Meal Planning: April 15th - 21st

Review from last week:

I saw this recipe posted on one of my favorite food blogs and thought it would be a fun recipe to try for the night of the NCAA championship game.  It is baked spiralized sweet potatoes topped with turkey chili.  Greg liked it, although suggested the next time I make I use "meat" (aka beef). Insert side eye emoji here.

I made french dip sandwiches in the Instant Pot - SO good/crowd pleaser! 

Plan for next week:

Since we will be our our trip, I'm planning ahead for grocery pick up and meal planning when we return:

Sunday: Grilled Chicken Garden Salad or Sesame-Hoisin Salmon with Brussels Sprouts and Carrot Noodles

Monday: Pizza Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: Rosemary Chicken Salad with Avocado and Bacon

Thursday: Dinner with mom!  It's her week :)

Friday: TBD

Saturday: Out to Eat! Ben has a birthday party in Woodinville so Greg and I will go out and grab a quick bite :)

Week(s) in Photos: Haircut Faces, Easter and Cougan-Kid Takeover

My mom and Ben made bunny masks!

My sweet boys brought me flowers!

We met Lisa and Evan at Seattle Bouldering Project for a morning climb session and lunch!  Ben surprised us all by being amazing at climbing (with no harness)!

Crazy Hair (pre-haircut):

We had a Sunday with no plans: we went to Lucky Strike, grabbed a Bloody Mary in the afternoon and then went home to make dinner with our neighbors.  So fun.

Ben is obsessed with my night serum that comes in these little blue plastic things.  He is always SO tempted to squeeze them and I get SO mad (because $$$).  This time, he was clearly getting into them again, but then re-thought his plan and left one out with a note for me instead ;)

These haircut faces absolutely kill me:

Rachel and Peter went to SF for the weekend, so we gladly had Raleigh over for 2 nights + Pepper for 1!  We all had so much fun - and Ben now agrees that "borrowing" some siblings is an okay alternative to us having more kids ;)

Since we had the kids on Easter Morning, the bunny brought their baskets to our house too!

Greg took the boys to Elevated Sportz for trampolines and pizza!

That evening, we went to dinner with my mom.  I asked Ben to take off his athletic gear for ONE picture (and had to bribe him with more candy to do it).

Meal Plan: April 1st - April 6th

Review from last week:

Still obsessed with this lunch - lentils, roasted cauliflower and carrots and greens topped with tahini dressing.

Greg grilled up some delicious filet, I handled the sides and Melissa and Marc provided the wine!  A fun impromptu dinner with our neighbors!

We did Blue Apron this week!  I loved this salmon dish:

Greg made pork burgers on Thursday night and I was so busy rushing around to get out of the house to meet friends that I didn't snap a picture.  But they were good.

The Top Chef steak dish will be made tonight!

Plan for this week:

Sunday: Easter!  We thought we would keep it simple and go out to dinner or get take out. 

Monday: Spiralized Chili Cheese Fries

Tuesday: Slow Cooked Creamy Tomato Soup and Salad with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Wednesday: Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches and Kale Caesar


Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Take out/Leftovers/TBD

Meal Planning: March 24th - 30th

Review from last week:

I am in love with this new recipe I tried last week.  I subbed sour cream for "quark" cheese because I had no idea what the F quark cheese was, and adjusted the seasonings a little based on what I had, and it turned out awesome.

I tried another new recipe that I loved this week, made even easier because I bought shaved brussels sprouts and sweet potato slivers pre-packaged from Trader Joe's.  This was great as leftovers for lunch.

These skillet enchiladas were quick and easy too!  A successful week of new recipes :)

Plan for this week:

Saturday: Cheese, crackers fruit and summer sausage plate.  I have cheese I bought in Leavenworth last weekend that we need to eat!

Sunday: Grilled Flank Steak

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Blue Apron Meal: Seared Salmon & Salsa Verde with Sweet Piquante Pepper & Farro Salad  

Wednesday: Dinner with my mom!  Her turn :)

Thursday: Blue Apron Meal: Steak & Mushroom Sauce with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli

Friday: Day 1 of our Cougan-kid takeover weekend!  On Friday night we will just have Raleigh, so I'll likely pick up a pizza for them and make Blue Apron for me and Greg: Ginger Pork Burgers with Black Bean Mayo & Roasted Broccoli

Week(s) in Photos: Misc. Fun with Ben and Fun with Friends

Rachel and Peter picked up this book for Ben and it was the absolute PERFECT timing!  Ben had lots of follow up questions following our visit to see Hamilton, and this was a fun way to read and answer them for him!

We decided to get an annual pass to the zoo this year (after not having one since Ben was 2 years old).  Some of our friends have passes, and this will make for some fun summer outings!  We went for the first time with my mom, however, on a very bright and sunny and also EXTREMELY COLD day in February.  We lasted about an hour.

But we went back a few weeks later on a much warmer day and had a blast!  Bonus: The meer cats were posing for everyone.

Go Blue!  Currently still in the tournament!

 

A trip to Johnny Rockets before Hamilton.

A date night to see Black Panther (SO GOOD!) at the 21+ theater in Bellevue.  Loved being brought wine and dinner while we relaxed and watched the movie.

Several months ago we picked a weekend close to Erica and Maureen's birthdays and planned a night in Leavenworth!  The weather was gorgeous and it was so fun to spend some QT with these ladies :)

Meanwhile at home, Greg took Ben fishing with Sammy and Sully:

And then to a St. Patty's Day Party!

Snuggled with my buddy when I returned home :)

To say we love our "new"ly discovered neighbors is an understatement.  We now always have people to do last minute things with and it's been so much fun.  

On this night, we decided to grab dinner and drinks at McMenamin's - forgetting that it was St. Patty's Day weekend!

The weekend before, we planned a hike and a picnic at St. Edwards Park :)

Meal Planning: March 19th - 23rd

Review from last week:

I made these amazing lentil/veggie bowls with tahini dressing last week for lunches.  So good that I'm going to repeat that this week (especially since I have almost all of the ingredients).   and I'm going to do that again this week!

Greg really liked this one - I just thought it was okay.  But we both agreed that it would have been better with uncooked chicken sausage (or regular sausage) vs the precooked chicken sausage I used in it.

One of my favorite ways to have "healthy spaghetti".  Loaded with veggies, hearty and delicious.

My mom made strogonoff this week and it was great!

Plan for this week:

Monday: Middle Eastern Chicken-Chickpea Salad with Brown Rice and Tahini Dressing

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner: Avocado Toast with a Fried Egg and a side of bacon

Wednesday: Poblano Skillet Enchiladas

Thursday: Leftover Enchiladas stuffed and baked in Bell Peppers

Friday:  TBD