A peek into real life here: what my family actually ate for dinners during the past week. I hope this post gives you some inspiration, something relatable, or is just fun to read.

Collage of a Mediterranean frittata, baked lemon tilapia, black bean tacos, and chicken Florentine, with the text

One of the most common questions I get from friends and acquaintances is whether the recipes I post on the blog are what we actually eat for dinner. I’m happy to report that they absolutely are; I don’t have any extra time to cook different things! But given the frequency of this question, I figured people might be interested in this little glimpse behind the scenes.

Background & Daily Routine

I live with my husband and our two little-ish kids, 8 year old Henry and 3 year old Viv. We live just outside of Washington, DC and are very fortunate to have a huge variety of grocery stores and restaurants nearby.

Honestly, breakfast and lunch are pretty boring around here. Weekday breakfasts are a rotation of protein waffles, oatmeal, cereal, hash browns, or scrambled eggs and bacon, always with fruit. Time permitting I will make a quick batch of pancakes or French toast. On the weekends my husband takes over and will often make waffles or Henry’s favorite chocolate chip banana pancakes.

Lunch is also pretty predictable: leftovers, a big salad, or something very simple for the kids if they are home. Quesadillas, mac and cheese, pesto pasta, chicken nuggets, etc.

Although our dinners may be only marginally more exciting, that’s what I’m going to focus on here. 🙂

Our Week in Dinners

Playing catch-up again! That pretty much sums up life lately. 🙂 At least this time I made notes as I went so that now I can actually remember what we ate, because there is absolutely no way I’d otherwise be able to reach back a full two weeks in my brain. That’s ancient history at this point!

Saturday 3/9: Burgers with homemade buns and my favorite tomato cucumber white bean salad. My husband was going to grill but it poured down rain and there was a giant clap of thunder immediately as he stepped outside “to test things out,” so stovetop burgers carried the night.

White bowl holding white bean cucumber tomato salad.

Sunday 3/10: Grazing on leftovers and miscellany.

Monday 3/11: Mediterranean frittata with salad greens and these miniature bake-from-frozen croissants I picked up from Trader Joe’s. Frittata was delicious; croissants were a big hit and I’ve already restocked!

Overhead view of a Mediterranean frittata in a small cast iron skillet.

Tuesday 3/12: My husband’s birthday! He requested Swedish meatballs, which everyone enjoyed! I even ordered some lingonberry from Amazon to recreate the IKEA experience!

Swedish meatball recipes are something I’ve been tinkering with for years, and after literally a dozen or more attempts, I think I’ve finally dialed in and written down the way we love them best, which is essentially a mash-up of recipes from two websites I trust (Once Upon a Chef and RecipeTin Eats). I might publish the way we make them at some point — it’s not the quickest meal but it is very fun and delicious.

Chocolate buttermilk cake for dessert, of course. Both kids helped!

Wednesday 3/13: Baked chicken in marinara with mozzarella! So easy and so good. I might publish this one soon! It’s super simple but those tend to be the recipes people are most excited about.

Thursday 3/14: Ever-shifting soccer schedules for Henry, more begging for playground time from Viv, and an all-around tired mama sends us to the arms of take-out. No one complains, of course.

Friday 3/15: My Mom is back in town and we celebrate with homemade pizza in the Ooni! We do a mix of cheese, pepperoni, and a pizza similar to this pesto flatbread. Super fun and tasty.

Saturday 3/16: Tacos, by kid request, and to satisfy hungry bellies after a busy day of me working at the gym followed by birthday parties and soccer tournament play. I make one batch of ground chicken and one batch of black bean.

Close up of a ground chicken taco plated with avocado, tomato, cheese, and lettuce.
Plate with three black bean tacos.

Sunday 3/17: We take my Mom — who loves a good crab-cake — out to dinner at a local spot, Clare & Don’s Beach Shack. We have literally never seen it busier, but our server is really good and hard-working, the kids are patient enough, and we have a great time.

Monday 3/18: Tortellini with butter, mushrooms, and Parmesan, with simple steamed peas on the side. Everyone likes this one, except the kids do skip the mushrooms. What can you do?

Tuesday 3/19: Ground beef and broccoli. It’s totally fine, in fact I eat the leftovers for lunch the next day, but I feel like the sauce could be better, which is slightly disappointing because I’d hoped to have this recipe nailed down and ready to publish soon. More fiddling ahead.

Wednesday 3/20: I have no plan, but nor do I have the time or desire to stop by the store. A raid of the fridge and freezer yields the ingredients for chicken Florentine with rotini and a kale salad. Good and done!

Close-up of a piece of chicken in cream sauce with spinach.

Thursday 3/21: Still no plan, still no time or desire for the grocery store. The freezer provides again, this time baked lemon tilapia, roasted broccolini, and a heat-and-eat mushroom risotto thing I’d picked up awhile back at Trader Joe’s. Yay!

Baked tilapia with lemon in an earthenware pan.
A plate of oven-roasted broccolini with soy sauce, garlic, salt, and lemon wedges.

Friday 3/22: Definitely take-out pizza tonight. Can’t wait!

And that’s a wrap on our week(s) in family meals!

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