What makes meal planning even MORE fun? Meal planning when you have a brand new afterschool activity to adjust to, and a time change to adjust to, and semi-surprise houseguests!
Dinners for the Week of March 8-15
- Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma: I often feel like I need to come up with something new! and different! for people who’ve eaten at my table before. Well, I don’t think I’ve served this to guests before. I plan to serve it with broccoli and couscous, which are my favorite accompaniments.
- Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork with Coleslaw: And then again, sometimes I just make things we’ve all had so many times we’re well and sick of them. But I NEED a crockpot meal one night this week, and this one is easy, and we haven’t had it in awhile. Maybe I’ll grab some green beans to amp up the veggie quotient?
- Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms: Not quite sure what to serve with this one. Maybe some asparagus?
Yes, I realize this is only three meals. But we didn’t eat the chicken paprikas last week, so that’s up for grabs again this week. And we’re going out for dinner one night. And I am hoping we have at least SOME leftovers.
What are you eating this week?
I got some of those specialty salad bowls at the store to try to eat healthier. I like some better than others. I wish I hadn’t bought so many Scout cookies though. They are dangerous!
Oh yes, those Scout cookies ARE dangerous!
Hi, first time commenter (I think) but have read and loved your posts for a while. It’s just me and my husband. Meals hmmm. Well mostly I buy my chicken breasts ten pounds at a time from a local organic butcher. Each breast is deboned; one per package, wrapped in old-fashioned butcher brown paper. Ground beef is bought 10 pounds at a time, one pound per pkg wrapped from same butcher. Pork chops off and on from local grocery store; stewing beef from local Metro (so tender) and steak/brisket rarely from local butcher. So, this week’s meals: chicken stir-fry with rough cut zucchini and green pepper tossed into store-bought Madras sauce, brown rice, a few frozen store-bought samosas on the side: Tuesday – we’re out, restaurant meal; Wednesday – a sausage, green pepper, mushroom stew-like sauce over GF Pasta (we have celiac in the family); Thursday – salmon wild-caught from BC and bought from local Metro: spinach and either pasta or rice; Friday is always grocery store pizza baked in oven and eaten while watching reruns of the Big Bang Theory on CRAVE; weekend is home-made extra stuff frozen when I am ambitious, like borscht, meatballs or in warmer weather barbecues.
Hi Laurie! I would like to adopt this menu for my own, please and thank you. I especially love the idea of store pizza and Big Bang Theory! The Madras curry sounds yummy too. Do you have a favorite brand of sauce?
Hi, Suzanne! You may have the menu and given your chops in the kitchen department, I feel absurdly honoured you commented! Patak’s is one of my favourite brands. It specializes in Indian cooking sauces. Their Vindaloo Sauce is excellent as well. Recipes if you are interested are here: Recipes – Patak’s President’s Choice also has a great line of sauces. Their Citrus Herb marinade is delicious – just throw it on some shrimp and veggies, cook up some rice and you’re done like dinner. LOL. Oops. I just noticed these are both Canadian companies, but you can probably find them somewhere in your neck of the woods.
Ooooh thank you!! I will keep an eye out in my grocery store!
My feelings? Lol, I am not depressed, but the time change turns me into a raving madwoman. We have leftovers from last night’s birthday dinner out today, tomorrow I think I’m going to make the Korean slow cooker chicken you posted and then we’re going out with my parents Thursday and both leaving for the week on the weekend, so that should cover us.
I AM HATING THE TIME CHANGE. IT IS THE WORST.
That chicken recipe looks like it would go over well around here, I may give it a try.
Tonight is my daughter’s turn to cook, she’s making a bean and tuna salad with arugula that we all like. Yeah, we get tired of it sometimes, but it’s been a few weeks. I was thinking maybe salmon piccata tomorrow. Beyond that, I’m not sure. I resent the world for making this an issue every damn week.
Salmon piccata sounds right up my alley. Yum.
