Tag Archives: dinner

Food Foundation Detox – Week 4

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Pulling into the final stretch.  I am SO excited that I made it!  Feeling great!

Highlights from last week…

Hard boiled eggs, pancakes, and oatmeal were consistent breakfast options.  These pancakes are just awesome y’all.  Make them with 2 super ripe mashed bananas, 4 eggs, 1tsp vanilla, 1/2tsp baking soda, a heaping tsp of cinnamon, splash of milk, and 1/4 cup of almond flour.

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Scallops, pork tenderloin, beef tacos and the shrimp with zucchini noodles were ALL amazing dinners.  I thought for sure the zucchini noodles were going to be gross since they looked like slop, but they were SO good!

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The last highlight for the week was actually a rare treat!  My sweet friend found a recipe for almond butter protein balls.  I snacked on them all week!

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Here is the menu for this week:

Monday:  Chicken thighs stuffed with avocado and cheese, then wrapped in bacon, (inspired by this recipe) with roasted garlic butter asparagus.

Tuesday: Turkey and black bean burgers (using almond flour instead of breadcrumbs) with a garden salad.  Dave will have his on a bun, and I’ll just fork mine.  🙂

Wednesday: Planning to give this zucchini lasagna a go.  I will use a sugar free pasta sauce, and will add some ground beef.

Thursday:  Leftover night.  Either turkey burgers or lasagna.

Friday:  Rib eye steaks with a mushroom butter sauce.  Roasted red potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Saturday:  Asparagus with prosciutto and egg.  This might sound gross, but Dave and I LOVE this meal.  We do not go to all of the trouble in the recipe.  We simply steam the asparagus, frizzle the proscuitto and fry an egg to break over the asparagus.  You have to try it.

Sunday:  Since we did not get a chance to have these on a previous menu, we will try Fish tacos.  I will have these in lettuce wraps instead of on a tortilla.  Here is a pic of what they looked like the last time I made them.  Cannot wait!!!

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Eat well this week friends!

Dinner Menu for the week of January 12th

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What a week!  The first week of the month is usually FULL for me.  I have a few meetings that consistently meet in the first week, so it always takes planning, and grace from Dave.  I was out of the house 4 of the 7 nights.  Yikes!  The evenings this week should slow down considerably.

Oh…having the Chargers AND the Forty Niners in the playoffs for the last two weeks has done slight damage to our obedience to 100% real food.  There may or may not have been a snack or 7 that are not technically “allowed” in the rules.  We will imagine this did not occur, and there will be grace all around.  kthnxbye

Last week’s menu had some real winners.  My favorite item was the crab cakes.  They were a bit of a labor of love, but so so worth the effort.  I used a large biscuit cutter to shape them, and used bread crumbs in place of panko.  They turned out really delish, but next time I make them, I will have to do something about the breading.  It was a little crumbly.

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My second favorite was the beef pot roast.  I ordered a grass-fed beef roast from my local CSA.  Honestly, grass-fed beef has such a different flavor.  The only change I made was to add potatoes to the crock pot for the last hour.  Pretty yum!

Here is what is on the docket for this week:

Sunday:  Left over pot roast from Friday.

Monday: Seared Scallop salad

Tuesday: Cilantro chicken and wild rice (using avocado oil instead of veg)

Wednesday: Broccoli cheddar soup

Thursday: A slightly modified version of this spicy peanut chicken salad.  I plan to use whole wheat noodles and less kick.

Friday:  Veggie tacos inspired by this recipe.  I will make home made corn tortillas.  Yay!

Saturday:  Filled pancakes with strawberries and blackberries.  Will used the rest of the cream from the soup to make a bit of honey whip cream.

It is a goal of mine to slowly reduce our wheat consumption this year.  Looking at this menu makes me think that it will be quite a struggle.  Oy!  Baby steps though.

Enjoy your food adventures this week!  🙂

Dinner Menu for the week of October 6th

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Oy…October snuck up on me.  But, since it is here, I must confess…I love Fall.  I love everything about Fall.  I love pumpkins, and mulling spices, and the color orange.  It is time for warm sweaters, and cute knee high boots, and scarfs.  And, check out this AMAZING pumpkin latte recipe!!!.

I spent a long weekend with a friend down in San Diego.  We stayed up late chatting, drank some wine, and squeezed in a few hours of amazing training on some chemical free products.  It was a nice little break from the norm.  Breaks from the norm make dinner menus LATE.  This creature of habit is out of whack.

