Weeknight roundup
If you’re anything like me, you may tend to put pressure on yourself to cook even when life feels really full. For me, as much as I love frequenting and supporting restaurants, I feel fulfilled making our meals because I know exactly what’s in each dish and I enjoy the accomplishment of creating something out of raw ingredients.
That said, when I’m stressed, I'm just not as creative. The bursts of inspiration don’t come as easily and I can become paralyzed when trying to make decisions. Fortunately, last week John stepped in to help me think through a weekly meal plan that allowed us to cook a lot, but focus on easy things. Being able to step into a more execution role helped ease a lot of my stress and we got to eat some delicious stuff.
Also, for the sake of transparency, I spent $115 for everything. This was groceries for two people to have 7-8 meals, which ends up being $7-8/meal. While I’m not great with budgets or math in general, I think is a pretty good price per person for a true variety of homemade meals so wanted to share.
Here’s what we made:
Monday - This was the day I went to the store after work. It was a big haul because I wanted to avoid running back out, so we ordered pizza for dinner when I got home. As John says to me daily, “don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”
Tuesday
Lunch: Mom’s BLT Salad. This was tasty and easy, and also allowed me to use up some bacon we had leftover in a fresh way.
Dinner: Chrissy Teigen’s Pad Grapow with steak, also know as Thai Basil Beef to us. This is a really fun and easy weeknight meal — it literally takes less than 30 minutes to make everything, including rice. The official recipe comes from her Cravings cookbook, which you should get, but it’s also available here. You can do chicken, shrimp or steak, and you can use regular or Thai basil. Also, I could not find oyster sauce recently and subbed for hoisin, which was just fine.
Wednesday
Lunch: Hot Ham & Swiss on Rye with Dijon and mayo. This was very much a non-recipe sandwich, but I spread some mayo and Dijon on both sides of the bread for each sandwich, layered with thinly sliced deli ham and topped with Swiss cheese. Then, I melted some butter in a nonstick skillet and placed the sandwiches in the pan to toast. I did a medium low heat and placed something heavy on top to make sure they pressed together and the cheese melted. I’d say this took about 5-10 minutes per side — low and slow is key here!
Dinner: This was a night we were supposed to cook, but by the time I realized we lacked capers and miso for the other two meals planned, it was too late. Sometimes you can’t have it all, but we had leftover pizza from Monday and a simple salad which was also great and easy.
Thursday
Lunch: Egg Salad on Toast, a household favorite. This could absolutely be made the day before, but I never plan that far ahead. It comes together quickly if you’re more like me. Also, I’ve shifted to toasting the bread without any fat on it and this works well and is a bit lighter.
Dinner: Colu Henry’s Miso Salmon via NYT Cooking. This is truly so delicious and easy — the salmon and green beans cook together on a sheet pan in 15-20 minutes and if you’re enjoying with rice, you can start that first so everything is done at the same time.
Friday
Lunch: Turkey & Ham Sandwiches with BA’s Lemon Herb Mayo on Rye. I don’t care how you feel about sandwiches or mayo, this is literally the best thing I’ve ever made. Not the whole sandwich, but this mayo. It’s also a fantastic way to use leftover tender herbs even after they start to wilt. I decided not to toast the bread and added some sliced tomato, red onion and romaine. It was great and more importantly, easy.
Dinner: We ended up getting takeout while enjoying a bonfire outside because sometimes plans are meant to be broken (can I get an amen?).
Saturday - BA’s Chicken Piccata with casual red-skinned mashed potatoes and roasted balsamic Brussels sprouts for dinner. This truly is a great weeknight meal and we meant to make it sooner, but was also delicious on a weekend evening and not too much work, time or cleanup. If you are making during the week, you could easily skip the mashed potatoes to keep it lighter or make your life easier. Pair with whatever roasted vegetable you like and make the full amount of sauce even if you half the chicken like me.
