Weekly meals June 15 – June 19

Meal updates from last week:
Last week I didn’t follow my meal plan as I usually do.  I made the tortilla soup and it was amazing.  I cooked the sausage and served it with grilled asparagus and a spinach salad.  The other meals that I had planned I didn’t end up making, so I will save the cobb salad and cauliflower bowl recipes for a later date.

This week we will be eating at home Sunday-Thursday, we planning a weekend camping trip if all goes as planned and the weather holds.  This weekend we ordered from Globefish Sushi and Browns Social House, both meals were really good.  It will be very strange to eat out in a restaurant again after we haven’t been in so long!  Most recipes this week are from Gina Homolka’s Skinnytaste Cookbook.  Sometimes it’s inspiring to look through cookbooks and get dinner ideas.

• Teriyaki pork chops Teriyaki pork 2 from @skinnytaste I served these tonight with sesame noodles and an Asian slaw.  The pork was delicious, her recipe says to grill for 6-7 minutes a side, my pork loin chops were small so I grilled them for 4 minutes a side.  They were perfectly cooked.
• Buffalo chicken salad Buffalo chicken salad 2 again from @skinnytaste I love a good dinner salad and I think this one will be great.
• Naked Greek feta-zucchini turkey burgers from @skinnytaste I am going to serve these with a large Greek salad.
• Crispy shrimp bowl from @joyous.apron I made this not that long ago and it was so good I decided to make it again.  My kids and husband will eat theirs in a bun.
• Asian peanut noodles with chicken from @skinnytaste I make a very similar dish from Anne Lindsay, but it is always nice to try something different.  I don’t usually add the chicken but this time I am going to add it.

Last week I made a batch of buttermilk blueberry muffins with cinnamon streusel, I’ve tried a lot of blueberry muffin recipes and this one was great!  There was only one difference and that was I used vegan butter instead of regular butter.  I bought it on a whim, but really wanted to give it a try, and it made the muffins so soft and fluffy!  I don’t have any plans to bake this week, but if we are planning on camping I might make a batch of protein balls. Dinner List 132 ready for the taking!

Stay safe and healthy,
Sara

Weekly meals June 8 – June 12

Meal updates from last week:
Every meal from last week was great!  I didn’t end up making the sushi bowls, but I will be making them in the near future.  Both pork dishes from last week were great, the sliders with grilled pineapple were delicious.  The pork tacos were outstanding.  The pork brought a different flavour to the tacos, paired with the apple slaw it was a perfect combination.  We also really liked the mango salad.  I will make any and all of these recipes again soon.

On Friday night we ordered takeout from Brown’s Social House, this has been the best takeout that we have gotten since COVID began.  Some of the dishes were tired were: crispy ramen, Szechuan beef bowl and southwest bowl.  All dishes were great.  Saturday we spent the day riding bikes and then had salmon, roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts and creamed spinach for dinner.  I also made a strawberry rhubarb crisp and some mini chocolate chip cookies.  

This week we will be eating at home Monday-Thursday, we have no plans for the weekend we will see as we get closer.

• Slow cooker chicken tortilla soup from @gimmesomeoven I will serve this with diced avocado, plain yogurt and tortilla chips.
• Sausage and greens sheet pan dinner from @epicurious I have made this sheet pan dinner many times.  I won’t be using greens, instead I bought some asparagus.
• Cobb salad from @foodnetwork you know how I feel about a dinner salad!
• Crispy honey garlic cauliflower bowls from @lindsaypleskot I am not sure if my kids will enjoy the cauliflower, but I am still going to give these a try!

I bought a ton of blueberries at the grocery store with the intention of making a batch of muffins.  I am not sure what recipe I will use, but I still have some buttermilk left in the fridge.  There isn’t a grocery list this week it will be back next week.

