Meal Planning: August 4th - 10th

We are taking next week off work to do some road-tripping, so we (I) took next week off from meal planning!  

Review from the last week:

One of my long time go-to's has been to make a random pasta dish using up whatever I had on hand, and it hadn't been done for awhile!

I roasted up some broccoli and sauteed some Italian sausage and toss it with Parmesan and bow tie pasta.  Yum.

With the lasagna we had last week, I tried to focus on healthier dinners this week!  I am in LOVE with the blackened cod that Greg makes, and this dinner was delicious.

We asked Steve to make us some more smoked meatloaf and he DELIVERED. 

This pesto pasta was amazing!  I made Greg's with regular spaghetti noodles and mine with zucchini noodles. 

I planned this dish for a night Greg had plans to go out.  It's one of my favorite breakfasts, but it makes for a great dinner too!

Plan for the week of August 4th:

Saturday: Kale Caesar Chicken Salad

Sunday: Grilled Summer Cobb Salad 

Monday: Parmesan-Garlic Zucchini Noodles with Sausage & Kale.  I'll probably add some thin spaghetti noodles in to make this meal more Greg-friendly. 

Tuesday: Smoked Meatloaf and Green Beans

Wednesday: Smoked Turkey and Green Beans

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Out to Eat

Week in Photos: A Wedding, Some Yard Work, and a Visit with Violet

For a few years now, Greg has been wanting to trim some of the trees in our backyard back due to the amount of shade they cause on our grass.  They were all way too tall for us to manage ourselves, so we hired a company to come out and take care of it for us.  We also had them trim down and remove some of our Laurels, which (once they grow back), will be much more manageable for us (Greg).

But for now, our yard looks so naked!

Greg and I attended the wedding of one of his coworkers.  We had to get a shot with Ben before we left since we never get dressed up anymore ;)

A gorgeous shot of Mount Rainier, which served as the backdrop during the ceremony.

Violet is in town visiting her Grandma for a couple weeks this summer, so we got to spend the day with her and had so much fun!  We cannot wait to reunite with her again in September in DISNEYLAND!!

We went mini golfing:

Waiting for lunch at the clubhouse:

Goofball gets a haircut.

Meal Planning: July 21st - 27th

Review from last week:

This Pesto Lasagna Bolognese was the best lasagna I've ever made.  It was from the new What's Gaby Cooking: Everyday California Food cookbook.  

The Cod, Kale and Lentil dish was good.  It was quick and easy to make because I used the steamed lentils from Trader Joe's.

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Out to eat - Greg and I are going to a wedding!  Seems like forever since we've been to one.

Sunday: Broccoli, sausage and Parmesan pasta

Monday: Grilled Cod with Cabbage Slaw

Tuesday: Smoked Meatloaf and Roasted Zucchini

Wednesday: I'm going to make a take on this Arugula Pesto Pasta dish, but will use scallops instead of shrimp and add in zucchini noodles.


Thursday: Baked Eggs with Tomatoes, Spinach & Parmesan

Friday: Out to Eat

Saturday: Sausage and Zucchini Noodle Pesto Pasta

Week in Photos: 4th of July, Ben's Obsessed with Monopoly and Evan is a Firefighter!

The 4th of July was a busy day for us!  We started by meeting up with Sammy & Sully down in Bothell to participate in the kids parade!  It was really cute!  We took off before the actual parade, which was great because it took awhile to start and it was HOT in Bothell!

Next up we went to Edmonds to hang with the Cougans!

Ben being so cute.  He was watching The Greatest Showman and I had to snap a picture of him - it's our new family favorite right now.

We went to the Seattle Street Food Festival last weekend, but since it was SO crowded, we stopped to get some cookies from Low Rider Baking Company (one of each, please!) and then left.

But this cookie right here was SO worth it.

But we of course had to sample the others, too.  (Stuffed Smores, Cookies and Cream, Salted Toffee Pecan, Browned Butter Chocolate Chip, and Stuffed Reeces Peanut Butter Cup).

Ben is Monopoly obsessed right now, so we have all played hours of Monopoly lately.  Last week I picked up Monopoly Deal, which he likes a lot too, and it's allowed us to get some of our free time back.

