Eats at our house
I haven't done one of these in a while, but here are a week's worth of meals from our house.
May has been kind of a crazy month for us, but I have mostly managed to keep making dinner, so yay!
One
Chipotle chicken kabobs with cilantro dipping sauce (from the ATK Quick Family Cookbook)
mashed sweet potatoes
honeydew melon
Two
ham (which I'd frozen after Easter)
applesauce (homemade, frozen last fall)
peach, blueberry, and lettuce salad (a variation on this strawberry salad, with the same dressing)
Three
Chicken Pomodoro (from the ATK Quick Family Cookbook)
mashed golden potatoes
watermelon
Four
steamed broccoli
cantaloupe
Five
Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches (a Cook's Illustrated recipe)
croissants from Aldi
cantaloupe
Six
Pizza That I Did Not Make Myself
Seven
A date night, also comprised of food I did not make myself. 😉
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I think pretty much everything in this post that required a recipe was from Cook's Illustrated or America's Test Kitchen. Par for the course. 😉
This month, the from the ATK Quick Family Cookbook has been saving me because it's got lots of good recipes that don't take hours to make. Knowing I have a quick recipe to make for dinner seriously helps to keep me from ordering takeout.
If I think I have 90 minutes of cooking ahead, I want to throw in the towel on a busy day. But if there's a short-ish ingredient list and a promise of 30-45 minutes or so in the kitchen, I'm much more likely to stick with the plan and make dinner myself.
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What have you been eating lately? Any good eats you want to share in the comments?
Just got back from my honeymoon, and I'm trying to recreate dishes I enjoyed abroad. The first one was just a basic crudite salad: thinly julienned pieces of celery, carrot, zucchini, red pepper, and cucumber dressed in white wine vinegar, a touch of olive oil (so the vinegar is a bit more prominent than usual), and s/p. So refreshing next to grilled chicken and couscous, and none of this requires turning on an oven or stovetop.
Welcome back, and ay the next years be filled with jo and patience. God bless you all.
Let's see, this week like so many has been kind of haphazard thanks to either a certain pregnant woman who may or may not be my wife (though she is getting better at eating stuff now that she's at the half way point. This was compounded by the fact that we had <80F with high humidity so cooking indoors some days was impossible.
Monday we ate at our pastor's house as he threw a BBQ for Memorial Day.
Tuesday was comprised of tossed salad, corn on the cob and baked potatoes.
Wednesday we did homemade pizza.
Thursday we grilled chicken and had homemade french fries thanks to the fact that the potatoes were starting to sprout and needed to be used up ASAP.
Friday was leftovers. It was an easy day.
We have been switching over to a lot more summer foods. We have had bean burgers, salads, and my favorite low country boil.
ATK Quick Family Kitchen is on sale at the ATK site for $10 right now, down from $35:
http://americastestkitchen.buysub.com/homepage/quick-family-cookbook-bks.html
Oh wow! Awesome deal!
Thanks for this! Just ordered three - one for me, one for a daughter who doesn't cook, and one for a daughter who does, but just added a new baby to the mix. 🙂
I've been struggling with 40 hour workweeks after knee surgery - it's getting easier, but I am taking lots of shortcuts!
http://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/2015/06/semi-homemade-meals.html
I think that's a perfectly valid excuse for some shortcuts!
My go-to place for recipes is CookingLight.com. Not just because their recipes are lower in calories, but because of their focus on fresh ingredients. That, plus every single Cooking Light recipe I've ever made has turned out to be very, very tasty.
We cook at home five out of seven nights. Friday nights are usual fast casual (anyplace with great food where you line up to pay, and get a number to take back and display at your table in return :-). Saturday nights are for entertaining or fancy dining out. Love getting dressed up to go out on a date with my husband. of 30+ years.
Love your white platters! Very elegant. Can you tell us what brand they are? Thanks, Kath
Well, my big square one is from Pier One Imports. The smaller ones, I have no idea about, as I picked them up at Goodwill!
I don't have that ATK cookbook! I love their cookbooks. Hm. But I have SO MANY cookbooks.
Here's a question I've always wondered when you post meal pictures. Are your pictures typically the entirety of the food your family will eat for dinner? I know every family is different, and I'm just being nosy, really. It's just that my kids are younger than yours and I'm wondering if maybe they eat quite a bit 🙂 (inherited from their high-metabolism dad, I suspect).
It depends...sometimes yes, sometimes no. In the chicken pomodoro picture, for example, that WAS the amount of chicken I made, and it was enough for us. There were more quesadillas than pictured, though.
No one in my family is a HUGE eater, and no one is a football-player size either, so I guess that makes sense that our appetites aren't crazy huge.
I just received ATK Quick Family cookbook last week. I have made the lemony chicken soup (but with limes, as I had them on hand), the easy spinach alfredo lasagna and the haystack cookies. I'm glad for the speedy recipes, and I love the tips and extra info even as an experienced cook). I think I will order the book on sale for my younger sister, who is less experienced. 🙂 I have enjoyed getting to know ATK through your site, and last night we even watched a couple of episodes on Amazon Prime. (I saw my husband make a note on his phone, where he keeps a list of gift ideas for me!)
Mmmm, your food looks delicous! I need to do better with the side dishes and veggies. Been doing well getting food on the table even when I work--I work part-time until 6 or 8 pm a few nights a week, so I need to have leftovers or a crockpot ready to go. We looove the ATK slow cooker beef barley stew and the kale and white bean stew (both from the Make-Ahead Cook).
I also made, from the same book, quinoa patties with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. They were yummy but hard to make and the patties fell apart, so Mr. FP suggested that next time, I try making them like hash browns--just fill the skillet!
Tonight we had my favorite quick dinner, pasta and beans with broccoli on the side. I also mixed bread dough today to bake for a quick "stuff on bread" dinner on Wednesday.
I LOVE cooking and grocery shopping/couponing.. but the last month + has been ridiculous with end of the year school events, committments and 2x weekly TKD classes.. Now that school is out and I am off work until fall( work in a preschool).. I am able to get back into more of a cooking groove.
Recent meals have been pulled together from random things in the freezer and pantry...
Pasta Parmasean night- jarred sauce, box of noodles, vegitarian *chicken* patties, served with whatever fresh fruit was in the fridge
Taco Night- browned a bag of ground beef, added soft taco shells, cheeses, sour cream, fresh fruits
Grill- inlaws brough over chicken, salad, noodles and corn- I just helepd prepare/cook it all!
Tonight we had lasagna- with a high of 60 today it was PERFECT to pull ingrediants from pantry, fridge and freezer! Also in my heat up the house mode- kids had banana sour cream muffins for breakfast ( with watermelon and hot chocolate), I mixed, rose and baked 2 loaves of Amish bread, and made 2 batches of cookies to go into the freezer for a hot day!
I just baked up my second batch of your homemade granola bar recipe this week. The kids love it and they are great for lunchbox packing.
With the end of the school year and getting ready for vacation, I am trying to clean out the pantry and fridge a bit. I find myself doing some of my easy fallback meals -- tortellini with broccoli and white beans; Mexican bowls with refried beans, chicken, guacamole, cheese and pico de gallo; tuna melt paninis; easy quiche. Sometimes simple is good!
Wow, everything really looks fantastic. I love your bacon and cheddar quesadillas. One of my favorite recipes for a delicious snack at the moment. Looking forward to your next posts!
Best wishes, Sylvie