Menu - Fridge and Pantry Cooking

Monday - Smoked apple chardonnay chicken sausages (From TJ's), fried plantains, sauteed kale, and leftover bread

Tuesday - Lasagna from the freezer, roasted parsnips and carrots

Wednesday - Massaged kale salad with farro, cranberries, sweet potatoes, apples and nuts (recipe coming soon!), and bread

Thursday - Sweet potato "alfredo", broccoli

Friday - Probably leftovers from the week : )


This week came with the same challenge as last week - still trying to wisely use perishable items I have on hand. Certainly a blessing though so I'm not complaining! Tim brought over a ton of kale before he left to travel and I don't want any of it to go to waste! Good thing Marshall and I like kale : ) ...I was even inspired to create a new salad with it last week that was delicious and I'm making it again this week.

I have kind of a busy week so most of these meals are pretty quick. It's nice to have a repertoire of healthy fast meals for times like this. I've never made the sweet potato already and I'm really hoping it's a keeper. I went from not liking sweet potatoes a couple years ago to them being one of my favorites!

What I Ate Wednesday

It's been a long time since I've posted a What I Ate Wednesday! This is what I ate yesterday. Yesterday was unusual because Estella woke up at 6ish instead of her usual 7, and then fell asleep around 7 again and slept in her chair for two hours! This meant I had time to enjoy some tea and reading all by myself! I also had some kombucha, and of course water.

For breakfast I had banana-cinnamon-almond muesli. It's not uncommon for me to have a snack before lunch, but muesli is pretty filling so I didn't need anything today.

For lunch I had vegetable and sausage stew - Love this! It has Brussels sprouts, fennel, butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, onion, and sausage. Some chicken broth and tomatoes create the base. Yum! Thanks for making it, Mom and Jessica!

For a snack I had half an avocado with some chipotle bbq Beanitos - chips made of black beans! They have a few varieties of bean types and flavors and all the kinds I've tried are good. 

For dinner we had chickpea salad. I tweaked the recipe a little bit to suit our taste and I didn't mash the chickpeas. It was tasty. I ate mine on a bed of spinach and Marshall had his on a slice of bread. The chickpeas were hard for him to keep on the bread though. That would have worked better if I had mashed them. I want to make a version of this with curry flavors next time!

Unfortunately, this day did not end with dark chocolate like I had planned....That was really just because I forgot though so it's not too sad. I'll have some tonight : ) ...If I remember. 

Menu

Sunday - Leftover chicken dumpling soup, bread

Monday - A skillet dish with sausage, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes

Tuesday - Chickpea Salad - Mock chicken salad

Wednesday - Pasta with sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and pesto

Thursday - Tim is cooking for house church -- I think he said he was making soy sauce chicken. It's probably really good because Tim is a great cook.

Friday - A skillet dish with thinly sliced steak, diced red potatoes and broccoli, all flavored with worcestershire, garlic and herbs

Saturday - Massaged kale salad with lentils sweet potatoes and caramelized onions


My first full-week menu in a very long time! We have so much food right now that it actually made it difficult (but a fun challenge!) to plan this menu because I am trying to use everything before it goes bad and incorporate it into tasty meals. We have a lot of meat and vegetables that I want to use wisely and I think this menu is helping me to just that.

I'm planning to do a mid-week post of eats, breastfeeding edition #1 ; )

Menu

Monday - Leftover pasta, salad -- I made a dish with pasta, kale, sweet potatoes, and a smoked apple chardonnay chicken sausage from Trader Joe's last week and we're having that tonight with a salad. The sausage from TJ's is delicious. I decided to buy some convenience type foods so I can whip up an easy dinner if I'm really tired or Estella is fussy, and I've found some things we really like. I got the smoked apple chardonnay chicken sausage as well as a pesto chicken sausage. Both are pre-cooked so they just need to be heated for a few minutes and they're ready!

Tuesday - We're starting back up our weekly house church meetings! We took a break for December and early January but I'm happy to be starting again. Carol is going to make soup and I'm making bread.

Wednesday - Beef and vegetable soup


The rest of week/weekend is undecided because the Schaeffers will be here! Yay! There may be lasagna, possibly lentil curry, and there could be some kind of soup. Not much of a plan, I know. This is my first time posting a menu in a long time though. I'll get the hang of it again soon : )

I'm Back!

I didn't have any inspiration for this blog during the last month of my pregnancy, but now that recovery from birth is well under way and I'll be home alone with Estella most of the time, I want to make sure I have some me-time things to do. Therefore, I plan to be back in action on Our Tasty Menus during nap time and/or on the weekends when Marshall is taking care of her.

I'm finally getting back into the swing of meal planning after a couple weeks of help. Yesterday I cooked dinner by myself for the first time in three weeks (since Estella's birth)! I plan to post a menu this weekend, and that will be the first full-week menu plan in quite some time. I'm looking forward to settling into a routine again.

The blog should be back to it's usual self with menus, days of eats, recipes, and hopefully more videos, though no promises as to when since I don't know what the next one will be about.

I'm excited to be back!