What We Ate This Week

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.

Trying something new here: a sneak peak into our real life family meals.

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

Sunday: My niece has a late flight back to her college, so tonight is our last dinner with a Thanksgiving guest! I initially plan to make Tuscan chickpea stew, but instead of chopping carrots I take some time to squeeze in a last-minute drive by Arlington National Cemetery, plus I know my kids won’t love the chickpeas. I decide on a whim to make browned butter tortellini with bacon and peas for everyone instead. I have to make a few substitutions – yellow onion for shallot, crisp the bacon in the microwave to save time – and it’s not quite as good as the original, but still pretty tasty. And both little kids like it!

Monday: I spend most of the day catching up on blog work and resetting our home, but do manage to simmer a giant batch of broth using the Thanksgiving turkey, which makes the house smell like the holiday all over again. I suggest takeout for dinner. The kids and my husband all too happily choose Chick-fil-A. 🙂

Tuesday: Turkey and dumplings soup using the turkey broth I made yesterday! I honestly look forward to this soup every year more than I do Thanksgiving dinner.

This year even my family made me feel good about it, ha! My husband said, “Wow, it tastes like it cooked all day, I don’t know how you made it so fast.” Even better, my son gobbled up the dumplings and ate trace amounts of the vegetables surrounding them. I mentally vow to remember this as comfort on the nights when things don’t go as well.

Wednesday: I really don’t know what to make, but remember a funny story my step-son told me about a friend of his finding my lemon broccoli pasta recipe and mentioning how good it was, not realizing it was from his step-Mom’s website. I decide to try making a creamy version of that pasta.

At first the sauce looks iffy, but after some extra whisking and simmering it comes together and actually tastes really good. I’ll probably test it a couple more times and aim to publish the recipe early next year.

Thursday: Slow cooker pineapple chicken! I’ve been wanting to nail down a Crockpot version of my stovetop pineapple chicken, because my kids like the fruit and the peppers, and with an increasingly busy after-school sports schedule, I can never have too many Crockpot meals.

I’ve tested the slow cooker version twice before, so I decide to take photos this time. This said, I’m always still nervous that it won’t come out, or that my family will change their minds about liking it, and then I’ll have cold feet about publishing it to the blog. Fortunately it’s still a winner. Recipe coming soon!

Friday: Pizza night! I’ll throw together a simple salad and we’ll probably get takeout, although I’m thinking about going out — I hit a big blogging milestone this week, as well as a personal milestone (teaching my first group fitness class since obtaining my CPT in November). And if there’s one thing I know as I get older, it’s the importance of taking time to celebrate the little wins! Woohoo!

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

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