Meal Plan (gluten free, dairy free) August 24-29
Deciding on what to eat each week can feel overwhelming. My recommendation is to find a couple of weekly meal plans or a handful of recipes and simply serve them up every week. This will help you greatly if you are a busy family or have to cook around food issues. Knowing what is coming and having the confidence in certain recipes will help build your success in the kitchen and around the table. That is one reason why I am not a food blogger. I find comfort in the routine of it all. You could even go as far as to say: Marinara Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Breakfast Wednesdays, etc. And I bet if you have small kids, they will love this idea. I say all of that to say that even though I like the routine of our tried and true recipes, I can get quite bored with our food. So to remedy that, I will have some weeks where I basically try new recipes every night--which can lead to some failures and noses turned upwards. This was one of those weeks. Sunday - We were invited to dinner at our good friends' house, so we grilled up some Greek Chicken beforehand to have as leftovers later in the week. Now, before you start to think that I am super girl by planning ahead, you need to realize that I was FORCED to cook ahead because the chicken had thawed in the fridge. It was a must cook situation. The dinner was a last minute surprise and I didn't want the chicken to waste. For the chicken, in a medium bowl, coat chicken in 2-4 Tbsp. olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper. Marinate 30 minutes. You can add a squeeze of lemon juice if you want, too. Then, we simply grilled it for about 8 minutes per side.
Monday - I honestly tire of chicken really easily so I decided to cook Steak Stir-fry and instead of using frozen veggies which I normally do, I cut up fresh peppers (both green and orange) and a white onion. I cooked those in some olive oil and while those veggies softened, I grilled a flank steak seasoned simply with salt and pepper. I felt like a profession chef given that I used 3 burners at once. This is the recipe I loosely followed for the stir-fry. I always use Tamari Sauce since it is GF. Scott and the girls ate it over white rice and I omitted the rice altogether to make it grain free. The girls didn't love the veggies (what's new?), but they really enjoyed the steak.
Tuesday - We ate the leftover Greek Chicken with a salad and a side of frozen green peas.
Wednesday - Over on Pinterest, I have several recipes that involve sausage. I decided I really needed to try one--maybe its because we had a "cold" front move into Atlanta (weather in the 80's). I made White Beans with Spinach & Sausage. Y'all, my house smelled incredible! This was definitely tasty, however, it wasn't enough food on its own. I probably should have made a side salad, too. Scott enjoyed it layered over leftover rice and a fried egg on top. My girls turned up their noses.
Thursday - I decided that after having two meals this week where both girls really didn't eat what I cooked that we needed a tried-and-true meal so Breakfast For Dinner was the solution. The girls were so excited that they decided it should be a fancy dinner. Sinclair sat the table including candles. I would rather make waffles but the girls really wanted pancakes. I really don't like making pancakes. (I wish I had a griddle.) I found a Coconut Flour Pancake recipe to give a try. It met all our needs and only need about a tablespoon of maple syrup. I felt like a true cook because I had to first separate the egg whites and then whip them. What?! I have truly arrived on the cooking scene. Before you get too impressed with me, you need to realize that it took me 30 minutes to cook pancakes! I actually never sat down at the fancy meal. I cooked our turkey bacon in the microwave and once enough pancakes were made (silver dollar size) for the girls, I scrambled their eggs. It turned out to be more like a progressive dinner. And the kitchen was a disaster. So much for an easy solution dinner. All in all the girls loved it.
Friday - I was off the hook for cooking. Glory! The girls spent the night with Scott's parents so that we could have a date night with some of our best friends from Tennessee. We tried Muss & Turner's in Symrna mostly because we wanted to get into the secret restaurant in the back called Eleanor's, but it was full. M&T has been on our must-try list since we moved here so I was happy to try it. I didn't really enjoy my pulled pork sandwich--I should have ordered the burger.
Saturday - We still had leftover rice so I paired it with Dijon Chicken and green beans. My friend served this for us and it was easy and tasty. For the chicken, I combined equal parts melted butter, honey and dijon and poured it over the chicken. Then, baked it in a glass dish for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
These are frozen green beans from Trader Joe's. I simply steamed them in the microwave. While they were steaming, I melted some DF butter in a pan and added some minced garlic. Once the garlic was slightly brown, I added in the green beans and tossed for a few minutes.
I hope you enjoy these easy, delicious meals to try this week!