Last week’s menu winner was the quinoa bake.  It was SO easy, and was really tasty.  I blessed another family that welcomed a new little one with this meal as well, and they were impressed.  If you you are even slightly open to cooking with quinoa, this one is a fabulous place to start.

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This week’s menu:

Sunday:  We actually got take out from Chipotle.  Food Babe recently did a piece on what to eat at Chipotle, and I feel semi-ok with their menu.

Monday:  Potato Soup (out of the freezer)

Tuesday: Mexi-Chicken with black beans and brown rice

Wednesday: Chipotle Chicken sweet potato skins.  Sweet potatoes are a very close second to anything that is pumpkin flavored.  Could be that they are both orange.  Regardless….I am anticipating this meal most.

Thursday:  Parmesan Asparagus Orzo and a side salad

Friday:  Fish taco bowls.  We have been talking about this dish since the last time it made it on a menu.  It was time.

Saturday:   Pumpkin pancakes. (You knew it was coming.)  Subbing in maple syrup for the brown sugar, and will make enough to freeze.

Given my love/obsession with pumpkin, I am planning to give these pumpkin muffins a go this week as well.  Can.not.wait.  For real.

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

Dinner Menu for the week of September 15th

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Last week’s menu recap.

I thought Sunday’s quinoa and salmon salad was good.  In fact, I ate mine sitting on the couch while the boys both acted like little birdies with open mouths.  They ended up eating a second dinner off my plate.  Dave on the other hand did NOT like this meal.  He is not a huge balsamic vinegar fan, and he claims his salmon was over cooked.  Bummer!

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The chicken marsala meal was the week’s winner.  So tasty, and fairly simple to make.  It will go into my recipe circulation for sure.

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Cheeseburgers with yummy because we added bacon and avocados.  Yay.

Did not snap a pic of any other meals this week, but we did not have any other whammies.

Coming up this week…

Sunday: Spicy fish tacos!!!  SO excited to make these again!

Monday:  Strawberry Avocado Spinach salad

Tuesday:  Creamy Chicken Broccoli Pie Pockets using chicken from my very favorite whole chicken in a crock pot.

Wednesday:  Left over chicken used in open face melted sandwiches

Thursday:  A lemon shrimp salad inspired by this recipe, but changed to sub honey for sugar.

Friday:  I am going to try my hand at these Quinoa stuffed peppers.  Wish me luck.

Saturday:  Scrambled eggs and Breakfast Potatoes

I will leave you with a photo that is unrelated to food.  We had a HUGE victory this week as Trevor graduated to a main stream pre-school.  YAY for our sweet speech-delayed boy, and his progress!

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Dinner Menu for the week of August 4th

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Took a quick trip down to visit my sister and her family with the boys.  I was planning to get the menu finalized while I was down there, but we chatted, hung out, and played games instead.  It was so nice to spend a few days away.

Here is what we are planning to eat this week for dinner:

Sunday:  I made quinoa (using home made chicken stock) with sauteed zucchini (from our garden!), carrots and peas.  I squeezed a bit of lemon over the top, and some freshly ground pepper.  So good.

Monday:  Long day at work planned for both of us, so we will dip into the freezer some defrosted chicken enchilada soup.

Tuesday:  Did not make the steak last week due to the impromptu trip, so we will give it another go.  Plan to marinade it with soy sauce, red wine vinegar, garlic, green onions and some dijon.  Also making cheesy garlic biscuits, and a small side salad.  (The lettuce is needing a harvest in our garden.  Bad)

Wednesday:  Grilled cheese with fresh basil, tomatoes, and a bit of balsamic vinegar.

Thursday:  Salad with eggs, avocado, almonds, crumbled feta and oil/vinegar.

Friday:  Beef carnitas tacos in the crock pot.  Hello home made tortillas!

Saturday:  I plan to dice some potatoes (both reg and sweet potatoes) and saute with onion, garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese, then top with a slightly runny egg.  I missed brinner last night.

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

~S

Dinner Menu for the week of July 14th

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Getting right to the menu this week.  Sleep is calling.

Sunday: Grilled salmon salad with corn on the cob

Monday: Left over chili and cornbread from last week’s menu

Tuesday: Honey lemon pork tenderloin medallions with cheesy broccoli orzo.  Subbing in whole wheat orzo.

