What's For Dinner? May Week 1

First here's some pictures from Friday's dinner at The Olive Garden for Grandpa's birthday.

Lovely.

Soph wore one of her summer dresses since it was so nice out. Love this face. :)
Haha - this expression cracks me up.
Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Straws are fun!

Happy girl. She was totally posing for the camera whenever Grandma wanted to get a picture. And I managed to distract her long enough to get a bow in her hair without her noticing. But she found it and pulled it out towards the end of dinner.

Here's a review of last week's Weelicious meals. On a 1-5 scale where 5 is high/good:

1) Fajitas - 4 (good but could use a little more kick)

2) Mac chicken 'n cheese bites - 3 (fair)

3) Balsamic chicken - 5 (wonderful flavor and super moist - I grilled it on the panini grill)

I spoke too soon about Sophie and her wonderful eating habits. The girl has taken a slight detour for the worse, but we're working around it and persistently exposing her to lots of things and keeping meal time stable. She has taken to being very noisy (babbling, yelling, whining) at meal time and also refusing quite a bit more. She likes her dairy and does pretty good with a handful of fruits, veggies and grains. She prefers legumes to meat and tends to turn her nose up at red or orange fruits and vegetables (except winter squash and sweet potatoes). Whatev. I'm not that easy to break down. It just takes a little persistance and creativity, right?

On the menu this week:

1) Chicken, peach & bell peppers skewers - (http://weelicious.com/2009/08/12/chicken-peach-bell-pepper-skewers/). I call them "kabobs" and I used nectarine instead of peaches 'cause Meijer didn't have peaches this week. They were pretty good! I'd give them a 4.5, I think. I cut up the chicken into chunks on Thursday night after grocery shopping and froze it until Saturday night when I pulled it out again to thaw. Then I cut up the peppers and nectarines Sunday and marinated everything for several hours during the day. In the evening, I skewered it and grilled it on the open-faced, panini grill before finishing under the broiler.

2) Big salads with sauteed chicken strips and white beans and a balsamic and dijon mustard vinegarette. This has been posted here many times. It's an easy favorite. Again, I cut up the chicken into strips on Thursday at the same time as the kabob chunks and then froze it. Now I'm going to just saute the chicken and prepare the salads on Monday night.

3) Lasagna - mom's recipe. Basic and delicious. I divided the 13x9 recipe into two square bakers again to put one in the freezer and not have excessive leftovers.

4) Homemade granola bars - (http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/energy-boost-bars-688876/). Again, I know I've posted this one before. They're easy and tasty. I like to pack them for work with a yogurt and Will eats them for lunch or snack. All my square bakers are currently in use in the freezer or with the lasagna this week, so I just pressed it into a pie plate and that worked out fine.

P.S. - I've been told by at least three people that they've adopted a more organized method of weekly meal planning and/or regular "cook-ahead nights" since reading my posts each week! Hooray! Good for you! It makes the week so much easier. And I enjoy writing about food so you can bet I'll keep these posts coming. Please don't hesitate to share any great recipes, websites, links, etc. in the comments. :)