)

Cabbage Soup + Bread

Warm Sweet Potato Salad and Greens + Wild Rice (carry-over)

Burritos

Chicken and Rice + Crack Broccoli

Cauliflower Fettuccine + Roasted Asparagus

Gingered Chickpeas + Raita + Naan

Week 121

I can't believe it is already Christmas. Just once, I want a year where I think, "Yeah, I can believe Christmas is next week. Totally expected that." But I am finished with all the shopping, so high five to me!

I have loads of horrible grocery shopping ahead of me, so I am going to finish this up.

Happy Christmas.

Christmas dinner plans -

Josh got a ham from work, so we are going to use it by golly! My plan involves mango chutney, so it can't be too bad.

Ham
Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Cranberries
Make Ahead Mash Potato
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potato Souflee
Rolls

And a Yule Log, of course! Still not sure about the meringue mushrooms. It will all depend on my confidence level...

Lox & Bagels for Christmas morning!

Sushi + Miso Soup

Burritos

Cut-out Cookies and Cream Cheese Frosting

Slowcooker Thai Chicken Soup

Garden Burgers + Broccoli Salad

Warm Sweet Potatoes + Greens + Wild Rice

Week 120

Last week was crazy and I totally forgot to put a post in. But for posterity's sake or my own recollection, Thanksgiving did happen. It happened in St. Louis with awesome family. We had a great time, I saw two movies in one day, and I ate a whole lot. Maybe too much... not coincidentally I ordered a heart rate monitor last night and am doing some intermittent fasting this week. In fact, today. Soooo, I don't know how much a I trust this menu, as it is written by someone who is pretty hungry.  But here it is anyhoo.

Oh, and for my brain's sake, on Thanksgiving, I made:

Cranberry-Cherry Sauce (subbed out port for apple cider and a smidge of ACV)

Garam Masala Pumpkin Pie (kind of weird, kind of good)

Sweet Potato Souflee

Menu:

Burritos

Salmon + "Crack" Broccoli

Shrimp Rolls + Salad + Peppers

Japanese Spinach + Onigiri

Gingered Chickpeas + Raita

Slowcooker Thai Chicken Soup + Roasted Cauli

Bran Muffins

Week 119

It is bloody cold. I won't lie and I will absolutely complain. If only that whole ordering groceries online thing was more efficient, I would totally never leave my house. Ever. But instead, I have to bundle up little boys who take hours to get in and out of cars, and herd them in and out of grocery stores. Boy #2 handles it best, buoyed by the free cookies at the bakery counter. That isn't enough for #1. #3 has no choice, and has also realized recently what cookies are and quite indignantly demands that he too should have one. So I give in, but only give him half. So small for so much sugar.

With the unexpected wallop of winter, soup and slow-roasts are prevailing around here. Trying to bleed out some sort of comfort out of the kitchen. Best of luck to future me.

Burritos

Chili and Cornbread

Stirfry Cabbage + Fried Egg + Rice

Pork Meatballs braised in wine and Cider + Brussels

Lentil Soup + Bread

Salmon + Broccoli

Chicken and Rice + Acorn Squash

Zucchini Muffins

Week 118

I am a survivor! Of two long plane rides with a squiggly little one, of a day to make-and-finish Ninjago costumes for two very important lads, and a week of teething which led to a hellish nights of 2-3 hours of baby soothing. And that is all with a husband diligently working nights! So high-five to myself and to all the other people out there doing hard things.

So, now that my feet are a bit more sturdy on the ground, I am making a proper meal plan and grocery list. Because that is how I survive some more. My brain is a useless little pet at the moment, only functioning to locate coffee and unload dishwashers. Such a shame. They say drugs kill brain cells, but never warn us about the children!

So here it is:

Burritos - blah blah blah

Veg burgers + Sweet Potato Fries with Limey sauce bc I accidentally bought two pounds of blimey limes (refer to the above brain cell loss)

Cauliflower Soup + Bread

Pasta with Anchovies  (Mark Bittman p. 31)+ Roasted Red Bell Peppers (MB p. 195) - sure to make my children sad

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala + Rice + Baby Cukes + Naan

Beans, Rice, + "Yumm" sauce (never made before, but will try anything called Yum)

And

Carrot Cake with Cider and Olive Oil - because it's cold, gray and sad outside and I am an emotional eater...