Happy cooking,
Sara

 

Weekly meals Jun 1 – June 5

Meal updates from last week:
Two of the recipes from last week were amazing!  The chicken gyros salad and the spring roll bowls.  The chicken marinade for the spring roll bowls was outstanding, paired with some rice, lettuce, cucumber, carrot and a yogurt dressing this bowl was one of the best.  As always we really liked the kale and sausage soup, this is a soup that my kids do enjoy, which is rare because soup is not their favourite.  We did Thai takeout on Friday night and then had chicken sandwiches with potato salad on Saturday night.

This week we will eat at home Sunday to Thursday, it has been our COVID pattern to do takeout one night on the weekend and then stay in for the other.  I am serving pork twice this week just to change things up a little.

• Beef kefta with hummus and tomato and cucumber salad from @amandafrederickson I served this meal tonight and it was great!  I didn’t make the tomato and cucumber salad, instead I made a Greek salad.  I also used store bought hummus, as I didn’t have enough time to make homemade.  This recipe would be good with any ground meat, I think that lamb would pair great with these flavours.
• Hawaiian pork and pineapple sliders from @cookinglight I will serve these with raw veggies and tater tots.
• Mango chicken salad from @diethood as with all dinner salads my kids will eat all of the components minus the lettuce.
• Pork tacos with apple slaw from @saltandlavender I haven’t ever used pork to make tacos so I am excited to try this new recipe.
• Teriyaki salmon sushi bowl from @myglutenfreeguide this bowl has all of the ingredients I love!

I don’t have any plans to bake this week, I do have leftover buttermilk that I don’t want to waste, so possibly something with blueberries and the buttermilk.  My rhubarb is also growing so well this year!  This week I might have to cut and bake with my rhubarb.  Shop safely with Dinner List 131

Stay healthy,
Sara

Weekly Meals May 25 – May 29

Meal updates from last week:
We really enjoyed the Greek chicken thighs with Greek salad, hummus and pitas, but our most favourite meal from last week was the pad Thai, it was outstanding!  I purchased the shrimp from the Calgary Farmer’s Market, they were huge and added so much to the dish.  I didn’t have a chance to make the Mediterranean linguine, I will let you know when I try it out.  This weekend we ordered food from Cactus Club and Mercato Mission, the food from Mercato was outstanding!  We ordered a simple pasta with tomato sauce, grilled pork ribs and sautéed green beans with shallots.  I would order from them again soon, and they also do pizza takeout.

This week we will be eating at home Sunday to Thursday, we will probably do takeout or BBQ on the weekend.  The weather is supposed to be really nice this week, so I am going to try and use the grill a lot.  Tonight we had elk burgers, coleslaw, baked beans and corn on the cob.

• Chicken gyros salad from @smittenkitchen this salad sounds delicious, and as always my kids will eat all the components minus the lettuce.
• Minestrone with kale and turkey sausage from @foodnetwork I have made this soup many times before, and it has been gobbled up by all!  When I use sausage in any recipe I always buy Spolumbos sausages.
• Spring roll bowls with grilled chicken from @littlebrokenblog you know that I love a one bowl meal!
• Chicken caesar burgers from @iowagirleats I haven’t made these in a long time, they are so easy and packed with flavour.  I will serve tater tots and a green salad on the side.

Last week I made a batch of good morning protein cookies from @weelicious they were really good, and a great snack to have on hand.  I ate one smeared with peanut butter for breakfast on the weekend.  I have a few spotted bananas that need to be used, so I think that I will try to make some muffins.  One of my favourite banana muffin recipes is from @cookieandkate they are a one bowl recipe and you can choose to add chocolate chips or blueberries.  Shop safely with Dinner List 130

Happy cooking,
Sara

Weekly meals May 18 – May 22

Meal updates form last week:
My husband and I loved the mushroom bowls with kale pesto, and as I noted on my Instagram my kids didn’t eat them!  I didn’t get a chance to make the BBQ chicken thighs as we had beef burritos instead.  The salmon was also delicious, I used regular pasta instead of soba noodles.  I did make a large batch of hummus using my newest kitchen appliance.  It turned out really well, a great way to get my daughter some much needed protein.  She isn’t really a meat eater, so I try to get her to eat hummus, edamame, nuts and beans as much as possible.  Every once and a while she will surprise us and take back some chicken or beef, but that is a rarity.

