We have houseguests for a few more days, so I am trying to think of things that my husband and I like, that are keto-friendly (or keto-adjacent), that aren’t wildly fussy, that don’t include any of the things my relatives are allergic to, and that are tasty. At least, tasty-ish.
Why is this hard?
Dinners for the Week of April 11-April 17
- Asian Chicken Salad: I think I will make this with slow cooker teriyaki chicken breasts, because I can throw those in the crockpot in the morning and don’t have to worry about them. I will have lots of fun things people can add to the salad: cashews, snow peas, shredded carrots, red bell pepper, crunchy chow mein noodles, mandarin oranges, scallions, tomatoes. But I feel like I should have something else on the side… just not sure WHAT.
- Greek Chicken Chopped Salad: Okay, two salads with chicken in one week seems like kind of a lot. But… too bad???
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew: Let’s divert our attention away from chicken and toward beef, perhaps. This sounds good, plus I can make it in the slow cooker which I much prefer when I have guests. I am assuming there will be salad leftover to eat as a side. It is a bit hearty for APRIL, but then again, it is wet and raw outside so perhaps it is perfect.
- Perfect Pork Tenderloin with Charred Lemon Cauliflower: Let’s get another type of meat in here. And I have been wanting to make this cauliflower salad again.
Okay, beyond that we will do takeout, takeout, and more takeout.
Yes, I know there is a holiday weekend looming. My relatives should be gone by then, which means that I don’t have to think too much about what to make. Plus, we have been invited to a Passover Seder, so there’s one night sorted. For Easter… I have no idea what to make. The only thing that sounds remotely appealing are these Lemon Cream Meringues, but that’s not really a dinner per se.
This parmesan crusted salmon sounds delicious… but my husband doesn’t love salmon. Maybe a beef tenderloin, possibly with this strawberry salad on the side?
If you are celebrating Passover or Easter this weekend (or both), what are you planning to eat?
Yes why is meal planning so hard???? I’ve been writing about my family’s meals for four years now and the more I do it the harder it gets…I think the hard part is figuring out what other people want to eat. Yep if anyone doesn’t want two dinner salads in one week too bad.
Beef tenderloin is always a yes. My SIL made it for us when we were visting her last week. We’re doing a very-non Keto Easter brunch with the fam.
“The more I do it the harder it gets” – YES. It seems like it should be the opposite, but I just feel more exhausted by the process every week.
I have zero plans for special Easter food and your post just made me clue in to that fact. Some years I have cooked a turkey, but that just feels like too much work.
We have company coming for supper on Easter Monday and I’m making a chicken curry. But other than that, I feel like it will just be our regular foods? Which feels a bit anticlimactic.
The church we attended several years ago used to have an Easter Sunday breakfast after a sunrise service (and we did a Seder supper) which did always feel special.
Yum, chicken curry!!!
I’ll be alone on Easter. In the past we always made ham, but that seems like a LOT for just me.
When I was growing up, we always had ravioli or manicotti along with our ham (and with the turkey at Thanksgiving – every holiday featured pasta of some kind).
I made homemade manicotti for Christmas and saved the extra, so I’m having that on Easter, along with a lemon tart (a Dorie Greenspan recipe I want to try). I’m looking forward to it!
That Asian Chicken Salad sounds SO GOOD. 🙂
What great foresight to have saved the manicotti! That and the tart sound lovely.
We’re going to my in-laws for Easter, so I plan on making exactly nothing. Yay for everything being taken out of my hands!
I think you’re being very smart using the slow cooker. I love just throwing something in there in the morning or at lunchtime and not having to worry about it for the rest of the day. When you have houseguests, it’s nice to something taken off your plate to worry about! (That’s an awkward sentence because I wanted to say “one thing fewer to worry about” and then realized maybe it was “one less thing to worry about” and then tried to figure out if “worries” were countable or not and gave up and wrote an awkward sentence. This is my life.)
Well I would be happy to eat 2 delicious salads in one week. I love salads, though! I could eat them every day! And the other options you are making sounds wonderful, too. I really don’t think you need sides for either salad because they both sound very filling! But you could have fresh veggies and a dip as a side if you felt you needed something? Fresh veggies with hummus or ranch dip, etc tends to be my go to when we have people over.
For our meal plan, I made pork enchiladas last night with some leftover roasted shredded pork I made last month and froze and served that with Spanish rice. Mexican dishes go over well in our house, probably because the boys go to spanish immersion daycare. The rest of the week I’m making a chicken and broccoli curry one day and then we will get pizza. So it’s a very limited meal plan this week! We are probably having my MIL over on Easter if she is feeling ok. She’s been having some health problems so we won’t know if she will come until that day. So if she wakes up feeling good on Saturday, we might celebrate Easter that day. We’ll see. I’m making a very basic meal of ham, mashed potatoes, gravy and roasted asparagus. Easter candy for dessert I guess? I miss the holidays of my youth. We always had SO MANY SIDE DISHES. And I am all about the side dishes. But our holidays are small since we tend to stay home and celebrate with my MIL so I can’t justify making alllll the side dishes so we keep it very basic.
That tahini vinaigrette looks so good, in that Greek salad. Maybe I’ll do that. It’s my birthday next week and so we are going up to my parents’ for an early birthday/ Easter dinner. I AM NOT COOKING FOR TWO DAYS SUZANNE TWO DAYSSSSSSSS. So that’s exciting! I hope all is well with your in-laws.
Yessss!!!! A cooking hiatus woo!!!
I have no idea what we are having for Easter dinner. Growing up, we always had ham and all the side dishes (mashed potatoes, etc.); so we shall see what appears on the table Sunday. I am contemplating dessert though and I’m thinking something lemony or something with coconut.
Oh, and no one gets to complain about two salads in one week…particularly if they aren’t the persons making the meals. Those are the rules.
We’re going to my parents’ place for Easter, which I’m looking forward to because her cooking is so much better than mine. Those lemon meringues, by the way, look wonderful. I’m going to save those for later.
We’re on the road this week, including Easter, and have no particular plans for Easter dinner yet. We don’t actually have a traditional meal, though we do for a lot of other holidays. We are dyeing eggs today at my mother-in-law’s house and I will make egg salad out of them somewhere along the way when we’re staying somewhere with a kitchen.