Meal Planning: Week of March 2nd

Review from last week:

A few tried and true recipes don't need reviewing :)

I was happy to come home to a big plate of MEAT on Tuesday after I had to stay late at the office.  Thanks, Greg!

One of the Blue Apron dishes this week was inspired by one of the winning dishes from the Top Chef Finale this season. Crispy chicken thighs with braised lettuce, kimchi & mushrooms.  It was so good.

Lamb and Beef Shawarma with creamy radish salad. 

 

Tilapia Meuniere.  This was especially good.  God I love Blue Apron.



Plan for next week:

Saturday: Crockpot Coffee Ancho Chile Short Ribs OMG.

Sunday: Out to eat! 

Monday: Crockpot Kaluah Pork and cabbage with a side of cauliflower rice. 

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal - Roasted Poblano Chilaquiles with Sunny Side-Up Eggs and Avocado.  Knowing my husband, as I do, I'm going to set aside some pork on Monday to add to this dish because I'm certain he would divorce me if I served him Chilaquiles, one of his favorite dishes, without meat.

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal - Za'atar-Spiced Steaks with Rutabaga-Barberry Tabbouleh & Labneh Cheese

Friday: Blue Apron Meal - Italian Wedding Soup with Fregola Sarda and Spinach

 

Week in Photos

For possibly the most random birthday celebration ever, and a seriously fun and hilarious way to spend an hour, we celebrated Lisa's birthday trapped in a room with a zombie.  I couldn't recommend this event more if you are looking for a fun and exciting mini adventure. 

 

 

 

My mom picked up a fun sticker book for Ben to play with when she was watching him the other night, and he has been enjoying sticking them everywhere BUT the book itself :)  Luckily they are reusable stickers!

 

 

Earlier this week, Ben had his 40,746,296th cold of the season, so instead of spending the day at school coughing all over everyone, he joined me for a few hours at the office (while he coughed all over my keyboard, phone and desk).  I also showed him how the copy machine works.

 

 

I finally got to meet baby Alivia James Broady, Bronson's little sister, on her 3rd day of life.  Lovvvvvvve her and loved seeing Shauna as a mother of 2!

 

 

A friend posted a picture using an app called Waterlogue and I quickly downloaded it and transformed some of my favorite pictures:

 

A lovely morning at the Children's Museum with a quick timeout when he refused to take a potty break.  (I won).

 

Maeve and Ben had a blast running around the house like maniacs, which resulted in a much needed bath.

I swear, it WAS a fun day.

A morning at the beach with my little guy.

"Mama, I made you breakfast"!

Meal Planning: Week of February 23rd

Review from last week:

I had forgotten how delicious these meatballs were.  And the sauce has prosciutto in it - so you KNOW we loved it.  I will be making another batch of these soon.  They made for great leftovers.

Callie, Mira and Maylee came over on Monday and we made pizzas!  Ben was THRILLED to have them over to play. 

The Blue Apron meals were interesting this week.  We especially loved the shrimp po' boys:

The orange beef lo mein was good, but Greg reported that he doesn't like his noodles sweet.

The last blue apron meal we made, chicken and sage biscuit pot pie, was by far the best. Enjoyed this one on Friday with an extra large pour(s) of red and caught up on our shows from the week.



Plan for next week:

Monday: Crockpot Santa Fe Chicken and Creamy Lentil Soup for lunches for the week.

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Lamb and Beef Shawarma with Creamy Radish Salad

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Tilapia Meuniere with Moroccan-Style Lentils & Rainbow Chard

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Crispy Chicken Thighs with Braised Lettuce, Kimchi & Maitake Mushrooms

Saturday: We are headed to a birthday party in the afternoon and will probably grab some take out on the way home.

Our Week in Photos

Ben joined me on my mat for some yoga. 

