Meal plan week of 4/28

Here’s the schedule for this week:

Sunday: Chicago-style hot dogs, fries, salad, fruit

Monday: hummus, pita, carrots, celery

Tuesday: leftovers (Update: what were the leftovers? hot dogs and fries from Sunday, pasta w/ pesto from last Saturday, frozen meatballs, salad.)

Wednesday: black bean chicken tacos, salad (Update: forgot to put the beans in to soak Tuesday night and the chicken wasn’t frozen, so I just threw two chicken breasts into the crock pot with a cup or two of salsa, set it to low for 5 1/2 hours, and called it a day. Then I made rice when we got home.)

Thursday: pbj, fruit, carrots

Friday: fish sticks, fries, roasted broccoli

Saturday: Pan-fried chicken, baked potatoes, salad

Sunday: calzones

Last week’s baked potato soup and caprese pasta skillet were met with rave reviews by everyone at our house over the age of five. The 4yo didn’t try either. Oh well. No new-to-us stuff this week.

Meal plan week of 4/21

I was inspired by Deriving Mommyhood’s meal plan post to put ours up. I put together a meal plan every week, since otherwise it would be way too easy to just order pizza or go out.

Several days have to be fast and easy since we have plenty of evening activities, but that’s the case pretty much every week. We usually have sandwiches of some kind on Girl Scout night, since I’ve got an extra kid to feed (one of the Scouts) and we all have to be fed and at the meeting on time (well, I like to be there early to set up).

So here’s this week’s plan, which we’ve stuck to so far, along with recipe links:

Sunday: Italian wedding soup, bread

(Meatless!) Monday: hummus, pita, carrots, celery

Tuesday: crock pot mac & cheese, sausage, salad

Wednesday: baked potato soup, roasted broccoli (my modifications: toss florets with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice; roast at 425 for 20 mins)

Thursday: BLTs, fruit

Friday: Chicago-style hot dogs, fries, salad

Saturday: caprese pasta skillet, sausage, salad (this may become a pizza night due to schedule demands, and we’ll push everything back a day)

Sunday: Italian tilapia, pasta, salad (we use about 2 tbsps oil and add dried basil and oregano to the panko for the fish). This is a great emergency meal since everything for the main course can come from the pantry or freezer, it takes less than 20 minutes to make, and you can sub in frozen green veggies for the salad.)

The baked potato soup and caprese skillet are new this week, from Iowa Girl Eats, which is my new favorite food blog. Everything I’ve tried from her site has been great, including the Italian wedding soup, which is a semi-permanent fixture in our meal plans because we love it so much.

I’m looking forward to the baked potato soup tonight, despite the fact that it is 70 degrees here in CNY today! Guess I’m going to have to stop planning so many soup dinners soon… but we should also be able to pull the grill back out soon.

A creative lunch

I need to go back and figure out what day this is. But in any case… Ham, tomatoes, matzah (ah, irony), yogurt (in cup), granola (topper for yogurt), Easter candy for lunch. Raisins and goldfish for snack.

Post-spring break lunch

Aka, look at everything we can fit in the big box!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich, half a banana, cheese stick, Easter egg (filled with fruit cheerios) for lunch. Veggie stix for snack.

School lunch, days 106 and 108

Ham and cheese sandwich, applesauce. Veggie sticks and clementine for snack.

Ham and crackers, pear, cheese stick, candy hearts. Veggie chips and clementine for snack (she talked us into getting the snack bag size).

School lunch, days 104 and 105; winter break lunches

Ham and crackers; tomato hearts; carrots; cheese stick; chocolate. Clementine and veggie sticks for snack.

Cream cheese and jelly sandwich, veggie sticks, candy hearts, fruit leather for lunch. Clementine, pretzels for snack.

Winter break was last week – KG went to a camp run by her after-school program and brought lunch a couple times.

Ham and pita, applesauce, cheese stick, candy hearts, Capri Sun (found randomly in the pantry, we had to send drinks). Clementine and veggie sticks for snack.

Ham and pita, veggie sticks, pear, milk. (This was later in the week, she found out they were providing a lot of snacks, so smaller lunch.)

School lunch, day 100!

100 cheese cut out; ham and pita; grapes and carrots (0s and 1s); smarties for lunch. Clementine and veggie sticks for snack.

Recipe review: 2 Ingredient Cookies

I often find myself looking at one or two overripe bananas on the kitchen counter, wondering why they weren’t eaten before the skins turned so black that they became unappetizing. I usually just toss them in the freezer, saying that I will make some banana bread, or banana muffins. Then I’ll go to put something in the freezer and discover I’ve stashed away enough bananas to be making bread for days.

Yesterday I found the solution to this problem! And it’s a delicious, done in 20 minutes solution. 2 ingredient cookies.

As this review says, there are a lot of these “2 ingredient” ideas floating around Pinterest right now. One of the ingredients is usually a box of cake mix. Well, call me nuts but I don’t think anything that has 30 ingredients itself should be included in a simple, healthy recipe.

These cookies, however, are two real food ingredients, ones that I always have on hand: Bananas and oats. Then some add-ins — pretty much anything you’d like.

I’ve made these twice in the past two days — they are that easy. I’m putting the whole recipe below, because you won’t believe it, but make sure to stop by the original post for more add-in ideas.

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2 ingredient cookies

Two bananas
One cup oats

Mash ingredients together in a bowl. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

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Crazy easy. And crazy delicious.

Yesterday I added in chocolate chips (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup). Today I doubled the recipe and added in the following: 1/4 c raisins; 1/4 c chopped dates; couple dashes cinnamon. Then I divided the batter in half, and put about 1/8 c chocolate chips in half (for the kids) and 2 tbsps chopped walnuts in the other (for me). Leaving out the chocolate, these are even vegan-friendly.

I made my half into bigger cookies — about 5 cookies. Two made an excellent, guilt-free breakfast. I kept the kids at about a tablespoon each. Perfect for snacking or packing in lunches.

No-sugar fruit and yogurt parfaits

W’s birthday was this past Friday, and I wanted to send a snack to his preschool to celebrate, but they have a strict no sugary snacks policy. So no cupcakes, no cookies.

Luckily, they do provide a list of suggestions. One was fruit and yogurt parfaits, and here is my version.

Bottom layer: plain, non-fat yogurt.
Middle layer: plain, unsweetened applesauce.
Top layer: vegan blueberry pie filling, which is banana, dates and blueberries.
Topper: one slice banana

We served them in empty single-serve applesauce containers… That was the trickiest part! It is hard to make and transport 26 little treats. We had to find something that would fit in my cupcake carrier, and the applesauce containers worked perfectly. I put some press-n-seal over the top of each tray for security.

Here’s hoping the preschoolers enjoy the treat! W liked seeing all 26 containers set up to go to school

School lunch, day 82

Bacon and cheese sandwich, grapes, chocolate, milk for lunch.

Chex and raisins for snack.

KG’s comment: “I’ve eaten my whole lunch two days in a row!” So, we are repeating a little, at her request.