Meal Planning: Week of September 8th

Review from last week:

On Saturday night we went out for dinner as planned.  It was fun to sit on the patio while Ben watched all of the cars and trucks going by.  There currently is a LOT of construction going on in Downtown Bothell - I'd love to catch an early dinner or HH here sometime because Ben would go nuts watching all of the construction trucks during work hours.

On Sunday we made chicken and mashed sweet potatoes.  I'm on a mission once again to get Ben eating more of what we eat.  Sometimes it's impossible, but I think it's so important to get him more interested in REAL food and not giving in to toddler food all of the time.

Not pictured, but we had soup and grilled cheese on Monday night.  For all of you moms who have kids that are picky with vegetables, these veggie blend-ins are really quite amazing (and more important, convenient).  When I make grilled cheese sandwiches, I will shred the cheese and mix a packet of butternut squash in and Ben consistently tears it up.

We had tarragon chicken with green beans and Trader Joe's naan.  (The frozen kind.  Makes great pizzas for Ben's lunch, also).

Side note - I'm reading a really great book my mom recommended called The Kitchen Counter Cooking School written by a woman chef (Kathleen Flynn) from Seattle.  It's her story about how she helped 9 women who felt completely hopeless in the kitchen and relied on boxed dinners and ultra-processed, unhealthy foods.  She taught them all cooking basics like seasonings (or as she calls them, "flavor splashes"), all the ways to cook vegetables, what types of knives to use, how to make bread, how to break down an entire chicken (and what to do with each and every piece).  I am finding it completely inspiring.  

Anyway, her chapter about vegetables make me realize that roasting is not the ONLY way to cook them - so I picked up some green beans and cooked them "the French way", as Julia Childs would say (i.e. boiling them for 5 minutes then draining and dumping them into ice water).  They come out so crisp and BRIGHT green that way.  Fun.  (Wow, I'm obsessed). 

We did the vegetarian Blue Apron plan this week, and our first meal was delicious.  Rose romaine salad with cucumber, plums, and toasted red walnuts tossed in a honey/vinegar vinaigrette with a side of tasted brie baguette.  Yum.

The second meal was Japanese Okonomiyaki.  I'm telling you, based on the ingredients and preparation, this is NOTHING either of us would ever think to order at a restaurant or cook at home.  As I was cooking it, Greg and I were both a little skeptical, but we reminded ourselves to keep an open mind because we have had only a couple Blue Apron dishes turn out bad.  

And SURPRISE - it was freaking awesome.  It was essentially a vegetable pancake (made with whole wheat flower) and I plan to eat it all the time now.  YUM.

Plan for next week:

I busted out an old cookbook from my hippie days (when I did yoga teacher training), The Kind Diet.  I thought I would try out a few recipes this to see if any would stick in my family.  Stay tuned.

Friday: Tonight is the last of our Blue Apron meals, Fresh Cavatelli & Sun Gold Tomatoes.

Saturday: End of summer BBQ at Becca and Jess's house!

Sunday: Pan-Seared Chicken & Sauteed Bulger with Tomato salad & Creamy Lemon-Yogurt Sauce.  I'm also going to make Quinoa with Basil and Pine Nuts for lunches (The Kind Diet) for lunches for a few days.

Monday: Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew (from The Kind Diet).

Tuesday: Potato Leek Soup.  Will also make a batch of Red Radish Tabbouleh for lunches(from The Kind Diet).

Wednesday: Leftover soup (and we will freeze the rest).

Thursday:  I have a work event Thursday evening, so Greg and Ben will probably have meatballs and grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Friday: Lisa and Evan are coming over for dinner!  Making Smoky Swiss Chard & Black Bean Tostadas

Saturday: Southern-Style Shrimp and Grits with zucchini, corn and cherry tomatoes.   

Sunday: Eggplant Parmesan with Chia Seeds

Growing Up Too Fast

A LOT happened over the weekend.  My brain is having a hard time even processing it all.  So much so, in fact, that I'm considering part of it just a "weekend trial"....  I'll explain:

Over the past few weeks, Ben has started working "I try", and "I do it", and "by myself" into his vocabulary.  His interest in being a "big boy" has grown a lot.

On Friday, as I was cleaning Ben's room, I noticed that the front of his crib was quite dirty - finger prints and such.  Rather than clean it, it suddenly occurred to me that it might be time to take a leap and transition him to a "toddler bed" by removing the front.  I hadn't been thinking about doing this any time soon, but on a whim, I whipped out an Allen Wrench and went for it.  I also, to be cautious, put a door knob lock on the inside of his room in case he decided to get up and wander around in the middle of the night.

We were pleased when Ben stayed in his bed ALL NIGHT LONG.  He did great during his nap the following day.

