So how did we do with our Update Dinner Challenge? The best we have done at meal planning in problem 6 months! Our son was apparently feeling the blahs about our dinners too because every night this week he was gushing about how good! Awesome! Yummy! Dinners were. Score!
Update our Dinner Week 1 Recap:
Vegetable Lasagna - technically not an update as we have made it before, but not in a long time. This time I was feeling ambitious and had the kids help me make it assembly line style. It was worth the mess because my son, who previously would not eat this because of the "green stuff" devoured two pieces that night and ate all the leftovers. Picky Eater Rating: we have entered a phase where we only eat noodles that are certain shapes, so she went to bed hungry, she wouldn't even try a noodle wiped clean of all ingredients.
Pork Chops with Home Fries - We braised (?I think, hubs made them) with cider vinegar. They were yummy and the home fries were delicious and such a nice change from our usual mashed potatoes. Picky Eater Rating: We are still on a potato (unless it's a chip) boycott but she ate the pork.
Chicken with Mustard Sauce and Steamed Asparagus - Pictured left.Oh. Em. Yum.
We served it with rustic bread because we are carb-aholics. We never stream our asparagus, always roasted with garlic so it was a nice change. It was a little overdone for the adults but for the first time ever my son devoured it, he couldn't get enough. The chicken was so yummy, the mustard sauce was not as mustard-y as I would have expected, even my son ate it. It's a winner!
Picky eater rating: do I need to keep doing this? She spilled her milk over taking one bite of chicken, ate no asparagus and would have ate the whole loaf of bread (dipped n oil and cheese) if I didn't take it away from her.
Black Bean and Corn Stew
This was a huge "out of the box" dinner for me. I am not a fan of soup (really) and I (really, really) don't like beans. So we made quesdillas to go with them so me and Ms. Picky Pants wouldn't starve.
That picture my friends, is my second bowl. It was absolutely delicious!!!
* note on the recipe: we did not puree it the blender. My husbands trick is to use a potato masher and mash it up a little bit and that worked perfectly,.
My lack bean loving son was iffy on it because he could see the chilies and tomatoes. I may try this again in the crock pot. Picky Eater Rating: Picky mom loved it. Picky kid gagged at the lick she gave it and ate all her quesdilla- which in all honestly is an improvement from this time last year so I will take it.
Marinated Flank Steak with Roasted Zucchini with Thyme Another home run! We have never cooked with so much mustard in one week! It was yummy, even my son liked the steak. No the pick eater did not eat anything.
The cheese balls were served at a playdate we had on Friday and were a huge hit with children and parents alike. I made the lemon pie...it will be a post in itself because it was yummy, and I adapted it. I just need some pictures first.
Things we didn't make:
Stuffed Peppers - they had gotten pushed to Friday to make use of food that had to be eaten so it wouldn't go bad. Only I had a Sangria Playdate on Friday afternoon and couldn't get them started. So we ordered Pizza. We were traveling on Saturday so we did dinner on the road. Overall that's a great week for us only having two nights that didn't follow our plan!
Strawberry Oatmeal was also skipped, the mornings were too busy!
This Week's Plan:
Sunday: Ribs and Chicken Legs grilled with Coleslaw
Monday: Stuffed Peppers
Tuesday: Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Creamy Polenta
Wednesday: Cod with leeks and Tomatoes
Thursday: Tortilla Soup
Friday: Orcchiette with Broccoli Rabe
I will also make strawberry oatmeal and strawberry shortcake (from scratch) this week.
This experiment so far has been so good for our family, well except the pick eater. It's actually made my husband and I decide to not even have macaroni in the house. We figure eventually the picky eater will get hungry and try some new foods! I can't wait to see how this week goes!
3 comments:
Pretty sure at least two of those recipes need happen in my house -- the stew and the flank steak. Yum!! {I'll report back about my picky eater, who currently is only eating carbs and dairy ... he was eating fruit, too. Sigh.}
I like your idea of not having macaroni in the house. After all, before the days of chicken nuggets, pizza, and macaroni and cheese, children somehow didn't starve. ;)
I want to try the veggie lasagna. I bet my son would love helping me make it. (He's 2 and a half.)
I need to try some of these things in my house! I feel like I'm always making the same things over and over again!
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