Notes From The Kitchen Table
Notes From the Kitchen Table is the weekly newsletter featuring all the latest and greatest and best tips from WhatLisaCooks.com. Click here to subscribe to get my meal plans, lunch packing tips, dinner ideas, kitchen shortcuts, and more - delivered to your inbox.
Notes from the kitchen table: no. 10
Halloween and slow comfort food cooking season, an election inspired lunch, meal plans, and more.
How is it Halloween already and how the heck is October almost over? Oh and there’s this election, which I’m mostly trying not to think about because it’s too stressful. But I’ve understood the assignment, and I’ve done my part.
The months always go by fast, but it seems like October has gone especially fast this year. I think it’s because we only just started getting weather that feels like October, and now it’s almost over.
Our little town is so amazing on Halloween, it’s like something out of a movie. We’ve had fun getting ready this year. We don’t do a whole lot of decorating, we live in a fairly secluded area and don’t get trick-or-treaters so nobody will really see decorations anyway. But we’ve carved pumpkins and watched both Hocus Pocus movies and the kids have their costumes all ready. There’s been lots of sewing and crafting happening - teen costumes are fun because the kids are starting to get very creative with their own costumes, but they also still make some fun projects for me.
Ok, so what’s in this week’s issue:
We are into cooler weather finally so I’m cooking more of those warmer comfort foods - heavier sauces and casseroles and slow cooked things that just sound better when it’s cold out. Keep reading for the menu updates. I’ve also got some new blog posts for you, meal planning, a couple quick recipes, and some of my tips for how I keep my house clean.
Make sure you don’t miss a weekly update - click here to subscribe to my substack and you’ll get these updates in your inbox. The archive of all my weekly updates and past meal plans will always be available on the blog as well.
Let’s dig in!
Tip of the Week:
I’ve had so many questions over the years about how I keep my house so clean. The truth is that it’s not any one big thing that I do, and I don’t have a housekeeper. It’s a whole lot of small routines and habits that add up to making a big difference a little at time. I’ve written up a blog post with all of my tips for how to keep your house clean, so I’ll be pulling out one tip at a time over the next few weeks to share here. You can click here to read the whole post for all the tips.
This week’s tip: Small messes are easier to clean big ones.
My whole strategy relies on this one secret: the trick to never having to clean up a big mess is to not let it get big in the first place. Clean up as you go, straighten up a room as you move through it, deal with the dishes immediately after each meal, teach the kids how to clean up from the time they are able to pick up a toy.
You can read all of my tips for keeping my house clean in this blog post.
What’s happening on the blog:
I cooked some whole chickens in the instant pot this week, so I wrote up my recipe for you with instructions for how I do this. Cooking whole chickens in the instant pot is as easy as it gets, and by starting with the whole chicken you not only get wonderfully juicy chicken to use in a variety of recipes, you also get super easy and delicious homemade chicken broth. You can read that post here ➡️ Instant Pot Whole Chicken.
I also recently made some caramelized browned butter Rice Krispie treats for the family which were so good. The little extra few minutes it takes to let the melted butter & marshmallow get just a little browned and caramelized adds an unbelievable amount of extra flavor to this classic family treat. You can find my version of those here ➡️ Caramelized Browned Butter Rice Krispie Treats.
Lunchbox Inspiration:
This is it folks. Vote like your life and our democracy depends on it. Because it does.
Obviously I know kids can’t vote, so why a voting themed lunch for kids? Because it’s never too early to teach them about the importance of being educated and informed voters. We get out our ballots and let our kids watch us fill them in and answer any questions they have about how the process works. The older they get, the better questions they ask. I strongly believe that one of my most important jobs as a parent, and one of the most effective ways I can impact the future of our country and the world, is to raise educated and informed citizens.
This little throwback lunch was a fun way to get my kids inspired and excited about an election. This kind of lunch is so simple to do with a few little letter cutters, some fun picks, and a star shaped silicone cup. You can find a lot of my favorite tools for quick and simple lunch packing on this Amazon list. And I’ve got a blog post here with my top tips for packing a lunch that’s a little more fun.