Wednesday: Grilled ham and cheese sandwich

Thursday:  Sweet potato gnocchi!!!

Friday: Stuffed zucchini boats with tomatoes, quinoa, green peppers and parm cheese

Saturday:  Strawberry waffles.  (I am really loving brinner on the weekends btw.)

Tomorrow is going to be another cookapalooza because Dave is traveling a few days next week.  I have to stock up on some snack items, and fill the freezer with a few meals.  Also, I rocked out some AMAZING muffins tonight.  I will post the recipe tomorrow.

Nighty night…

Dinner Menu for the week of July 7th

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It has been so very nice to have a few days off, and to have Dave home.  We went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum, enjoyed a Fourth of July parade, and took turns sleeping in.  SLEEPING IN!  Despite the few relaxing days, I have neglected food shopping and bulk cooking.  Oy!

While I put together a menu for dinner each week, there is so much more planning and cooking that we do every week.  Breakfast, lunch, snacks and all of the prep that is needed for each nightly meal.  In addition, we are still working on Trevor’s limited palate.  He does eat real food, but we cycle through the same 10 or so items that he will gladly swallow.  So…cooking for him adds to the to do list.  Thank goodness Lucas will eat anything.  Then when he is done, he will eat what is left on Trevor’s plate.

So, taking a few days off from food duties, leads to Dave standing in front of an open fridge/cabinet in search of something to eat for lunch or snacks.  It is time to get cracking.  Tomorrow is going to be a cook/prep/freeze ahead day.

For this week’s menu, I am doing a week of repeats.  These are all getting made again because they were a hit in a past menu.  Some of my very faves will not be highlighted simply because I will not have ingredients.  The items I picked can either help me stock my freezer (chili), or will be easily made with much of what I have on hand.  I am excited!

Sunday: Chili and cornbread.  For the chili, I leave out the sugar, bacon bits, hotsauce, and corn chips.  I use one whole beer.  Cornbread recipe is modified to use whole corn meal (that I will grind in my Vitamix from organic popcorn!!!), whole wheat flour (ground in the Vitamix from whole wheat berries!), olive oil instead of veg, no sugar, and a bit more honey.  This meal usually does a really good job of stocking the freezer.

Monday: Left over potato soup (on last week’s menu) and a small salad.

Tuesday: Chicken pot pie I plan to make this interesting by not using any crust, and instead covering the top of the filling with whole wheat biscuit dough that will be dropped on top prior to cooking. I tried this the last time, and it was AMAZING!!! I will post pics of the process.

Wednesday: Lemon Butter Salmon, and steamed broccoli. Plan to add some garlic to the salmon prior to baking.

Thursday: Spring quinoa salad.  Just plain delish!  Naturally there would have to be a quinoa dish right?!?!

Friday: Chicken Parmesan cutlets over whole wheat spaghetti with corn on the cobb.

Saturday: Spinach quiche

Last week I promised pictures of my sweet little garden project.  Oh how it has grown!  Today I added four types of lettuce and two types of kale.  I had to move the peppers to the front too because the monster zucchini and cucumber plants were trying to swallow them.

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Before I wrap up, I have a request.  If anyone out there has a favorite real food recipe, please post a link to it in a comment.  Or, even if it is not made with real food ingredients, but it is a favorite, I might be able to modify it by swapping a few things out.  PLEASE send me some inspiration!

Have a great week!

Dinner Menu for the week of June 30th

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The last few days have been HOT in the bay area.  The kind of hot that makes everything a chore.

Like most people in the area, we do not have AC at home.  HOT + no AC in the house = zero desire to cook.  Zero.  Like, I have not even turned on the oven since the middle of last week.

On Friday night, I attempted my first batch of home made ice cream.  I was inspired by this post, but did not have any strawberries, or heavy cream on hand.  I did have frozen blueberries and half and half though, and that was going to have to be close enough.  I mixed up the ingredients, and then pulled out the ice cream maker base out of the freezer.  Just an FYI…it is ill-advised to attempt ice cream when it is 92 degrees INSIDE your house.  So Friday night’s attempt failed because the frozen container did not stay cold enough, and we had to give it another go in the morning.  The subsequent attempt was a success.

YAY for ice cream on a HOT day!

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It tastes amazing, though next time I will reduce the amount of both the vanilla and honey.  Next up later today, berry yogurt pops!

My menu this week will contain very little that requires the oven.  Here is what is in the plan.