Whole Meal Scones  - for an attempt at a proper breakfast...

Week 117

Blergh. Feeling sick on such a beautiful day and having grocery shopping ahead of me. On a weekend. With three little boys. Fun zone!

So, since I am sure Henry just can't wait to hear the news we are about to go grocery shopping.... I will keep this short!

Burritos

Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato - Black Bean Soup, Banana Empanadas - p. 219 - Heart of the Plate

Salmon and Broccoli

Mushroom Stew + Bread - P. 155 HoP

Braised Apple Cider Chicken with Cabbage - slowcooker - p. 125

Goat Cheese Asp. Pasta + Bnut Squash\

Week 116

I have been an awful home cook this last week. I partly blame Josh, because he worked so much this month, that when he finally was off, I too was off. But he is going back tonight. Sooo... I am getting back on the wagon.

Oh, and I also blame Game of Thrones...


A lot of repeats this time around:

Stir-fry cabbage + Cukes

Carrot Soup + Bread

Miso Salmon + Bnut Squash

Onigiri + Tofu Steaks - I did make this and the tofu was amazing

Garden Burgers + Sweet Potato Fries

Salad Pizza

Lunch stuff:

Zucchini muffins

PB Energy Balls

Week 115

It's finally cold! That means soup and bread. And fall allergies. I am typing this next to a very grumpy baby, so I must be quick...

Menu:

Asp. Goat Cheese Pasta + Acorn Squash

Stirfry Cabbage + Fried Egg + Rice

Garden Burgers + Melon + Salad

Burritos

Tofu Steaks + Onigiri

Carrot and Miso Soup + Bread

Miso glazed Salmon + Broccoli

Week 114

Ahhh, Henry begins second grade tomorrow.  SECOND GRADE! I can't believe it. I think I am just as nervous as he is, strange as that seems. We have a little ice cream social to attend tonight, then tomorrow morning, he will go on the bus and thus, the new year will begin.  Ari still has another year of preschool, I am not ready for him to go to Kindergarten quite yet, so that is pretty relieving.

So this week is Henry's special week, as it is his 8th birthday on Friday. He wants a Minecraft party. I may attempt a Minecraft cake (and then curse myself for it later...) and he wants some sushi. We will actually take him out to our favorite Japanese store and pick up a dragon roll for the little dude, as that is his favorite. It looks pretty awesome too. I can't believe he will be eight. So crazy.

The garden is bursting with way too many cucumbers, thus I created a cucumber night, with both a cucumber soup and a cucumber salad. We should also dress as cucumbers while eating it. Then it will all be complete! Haha.

Menu as follows:

Coconut Curry + Naan + Sweet Pot Fries

Miso-glazed Salmon + Broccoli

Crockpot Red Curry Lentils + Rice + Roasted Cauli

Hamburgers + Kale Salad

Frittata + Chard

Cucumber Soup and Cucumber Salad

Sushi for H's birthday, plus Minecraft Cake

Week 113

Summer is winding on down, really, for a summer, it hasn't been all that active so there isn't much to the winding down business. For example, I wore a sweater to the farmer's market this morning... Yes. Sooo, the idea of summer is winding down. The boys will have one last birthday shout-out, and school will raise from the ashes and envelop the days. So this is where we are.  Since it is birthday week for Ari, it means that a cake will be made. He is always on team chocolate, but this year he has asked for a vanilla inside. I think I will go ahead and raise that vanilla to a yellow cake, and we will be all good! We are heading down to Brown County to play for his birthday and he is quite happy about it.

Menu-itis:

Spaghetti and Meatballs + Chard

Farmer's Market Pasta + Zucchini

Chicken Sausage + Sweet Potatoes + Green Beans

Stir-fry Cabbage + Rice + Egg

Tomato Tart + Kale Salad

Ari's Birthday Dinner - Chicken and Rice + Cauli + Yellow Cake and Chocolate Frosting

Week 112

Menu:

Chicken + Rice and Roasted Cauliflower

Miso Glazed Salmon and Broccoli

Spaghetti + Kale Salad

Sushi + Cukes

Hamburgers, grilled zucchini, and Melon

Burritos

Breakfast Pudding

Stir-fry Cabbage and Rice

Dimply Plum Cake

Week 111

Summer is here!! I am so excited about the garden and the outside. My house is a complete disaster. If you come to visit, I believe you ought to meet at the swingset, haha.