What’s happening in the kitchen:
I’m back to lots of cooking after taking a bit of a break. I made a big pot of bolognese sauce and homemade pasta over the weekend. I haven’t made homemade pasta in many years, so it was fun to get back to it. It really is so easy, just takes a bit of time especially when you are out of practice. That bolognese will show up again in a lasagna later this week.
For a bolognese recipe, I always start with the one in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. Of course I customize and adapt, but this recipe is a great starting place.
I thought lasagna would be good for Halloween because I can make it earlier in the day and everyone can just eat whenever they get home from trick-or-treating. I’ve also made Rice Krispy Treats, as I mentioned above, and chocolate chip cookies. The teens wanted to take cookies to school for halloween treats.
I’ve talked a lot before about how I always cook extra of everything, because we love leftovers. I got in a habit of cooking a lot because there were 6 of us eating three meals at home every day. We were homeschooling all four and my husband works from home, so we ate a lot of leftovers for lunch. But this year I’ve got three in school and the leftovers aren’t getting eaten for lunch as quickly. Sometimes I end up with even more leftover than anyone wants to eat again. I hate wasting food, so these are the times that I try to take the leftovers we’re tired of and turn them into something new. Last week was a good one - I made a really good baked pasta out of mostly things that were hanging out in the fridge needing to be used. You can see that meal here on Instagram.
The whole menu from last week is posted - you can see the full meal plan post here.
On the menu for this week:
Lots of good stuff planned for this week. Check back next week for the link to the actual menu of what we ate, we’ll see how well I managed to stick to the plan.
Sunday: Japanese Curry with chicken and eggplant
Monday: Gumbo
Tuesday: Ground beef tacos
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Lasagna with bolognese and béchamel
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Burgers
Meal Planning:
I’m working on November meal plans, here are some things on my list that I want to try over the next couple of weeks. Some of these were in the list from last week’s newsletter, and they’ll stay on my list until I get around to making them.
Shoyu chicken
Okonomiyaki
Chilaquiles
Chicken cordon bleu
We’re also starting to think about Thanksgiving, but honestly we are all rather indifferent to this holiday in our family. The more we learn about the real history of colonization in this land, the less good we feel about honoring this particular holiday in a very big way. I also have a lot of conflicting feelings about this as a family holiday, too many memories of holidays made unnecessarily stressful by family members with really unreasonable expectations and inappropriate behavior. So yeah, it’s a mixed bag. But we still love the food, so we will be doing something of a meal and celebrating the start of a season filled with foods we love. I’ll write more about this later.
Coming Next Time:
I’m working on a blog post about reasons why kids don’t eat their lunch at school and suggestions for what you can do about that. I hope to have that ready to share next week. I will also talk more about favorite holiday foods, and share more of my tips for keeping the house clean. Hopefully we will have some election results to celebrate. And look for all the usual - updates on what we’re eating and cooking, lunchbox inspiration, answers to your questions.
Have a Question?
Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.
Reply to this email, post a comment, or hit me up on social media, and your question could be featured in next week’s newsletter.
Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads for daily tips and inspiration.
➡️ Follow Me on Instagram | ➡️ Follow Me on Facebook | ➡️ Follow Me on Threads
Wishing you a delicious and stress-free week ahead!
– Lisa
Notes from the kitchen table: no. 08
A couple weeks of family meal plans and lots of new recipe links!
Welcome to another week of Notes From the Kitchen Table!
I’m skipping a few of my usual weekly features in this edition of the newsletter. I’ve got a lot of recipes and meal plans to share this week and I think that will take up enough space!
Things have been busy here. I feel like I say that every week, but I guess it’s always true. We are into October which means costume season and some of my kids are getting very creative with their costume requests. I love a good challenge though, and I love to sew, so while it’s a lot of work and somewhat exhausting, I do have fun making costumes for them. I shared a pic this week on Threads of a costume I’m working on for one of my kids. I’m pretty pleased with how it’s coming along.
I understand that it’s autumn in some parts of the northern hemisphere? We’re not seeing any evidence of that yet here. We’ve been having sunny 90+ degree days here in the Sierra foothills in California and I’m still loving every minute of it. I’m sure I won’t love the electric bill from needing to still be running the air conditioner in October, but I’m happy to still be having nice pool weather.
