Weekly Meal Plan

Thankfully I have a 4-year-old who will eat almost anything (or at the very least try new things). I am a big believer in introducing as many kinds of foods as possible to my kids, not to mention I just like to try new things. So really, by default, my family kind of has to try new things. Here are the meals I cooked recently:

Loaded Steak Nachos 

[recipe from Delightful-E-Made]

This meal was a winner with everyone in our family. It was a quick and easy mid-week meal. Daniel had to eat it rewarmed because he worked late, but it still tasted good reheated in the oven an hour later.

BBQ Salmon and Crispy Chickpea Salad

[recipe from How Sweet It Is]

Jack is rarely interested in soups or salads, so for him I typically make a deconstructed version of our meal. In the case of this meal I let him skip the salad part and served it with a side of rice along with the corn and roasted chickpeas. 

The salmon had a pretty strong BBQ rub on it, so I was surprised that Jack gobbled it up. Daniel and I both really enjoyed the combination of flavors in this dish.

Mexican Tortilla Casserole
[recipe adapted from A Cup of Jo] 

For a twist on Taco Tuesday, I made this Mexican Tortilla Casserole and it was a hit. I made it to share with a friend and it was easy enough to double the recipe at the time of assembly. Instead of doubling the beans, I chose to add browned ground beef instead. This dish works great as leftovers.

Rotini With Butternut-Sage Sauce
[recipe adapted from A Cup of Jo]

When making this dish I decided to add crumbled sausage for some extra protein. Also since Isaac is in the beginning stages of learning to eat, I saved some of the pureed butternut squash and onions for him to have separate from the pasta. He ate a decent amount but made a face every time I spooned it into his little mouth!

This dish is a healthier version of homemade Mac-N-Cheese. The pureed squash serves as the sauce instead of cheese. I barely noticed that there was no cheese in this dish and Jack gobbled it up without a second thought.

Naan Personal Pizzas

So this recipe was a repeat from a couple of weeks ago. This time I used Naan bread instead of Pita. I think I prefer the Pita. Both are delicious though. I chopped up mushrooms as small as I could before sauteing them, in an effort to sneak them onto the pizza. Both Daniel and Jack noticed. You win some, you lose some. 

This meal is great if you need to make something quickly (plus it is easy to customize). I actually ran out of cheese and had to grate little packets of cheese – oops!

Chai Latte 
[recipe from Live Simply]

I recently dug out an espresso machine that I received for Christmas several years ago. I have been treating myself to daily lattes. I decided to try out a Chai Latte in my machine. It worked out fairly well – I just placed the tea bags and spices in my coffee filter and then steamed my milk as usual. It turned out pretty well. The linked recipe tells you how to make this drink on the stove top without an espresso machine.