I just did a run-down of last year’s New Year’s Resolutions and — shocker — I barely batted 200. Still don’t drink enough water, still eat too many “incidental” French Fries off the girls’ plates, haven’t gotten any better at forcing myself to call friends instead of text them, never read The Hobbit, which was going to earn me big fun Mom points with Phoebe, which at the time was her favorite book. (I did, however, manage to see the movie — part 2 — last week, so I might just have to put that in the W column.)
It seems that the only thing I manage to accomplish every year, without even resolving to do it, is finding new healthy, one-size-fits-all recipes for the dinner rotation. In 2013, there was the ever-popular Burrito Bowl. There was the Indonesian Chicken Salad. (Which has the added bonus of being just luxurious enough for entertaining.) There was that Mongolian Tofu Stir-fry that falls into the category of Kids Won’t Touch, But I Don’t Care, It’s Just Too Good to Banish.
So the question is: Where should my 2014 Healthy Family Dinner experimenting begin? I’ve been eyeballing that Slow-Roasted Salmon with Citrus, Fennel, and Chiles in the current issue of Bon App, and I’ve been flipping (and flipping) through my go-to Feel Virtuous cookbooks shown above, but I want you guys to weigh in. I mean, it’s January after all and I know I’m not the only one attempting to lighten things up for a little while. So what’s on the menu for your family this month? What’s your favorite go-to easy family dinner that you know will be loved in the DALS house (and in the DALS community)? What’s America’s Next Top Family Dinner? Please swap thoughts in the comment field below and then…let’s all get cooking.
And since it’s not fair to just ask for your help without returning the favor, I thought I’d just share this week’s menu plan with you. I haven’t been in the habit of writing out the week in my Dinner Diary for a while, but for some reason, I’m anticipating post-vacation re-entry to be harder than usual this year (thanks to single-digit temps up here in the Northeast) and simply making a dinner road map for the week already makes me feel a little more in control. Which, of course, is all one big farce.
Anyway, the line-up:
Monday: Andy I and have plans in the city, so we won’t be home for dinner. I have leftover turkey bolognese (page 98 Dinner: A Love Story) in the freezer, so the sitter will thaw that for the girls. (Abby will have it over pasta; Phoebe, pasta-hater still, will have it sloppy-joe style on a bun.) I’ll toss some bagged arugula with feta and a homemade vinaigrette before I leave. That will be their veg.
Tuesday: On our Sunday Shop, we bought a head of cabbage and all the ingredients for a Post-Vacation Guilt Eraser, aka Asian Cabbage Salad with Shrimp or Chicken. (We’ll use shrimp, Trader Joe’s wild frozen shrimp if we don’t have time to pick up fresh.) I’ll try to make the vinaigrette before I take off for the day. (Reminder to NY-area readers: I’m speaking at Asphalt Green at noon on Tuesday!)
Wednesday: We also bought one of Maya Kaimal’s simmer sauces, so I’ll do that with chicken and rice. What I’d really like to do is make it with tofu, but the girls disdain towards bean curd in any form remains as steadfast as it was in 2013.
Thursday: I’ve been craving Anna’s Sausage-Kale-Bean Stew. We might be out of kale by then (there was only one bunch left at the market), but I have some frozen spinach I can use, too. Will try to pick up some kind of crusty bread for the crucial sopping.
Friday Not sure yet. Usually we go out, but since we are out on Monday — and trying to bunker down a bit after all the holiday cavorting — we’ll probably stay in. We have leftover short ribs from entertaining this past weekend, but I’ll probably want that as a fall-back plan next week. In other words, I’ll leave this night in the play-it-by-ear category.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Photo credits: Salmon top right, Ditte Isager; Short Ribs bottom right, Christopher Testani.
For a reliable everyone-will-eat-something weeknight salad…we do what we call a “Cosmos” salad (taken from a restuarant of the same name).
Romaine
Roasted Potato Wedges
Carmelized Onions (red is best, but white/yellow works)
Flank Steak Sauteed
Cherry Tomatos
Ranch Dressing
Parents eat it all, 4 year old eats everything but the onions, 2 year old eats the steak (working on adding potatoes…) You can make it as healthy or not as you want by regulating the amount of dressing & various toppings.
This is hitting our table tonight.
Love the Mongolian tofu stir fry. We usually add a bag of TJ’s Asian stir fry veggies and serve with brown rice. Kid won’t eat tofu, but will eat the veg and rice. The following is not “light” fare, but it’s my new mac n cheese recipe. Love that the pasta is not cooked before it goes in the oven: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/04/dining/041wrex.html
Beans and greens. Over rice or farro, or with pasta, or in a soup. Kale, collards, and chickpeas with chermoula; a salad of endive and escarole dipped in Tuscan-style cranberry beans, slow cooked in the oven. With Greek seasonings (feta!) or with Indian spices.