So here are a few ideas, I still have some greens happening, and strawberries are happily getting sweet. I pick a few handfuls a day, trying to stay ahead of the naughty chipmunks.

BLTs + Sugar Snap and  Radishes

Farmer Market Pasta + 3 Bean Salad

Hamburgers + Tza Potato Salad

Flank Steak + Pepper Steak Sauce + Carrot Chickpea Salad

Ratatouille + Broccoli Fritters

Cold Chicken Rice Bowl

Speg. + Meatballs + Salad


Strawberry Tart 

Week 110

This will be quick as Ari is bounding from couch to couch, including the one I  am sitting on... So I need to attend to business!

Menu

Phyllo tart + Grilled Bacon and Arugula salad

Frittata + Sugar Snap and Radishes

Japanese Curry

Salmon +Broccoli

Steak Tacos + Cilantro Rice

Speg + Meatballs (for the next crazy night)

screen shot

Home screen.

Week 109

Still in the throes of sleepless Elliott. Argh. That is my obsession right now, sleep. So, I believe it would only bore you if I continued on.

Here is the menu:

Japanese Chicken Curry + Melon?

Pork Burgers + Sweet Potato Fries

Phyllo Tart + Salad

Salmon + Squash

Frittata + Salad

Asp. Goat Cheese Pasta + Brussels

Week 108

We just got back from Memphis, we saw the sun. We laid in the sun. We (or really I) closed my eyes and realized that I live far, far too north. Bah hum  bug. While we were visiting my aunt and co., we saw my 91-year-old grandma and she was doing fantastic. Think about being 91, how long those organs and bones have been working. She was a little saucy, but my grandma has always been a little saucy. And just like my kids, I think grandmas need a bit of sassy, makes life more interesting.

I took a picture of Elliott meeting my grandma for the first time, a 6-month-old and a 91-year-old woman, who had held seven of her own 6-month-olds in her lifetime. Another loop in life, closing and beginning. Funny how we come to our end in a similar state to how we began. I seem most fascinated by the ends and the beginnings. Although, I suppose we never really know where we are at the moment, our end could pop up anytime. Oh, there you are. A friend's cousin, only a year younger than I, just met his end. Oh, a mountain, there you are. So sad, and yet, almost a great way to go. I didn't know him well, so I feel comfortable speculating that he has a good-end story for all the peeps up in the afterlife.

So, now to talk about what I ought to be talking about (although food is really about life and death at its core, right?), the week's menu. It is rainy, and gray and a bummer to come home to, but the tulips our out and quite proud about it. The peas haven't really popped up yet (sad times), and a fat squirrel has figured out how to get his fatty self up in my bird feeder (bullocks). So in that state, I present to you this week's menu...

Chicken and Rice + Roasted Asparagus

Basque Pie + Salad

Chicken Noodle Soup + Bread

Sushi + Cukes

Crockpot Red Lentils + Naan

Okonomiyaki + Soy Sweet Potatoes

Week 107

I actually made a list these last few weeks but I forgot to post it because I am SUCH a dingaling (Tori reference). Anyhoo. I was up a lot last night. I am tired. So no chatty energy today, Love.

Stuck Rice + Green Beans

Pear and Sweet Potato Soup + Bread

Red Lentil Soup + Bread

Frittata + Salad

Salmon Patties + Cauliflower

Week 106

And this is the plan. It is still freezing - praying for a bit of sun!!!

Chicken + Rice and Roasted Cauliflower

Fish and Broccoli

Quiche + Salad

Stirfry cabbage

Onigiri + Cuke + Miso

Red Lentil Soup + Bread

Week 105

Menu for the Men (and me, the one non-man):

Wild Rice and Broccoli + Brussels Sprouts

Salad Pizza

Cauliflower Curry

Chicken and Rice + Kale, Quinoa salad

Frittata + Salad

Walnut Cream Farfalle p. 260 + Green Beans

Carrot and Miso Soup + Bread

Fish + Broccoli

.... And that's all folks.

