Come Cook Dinner with Me this Week!

Spend the week cooking dinner with me!

     They say if you want balance, to clean your room out, and if you want unity in the family to eat dinner together!  Eating dinner together is so very important to me.  Today, Noah wasn’t feeling too hot, and I said, “We can stay home, buddy.  Let’s plan dinner together!”  He and I went to the grocery store this AM and I shopped for seven days’ worth of dinners.  I’ll cook 4-5 times and we will eat for seven days on 50 bucks!  I have a pretty well-stocked pantry so much of the basics are not included in that 50 bucks — things like rice, potatoes, herbs or olive oil, and onions are already in the pantry.

     I like to shop on Mondays for the week ahead.  Today, I didn’t go with dinners in mind.  I like to see the sales first, then kind of get a game plan in my head.  I know this doesn’t work for everyone so that is why I am inviting you to cook along with me!  I will blog each morning what we are eating! This will go through next Monday.  You can start right along with me or next week!  Here is what looked awesome today at the market.  These are the meats I bought today:  a whole chicken, ground turkey and chicken, and chicken breast. 

     I only shopped the sales.  I got a marked-down organic whole chicken for 8 bucks!  I bought only 2 chicken breasts, and the ground turkey and chicken were 2.99 a pound.   From here, I thought of what I had on hand and asked Noah what he wanted to eat.  He, without fail, will always say white meat chicken and rice, meatballs or mac n cheese.  I have to figure out how to get my picky eater involved enough to get excited about dinner.  So, below are the meals I came up with while shopping.  Yes, I did this all at the grocery store, believe it or not!  This week, dinner’s going to be delicious, and we are going to eat together each night. 

Monday Butterflied roasted whole chicken, coconut curried lentils over brown rice.  (Pro-tip — Pick all the meat from the bones and create a homemade chicken stock for the freezer.)

Tuesday Chicken fried rice.  I’ll make a double batch of rice Monday and save about 1 cup of chicken from the roasted chicken and load the fried rice with veggies. (Pro-tip — We eat dinner from the evening before for lunch the next day if there is any left!)

Wednesday I know there will be lentils left, so I’ll sauté some veggies and make a salad, and we will have leftovers!  Always try to add a fresh element to each leftover meal. 

Thursday Ground chicken meatballs and smashed potatoes with wild mushroom gravy.  Think Swedish meatballs, only WAAAAAY better. (Pro-tip — I’ll use the fresh chicken stock to make the gravy.)   I always slice up apples or have a small dish of fruit to go along with dinner, no matter what we are having. 

Friday Friday night is always family movie night!I will include our favorite popcorn recipe, and this Friday we will be renting a movie and eating turkey burgers!  I’ll do carrot sticks and buttermilk ranch and sweet potato fries in the oven!  (Pro-tip — Noah actually loves garlic so I try to always do a garlicky green veggie with ample amounts of sautéed garlic.  He will eat every veggie if it’s been sautéed with sweet garlic and a pinch of sea salt.) 

Saturday We always shoot all day, so I end up asking the boys where they want to go out to eat.  At the end of the week I need some rest!  If we don’t go out to eat, we make scrambled eggs and salad or Noah loves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on sprouted grain bread!  I’ll cut up fruit and veggies, and it’s low key dinner in 10 minutes.

Sunday Now this is my favorite night of the week to cook!  I’ll always do something I know both of my men with love!  This Sunday Mike will be shooting family portraits all day in the cold, so I’ll simmer a big pot of turkey Bolognese with egg noodles.  I’ll make a green salad and use up any mushrooms, carrots, olives, and veggies from the week in the sauce.  OR we will make short ribs and cauliflower mash.  I like to have options depending on how I feel when I wake up!

Monday FISH!  I adore fish, but my family doesn’t…  Tonight, I will make Buddha bowls!!  Mike and Noah refuse to eat fish, but I still make it.  I’ll make a nice piece of broiled salmon and sauté up a chicken breast, and the guys can eat the chicken and I’ll eat the salmon!  I’ll use the leftover green salad from Sunday and buttermilk dressing, and I’ll boil a few eggs and make some quinoa and any other chopped veggies in the fridge.  I’ll throw everything over the quinoa and dinner is served!  This is where everyone can get personal and add what they like.  Noah will likely just eat his chicken and quinoa with a sliced up avocado and a hardboiled egg.

Tuesday Chicken tacos!  Chopped chicken sautéed in seasonings, black beans, and shredded cheese, or a whole wheat tortilla or crunchy taco shell!

Join in and cook with my family!  I’d love to see what you’re eating — just use the hashtag #rusticjoyfulfood!