We were invited to come see Evan get pinned at the Woodinville Fire Board of Commissioners meeting this week.  It was so great to be there to see and support him, and the bonus was Ben got to check out the firehouse and trucks!

Afterwards, Ben asked me if Evan could be part of our family and live in our house :)  It's safe to say Ben had a great time - and we did too!

Meal Planning: July 14th - July 20th

Review from last week:

As usual, Blue Apron comes up with really creative and yummy recipes!

Top 3 summer salads: 

Had the salad again, this time with some of Greg's friend Steve's smoked meatloaf that was SO, SO good.  He is opening up a food truck in Alaska next summer, so we have the benefit of trying all his menu this summer!

I tried another new recipe from my Inspiralized and Beyond cookbook - Chicken Saltimbocca with rosemary potato noodles and spinach.  It was really good, and Ben LOVED the potatoes!

Plan for next week:

Saturday: Out to eat - Greg and I are checking out Joule, a restaurant that has been on my list to try for a long time.

Sunday: Seared Cod & Caper-Butter Sauce with Kale & Lentils

Monday: Soy-Honey Chicken & Rice

Tuesday: Pesto Lasagna Bolognese (from What's Gaby Cooking: Everyday California Food)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Broccoli, Quinoa & Sausage Pasta with Parmesan (from Inspiralized and Beyond).

Friday: Balsamic Beets with Goat Cheese & Pistachios and Burgers

Meal Planning: July 7th - 13th

Review of last week:

Greg made these delicious pan-seared scallops the other night and it was delicious!  Going to make it again this week since we still have a bunch of scallops in our freezer.

One of our favorite dishes that we haven't had in awhile!

I was craving an artichoke, and I dipped the leaves in the leftover lemon-caper sauce and it was amazing.

This Blue Apron dish was fantastic.  So easy and so spicy!  

 

This drink is officially our new go to cocktail for the summer.  YUM.

Delicious burgers from blue apron and this zucchini was incredible.

Plan for this week:

Saturday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Chicken over Pearl Couscous with Snow Peas & Goat Cheese Dressing


Sunday: Spring Green Salad with Lemon-Feta Dressing

Monday: Chicken Saltimbocca Skillet (from Inspiralized & Beyond)

Tuesday: Out to dinner

Wednesday: Pan Seared Scallops with Lemon-Caper Sauce

Thursday: Burgers

Friday: Chicken Sausage, Brussels Sprouts & Sweet Potato Skillet

Week in Photos: Last day of Kindergarten, Hiking with Kristin, and Summer Break So Far!

Ben celebrated his last day of Kindergarten on June 22nd!

The next day we went out for dinner and a movie at McMenamin's and saw The Indredible's 2 (which, btw, was incredible).  Such a fun night and great way to kick off summer vacation!

Early the next morning, Ben and I picked up Kristin and we went for a hike at Wallace Falls!  When Kristin invited us to join her for a hike, I wasn't entirely sure how Ben would do, but he surprised me entirely by doing GREAT and really enjoying it!  We had planned to play it by ear and just see how far we could go, but after achieving the lower falls, we decided to continue on to the middle falls, and then ALMOST reached the very top (but then realized our legs were tired and the view pay off wasn't even as good as it was at the middle falls).  We felt so accomplished!

Kristin printed out a scavenger hunt for Ben to do which kept him eager and occupied the entire time.

That night, I had Maureen and Rachel (+ Raleigh and Pepper) over for pizza and wine.  As always, an overdue visit with them!

What else has happened in our first weeks of summer break:

Ben lost his 8th tooth!

Ben spent hist first week at camp, which he LOVED.  The second week (week of the 4th of July), he stayed home with me.  On Monday, we went out to lunch :)

My mom and I went to see The Color Purple and it was incredible! 

We had a yummy brunch in Fremont before the show:

Ben was nice enough to join me and Greg for a little wine tasting in Woodinville :)  The boys were in love with this dog at one of the spots.

Ben has been asking me to buy him a pair of compression pants for months. I finally found a pair and he wants to wear them every day.  I really don't understand boy fashion, but he is super into choosing his clothes and its pretty cute that he even cares.

We made some 4th of July crack mix to share with friends!

Kickball with our friends!  I can see this becoming a summer evening ritual.