I’ve seen a lot of people requesting meal ideas on social media the past week. So, I thought I would start sharing what we eat each week. I am going to disclose that, as much as I like to eat, I don’t love to cook. (I’ve never met a recipe with five ingredients or less, I don’t love!) My goal with family dinner is to get something healthy and affordable on the table each night. I try to mix up our meals a bit and introduce new foods to the kids, but I also tend to follow a pattern to keep things easy. We haven’t starved yet!!!
Every Sunday I write out a menu for the week, order groceries on-line (which I’m currently not doing?) and then pick up groceries on Monday morning. Due to the Coronavirus Crisis, I’ve altered this routine by shopping for items in the store myself and trying to keep about two weeks of groceries on hand, to limit trips. (I’ve never been much for stockpiling groceries, but I am trying to be a little more organized right now.)
I’d love to hear what your families have been eating. If you feel like sharing, drop a Comment below!
Here’s what we ate for dinner last week:
Sunday
Fried Eggs & Toast
Sunday at our house is typically “breakfast for dinner”. Tonight, my husband made fried eggs and I made the toast.
Monday
Spinach & Tomato Spaghetti
Monday night is typically “spaghetti/pasta night”. You can find the Spinach & Tomato Spaghetti recipe in our 5 EASY Week Night Family Meals post.
Tuesday
Oven Beef Stew
Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day and even though we were social distancing, I wanted to do a little something to mark the holiday. Despite it not being authentic Irish Stew, I made “Oven Beef Stew” from our A Hearty Beef Stew for a Cold Winter’s Night post. It’s great with crusty bread and my daughter also made brownies as a fun dessert. (We don’t typically eat dessert, so this was an indulgence. We were on Spring Break, right?!?)
Wednesday
Baked Chicken Breasts with Roasted Potatoes, Onions & Peppers
I ended up with some leftover potatoes that I didn’t use in the beef stew, so I used them for Wednesday’s meal. You could make this a one-sheet pan meal, but I cooked the chicken separately from the roasted potatoes. I placed the chicken on the middle rack and the potatoes on the lower rack in the oven.
Chicken
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Olive oil, butter or other cooking oil
Seasoning to taste
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush cooking oil on the chicken breasts and sprinkle with seasonings of your choice. Depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts bake for 15-20 minutes. (You can also pound the chicken breasts to make them thinner, if they’re really thick.) If you like the skin a little crispier, turn on the broiler for the last few minutes of baking.
Roasted Potatoes with Onions & Peppers
4 medium sized potatoes, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper & Dried Thyme to taste
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine the potatoes, peppers and onion on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive and salt, pepper and thyme and then toss to coat. Bake for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.
Thursday
Shrimp Scampi, Broccoli, and Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits
This is what I call our “Red Lobster” meal night. Frozen shrimp was on sale at the grocery store. In addition to the Shrimp Scampi, my daughter made Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits from a box mix (which I bake at the same time as the shrimp) and I heated up some frozen broccoli in the microwave.
Shrimp Scampi
1 pound peeled and deveined medium or large shrimp
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons seafood, chicken or vegetable broth (you could also use white wine)
kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup softened butter
2 tablespoons Italian breadcrumbs
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place the peeled and deveined shrimp in a baking dish. Melt the butter in the microwave, mix in the broth, garlic, salt and pepper and then pour the mixture over the shrimp. Sprinkle the shrimp with the breadcrumbs and bake until the shrimp are opaque throughout, 15 to 18 minutes.
Friday
Pizza
Friday night is pizza night at our house. Sometimes we make it at home, sometimes it’s frozen and sometimes it’s delivery or take out. On this particular Friday, we made it ourselves, using a pre-made crust. The kids had a pizza: ½ pepperoni ½ cheese and the adults had a pizza: pepperoni, roasted red pepper, red onion, and black olive.
Pizza
2 cans Pillsbury™ refrigerated thin pizza crust
2 cups pizza sauce (1 cup per pizza – add as much or as little as you like depending on how saucy you like your pizza)
1 package sliced pepperoni (1/2 package per pizza)
1 can sliced black olives (drained)
2 tablespoons diced red onion
2 tablespoon diced roasted red pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (1 cup per pizza)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (1 tablespoon per pizza)
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray or grease 15×10-inch or larger dark or nonstick cookie sheet. Unroll dough on cookie sheet. Starting at center, press dough into 15×10-inch rectangle. (You can use a round pizza sheet and trim the excess dough.) Spread pizza sauce over crust to within 1/2 inch of edges. Top with pepperoni, toppings of your choice and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 8 to 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.
Saturday
Take Out
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but this mama doesn’t cook on Saturday nights. We typically go out to eat or order out on Saturday nights. Now that restaurants are limited to only serve drive-thru or take-out, we chose take-out for Saturday night’s meal. The main concern with purchasing take-out is the packaging. I recommend removing the packaging from your take-out food and serving your entrees on your own dishes. Be sure to thoroughly wash your hands, after handling the packaging and before eating. And, be sure to wipe down any kitchen surfaces where the food packaging touched.
There you have it. Not too exciting, but I hope it helps you out with some of your own dinner ideas!
