Meals for a Stay at Home Order: Volume 6

Guys. My plan was too ambitious this week.

A big part of meal planning is choosing recipes that fit your family’s needs. This means dietary needs and food preferences, yes, but it also means scheduling quick meals on busy nights and easy ones on days when you know you will be on mental overload.

With all evening activities cancelled, I have not been worried about the technical difficulty of meals or the number of dirty dishes they produce. But this week, I just didn’t have it in me. This was the week where I worked too hard AND got restless for change. This was a week that called for drive through, take out, and grilling.

Alas, here’s what we actually made:

Sunday: southwestern-style stuffed sweet potatoes

I even made myself make the tomatillo salsa from scratch. This recipe had been ruled a keeper previously but everyone (except me) voted it out this time. I think this would make a great vegetarian lunch. The key is keeping all the elements together for some depth of flavor.

Monday: Lahmajoun and green beans

New recipe. Meat-topped flatbread that Clio chose from Milk Street. Dave kind of turned it into a project by quadrupling the recipe (because we had 2 pounds of beef and the recipe calls for 8 oz.) but otherwise I think it would have been easy-ish. Everyone liked it. I think the yogurt dressing drizzle and arugula are key, but the kids skipped those toppings.

Tuesday: Lettuce wraps with hoisin-peanut sauce

An old favorite vegetarian meal. Consider doubling to have leftovers for lunch.

Wednesday: Literally no one can remember what we ate on Wednesday, and it was not the simple grilled steak and balsamic succotash that my meal plan suggests.

(wherein this weekly post becomes a record of our mental state in quarantine)

Thursday: Karaage (Japanese Fried chicken) and waffles (made with the waffle iron, but from a mix)

Linking to the fried chicken recipe Dave intended to make, but in reality he made something up

Friday: Finally gave in; frozen pizza and salad

The kids prefer Digiorno rising crust cheese; Dave and I like to try weird brands and toppings. This time we ate the leftover lahmajoun and used the last of the dough to make a meat sauce pizza since we had it leftover. It was better than it sounds.

How about you? Have you found yourself in the drive-through line just to have something to do?