I have an ongoing note in my phone’s notes app with meal ideas and our favorite dinners we like to keep on repeat. Each entry is the name of the meal with ingredients listed. Sometimes I will find a random line in there somewhere that says something like, “cold udon noodle salad???” that makes me think I wanted to make a cold udon noodle salad at some point but wasn’t sure what to put in it.
I thought a nice addition to this ongoing note would be a photographic component, so I wanted to start posting a week’s work of dinners on my website. Maybe someone else will visit and get some ideas.
Sunday: Watermelon & Arugula Salad
We picked arugula from my in-law’s garden (it’s growing like crazy) and topped it with local tomatoes, watermelon, avocado, roasted sunflower & pumpkin seeds and fat-free feta cheese. I made a balsamic reduction by buying a cheap[er] bottle of regular balsamic vinegar and reducing it on the stovetop with a squirt of honey for about 30 minutes. Also drizzled with olive oil and served with some baked seasoned chicken breast.
A quick note about fat free cheese – I almost always use fat free. I don’t like the way full fat cheese makes me feel, and I like a lot of cheese so I almost exclusively use fat free feta from Wegmans (the BEST and only brand I’ll buy) or fat free cheddar and mozzarella from Kraft.
Monday: Kale Salad with Salmon
I was obviously very excited to eat this because I only snapped a picture of my second plate 🙂 In our favorite kale salad goes: kale massaged with evoo, apples, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, feta (fat free again from Wegmans), roasted sunflower seeds and reduced-sugar Craisins. The reduced sugar variety has artificial sweeteners and fiber added, and I prefer them to regular.
Tuesday: Watermelon & Arugula Salad [AGAIN]
This is not a typo. I really set out to do 7 different meals this week, but this salad is OH SO GOOD. We also had a bag of arugula that needed to be used, and we had all the ingredients for this salad otherwise. To make this even easier if possible, I stopped at Trader Joe’s to buy some lemon pepper grilled chicken and it went perfectly.
Wednesday: Pan-fried Cod with Miso Rice & Chard
I buy frozen cod from Wegmans (for about $8.50/lb) and defrost it 36-48 hours before using. Our favorite way to prepare it (other than in fish tacos!) is to lightly coat it with potato starch and then pan fry. I find that 10/10 times potato starch works better than cornstarch to form a crispy skin and LOCK in moisture. Highly suggest doing this if you don’t already!
For the miso rice, I bought a brown rice blend from Trader Joe’s that I prepare according to package directions, but I’ve used many other varieties of rice like this. I make a miso slurry (sounds gross but that’s the technical term) before boiling by taking about 1/4 cup water and whisking in 2 tablespoons white miso paste until it dissolves then fill the rest of the water in. I always drizzle olive oil in before bringing it to a boil.
Thursday: Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Thighs & Broccoli Salad
I made a doctored up BBQ sauce by combining some Memphis BBQ sauce from Wegmans, dijon, Worcestershire, ketchup and apple cider vinegar and threw in about 1 lb of chicken thighs in my slow cooker around 7:15 am on high. My husband texted me around 10:00 saying the slow cooker had died LOL so he put the stuff in a container and we heated it up later. Turns out it was done at 10:00 anyway.
We made a lighter broccoli salad with broccoli, carrots, red cabbage, red onion, craisins and sliced almonds with a yogurt based dressing. I also whipped up some of my cornbread which takes about 30 minutes total.
Friday: Pesto Spaghetti & Chicken Cutlets
By Friday I really want something easy, so we threw a pesto together in the Vitamix (basil, olive oil, locatelli, almonds, salt + pepper, lime juice) and I made chicken cutlets that I could do in my sleep. My favorite summer meal by a long shot.
Saturday: Jersey Tomato Summer Pasta
Pasta again because… why not? Trying to live my best life over here. We used some local tomatoes we had and did a quick sauce with them, basil, onion, garlic, olive oil, lime and red wine vinegar. Did chicken breast in potato starch because it’s a religion over here, and some roasted asparagus.
All in all a pretty good week of eats! We typically cook together, so meals take us about 30-40 minutes to prepare. If it were just me, I reckon it would take longer but wouldn’t be impossible! Also — I HAD to include the banana whip we made for dessert Friday. 2 bananas + a splash of almond milk + cinnamon. Tasted literally like banana soft serve.
Happy eating 🙂