This weekend we did sushi takeout from Globefish, Asian pork tenderloin and takeout tacos from Native Tongues.  I will share our Monday meal below.  This week we will be eating at home Monday-Friday, we usually do takeout Friday nights, but I found a recipe that I might try instead of doing takeout.  Saturday we will do takeout for sure.

• Greek marinaded chicken thighs from @playswellwithbutter we ate the grilled chicken with a Greek salad, grilled pitas and hummus.
• Grilled Spolumbos mild Italian sausages with corn, tater tots and raw veggies.
• BLT salad with buttermilk dressing from @marthastewart this is a salad that I make a lot.  My kids like to eat all of the ingredients except for the lettuce.  I usually make them a quesadilla to supplement their meal.
• Pad Thai, I haven’t decided which recipe I am going to use.  They are both pretty similar, so it will either be this one or this one.  I am going to use prawns as my protein.
• Mediterranean Linguine from the Earl’s cookbook, I have had this book for a while, but I haven’t cooked anything out of it.  As per a recommendation from a friend I am going to try this recipe.

I made a small dessert tonight, it was another recipe from @dessertfortwo.  I really love her recipes, and what I love even more is that they are small batch recipes, so there isn’t a ton leftover.  I have a lot of spotted bananas, so what better way to use them, then in a banana sheet cake with cream cheese frosting.  It was amazing, the only thing that I would change would be to decrease the amount of sugar.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of white sugar, next time I will try with 3/4 cup.  If you haven’t ever gone to her website then you need to go now, so many great small batch recipes.  I still have three more bananas that need to be used, so I think that I will try to make good morning protein cookies from @weelicious.  I am sure that I can convince my kids to eat cookies for breakfast!  I don’t have any other plans to bake this week, but that has never stopped me before.  There isn’t a grocery list this week, it will be back next week.

Stay healthy and stay safe,
Sara

Weekly meals plans May 11 – May 15

Meal updates from last week:
As always everyone loved the turkey pesto meatballs, and another family favourite was the creamy vegetable soup.  I loved the grilled chicken tacos, but the star of that meal was the slaw that you served on top!  I would make the slaw again and then add sautéed shrimp and serve it as a main dish.  The kids didn’t love the veggie melts, I let them choose the vegetables that were on their melts, but essentially they just ate the pita with the cheese.  You can’t win them all.

This week we will be AGAIN eating at home Sunday-Thursday, with takeout on Friday and Saturday.  Although it is a long weekend we don’t really have any plans, we are hoping to get out of the city for the day for a hike and some fresh air.  Last weekend we ordered from Joey’s on Friday, and had homemade burgers on Saturday.  For Mother’s Day my husband ordered brunch from The Cookbook Company, and it was amazing!  Sunday night we had grilled steaks with baked potatoes and salad.

• Classy chicken from @bestofbridge I know that I have shared this recipe many, many times, but it continues to be a family favourite.  I always serve it with buttered egg noddles and a plate of fresh veggies.
• Mushroom bowls with kale pesto from @pinchofyum I am not anticipating that my kids will enjoy this meal, but what I will offer is steamed rice topped with raw veggies and a dollop of hummus.  I will let you know what they think!
• Maple glazed salmon with soba noodles, broccoli and edamame from @notenoughcinnamon I will substitute spaghetti noodles for the soba.
• BBQ baked chicken thighs from @the_salty_marshmellow I will serve these with tater tots and a side salad.