Week 104

I am so into Mollie Katzen's new cookbook. So I will keep on with that!

Menu -

Salmon + Broccoli + Blueberry rice (p. 201 Heart of the Plate)

Salad Pizza

Frittata - goat cheese and artichoke heart (p. 284) + kale salad

Stirfry cabbage

Curried Cauliflower Stew + Pakora (p. 137)

Gorgonzola M+C + Salad (p. 236)

Chicken and Rice + Roasted Green Beans

Week 103

A day late and a dollar short. But since I am running on not-a-whole-lotta sleep, here it the menu for future reference-

Salad Pizza

Cashew Chicken and Bnut Squash

Corned Beef (per Henry's request) + Cabbage + Potatoes

Cauliflower Fettucine + Roasted Bnut Squash

Veggie Burgers (p. 120 - Weelicious) + Couscous salad (p. 57 Weelicous)

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup (Katzan p. 33) + Orange Salad (Katzan p. 78)

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Frittata + Kale Salad (Katzan p. 71)

And that is that.

Week 102

I am running LATE for a very important date... with my little lad. We are going for lunch.

So here it is:

Onogiri

Cashew Chicken + Roasted Bnut

Burritos

Salmon and Broccoli

Cauliflower Fettucine + Roasted Asparagus

Salad Pizza

Beef Stew

My first Saurkraut (!)

Energy Balls

Greek Yogurt "Cheesecake"

Week 101

Ari is stalking me right now, so I don't have much time. He is telling me that he has no idea where the front door is. Sweet Moses.

Okay -

Stir-fried Cabbage + Rice + Fried Egg

Salmon + Broccoli

Onigiri + Cukes + Miso

Cashew Chicken + Roasted Butternut Squash

Burritos

Baked Meatballs + Lemony Kale and Brussels Sprout salad

and for Valentine's Day...

Strawberry Banana Milkshake cake

Week 100!!

Henry always celebrates his 100th day of school and I feel like I should bake a cake for the 100th week on this blog. So I will. I am thinking lemon yogurt cake. Other than cake thinking about, nothing at all has been happening this week. That is a good and bad thing. It has been so cold, we aren't leaving the house. Ari even protested an attempt at going to the library yesterday. He said that would be "boring" (his current, most favorite word). I wast thinking, so is wasting away in this house, buddy. But Baby E thwarted our attempts at leaving (as he is wont to do), by actively protesting being put in his car seat (the horror, the horror) and then threatening to take a nap. Now that is a card he can play. So I took him out of his seat, put him down for a nap, and we stayed home. Again. One day, we may all leave like normal people (assuming that is what normal people do), but for now, I resign. I stay home, knit and watch Lost, while the boys sneak peaks and ask if it is scary.

So here is the menu -

Salmon + Broccoli

Coconut Chicken Tenders + Roasted Green Beans

Red Lentil Soup + Bread + Kale Salad

Burritos

Stir-fried Cabbage + Fried Egg

Chicken in milk + Potatoes and Carrots

Week 99

Freezing, awful, high of 1 degree weather going on. That is all I can think about.  I have been baking way too much, trying to cope and such, haha.

Here goes -

Salmon and Broccoli

Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Potatoes

Chicken Noodle Soup + Bread

Spring Rolls + Coconut Peanut Sauce

One Pot Pasta + Kale Salad

Lemon Rissotto + Sweet Potato Fries and Limey Sauce

Week 98

Oh boy. I have been out of commission for about three weeks. I had insane kidney stones going on that required surgery, which then required stents in my body for another week (which were almost equally as miserable). My hero sister came to help me, for which I will be forever grateful. It feels great to be back and cooking again - never thought I would say that.

So, here is the menu -

Miso Glazed Salmon + Broccoli

Red Lentil Soup + Bread

BBQ Drumsticks (p.50 in Keepers) + Sweet Potato Fries

Asparagus Goat Cheese Pasta + Squash

Crockpot Honey Chicken + Kale Salad with Avocado Dressing

Onigiri + Cukes + Miso soup

I am also going to try and pack Henry's lunch more often. I hate what he eats at school - chocolate milk with sugar cereal - really?? This week I am thinking ham and cream cheese roll-ups, quesadillas, carrots/grapes, smoothie, applesauce.  We will see how it pans out...