Menu of the Week

photos from Cooking Light, Dinner: A Love Story, and Martha Stewart

One way I start to feel more on top of things is to get the weekly meal planning under control.  It should be an easy thing, but I swear it takes so much energy to come up with that list of meals!  I have a decent list of standards at this point, but I get bored of them sometimes.  I also want to make sure the boys are exposed to a wide variety of foods.  My goal is to include one new recipe every week, and that's exactly what I did last week.

Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese Quesadillas, Black Beans, Yellow Rice
This one never fails.  Members of the "clean plate club" all around.  

Baked Chicken in Creamy Tomato Sauce, Penne, Sauteed Kale
Aaron ate all his kale!  Without complaint!  Woohoo!  It's amazing how much joy that gives me.  Nathan at least tried his, but he opted for carrot sticks and pepper slices instead.  That's okay too.

Burgers (Turkey for Aaron and Kevin, Veggie for me and the little man), Oven Fries, Salad
I cut the potatoes thin this time, and I only used olive oil, salt, and pepper on them.  Baked until they were nice and crispy.  Soooooo good!  Clean plate club members again!  (The boys ate the veggies from the salad, minus the greens.)

Butternut Squash Chowder, Baguette
Nathan adores this soup, and I adore having homemade soup in the freezer.  Being able to pull it out, warm it up, and serve it quickly after coming home from piano....priceless.  

Vegetable and Tofu Pad Thai
This was my new recipe for the week, and it was mildly successful.  I added some snap peas, because I had them and because I thought it could use more veggies.  I also think it could use more sauce - I'd increase it if I made it again.  It also really needs all the extras - the scallions, peanuts, cilantro.   Nathan did well with his, with lots of peanuts on top.  Aaron started out strong, then decided he wasn't really a fan.  I think I may need to accept the fact that my boys aren't huge fans of Asian foods.  Hmpf.