I baked some blueberry banana muffins last week, I used a recipe from @cookiesandkate that I have made many times, this time instead of adding chocolate chips I added some blueberries.  I am hoping to make some hummus this week as I got a food processor for Mother’s Day.  I have looked at many different recipes, but essentially they are all very similar.  I think that I will a recipe from @gimmesomeoven I will let you know how it turns out.  Shop safely with grocery list 129

Happy cooking,
Sara

Weekly meals May 4 – May 8

Meal updates from last week:
As always everyone loved the Thai noodles, this time I added sugar snap peas and edamame and omitted the chicken.  We really liked the rosemary chicken patties, I served these with fries and a Greek salad.  My husband and son ate theirs in a bun, I had mine without and it was delicious.  The crispy shrimp bowl was by far my favourite meal of the week.  The shrimp were delicious, I made mine a little different as I realized when I went to cook them that I didn’t have any panko.  Instead I used flour and egg, dipped them in flour then egg and back into the flour before cooking them in a little bit of oil.  They turned out so good!  I will be making this recipe again.

This week we will be eating at home Sunday-Thursday we will do the usual takeout Friday and Saturday.  This past Friday we ordered sushi and then Saturday night we had bbq sausages with Greek salad and tater tots.  I also made some flourless blender banana brownies from @sara.haven if you head to her Instagram account you can find the recipe.  They were amazing!  The only substitution I made was using brown sugar instead of coconut.  I also topped mine with some extra chocolate chips.

• Turkey pesto meatballs from @weelicious we haven’t had these in forever, so I made them for dinner tonight.  We ate them over spaghetti with a green salad and some crusty french bread.  So good!
• Creamy vegetable soup from @valentinascorner it is supposed to be cold and rainy today, so soup will be the perfect dinner plan.
• Cinco de Mayo!  Ole, we will celebrate with some grilled chicken tacos with key lime slaw and bubbly jam margaritas from @howsweeteats.
• Marla’s maple pork from Looney Spoons cookbook, we will eat this with brown rice and green beans.
• Portobello, broccoli and red pepper melts from @marthastewart I used to make this recipe all of the time, but I had forgotten about it, so we will revisit this one!  I don’t use bread for the base of these melts, instead I use whole wheat pita bread.

I don’t have any plans to bake this week, but that has never stopped me!  Shop safely with grocery list 128

Stay healthy and stay safe,
Sara

 

Weekly meals April 27 – May 1

Meal updates from last week:
We LOVED the baja grain bowls from last week, I served them with sautéed shrimp that I  seasoned with cumin and chili powder.  We topped our bowls with plain yogurt.  We also really like the Korean beef bowls, there weren’t any leftovers from either of these meals.  I didn’t have a chance to make the chicken parmesan sandwiches, but it is still on my to-make list.  On Friday night we ordered burgers from Fatburger as well as pizza from UNA, it was a choose your own adventure for dinner.  Saturday night we did beef and turkey tacos with pico de gallo.

This week we are eating at home Sunday-Thursday, we will most likely do takeout on Friday and Saturday.  The weather this week is supposed to be really nice, so I am going to try to use the grill as much as I can.  I am going to try to plant some of my garden this week, most of the root vegetables can be planted as they are more hearty and can withstand frost.

• Flanksteak with salsa verde from Whitewater Cooks cookbook, we just had this recipe a couple of weeks ago but I had to make it again.  The salsa verde is amazing!  We had baked potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and grilled asparagus with the steak.  For dessert I made a small batch of peanut butter rice krispie treats, I used a recipe from @dessertfortwo.
• Thai noodles with chicken and broccoli from Anne Lindsay, this is a family favourite and my son has been asking to have this for dinner.  I don’t usually add chicken to this recipe, instead I add more veggies like edamame or whatever I have in the fridge/freezer.
• Cashew crunch salad with sesame dressing from @pinchofyum I will grill some chicken to serve with this salad.
• Rosemary lemon chicken patties from @thedaleyplate I am going to use grand turkey in this recipe instead of chicken.  On the side I am going to serve fries with slaw or Greek salad.
• Crispy shrimp bowl from joyous.apron when I serve these bowls to the kids I will omit the sweet chili sauce as it will be too spicy for them.