Sunday:  Grilled lemon shrimp salad with corn on the cob.

Monday:  Left over chicken burritos made last week.

Tuesday:  Grilled pineapple and avocado burgers.

Wednesday: Potato and bacon soup in the crock pot.

Thursday:  Chef’s salad with bacon crumbles, broccoli, hard boiled eggs and avocado.  If we end up over at someone’s house for a BBQ, I will bring this to share.  Happy 4th of  July!

Friday: Simple Lemon Parmesan Spaghetti using whole wheat spaghetti.  Adding steamed broccoli and sauteed kale.

Saturday:  Filled pancakes.  I have fresh strawberries, blueberries and blackberries.  YUM!

Next week I will share some pics of the progress of my garden.  So exciting to see the veggies growing!

Dinner Menu for the week of June 23rd

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Last week I was on a quinoa kick.  The big winner from last week’s menu was the spring quinoa salad.  It was so easy to make, and tasted amazing.   The recipe made more than we could eat for dinner, so we had it for lunch the next day.

I love it when a recipe is easy to make, the result tastes great, and it is a bonus when it is visually appealing!

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I was low on energy last night, so I moved the fajitas to tonight, and rocked some home made corn tortillas.  Honestly any recipe that calls for a tortilla will move to the top of my list now.  These things just plain rule.  Get a tortilla press and a bust some out people.  Or…toss the dough in between some parchment paper and roll them on out.  Either way…get on it.

Here is the dinner plan for the next week.

Sunday:  Skipping the seafood night because we have left over fajitas.  (!!!)

Monday:  Salsa Chicken burritos.  Should have LOTS of left overs for quick burritos to take to work.

Tuesday:  Quinoa with Paprika Chicken and Asparagus  (Still kind of obsessed with quinoa.  And I have a restaurant-sized bag from Costco)

Wednesday:  BLTA sandwiches

Thursday: Taco mountain.  This happens when you have taco fixins, but you layer them all on top of chips instead of putting it all in a taco shell.

Friday: Left over taco mountain, and corn on the cob.

Saturday:  I am heading down to see my sister with the boys over the weekend, so Dave is on his own for dinner.  🙂

Also planning to make these cute little zucchini tots.  In place of bread crumbs, I will be subbing in….wait for it….quinoa, and then popping them into the freezer for snacks.  Not sure what day I will get to them, but I do have some zucchini that needs to be used soon.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Dinner menu for week of April 29th

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Oh planning.  I wish you did not require so much planning.  The menu hunting, the shopping lists, the shuffling of meal options to accommodate schedules.  As a working mama, I also have to plan to cook ahead for many of the weeknights, since prep the night of is a joke.  I have to avoid the open fridge stare at 5pm, or I will start buying convenience food again.

This week, I will be out of town Weds night through Sunday.  You mean I have to do MORE planning for meals that are easy while I am gone?  You betcha.  Due to this unique week, I am only planning dinner.  Breakfast and lunch can be a free-for-all.  Healthy free-for-all, but still…

On the docket for dinners:

Monday:  Chicken tacos using meat that cooked all day in the crock pot yesterday.  The remainder of the meat will be used to make freezer burritos.  (Getting around to making the burritos tomorrow)

Tuesday:  Chicken and cilantro lime quinoa.  Btw, just learned that it is pronounced KEEN-WA.  Yes, I have been calling it Quin-oh-wa.  So awesome.

Wednesday:  Chili and cornbread.  (Both currently in the freezer)  I modify this chili recipe quite a bit based on tips from my friend Val.  I leave out the sugar, bacon bits, hotsauce, corn chips and beef boulion.  I use one whole beer.  Honestly, this turns out AMAZING.  Time to make chili peeps!  Cornbread recipe is modified to use whole corn meal, whole wheat flour, no sugar, and a bit more honey.  Winner.

Thursday:  I will pre-make a salad for Dave with Spinach,  strawberries, almonds and a drizzle of olive oil.

Friday:  Spaghetti with grass fed beef delivered in the CSA box, and whole wheat noodles.  Also prepped and ready in the freezer.

Sat:  Brinner of waffles or pancakes or an omelette.  Dave’s choice here.  Dave’s parents are visiting, so it may end up being take out for the adults.  He can call an audible.

Sunday:  Most likely something like chicken enchilada soup from the freezer. (Made a HUGE batch yesterday.)  I get home right at dinner time, so that should rule.

Hope everyone has a great week!