Meal Plans...Volume 12

I’m thinking about when to wind down sharing meal plans. The country is starting to open up a bit, people are eating out, and things are looking, while not “back to normal,” heading to a place where some old habits may return for people. If you still read them and find them useful, just let me know as I am happy to keep sharing as long as it helps anyone.

This week was all about improvisation—a silver lining of this pandemic for me. I can get a little stuck in a recipe, but with an unwillingness to make multiple trips to the store, we have had to make many more substitutions (of meals or ingredients) than usual. There were three recipes where we were missing major ingredients, resulting in some of the simple suppers you see below.

Saturday: Honey garlic glazed salmon, spinach, and rice

Sunday: Pork chops, sweet potatoes, roast asparagus

Monday: Sushi from the grocery store for Clio’s eighth grade graduation

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: Slow cooker thai beef curry

I like that this is loaded with greens—haricots verts and a ton of spinach. It’s a little bit spicy but not too spicy for our kids, but probably not great for little ones.

Thursday: Broccoli rabe with chickpeas and bacon

I love this recipe but it can be hard to find broccoli rabe. When Dave came home with it I decided to make this old favorite. However, we were out of bacon. I subbed in Turkey andouille sausage—not as good but certainly fine. The broccoli rabe was only about 6 oz, so I added a bunch of kale to make up the difference. Serve over rice, pasta, with a side of crusty bread, or stuffed in a baked potato.

Friday: sauteed chicken, steamed carrots, garlic roasted kale

We love these “kale chips.” I was out of sherry vinegar so used red wine vinegar and it was fine.

Bonus: Sweet and sour strawberry semifreddo with black sesame

This is a no-machine ice cream made with heavy cream, sweeteneed condensed milk, and greek yogurt. The kids made it and it was delicious!

Have a good week!