What's For Dinner? Week 4

You know, with a full work day for us and a day with a sitter for the kids, dinner time is really our main interaction/time together as a family each day. I know the older they get, the harder it will be to keep dinner time sacred, but for now it is so important to me that we eat a good meal together each evening. When I walk in the door after picking up the kids at 5:15-ish, there isn't much down time before I'm jumping into getting a meal on the table. The amount of effort that takes varies depending on the meal, but often it involves my cling-on hanging/whining at my legs until I pick her up. (This week, my latest method of distraction has been to leave a carton of blueberries on the counter and hand her a blueberry each time she comes up to me. :) She happily stuffs it in her mouth and toddles around the kitchen for a bit and then comes back for another.) Then we eat about 6 or 6:30 and immediately after, Sophie gets a bath, books and bedtime! So there's not much time!

Will's usually pretty good about entertaining himself while I'm getting dinner ready. Often he's outside riding his bike while Craig tinkers around in the garage. Then right after Sophie is down, he gets a little more one on one time outside or playing games or reading books.

Okay, onto the menu:

1) Saturday - For lunch I made my very favorite, light, summery meal: white bean dip with baked pita chips and lots of raw veggies for dipping. It's just so fresh and delicious. I added a few slices of cheese and salami as well as some sliced nectarines. (Why, yes, I was famished. Why do you ask? LOL I'd been outside weeding all morning.)

For dinner, I made my favorite Mini Meat Loaves recipe from Cooking Light, fresh steamed green beans, fruit, and I pulled a half of a loaf of that honey wheat bread from the freezer that Will and I made a while back. (I'd cut both loaves in half and froze some for the future.) These individually portioned meat loaves are SO MUCH BETTER than one large loaf - easier to serve, easier to clean up and the best flavor I've tasted in meat loaves. Plus, I make extras of these in smaller (2oz) portions for Will and freeze them (cooked) on a cookie sheet before storing them all together in a gallon bag for an easy last minute dinner. It's one of few meat main dishes I can always count on him eating.

2) Sunday - For our "dinner party" with friends, I made a fresh-squeezed, basil lemonade and a chocolate raspberry pie. The lemonade is super tart so I think it could stand to be diluted more than the recipe says, but the basil adds a surprisingly yummy flavor. At home, I would serve it in a pretty glass pitcher with basil leaves and lemon slices, but for transportation reasons I just brought it in a big plastic pitcher with a lid. And the pie was a super easy, clipped recipe from my old Quick Cooking subscription years ago:

-one chocolate crumb crust

-1/2 cup semisweet chips melted with 1 tsp shortening and smoothed onto bottom of crust

-2 cups of fresh raspberries spooned evenly over chocolate

-1 8oz carton of cool whip spread over the top

-garnish with raspberries and chocolate and refrigerate until serving (the melted chocolate hardens)

Angie made an awesome dinner for us all to enjoy: grilled bruschetta chicken, some awesome fresh veggies cooked in a grill basket, corn on the cob and bread with an olive oil dipping sauce. What a delicious summer meal and a fun night!

3) Monday - A good stand-by: spaghetti and meatballs in the crock pot (mom's/grandma's recipe), salad, bread and fruit. The kids had a ball with the unbroken noodles...

4) Tuesday - Another favorite: grilled chicken with peach salsa, peas, grapes and sliced cheese. I've shared the peach salsa recipe here before but feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment if you want it and can't find it. It's a summer favorite - fresh and delicious.

5) Wednesday - Leftovers.

6) Thursday - Leftovers again... oops... oh well.
7) Friday - Warm chicken salad sandwiches probably with grapes (on the side) and carrot sticks. Recipe shared from my co-worker. It has 5 cups cooked, cubed chicken (duh), 5 cups diced celery, 2.5 cups mayo, 4 tbsp grated onion, 4 tbsp lemon juice mixed together in bottom of 13x9. Then 1 3/4oz slivered almonds, 2 cups shredded cheddar and 2-3 cups crushed potato chips sprinkled on top. Bake to warm through 350 for 20 mins I think? Ha - super healthy. But I'll use light mayo and I serve it on bread instead of croissants (unless I'm serving it to guests), so it's not so bad. And it's sooooo good.