Family Meal Plan #26
Welcome to our family menu!
This is a real reflection of what my family actually eats—some weeks I’ve got recipes to share, sometimes there are photos, and other times it’s just me giving you the rundown of what I made. I hope these menus give you some fresh ideas or inspire you as you’re planning your own meals. Feel free to adapt or follow along however it works for you—because meal planning should make life easier, not harder!
From one busy home cook to another, let’s make dinner a little less stressful together.
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On this menu:
We’re getting into fall meals now, slower cooked things, more sauces and spices, foods that just sound warm and cozy. Here’s what we ate last week:
Moroccan pork butt & roasted veggies
Broiled salmon, roasted broccoli, steamed rice
Shredded pork tacos
Clean out the fridge pasta casserole
Homemade pizza
Bolognese with homemade pasta
Japanese Curry with chicken and vegetables
A bit more detail about some of the meals:
Moroccan Spiced Pork Butt
I talked about this one last week, so you can read that detail here.
Salmon, broccoli, rice
I see so many delicious recipes for salmon but honestly I think most of them are a waste of time. If I’m going to spend the money on good fish, I want to taste the fish. I cook salmon a very simple way 99% of the time. Seasoned only with a little salt, on a sheet pan in the top third of the oven, broil for 5-7 minutes depending on how thick it is.
With this salmon we had roasted broccoli. This time the broccoli was seasoned with sesame oil, fish sauce, and a salt & Szechuan pepper blend.
Shredded pork tacos
For this I sliced some pepper and onions and tossed those with olive oil, salt, and cumin, and cooked them in the oven until soft. Then I added the leftover pork from earlier in the week and seasoned it with a bit more cumin and let all cook together until the onions were caramelized and the meat was hot and getting browned around the edges.
For a side I tried a packaged cuban black beans and rice. I’ve never used this before and it was really good and so easy!
Pasta casserole
This was one of those clean out the fridge kind of meals. I had three different kinds of leftover pasta, some leftover meatballs, and a few bits of other things. I chopped up the meatballs and added some tomato sauce, mixed in all the leftover pasta, a bit of cottage cheese, a bag of frozen spinach, and put it all in a casserole dish and topped with bread crumbs and cheese.
Bolognese and homemade pasta
For both the pasta and the sauce I used recipes out of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. It’s my favorite cookbook and my go-to for basically everything. I don’t follow the bolognese recipe exactly, but it’s a really good starting point. I added sweet potato to it this time, instead of carrots, and I used a combination of ground beef, ground pork, bacon, and a little Italian sausage.
Japanese curry
This Japanese curry is one my family’s favorites and it is requested often. I love this sauce because it’s easy and you can make a delicious meal with basically whatever protein and vegetables you have in your house. This time I used chicken breasts, eggplant, zucchini, cabbage, and onions. I always keep this sauce mix in my pantry. It comes in a variety of spice levels but we usually stick with the mild flavor. It’s not traditional, but I usually add a can of coconut milk to the sauce, we like it that way. Served with steamed rice, this time I made brown rice for something different. It’s even better leftover.
That’s the week!
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Wishing you a delicious and stress-free week ahead!
– Lisa