 

 

Ben went to school!  He and I are both still adjusting to our new schedule.  It's been especially difficult for me not knowing what he is up to all day.  When he was with Callie, I was able to get a full run down with multiple updates throughout the day.  I would know exactly how long he slept, how much and what he ate, etc.  Some schools do provide this type of information, but ours doesn't....yet.  I know I'll be that mom attending the parent meetings suggesting all kids of things that I want to see happen.  They will love me.

 

BUT, they did open a private Facebook group and they post a little summary of what their day was like with some pictures each night, so that has been nice.

 

Here is Ben with some friends on the new slides they put in last weekend:

 

 

And another of him painting what I assume was a Valentine's card for me, but I haven't seen it yet because Greg got off early and picked him up (per my request) :)

 

 

We went to Mukilteo Beach to dig, play throw rocks in water, and enjoy another weekend full of sunshine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My goofballs.

 

 

Reading in their new reading spot that I love so much.

 

 

I got Ben an big "Things that Go" book for Valentine's Day.

 

 

Greg and I hit our 5th Ethan Stowell restaurant, Mkt., for dinner on V-Day!  Delicious as expected!

 

 

 

The menu was a set 4 course menu (with us selecting options from each course).  We also opted in on the wine pairings, but our waiter brought us only reds since that is what we usually prefer.  Everything was so good, too.  Here is what we had:

 

Amuse: Puff Pastry with cheese, pear and thyme.

 

First: Oysters with lime, sage, red chili and reposado ice; Sourdough blini with caviar and crème fraiche; Grilled green beans with fine herbs, Alaskan sea salt and lemon.  (WILL NEED TO MAKE THESE AT HOME THEY WERE FANTASTIC); Roasted Alaskan Spot Prawns with fennel aioli.

 



 

Second: Beef Tartare with quail egg, compressed cucumber and grilled baguette; (It looked like Maxwell's Friskies Meaty Bits, but tasted out of this world). Dungeness Crab Bisque with Pernod and fennel pollen.

 



 

Third: Grilled Wagyu Beef with creamy potato puree, smoked onions and fried onions; Roasted Lobster with semolina pasta, chervil and black truffle butter.

 



 

Dessert: Chocolate terrine with cocoa nib crumble and chocolate gelato; Buttermilk panna cotta with huckleberry and white chocolate pistachio brittle.

 



 

And then they sent us home with 2 bags of fresh pasta!  So fun.

 

 

Oh, and Ben got this adorable haircut.

 

Meal Planning: Week of February 16th

Review from last week:

We loved having Kristin and Craig over for dinner on Saturday!  They brought the most delicious (and paleo) side to go with our flank steak: Bacon Pecan Cabbage.  I can't even explain how good it was.  I'll make this again with our steak for sure.

I made the pulled pork for tacos again.  Had mine in a bowl and a delicious Gregarita.  (Trying to see if I can pull that off for him.  They really are legendary margaritas deserving of their own name in tribute).

We had some filets in the freezer we needed to cook, so we had steak salad.  

We did Blue Apron this week for the first time in awhile, and it was great!  Greg made the chicken, mashed potatoes and maple glazed carrots while I was at yoga :)

The bouillabaisse style fish stew was good, too!  This was my first time cooking this kind of soup.  I think I prefer a bisque or chowder over it.



The last Blue Apron dish was steak with miso-roasted kale, turnip and sweet potato salad with ponzu dipping sauce.  Greg and I agreed the dipping sauce was the best part.  Good over all.



Plan for next week:

Sunday: Ricotta Meatballs with Chianti Sauce

Monday: Callie and the girls are coming over for dinner and a play date, and we are making pizza.

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Blue Apron Meal: Shrimp Po' Boy Sandwiches with butter lettuce & apple salad

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Orange Beef Lo Mein with Gai Lan & Napa Cabbage

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Chicken & Sage Biscuit Pot Pie with cremini mushrooms & purple top turnip (minus the mushrooms, I'm sure, because Greg hates them).

Saturday: Greg is heading to Portland to hang with some friends so I will have delicious take out :)

Sunday: Crispy black bean tacos with feta and cabbage slaw