This is the recipe I use, so easy. The only thing is that it’s portioned for 1 person. I make enough for 3, and I use a bag of spinach and a can of beans, 3 salmon filets.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robert-irvine/salmon-piccata-3195432
The chicken shawarma has been a fave in this house ever since you first posted it, however many years ago. A decade? I don’t know. That, along with frozen falafel for the vegetarians (i.e., me), is what I serve every time we have houseguests because it’s so easy to make ahead and have it in the fridge, and then just pop it in the oven. And every time I make it, I think with great love and affection, “Suzanne!” I just made it a couple of weeks ago, to much excitement. Everyone loves it, it’s a crowd pleaser, and I am thrilled to eat falafel.
Tonight is Big Fun Salad night, with crusty bread and chicken thighs for the guys. Tomorrow…I think wraps? Stir fry on Wednesday, because I am shockingly low on carrots and Wednesday is grocery day. Thursday…pasta? Friday and Sunday are our regular meals for those days but Saturday is my wild card. We are having friends over for drinks in the evening, so I want to make something that won’t, how shall I put this, make the house smell. So no roasted broccoli. I mean, lots of dishes do not have roasted broccoli. But I’m blanking!
That makes me so happy, Nicole!!!! Do you have a favorite brand of frozen falafel you like? Or, if you make and freeze your own, a favorite recipe? I find that I like *some* falafel, but I haven’t quite identified what makes some delicious and some meh. Or, as the kids say, “mid.”
Sometimes broccoli is the only vegetable I think of. I mean, it’s great and versatile and nourishing and relatively abundant/inexpensive. But it is NOT THE ONLY VEGGIE. And it does give the entire house an aroma, doesn’t it? I don’t mind it, and would never mind it in anyone else’s home, but it would also be something I would fret about if feeding houseguests. I mean, *some* houseguests. The current crew aren’t bothered by broccoli air.
I’m not even feeding them! They are coming over after dinner for drinks. So…I’m worried about them coming in to a broccoli-aroma-ed house. Meh, I’ll think of something neutral to make for dinner. Hopefully.
Falafel! I am not picky with it. I basically slather the whole thing with hummus and tzatziki so the falafel itself is secondary. But I usually buy a big pack from Costco and stick it in the freezer, and then take out however many I need, like if it’s just me eating it or are guests going to. I have also bought Yves at Superstore and it’s fine too. The sauces, as you know (you’re a saucy girl yourself methinks) are the main thing!
We tried our hand at making a French mother sauce tonight to eat with mashed potatoes, cabbage, and leftover rotisserie chicken. The sauce was a slight deviation, but delicious, lol … and will be used again tomorrow with quesadillas. Wednesday is family dinner at my parents’ and who knows what we will do Thursday and Friday …
I need more details about this sauce, please! I am very intrigued at the idea of a sauce that would pair with mashed potatoes, chicken, and cabbage AND with quesadillas!
Okay, so the sauce is one of the French mother sauces: espagnole (this is not what we used as our inspiration, but we should have: it explains things better, LOL!) It’s so lovely and savory, even not quite right 🙂 We’re going to cook it down a little more tonight, try and get it a smidge thicker, for dipping quesadillas in.
What is dinner? Tonight I downed 3 pot stickers from the freezer, went to a meeting and then inhaled two chocolate covered oreos afterward. That was dinner. Things have got to change but I’m having dental stuff on Wednesday so I am eating all the crunchy and sweet things.
Dental stuff, oh no!!!!! I would be stress eating like crazy. I hope it goes well!
I’d eat anything on your list! I don’t even mind eating it twice. In my household, when I had one, I often made some sort of bean dish with some sort of veggie dish and some sort of meat (if applicable). Pretty boring, three category meals, but they always were a hit. Plus things like the chicken shawarma make great leftovers, and I love leftovers! I also think that having some old standbys is comforting and it takes the worry out of the planning, so it is a win-win!
It’s so funny because we sometimes “revert” to three part meals (meat, veggie, starch) and they are usually perfectly satisfying and tasty. But for some reason they seem “boring”???? Which makes me look for something “less boring” to make instead? Sometimes “less boring” means “more complicated” and that is not doing me any favors.