On Saturday night, Ben suddenly pointed to his diaper and said, "I poop"....(he hadn't).  I asked if he wanted to go sit on the potty, and he said yes.  We went into the bathroom, he insisted on taking his own jammies off ("I DO IT"), and then proceeded to sit on his little potty and pee.  !!!!!  This was a first, and it was so awesome.  I credit this book for inspiring him, because for a few weeks he has been quoting pages from it.  He (and we) were SO proud!

And although I am incredibly proud of my little guy, each time I walked past the crib over the weekend, or even thought about it, I felt a little tightening in my chest.  It is funny how some things hit harder than others.  I suppose I just hadn't thought it all the way through, and after it was done, I realize that I wasn't ready.  On Monday evening, I put the crib back together.  Don't ask me why.  I could rationalize it 100 different ways, but I'll leave it at I wasn't prepared for it to happen yet.

And through this, I've realized that my number 1 parenting issue is going to be not wanting to let go: of the baby stage, of my crazy toddler, of my little boy.  Parenting is hard in general, but this is the hardest part for me.

SO, we (me, with a massive amount of moral support from Greg), will be giving Ben his "toddler bed" back in the upcoming months.  The good news is that he has always LOVED his crib.  And at least I know he can handle a big boy bed pretty well - much better than his mama can :)

Meal Planning: Week of January 20th

Review from last week:

I was confusing "gumbo" for "jambalaya" last week, although Greg has made both before and they are delicious.  This batch of jambalaya was sooooooooo spicy, but amazing.  Went very nicely with a Scuttlebutt Blonde.  Greg is going to make it again this next week and add chicken, and make it with less cayenne pepper and less rice.

We took a trip to The Cheesecake Factory.  I had high hopes of ordering something healthy, but the menu is always so overwhelming with wayyyyyyyy too many choices, I ended up ordering what I always get: Chicken and Biscuits.  Please do not ever look up the number of calories in any dish you order there (like I did) because wow.  But whatever, and we also had cheesecake.  

We also made our favorite summer meal, Pineapple Pork Kabobs.

Maid Rites - which I made specifically for Ben because he loved them so much last time.  This time, he didn't touch them and only ate the sweet potato fries.

Flank steak, roasted carrots with rosemary and roasted sweet potatoes with cinnamon.

As a side note, I've started reading the book "Give Peas a Chance" by Kate Samela, to address Ben's picky eating and desire to snack his way through life.  Surprise, surprise - this book (as does all others) advises that we STOP letting him snack between scheduled meal/snack times, which is such an easy pattern to fall into.  It also explains the importance of sitting down at a table, free of distractions, and all eating meals together.  All information I have been told in the past but never paid much attention to.  I have not finished it yet, but it's been so helpful already in helping me establish a good food schedule for Ben.  Next up will be to help me identify ways to incorporate new foods (it advocates to always have a "safe" food - a food we know he is familiar with and likes - on the plate at each meal).  It has a really great way to identify new foods he might try based on the flavors/textures of the foods he already enjoys.

And a piece of advice that my friend Callie has shared with me that her doctor told her: It's OUR job to offer them healthy, balanced meals - it's THEIR job to choose to eat it when they are ready.

So, with as much thought as I have been able to put into meal planning this past year, I'm now also going to really focus on making sure that what I'm making is toddler-friendly (or at a minimum, finding substitutions for Ben that will be acceptable while still offering him what we are eating).

Friday:  I mentioned last week that we were having Lisa and Evan over for dinner.  I've finally settled on a menu: cod with buerre blanc sauce, lemon quinoa w/ tomatoes, arugula salad, fresh bread and a berry crisp. (Ben can have most of this, but will probably opt for fish sticks instead of cod).

Saturday:  Jambalaya (Chicken sausage and brown rice with chicken flavoring as a less spicy option for Ben).

Sunday: Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken Breast.  (Breaded chicken breast and sweet potato fries for Ben).

Monday: Pagliacci's Chop Chop Salad. (I'll probably "deconstruct" this salad for Ben (offering him salami, garbanzo beans, cheese) and pair it with a pita bread pizza).

Tuesday:  Grilled herb chicken, rosemary carrots and sweet potato with butter and cinnamon.

Wednesday: Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken over brown rice.

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

24 oz (1 1/2) lbs chicken breast
14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies
15 oz can black beans
8 oz frozen corn
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
14.4 oz can fat free chicken broth
3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
salt to taste

Combine chicken broth, beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in the crock pot. Season chicken breast with salt and lay on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred . Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in.Adjust salt and seasoning. Serve over rice

Thursday: Spaghetti squash and meatballs (with garlic toast for Ben).