A few months ago I told you about the real-life dinners that our family had for a week. I wrote it down as we went so that I wouldn't be tempted to lie or make it sound more nutritious or beautiful than it really was. Having the chance to look at our quick, easy, normally undocumented meals all together like that made me kind of embarrassed - there was a shameful lack of fresh vegetables. To be fair, I think it was a particularly harried week, and I wasn't in my own kitchen at the time, but still I've been meaning to revisit the idea to prove to myself (and you) that we eat more than frozen veggie burgers. This past week was better. Here's what this family really ate:
Sunday: BLTAs with bacon and chive potato salad and apricot upside down cake for dessert (BLTs are hard for toddlers to eat. He sort of ate it open faced, but he mostly had chunks of avocado. And cake.)
Monday: Fried tofu with soy sauce, korean chili powder and green onions (the way my roommate Cindy used to make it, or a lot like this), Korean braised potatoes (again Cindy, but kind of like this), sesame seared zuchini, and brown rice (I made the potatoes too spicy for the boy, but he loved the zuchini and rice and raw tofu.)
Tuesday: I packed up sausage sandwiches and left over potato salad and took it to the free family night at the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena. (The boy was way too busy too eat. He scarfed down an almond butter sandwich in the car on the way home. Then went straight to sleep upon our return. I love free family night.)
Wednesday: Pasta with this red sauce (Yes, it uses the majority of a stick of Earth Balance, but it's really easy and delicious, and those were the two qualifiers for this evening's meal) and Italian restaurant salad (Pasta is always a kid hit, but the boy scorned the lettuce for the chickpeas in his salad.)
Thursday: Bean burritos and watermelon and almond cake with strawberries and whipped coconut cream for dessert (Kid is crazy for watermelon. But everything else here was a hit too.)
Friday: Taco Spot (Paul and I order two different taco plates to share and an extra tortilla for the boy. Then we make him a little bean and rice burrito. Taco Spot is perfect for our family when I just can't bring myself to dirty another dish in our kitchen. Did I tell you that we don't have a dishwasher here? Our proximity to Taco Spot almost makes up for it though. Man, they have good salsas.)
Saturday: Thai curry with long beans, shiitake mushrooms, and tofu over brown rice (Desmond now says with his labored 2-year-old pronunciation, sounding as if he's memorized each syllable, "I want shiitake mushrooms." I love that kid. He loves long beans, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, and brown rice.)
And you, what was the most satisfying everyday meal you've made lately?