Mmm….that Mongolian tofu recipe was what finally got my husband to try (and love) tofu. So good.
We’re pretty into Budget Bytes’ dal nirvana (with her homemade naan recipe), salsa chicken casserole, and taco pizza recipes. Those have become go-tos for us.
We’re also borderline obsessed with the Amateur Gourmet’s roasted shrimp and broccoli recipe that made the rounds a few months back…
And our current favorite…Cheeky Kitchen’s roasted steak and asparagus salad. We leave out the cheese (except for some grated Parm at the end) and this time of year, we sub Brussels sprouts for the asparagus. It’s good warm, but it’s INSANE when it’s cold.
One of my favorite healthy weeknight dinners: Melissa Clark’s roasted shrimp and broccoli. I usually make some whole-wheat couscous to round it out. It’s on our menu this week, along with the DALS California turkey burgers and spicy potato wedges!
Pan roasted pork tenderloin (sprinkled with some spice rub first if I have time or inclination), baked sweet potato fries, roasted or steamed broccoli sriracha mayo for dipping for pork or fries for the adults and teenager – plain for the 11 year old picky eater.
After reading Mark Bittman’s column on New Years Day, I made fresh white beans and stuck them in the fridge. Ended up using them last night after being at a track meet for 8 hours! Didn’t think I had an ounce of energy to cook, but in 10 minutes, made the most delicious dinner for the family. Sauteed sausage, threw in the beans, chopped kale, halved grape tomatoes, fresh rosemary and garlic, white wine, topped with parmigiano and olive oil. Wow – So easy so fast and so delicious. Enjoy your stew on Thursday!
I cooked 3 DALS recipes over the past 3 days, and each one leant itself to a second meal (chicken in creamy tomato sauce, pork and purple cabbage in pomegranate/wine/broth, and meatballs)! i don’t think I have to cook again until Thursday, and then it’s sausage/broccoli/orechetti. Easy-peasy week 🙂
Our healthy forcing-us-to-fall-back-into-the-routine meal is a basic vegetable soup using homemade marinara as the base. Sometimes a runny cheese on the side with crusty bread accompanies this soup, but only when my husband ends up buying the ingredients.
That slow-roasted salmon looks great. I just sat down to plan for the week and that is definitely making the list! Other than that, thinking an easy ratatouille and something involving kale and white beans.
very curious about those simmer sauces. i’m always looking for short cuts like those. our dinner plan this week looks like this:
monday: organic beef tacos with bok choy (son will eat meet, taco shell like chips and hopefully some fruit)
tuesday: spicy chicken sausages, lentils and green beans
wednesday: pesto totellini(tjs!) with more organic beef and some sort of sauce (?)
thursday: indian chickpeas, roasted tofu, naan (all trader joes! seeing a theme?)
friday: ?
oh and for fun: http://semiweeklyeats.blogspot.com/2014/01/out-to-dinner.html
Mmmm, mmmm, and mmmmmmmm! I have a BBQ quinoa hodgepodge delight that I make–it involves andouille chicken sausage, sweet corn, lots of cilantro, red peppers, jalapenos, and garbanzo beans. So filling and flavorful that it has been coming around a lot in my kitchen lately.
our family’s go to is Chana Masala. the kids love the white fluffy naan and I try my best to skip that part and load up on the curried spinach side. http://kaleeats.blogspot.ca/2012/09/chana-masala-with-curried-spinach.html. Another family friendly is Cauliflower Farroto. Kids love the chewy grain. http://kaleeats.blogspot.ca/2013/03/cauliflower-farrotto.html#more
I made your short ribs this weekend too! They were so good, and made for some pretty yummy left overs for Sunday night dinner too. We are starting the BA Food Lovers’ Cleanse this week. Doing mostly breakfasts and dinners. I made a batch of this for weekday lunches and it turned out really good. http://farmhousedelivery.com/blog/roasted-squash-farro-salad-with-feta/
I added a few extra herbs (chopped mint and basil), a small handful of chopped walnuts, and a little extra lemon juice to the dressing. Yum!
A rice bowl is so versatile. Stir cooked rice into a pan of caramelized onions (leave some rice plain for those whose world is rocked, in a bad way, by any of the ingredients) pan seared pork tenderloin (leftover or not) cut into bite size pieces. Roast broccoli and/or bell peppers and add to the rice bowl, if desired. Serve with a side green salad. Change the rice, protein and veggie for a never ending variety!
