On our menu: Chopped salads, seafood, Instant Pot meals, some pre-made shortcut dishes and more. Hopefully something below pops out at you and makes it onto your weekly menu soon!
Week of Weeknight Meals: February 2023
Monday: Greek-Inspired Chopped Salad with Baked Chicken
This chopped salad was what fresh and nutrient-dense dreams are made of and the only reason it happened was because I meal planned. If you think I would’ve taken the time to chop up all that stuff at the end of the day when things feel chaotic, you’re sorely mistaken! Instead I chopped up all the veggies after I picked up Ryder from preschool and he and Rhett were entertaining each other in the early afternoon. Having all the veggies ready made the rest of the meal a breeze! In the salad: Chopped tomatoes, olives, cucumber, red bell pepper, artichokes, fresh parsley, black-eyed peas (random, I know) and feta cheese. I tossed it all with bottled balsamic dressing we had in the fridge and sliced chicken breasts. (I marinated the chicken breasts in a combination of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano and garlic powder and baked them at 350-degrees until they were cooked through.) Also, I titled this meal Greek-inspired chopped salad because that’s what it seemed like to me but I really have no idea what it should be called because the ingredients were all over the place. It was a winner though!
On the boys’ plates: I honestly don’t know because Ryan was in charge of the boys’ dinners on Monday night. I had a preschool board meeting to attend and forgot to ask him what he made!
This meal likely looks familiar if you read my Valentine’s Day recap! I still swear by ALDI’s wild caught tuna (found in the frozen section) — it’s only $6! — and we used it to make Everything Bagel Seared Tuna and served it along with sesame ginger broccoli, edamame and a warm baguette we heated in the oven and served with butter. My recipe for sesame ginger broccoli is my all-time favorite way to make broccoli and I joke that I could eat an entire pound of it because I love it so much. I think Rhett agrees because he’s been all about that broccoli since he was a baby!
On the boys’ plates: Shrimp, edamame, broccoli (from the above recipe), bread and butter
Ryan had a work event on Wednesday night and usually on his work dinner nights I’ll do something like breakfast for dinner for myself or even oatmeal but I planned to make a salmon salad for myself when I did my meal planning and that actually sounded delicious! Another win for meal planning! I prepared the salmon in the air fryer and placed it on top of a bagged chopped Asian salad mix along with avocado. Simple and tasty!
On the boys’ plates: Scrambled eggs, toast with butter and jelly, bell pepper slices and clementines
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Thursday: Chicken Grain Bowls
This meal was semi-homemade thanks to a few shortcuts. I first prepared Kevin’s Thai-Style Coconut Chicken in a skillet. (Worth noting: We’ve made Kevin’s chicken meals in the past and preparing it on the stovetop vs. in the microwave is the way to go!) I then added a frozen Asian quinoa mix I bought from Publix that included brown rice, bell pepper, peas and squash. Gotta love a super-easy dinner!
On the boys’ plates: Quesadillas, carrot slices, apple slices and grapes
This meal appeared on my list of Blogger Recipes I Make Again and Again and clearly it’s still one I turn to quite often! We love this recipe so much because it’s simple to make (especially if you use pre-chopped frozen broccoli which I always do). We served our chicken and broccoli with a side of brown rice and loved every bite!
On the boys’ plates: Macaroni and cheese, broccoli (from the above recipe) and blueberries
Question of the Day
What was your favorite meal of the week last week?
