Meal Planning: January 27th - February 2nd

Review from last week:

It was a healthy week!  With a trip to Disneyland coming up in a few weeks, I'm making an effort to eat well now so I can eat ALL THE CARBS with Mickey.

Grilled filet and Kale Caesar Salad.

Leftover turkey with caramelized onions and sauteed kale.

BLT salad with corn, feta and avocado with rotisserie chicken.

Baked Chicken Parmesan with salad.

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Out to Eat

Sunday: Tomato Basil Pizza Rolls with salad


Monday: Slow Cooker Chicken Mole Tacos


Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday: Orange Chicken (Trader Joe's, frozen) with Rice and Salad

Friday: Leftovers

Meal Planning: January 20th - 26th

Review from last week:

BLT Salmon Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette

Tried this new recipe and failed to put enough cream cheese inside the chicken breast, which made it a little dry as a result.  Next time I'll over do it with the cheese and I think it will be delicious.
 

Clam Spaghetti made by my mom with a kale salad!  Still one of my all time favorite dishes.

At Ben's school, they have something called the "2 Bite Club".  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what you need to do to join, but Ben now identifies as a member of this club and as a result has become more willing to try foods that aren't on his previously approved list.  This night, he had requested mac and cheese - so instead I offered him butter noodles with Parmesan and he agreed! (I realize this is such a kid-friendly dish that most kids should already be down with, but for us it's a milestone.  The other night, in fact, he tried 2 sips of my mango and papaya smoothie, and has asked Greg to make steak for him to try this weekend!).

LOVED this new recipe.  Spiralized sweet potato cooked with cabbage, topped with Thai peanut sauce and baked tofu (marinated in soy sauce).  I'll make this one again. 

Plan for next week:

I'm trying to stick to a relatively healthy meal plan that Greg (and maybe even Ben??) will still be on board with...

Saturday: Out to eat

Sunday: Grilled Steaks with Salad

Monday: Baked Chicken Parmesan with Kale Salad


Tuesday: Grilled Burgers

Wednesday: BLT Chopped Salad with Corn, Feta and Avocado with Rotisserie Chicken

Thursday: Turkey Taco Salad

Friday: Leftovers

1 Second Every Day - 2017

Meal Planning: January 13th - 19th

Review from last week:

Grilled Tandoori Chicken with Couscous salad.  Really delicious and a fun new recipe find.

I was feeling super awesome after making biscuits for the first time and having success!!  And Greg made sausage and sage gravy to go with them - #breakfastgoals

Carne Asada (Trader Joe's) with guacamole, ranchero cheese and slow roasted cherry tomatoes.  With margaritas in on a cold January day.  The best.

Blue Apron Meal: Barramundi (a fish I had never even heard of and was a little too fishy for us), with roasted sweet potatoes and an awesome kale salad.  I'm ALL about kale these days.  This one had a simple dressing of mashed avocado, a little citrus juice, diced jalapeno for a kick, olive oil and salt and pepper.  LOVED it and will use this dressing a bunch going forward.

I thought this was going to be such a strange dish when I looked at the ingredients, but it ended up being SO SO good.  Kale tossed with labneh cheese, roasted brussels/carrots/red onion, cooked couscous, fried cheese, topped with sliced almonds.  YUM.

These ginger-marinated steaks with stir fried vegetables and rice were the winning dish from Top Chef a few weeks ago.  SO good!

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Having some friends over for dinner.  I'm making herb cream cheese and bacon stuffed chicken breasts and a Browned Butter Banana Bundt Cake (each from a cookbook).

Sunday: BLT Salmon Salad with Cilantro Dressing

Monday: Spaghetti Squash with chicken sausage (throw together meal)

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Clam Spaghetti 
Thursday: Thai Peanut Sweet Potato Noodles with Roasted Tofu

Friday: Leftovers

Photo Dump to Start the New Year

Glancing back at my phone, I realized that I haven't even posted photos from Christmas yet!  So here is an attempt to get caught up:

We had a White Christmas (and a White Christmas Eve for that matter).  It was beautiful and it hung around just the right amount of time.

Cute little Christmas elf that Ben made at school (as part of our Christmas present)!

Ben's Christmas was all.about.maps.  Activity books, story books, games, an atlas, and a big map that teaches you all about the different countries' flags, languages, and other fun facts.  We will be enjoying these gifts with him for a long time to come as he seems to be passionate about learning more!

I scored big time with a Roomba!  We use it daily and it's really freed up a TON of time that I used to spend vacuuming ;)

My other big score was a pair of Air Pods!  They are life changing (as in, I'm no longer getting tangled in my headphone cords at the gym and in my car).

The Christmas dinner crew!

All the kids playing with Ben's map :) :) :)  (Look how happy he is)!

Of course a map puzzle (that I ended up finishing the day after Christmas)!

Loved spending extra quality time with Ben during the week after Christmas while my office was closed.  Some random photos I took:

We spent New Year's Eve over at Melissa and Marc's house playing, eating the most amazing meal and drinking lots of good champagne and wine!

And finally last weekend, we went to see The Book of Mormon with Kristin and Craig, followed by the most incredible sushi dinner!  Such a fun outing!

 

The look of love.  Happy 2018!

Meal Planning: January 5th - January 12th

Review from last week:

Tried a new chicken tortilla soup recipe.  This one had corn meal and chipolte peppers in it and it was spicy and delicious. 

Made the quinoa chicken bake again because it was so delicious last time, but I forgot to take a picture.  It's a new favorite dish for sure!

Plan for next week: 

Friday: Pan-Seared Chicken with Couscous

Saturday: Out to eat - going to see The Book of Mormon with Kristin and Craig followed by sushi at a place I've been dying to try!

Sunday: Grilled Carne Asada

Monday: Southwestern Brown Rice Bowl (with leftover Carne Asada)

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Mexican-Spiced Barramundi with Kale, Sweet Potato, & Avocado Salad

Wednesday: Out to eat

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Ginger-Marinated Steaks with Stir-Fried Vegetables & Jasmine Rice

Friday: Blue Apron Meal: Brussels Sprout & Pearl Couscous Salad with  Harissa-Marinated Frying Cheese