Oof. Dinners around here are getting more and more painful. I’ll have a salad most nights and everyone else… well, we’ll figure it out.
Yes, the time change has made everything even more fun!
Do dinners just get more and more painful until we die? I hate dinner, Jenny. I love to eat but I HATE DINNER.
The boys are home for spring break so I rolled out a chicken meatballs and orzo dish that’s a crowd pleaser and stupid easy to make…but that was last night. I’ll be continuing to wing it for the rest of the week!
Winging it for the win!
I remember how afterschool activities used to make dinner complicated, at least the ones like violin lessons that I had to take North to, the ones that caused them to stay late at school were easier.
Beth made a spinach-barley soup with feta last night. I’m making stuffed mushrooms and veggie chicken tonight. Then she’s making roasted tofu with tomatoes and chickpeas Wednesday and I’ll make cream of broccoli soup with veggie tuna melts Thursday and then it will be pizza night on Friday. Saturday Noah will make something (I don’t think he’s decided what yet) and Sunday is leftovers night.
You always have such a fun variety of meals on your plan for the week! Yes to activities being a weird blend of making things easier or harder, depending on timing.
I need to make that Chicken shawarma dish again – Phil really liked it last time I made it. This week I made a chicken + lentil instant pot meal on Saturday. Then on Sunday we grilled burgers which I served with some green beans since we could not find asparagus despite going to 3 stores! I’ll make ground turkey tacos on Thursday night.
Surprise houseguests – yikes! I’ve be leaning on take out, although that is probably not practical for a multi-night stay. My parents are staying with us on Thursday night as they fly to Europe on Friday morning for a Viking river cruise. But they will arrive after dinner time. We offered to host them for dinner but I know my mom doesn’t want to add more stress by hosting them for a meal. If they had come for dinner, we would have gotten take out because we get home at 5pm and it would be very hard to get a meal on the table in a timely manner. We could serve them turkey tacos but take out would be the path of least resistance.
No asparagus?!?! That would throw me for a loop. Our grocery store has been stocking some amazing green beans lately, though, so I have been filling up on those. I hope they made a good asparagus alternative!
Working — let alone working OUTSIDE the home — and trying to get dinner on the table is a whole other thing. I have no idea how I did that when my kid was small. No idea. Take out is perfect.
Just a recommendation: I really enjoy The Lazy Genius Podcast, and this week her episode was How to Easily Feed Your People. She has great ideas to make meal planning easier.
This week: we grilled brats last night and also grilled chicken tenders for tonight’s dinner of chicken fettuccini alfredo, Wednesday is a beef stir fry and Thursday I am having dinner with a friend.
You’re so funny – why not add meal planning to all the changes already going on? 😂 Your meals sound delicious, and I’m sure your guests will be delighted!
Luckily, they are very easy going! I think they would eat a boot if I served it to them, and tell me it was good. 😉
I’ve never made schwarma but often order it out. That sounds good and so does the balsamic chicken! Yes, asparagus. Or haricots vert.
UGH THE TME CHANGE UGH. We are having easy faves– pasta casserole with mushrooms and zucchini, chicken tacos, breakfast for dinner, and a bunch of takeout plus hosting nine 13- y/o girls this weekend and gorging on at least 2 bday cakes…
The weather was nice enough for Coach to grill one day and I am here for it. Bring on spring/summer. Light at the end of the tunnel. We went out last night for Mexican and that was a rare treat, but Reg was home all week and he’s been a huge help to me. HUGE. I am making rice broccoli tonight to go with turkey breast leftovers. I’ll be making chicken and carrots in the crock pot for Saturday for the kids to eat while I sneak off with Mini and Tank to Grand Rapids, MI for a St. Pat’s party our friends throw every year.
Surprise house guests would send me right over whatever (crumbling, muddy) edge I am clinging to. I’m amazed and impressed at how calm you are. (Perhaps, though, you are screaming on the inside, and just hiding it well?) I hope the visit went well—and was, perhaps, even enjoyable? I also hope that spring is starting to spring in your neck of the woods. <3