What's For Dinner? Week 4

It's shaping up to be a yummy week!

But first, here's a couple pictures from last week of my oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies and sweet 'n sour stir fry.

And of Will being a goof while eating plums at dinner.

On the menu this week:

(I'm going to start with Saturday because technically the weekend is like the beginning of the week when it comes to my meal planning.)

1) Blueberry almond pancakes for breakfast on Saturday morning. I used this Weelicious recipe as the framework, but then I used frozen blueberries instead of raspberries and added 1/4 cup of finely chopped almonds and 1/2 tsp of almond extract. They went well with sliced bananas and yogurt.

The kids LOVE yogurt.

Will got to practice using his little knife and fork to cut his pancakes.

2) On Saturday evening, Steve, Kelly & Celia came over and we had a "potluck" dinner before the guys went off to a diaper party and Kelly and the kids and I hung out. Kelly made the most delicious grilled chicken with avocado, tomato and cucumber salsa from Cooking Light. Oh, it was SO good! I contributed a big tossed salad and a coconut and mint chocolate ice cream dessert.

3) On Sunday, we had that wedding party to go to and ate a late lunch, so Craig and I waited till after the kids were fed and in bed to enjoy his favorite: taco salad for dinner.

Will and I made an extra quick trip to the grocery store after our library visit to pick up a variety of fruit and some other odds and ends. Here's Sophie eating some cherries, blueberries and grapes, some cheese toast, and some zucchini and summer squash. She did okay with this meal, but it just depends on the day.

Here is the best depiction of my meal prep efforts from Friday evening. What isn't shown is the pot of soup that I took out to the garage fridge until I plan to serve it and also a container of sauteed mushrooms and roasted red peppers that I was still working on.

The stack on the left is: cooked, torn chicken pieces, sundried tomato pesto, and fresh grated parmesan cheese for our pasta. On the right: fresh shredded, smoky, white cheddar, cooked and crumbled bacon pieces, diced red onion, and chopped cilantro for our tortilla soup. Everything's ready to go to assemble the meal very quickly.

4) So tonight we had the bow tie pasta with chicken and sundried tomato pesto. It's from a home magazine - can't remember which - but I'll try to include the recipe when I have time. Basically, you just cook 8oz of the pasta according to package directions, add 1 cup of peas during the last two minutes of cooking time, reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water, drain and return to pot. Add 1 1/2 cups sauteed mushrooms, 1 cup diced roasted red pepper (you could substitue whatever vegetables you choose), 2 cups chicken, pesto and parmesan. I made the pesto according to the recipe, but you could probably buy that. This picture isn't going to win any photography awards (I should've plated some of it first instead of taking a picture of the pot, but I was in a hurry), but here is the finished product:

Super yummy and, with the prep done, it comes together very quickly.

5) Chicken Tortilla Soup with Chipotle and Fire Roasted Tomato. I know I've linked this before 'cause it's definitely a fave. I made the soup and prepped all the toppings so there's nothing to do but warm it up on the stove top. Ya, it would be nice if the bacon pieces were warm and just cooked, but if you stir them into the soup, they'll warm up and it's way easier than cooking the bacon on the weeknight. So we'll probably do this on Wednesday? I have leftovers of both the taco salad and the pasta still that I can use one night or pack for lunches.

6) And finally, because I bought a whole package of bacon (to use some for the soup) and also a bunch of tomatoes for the taco salad, I'm probably going to do BLT's on Friday night after I pick up some fresh avocado (on Thursday at the store) to slice up in the sandwiches.

Mmm! This is a good week! :) Now if only the kids would wholeheartedly agree... stinkers.

Happy eating!