Love the Cosmos salad idea.
My fall back is typically strata..breakfast for dinner is always a winner and it’s endlessly changeable. I’m also partial to smitten kitchen’s one pan farro with tomatoes.
One of my new year’s resolutions is to cook from one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s books every week. It would be so cool if you did some recipes from Plenty!
Mon: baked honey mustard chip theighs with corn and baked potato
Tues: roasted cod with red pepper sauce from real simple jan. issue
Wed: black bean burrito from same issue
Thurs: spaghetti carbonara
Fri: Up in the air, but it is my ground beef night (in any form). I am thinking meat loaf…..
We really need to try the mongolian tofu stir-fry. So far our week looks like this:
Mon: chicken asada soft tacos with fresh tomato and corn salsa and rice.
Tues: homemade ricotta with sauteed onions and cherry tomatoes over quinoa
Wed: 3 bean soup (beans bought at farmer’s market on Sunday) with veggies
Thurs: something with pork…
Fri: hopefully home-made pizza night
I like to get the arugula pack from the store, and throw a bunch in a bowl; add olive oil, lemon peel, juice from the entire lemon; and then add farfalle. Top with parmesan. Easy, light, and from Everyday Food. It’s a favorite when I want to eat light but still want to enjoy the meal. I can’t think farther than tonight, so I’ll have to stop there.
Yippee for weekly meal plans!
http://a-life-from-scratch.com/meal-planning/
I searched my blog for awhile to come up with that ONE perfect DALS recipe .The criteria had to encompass relatively quick made with minimal, fresh, ingredients….easy to ‘break down’ for picky eaters, if needed…etc. After a lot of soul searching I think I found it:
http://a-life-from-scratch.com/the-perfect-50-degree-meal/
We make it with Trader Joes naan bread (love!) and here is how we break it down:
Husband: Sausage plain, dips the naan in the veggies and breadcrumbs.
Logan (7): Naan, plain. Italian sausage, plain.
Beckett (1): Sausage plain, veggies plain, naan plain but eventually all gets mixed up and of course, all over the floor 🙂
Myself: Everything piled up on top of the naan.
Oh – and I can make chicken sausage for myself and regular for the guys, perfection!
Happy 2014 to your family!
I make no promises that this will cure quinoa-phobia, but if not, it will come very close. My quinoa-skeptical boyfriend can vouch for it.
http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/creamy-caprese-quinoa-bake/
I’ve made this multiple times on weeknights this year. It’s also delicious when heated up the next day. During farmer’s market season, I bought local basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella to make it taste just that much better. Since it does have heavy cream, I’m not sure that it’s super healthy, but it packs some protein and vegetables.
We have been LIVING on salad these last few weeks (hello from the southern hemisphere, where it is HOT!), and the stand-out winners for us so far are the soba noodle eggplant and mango salad from Plenty (probably no mango in winter, though, sorry…) and basically anything ever created by Hetty McKinnon (http://www.arthurstreetkitchen.com/). Her book is unavailable at the moment, but there’s a couple of total winner recipes of hers out there in cyberspace… the char-grilled broccoli with chickpeas is fantastic (http://thedesignfiles.net/2013/12/tasty-tuesday-char-grilled-broccoli-with-chickpeas-almonds-lemon-and-chilli/), as is the za’atar roasted carrots with kale (http://thedesignfiles.net/2013/12/tasty-tuesday-zaatar-roasted-carrots-with-kale-freekeh-and-blood-orange-maple-dressing/). Oh. My. God. Seriously amazing salads. Even my not-quite-three-year-old agrees!
Hi Jenny!
Here’s my plan this week:
1. Black Bean and Quinoa Enchiladas
2. Crockpot Salisbury Steak with roasted Brussels sprouts and potatoes
3. Pesto Flounder with roasted tomatoes and potatoes
4. Crockpot chicken teriyaki with broccoli
5. Spinach and Mushroom Pizza
Guess who got DALS for Christmas?!
Mon: Chili (my old recipe, but with turkey)
Tue: Vanessa’s chicken (I made it last week and still have lots of marsacapone (sp?)) from DALS
Wed: Fetuccini with shredded brussel sprouts from DALS
Thurs: Quesadillas with salsa and guacamole inspired by your girls’ love of salsa
Fri: Marcella’s bolognese from your directions
THANKS JENNY AND ANDY for all the wonderful ideas and inspiration! Last night we all sat at the table together (OK one kid ate mostly rice) but I felt like we were really having our DALS moment.