Tag Archives: meal planning

second week of fresh 20

Last week we went with one of the spring menus from Fresh 20. A lot of the summer menus want use of a grill, so we went with a do-able spring menu instead. Although, we could probably just cook our food out on the front sidewalk in the burning evening sun, am I right? We were able to make all 5 dinners, since there were no business trips for the guy, yay!

Dinner one- pretty simple. Porkchops, farro, and kale. I have never had farro before, but I really liked it. Also, just learned that farro is a confusing grain.

Dinner two- predictable meat, grain, and veggie combo. Salmon, couscous, and asparagus. We got crazy and made watermelon balls! Cookbook can’t hold us back.

Dinner three- steak and kale salad with couscous. I was a little worried about the raw kale, but after the lemon juice and salt, I kind of roughed it up with a spoon, and it softened up pretty good. I had leftovers for lunch the next day that were also very satisfactory.

Dinner four- its 100+ degrees outside, but we still made some soup and quesadillas with leftover porkchops. We may have been sweating in the kitchen a bit, but it was worth it.

Dinner five- spinach strata with crumbled bread and goat cheese on top. We paired it with some sliced veggies, and even more melon balls! Also, my newest creation, apple sticks (apple slices cut into long skinny pieces). I think they will be all the rage soon. We had the leftover strata for breakfast the next morning, and it was still pretty tasty for being reheated eggs.

So week two went well! It is fun to try all the new types of foods, and it is definitely good to know what is yummy or quick to make for the future. We are also learning more about what flavors go better with different things, which is something I have never really put a lot of thought into. On to the next week!

first week of fresh 20

Last week, we used one of the weekly menus from the Fresh 20 cookbook. We tried out one of the summer weeks, since we are in the middle of summer obvi.

Everything we made was pretty tasty. We generally eat fairly low carb and higher protein, so we made a couple modifications. We also only made 4 of the meals, since the guy was out of town one evening, and I just ate leftovers.

Dinner number one- turkey, salami, and cheese pita sandwich, with cut up veggies. Simple and classic, and super fast.

Dinner two- pizza with polenta crust. This was a new experiment for me, and I think it turned out pretty good. I added some leftover salami to the pizza to add a little something extra.

Dinner three- salmon salad pita sandwiches and some berries. This was super yummy, and surprisingly little work. I bet this would be pretty good cold for lunch the next day too.

Our fourth dinner was stuffed turkey burgers, but we used lean beef instead, and omitted the bread. I failed to take a picture, probably because I was extra hungry that day.

We missed out on what looks like a deconstructed spring roll recipe, but we will try it next time, and probably add shrimp to it.

All in all, we enjoyed it very much! I sometimes worry about trying new recipes on weeknights, because they always seem to take longer than planned. But these were all actually pretty quick and easy. We are trying one of the spring menus this week. We’ll see how that goes!

a new toy

I am really nerdy about grocery lists. I plan out our meals for the week and optimize our ingredients. Every week, I make our list and email it to my guy for approval and revisions. I think it is a skill that may come in handy someday, especially once we have a growing family.

I have been anxiously awaiting my new cookbook all week. I am really excited to take my hobby to the next level.