Hi and good morning! How are you and how has your past week/weekend been? We are back after a whirlwind 9 days in the islands and miraculously… no sunburns for anyone! My head is spinning with all the stories and pictures I want to share and the questions I received on IG that I want to answer. I’m sure it will take some time to comb through it all and organize it in a digestible way, and I look forward to doing just that over the coming weeks.
We returned the boat on Saturday morning and squeezed in an additional 24 hours on St. Thomas because, why not?! However, it didn’t have us getting home until close to 11:30 last night, which was a stretch for everyone. Especially because I didn’t learn my lesson about needing a grace day (or week?) to ease back into real life and have Hailey scheduled for a 3 hour allergist appt and the chiropractor for both of us today, not to mention needing groceries and to figure out how to pick up our crazy pup that we’ve all missed so much!
Needless to say, busy day and week ahead, but that’s a-ok. I’m feeling refreshed and revived from our time away, ready to hit the ground running… starting with a literal boat load of laundry. But first, catching up with sharing our meals with you…
Monday
A family favorite- marinated chicken and noodles! Pro tips: pound the chicken to an even 1″ before putting it in the marinade, double the marinade because the sauce is the best part, and grill the chicken in the weather allows. I used egg noodles and served with roasted green beans.
Tuesday
I needed a hands off dinner so meatballs and Rao’s marinara in the slow cooker for 4 hours it was! However, I was out of my favorite Butcher Box meatballs, so I grabbed the 6 lb bag of frozen Costco meatballs. I liked the size of the meatballs, but found them to be fairly salty. An IG friend said her family felt the same way, like it had too much seasoning. Just a personal preference, I suppose!
Wednesday
David had a 24 hour work trip and Wednesday are already our busy day with co-op and back to back soccer. Since it was also packing week, I gave myself a pass and we rode through Chick-fil-A at 8:30 PM for dinner. I got the spicy chicken sandwich and lamented the fact that we are out of the kid meal phase as both kids ordered #1 meals.
Thursday
Why has no one sent me a comment telling me I’ve been missing out on the ease of ground chicken? I got some in my most recent Butcher Box. It comes in a 24 oz log and I turned it into quick chicken patties. I added chives and parsley from the counter gardens, a dollop of mayo, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. I formed them into patties and pan fried them in some olive oil for about 4 minutes on each side. SO SIMPLE. The flavor was good, though I’ll add even more seasoning next time. I served it with reheated rice, roasted broccoli and green beans, and avocado. With a drizzle of ranch for the burger added post-pic.
Friday
Our first night on the boat! David grilled burger on the grill on the back, Kaitlyn made mac ‘n cheese (her favorite and her specialty), and I washed some greens we got for a super simple salad.
Saturday
Night two on the boat we hadn’t planned on eating aboard, but plans shifted and we found ourselves anchored for the night beside Salt Island, with no restaurant. No problem! Spaghetti with marinara and some grilled chicken did the trick.
After Saturday, we pretty much switched to eating most dinners out; what a break and a treat that was for me. And that’s a wrap! I hope you have an energetic and peaceful Monday; more soon! 🙂
