Here’s what we had this week:
SATURDAY
Aldi pizza
Saturday was apple picking! It was unseasonably hot, but the orchard lanes were fragrant, the apples were huge and plentiful
no one fell off the hayride
(although a few were verrrrrry suspicious), and no one stepped on a rabbit or a goat
(yes, I know this is a calf, not a goat). We also decided at the last minute to go to the parish picnic, which boasted two bounce houses this year, and we managed to escape without getting to know anyone any better. We love our parish, and don’t want to spoil it.
***
SUNDAY
Hamburgers, chips, raw peppers
We have two fewer kids in the house, but two teenage sons — the kind who go to bed looking like someone owns them, and wake up with high water pants on — so we still go through a full five pounds of ground beef.
Oh wait, I bought pre-formed Aldi patties, I forgot. To offset the weird, bready taste, Damien put them on the grill, where they looked very dramatic.
And that’s the end of that chapter.
***
MONDAY
Apple pecan chicken salad
Still not tired of this fancy salad.
I put some chicken breasts under the broiler with oil, salt, and pepper, and cut it into chunks when it was cool. Served on greens with toasted pecans, chunks of apple, crumbled bleu cheese, diced red onion, dried cranberries, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Yuhm.
Oh, the Aldi raspberry vinaigrette is not very good, though. It tastes mainly of oil.
***
TUESDAY
Chickens burgers, waffle fries, frozen grapes
A dinner entirely from the freezer, for the last day of a heat wave.
***
WEDNESDAY
Kielbasa, cabbage, and red potato
You know when you make something four times, and each time, everyone loves it and thanks you and gobbles it up? And then you make it the fifth time, and they ask what’s for supper, and you tell them, and they look at you with weary, disappointed eyes, and go slumping off toward the box of corn flakes?
Luckily, I was prepared to eat enough for a large family all by myself. Also, you can’t beat a one-pan meal that really is one pan.
(or, in our case, two pans). Here’s the recipe from Budget Bytes, including the tasty mustard sauce (you could do with way less oil, though, I think).
You’ll notice I sprinkled parsley on it. It’s my new favorite thing to have a bowl of chopped parsley in the fridge at all times. It makes everything prettier, and . . . okay, I feel like it cleans my teeth. I also brush and floss. But I feel like the parsley is doing its part.
***
THURSDAY
“Greek nachos”
Terrible name, yummy meal. The recipe is from Damn Delicious, and she classifies it as a sheet pan meal, which — I mean, you can definitely put it all on one pan. You still have to chop up a ton of things, cook and chop the chicken, make the tzatziki sauce, and toast the pita, but then you can go ahead and put it in one pan if you really want to. I set everything out in separate bowls and platters and let people take what they wanted.
I took this picture of my plate before I helped myself to a completely normal amount of tzatziki sauce with a fire hose. This is a great make-ahead dinner to serve cold (although the warm pita chips, part crisp and part chewy, with a little sprinkle of coarse pink salt, were magnificent). Definitely going into the rotation.
***
FRIDAY
Ziti with jarred sauce, salad
I woke up this morning and said out loud, “Maybe I’ll make bread today.” Then I was too lazy to even say, “And maybe I’m a Chinese jet pilot.” But I thought it. Maybe I’ll just put on some slippers, eat my parsley, and go to bed.
“And maybe I’m a Chinese jet pilot.”
😂😂😂😂😂 (even if you were too tired to think it). That was just hilarious, Simcha! Thanks for making me laugh. 😄
My oldest brother, when he was a teen, once told my mother in a meditative tone, “You know, Mama, I don’t get full. I just get tired of chewing.” (My next-oldest brother came home from army boot camp and ate an entire roasted chicken by himself.)
Lol! I used to work at a residence for troubled teens and the director would take the homes out in turns to a local buffet. One boy complained to me once that his house parents limited them to nine trips through the buffet line, saying that more was gluttony. He insisted, “That’s not gluttony, that’s hunger!”
This past week I took a break from my usual m.o. of hunting down recipes online to match ingredients on hand + ingredients on sale and used a combo of super easy meals and trying out meals from an actual cookbook–a Family Circle cookbook. Overall we were pleasantly surprised with the meals, nothing groundbreakingly awesome but solid recipes that combined a decent amount of flavor with a decent amount of nutrition.
Saturday: Pork chop and rice casserole (FC cookbook) Caesar salad on the side because I forgot to serve it with Friday’s meal, but the main meal was filling enough we really didn’t need it.
Sunday: really delicious bacon and cheese strata (FC cookbook) with a side of crispy potatoes.
Monday: crockpot chipotle ground beef, bacon, and chorizo chili with a side of Jiffy cornbread. This chili has soooo many ingredients but it has become our all time favorite chili. Mondays are now crockpot days because we just started Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (and already loving it!) and won’t be getting home from that until after 6.
Tuesday: Pizza casserole (FC cookbook). I thought it was tastier than my husband did. I’ve certainly made much blander/worse-tasting pizza themed recipes.
Wednesday: Fajita chicken nachos. And margaritas.
Thursday: Fancy meats and cheeses from Aldi + wine + chocolate fondue at-home date night (kids had regular cheese and crackers and were thrilled)
Friday: I’ve made one of her other cauliflower casseroles and loved it so I’m trying this one tonight: https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2013/07/cheesy-chipotle-cauliflower-casserole-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html
I meant the calf/kid picture. And I also love the one of your little daughter with curls escaping all over everywhere. So hard to brush or comb, but the nice thing is that those curls cover up a lot of mistakes. With straight hair, you can’t get away with anything. Poor straight-haired people.
I love the picture that shows your daughter’s beautiful thick wavy hair!
Loved your description of – oh, so many things! – but especially your growing boys. Yep, yep. Hope you get to eat your parsley and go back to bed SOON, girl.
Due date is one month from today and my indecisiveness has gotten severe enough that I can’t even think of meals for a week and have to ask my husband what to make. Hoping I’m back to my usual “make-terrible-decisions-and-stubbornly-stick-to-them” self after baby comes.
Sat: leftovers of whatever we had last Thurs/Fri.
Sun: husband grilled burgers, though it started pouring rain just after he put them on the grill.
Mon: chicken salad because it was still 95 degrees out.
Tues: taco Tuesday! Everyone happy.
Wed: leftover tacos
Thurs: met husband for Chick-fil-a at lunch and then he went to his uncle’s farm for the evening so we grilled pb and Nutella sandwiches for dinner.
Fri: my dad’s b-day so we’ll be at my parents’ house for dinner. We’re contributing ice cream.
Ice cream is a brilliant potluck contribution. Ice cream or watermelon or chips’n’salsa…I can DO that!
Grilled pb!!! We did that growing up, and when I tell people about that today they give me a squirrely eye. It’s delicious!
It is excellent, even without the Nutella (which is how we ate it as kids). The addition of Nutella means few people think it sounds bad when I mention it, but no one ever thinks my family’s other culinary oddity, peanut butter toast with pancake syrup, sounds good. But it is!