I used one of my spotted bananas to bake some small-batch chocolate banana muffins, this is a simple but delicious recipe.  I don’t have any plans to bake this week, but I am sure that I will be doing some.  Stay tuned! Grocery list 127 

Stay safe and stay healthy,
Sara

Weekly meals April 20 – April 24

Meal updates from last week:
We really enjoyed the shrimp vermicelli bowls, it was just like having Vietnamese takeout, except in the comfort of your own home.  Just as we did last week, we LOVED the minestrone with kale and sausage.  I had some time to make homemade buns to enjoy with the soup, this recipe is from Stefano Faita’s cookbook called In The Kitchen.  The recipe was very simple and only required an hour of rising time, they were the perfect addition to our soup.  I also baked some banana muffins using a recipe I had never tried before, my son announced that they were the best banana muffins he had ever had.  I used a simple recipe from @sallybakeblog, the only differences were, I used coconut oil instead of butter and mini chocolate chips instead of regular sized.

This week we will be eating at home Sunday-Thursday, then we will do takeout or curbside pickup.  On Friday we ordered from Cactus Club Cafe and the food was great, Saturday we had an epic platter of nachos.

• Chicken enchilada salad from @bakedbyrachel we ate this salad tonight and it was delicious.  We decided to use the spices and rub the chicken and then grill instead of poach.  The kids ate all of the components of the salad and then I added some quesadilla to supplement their meal.
• Today the weather is supposed to be amazing so we are going to keep it simple and grill sausages, peppers and onions.  I bought some rolls so if some want to eat them in a sandwich they can.  I will make a spinach and berry salad to have on the side.
• Baja grain bowls from @howsweeteats I grabbed some frozen shrimp to add to these bowls as sometimes my husband isn’t full enough just eating grains.  I will simply sauté them with some oil and salt and pepper.
• Korean style beef with broccoli from @thedaleyplate we will eat this with some brown rice.
• Chicken parm sandwiches from @giadzy these sound amazing!  We will have a caesar salad on the side.

I still have three spotted bananas on my counter, so I may make the recipe from last week or try a new one I saw online for chocolate banana muffins.  We also seem to be going through those energy balls very quickly, and they are so easy to make so if I have a chance I will make those too.  The grocery list 126 is back!

Stay home, stay safe
Sara

Weekly meals April 13 – April 17

Meal updates from last week:
Two meals from last week were a huge hit, the blackened salmon with goddess sauce and the minestrone soup.  My kids loved the soup so much that they asked me to make it again this week!  When they ask for a meal again, I will ALWAYS make it.  We also liked the bbq chicken with pineapple salsa, it was the perfect meal to enjoy on the nicest day last week.  Today we enjoyed celebrating Easter, I made some bunny cinnamon buns and a quiche for breakfast.  We relaxed this afternoon and then enjoyed a lovely meal together.  I served brown sugar glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans and pickled beets.  For dessert we had a slice of lemon curd blondie bar with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This week, just as last week, we will be eating at home Sunday to Thursday.  We have been ordering food for dinner on Friday and Saturday, and I can’t see that changing this week. Homeschooling and working from home continues, we are hoping that the weather improves this week so we can get outside and enjoy some sunshine.

• Shrimp vermicelli bowl from http://www.cooksmarts.com
• grilled chicken skewers from Simple Dinner by Donna Hay, I will serve these with a Greek salad and some grilled pita.
• Minestrone with kale and turkey sausage from @foodnetwork if time allows I will made some homemade buns to have with our soup.
• Tonight’s meal will be a game time decision, I have frozen pizza dough and all of the toppings, some frozen turkey burgers and hot dogs or al of the ingredients for classy chicken.  We will see how we are feeling by Thursday.

I baked a banana bread, lemon curd blondie bars and made granola last week, so I’m not sure that I will be attempting any baking this week.  I did buy a big bag of Meyer lemons, so there may be a lemon loaf in the works, but we will see how much time I have.  I am having technical issues with my word program, so the grocery list will be back next week.

Stay healthy, stay safe
Sara