There’s a lot going on these days, Internet. I feel burnt out.
Then, NGS made a comment on my last dinner post that stuck with me: “You’re so much more ambitious in food planning than I ever could be. We seriously only have about six meals in rotation.” That struck me as SO LOVELY. Six meals? No fussing around with food blogs and magazines and a big pile of recipes I’ve emailed myself? Clean, simple, tada. GENIUS.
And then I thought of Nicole, who serves the same five categories of food each week, Monday through Friday. When she posted about her weekly meal plan, it was a revelation. I could make tacos every Tuesday?! And sometimes they could be fish tacos or carnitas or black bean tacos, but it didn’t matter what spin I put them, Tuesday would always be taco day! What a delightful fantasy!
These two wonderful bloggers (and I’m just assuming they are excellent home cooks, as well) got me thinking… and I think I’m making things too complicated.
It seems that I have made an overcorrection in my meal planning navigation. I find that it is so easy to get into a meal rut, when you feel like you’re eating tacos and spaghetti and grilled chicken ad nauseum and so cooking feels boring and eating feels boring and you just hate life. This is just me, of course. But I course corrected so far in the other direction – trying to find New! and Interesting! and Different! meal options – that now I feel like variation is my GOAL. (This is not to say that I don’t end up eating the same things over and over, I’m looking at you, delicious spinach and arugula salad.) And also, it’s become somewhat of a chore. I’ve been looking through my bookmarked meals, searching for something new or different… and nothing seems new enough or different enough. I start looking at super elaborate options that just aren’t practical for a regular Tuesday, and then I get discouraged and BAM!, I’m right back where I was when I started this whole meal planning journey.
So there’s that. But also… sometimes you just want to throw a couple of chicken breasts on the grill and call it a day!
This week, I am doing Tried and True, Easy Does It meals. And it feels super! I love it! I should do this more often. Or, maybe, I should come up with a list of Favorites that I can choose from again and again, things that can be Go-To meals alongside tacos and spaghetti and grilled chicken.
Anyway, here’s the dinner plan for this week.
Dinners for the Week of July 16-July 22
- Tacos
Note: Taco Tuesday, baby!
- BBQ Pork Tenderloin with Baked Potato (for me) and Coleslaw(for my husband)
Note: We are supposed to have storms, and it feels like we haven’t eaten this easy crockpot meal in a long while.
- Grilled Chicken with Quinoa Salad
Note: I will marinate the chicken in Wegman’s Korean barbecue marinade. I also have this idea that I will make a quinoa salad with bell peppers, bean sprouts, maybe some edamame, and scallions, and then dress it with Nagi’s Sesame Peanut Dressing. (When I went to a writer’s conference a couple of years ago, one of the meals was this AMAZING quinoa salad with pad-Thai-style flavors. I have been chasing that flavor ever since, and this sounds like it might get me pretty close.)
Note: I have tried many (MANY) a recipe for homemade pizza dough. But I haven’t found a single one that holds a candle to the Papa Sal’s dough I can get at the supermarket.
- Grilled Pork Chops or Steak with Roasted Green Beans
Note: I found a couple of filets in the freezer; I think I intended them for Carla (they were DEEPLY on sale), but perhaps I will commandeer them for myself and my husband.
- Grilled Chicken with Side Salad
Note: Chicken marinated in Wegman’s marinade, salad dressed with leftover French vinaigrette.
- Out
And you, Internet? What are you eating this week?
All sounds delicious, as usual
“…and I think I’m making things too complicated.” I do this ALL the time – just not with cooking. Your meals sound delicious and I think you will find that happy medium between under/over planning.
Awww thanks for the shout-out! The weekly meal categories works for me, and then I can be more ambitious on weekends. That spinach and arugula salad you linked to looks good!
I feel better about being a boring chef over here. I wasworried someone might notice my same old same old meal rotation and call me out on it. Ha.
Ed had wisdom teeth out Monday so we ate tortellini from Costco. He is still eating soft while we moved on. Italian beef last night. Tonight bbq pork in crockpot with mashed potatoes. Tacos tomorrow. Fri leftovers. Might do leftovers Sat too bc Ed has not been eating his usual share. He is feasting on macand cheese and pancakes and frozen lasagna. Poor guy- he only eats healtht, so he is hating it.
BBQ pork twinsies!
I’ve heard of a concept of writing your favorite recipes on popsicle sticks (like maybe every time you try a new recipe from a blog or whatever and it seems like a real winner, you’d make a popsicle stick for it, and put it in a jar). And then eventually you’ll have a number of sticks in the jar, and every Sunday or whatever day you meal plan, you pick 5 sticks out of the jar (or whatever number of meals you need to plan that week). So you don’t really think about it: you just make the meals on the sticks. And you know you like them, because they’re past favorites. Anyway I thought that was a fun idea. There was also an element of color-coding, maybe so you don’t accidentally pull out 5 different salad recipes for a week or something? I can’t recall the details, but I’ve been wanting to try something like that. I’m like you in that I want to make fun things but i don’t want to always be the person deciding the food!
THIS is a good idea.
Don’t be jealous of our simplified menu. It’s just that we have SO MANY food restrictions that I’m only creative enough to come up with a handful of recipes. I’m absolutely green with envy of your use of pork and seafood with what seems like wild abandon to me (not to mention pasta, which would change my life if it were a possibility)!
Too late. Already jealous. Also jealous of your ability to use up garlic scapes and kohlrabi. (Seriously, though – I imagine it’s a real struggle to work within the confines of the food restrictions. You sound like you are really making it work.)