My garden is loving the warm weather too! We got off to a late start, and I think the super hot July stunted things a bit, but my tomato plants are seriously popping off now so we’re having all things tomatoes in our meals lately. Read on for a link to my freshest ever roasted tomato sauce.
OK, what’s in this week’s issue:
This week I’ve got two weeks of meal plans and links to several new recipes. I’m trying to get better about actually writing out recipes for the things I cook and I’m happy to be able to share those with you.
Remember my recipes aren’t quite like what you find on a lot of other food sites - my recipes are documenting how I actually cook for my family. The photos aren’t staged, I’m not cooking food just to take photos of it. I’m taking pics of our actual meals and I’m telling you exactly how I made them.
Make sure you don’t miss a weekly update - click here to subscribe to my substack and you’ll get these updates in your inbox. The archive of all my weekly updates and past meal plans will always be available on the blog as well.
Let’s dig in!
Featured Blog Posts:
New recipe posts!
In the last newsletter I shared a link to my Moroccan inspired spice mix, and this week I have a new super easy slow cooker dinner recipe that uses that same spice blend. You’ll definitely want to try this Slow Cooker Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Potatoes - it’s so flavorful and I think is a new favorite.
I’ve also written up recipes for a couple of the main components of one of our favorite meals: Seared Ahi Tuna Bowls. The main parts of this meal are the seared ahi tuna and the crispy salt and pepper tofu, and the rest of of the bowl can be whatever you like. I love making the tuna this way because it feels fancy and high end restaurant quality, but it really is so easy and fast to make. And the tofu recipe is one of my family’s favorite. Whenever anyone asks for suggestions of how to cook tofu, this is always my go-to. I shared some more details about this meal including loose instructions for how I make the cucumber salad and the soy ginger dressing in last week’s meal plan post.
I’ve talked before about how we like to keep a supply of muffins in the freezer for easy grab-and-go breakfasts and this week I wrote up a new recipe version of the banana bread / banana chocolate chip muffins I’ve been making that my kids love. Also if you missed the egg bites recipe I shared last time you’ll want to check that out too - it’s another of our weekday breakfast favorites.
And finally, as I mentioned above, I’ve been making all kind of things with our fresh tomatoes from the garden, including an amazing roasted tomato sauce. Roasting the tomatoes is a simple way to bring out so much sweetness and flavor and I tell you all about how I do it in this blog post.
Let me know if you try any of these!
Meal Planning Updates:
Menus from the last two weeks are posted now, you can click here for last week’s and click here for the week before. Both of them have some pictures, links to IG posts with some details, and a few recipe links.
As for this week, here’s what’s currently on the menu.
Check back next week for the details.
Chicken and dumplings. I actually already made this - you can see it here on IG.
Chili lime chicken tacos - I have some chicken that I marinated a few weeks ago and didn’t get around to using so I stuck it in the freezer.
Teriyaki tofu and broccoli with steamed rice. You can see my teriyaki recipe here.
Pizza, not sure yet if it will be homemade.
The husband is away for the weekend so I’ll probably indulge myself in several big salads and let the kids have some favorite comfort foods like nuggets and pasta, we also have a couple of frozen lasagnas taking up space that I might use. Momma’s taking the weekend off!
Ideas for dinners later in the month:
I like to keep a running list of dinner ideas as I think of things or as someone in the family makes requests, then when I’m making a meal plan it’s even easier because I’ve got some ideas ready to just fill in. Here are some things that are on my list and will probably make an appearance sometime soon.
I still haven’t used the whole chickens I bought at Costco, so I plan on doing some kind of whole chicken recipe. Either Jamie Oliver’s chicken in milk, or maybe Samran Nosrat’s Buttermilk Chicken. I shared a post recently with favorite whole chicken recipes and I’ve been craving several of them ever since. This might be related to the weather - roasting whole chickens feels like a cool weather activity and we’re not there yet.
I also still haven’t tried this chicken saag recipe from Nom Nom Paleo that I saw recently and I’ve been dying to try it.
I recently saw recipe for a coconut curry meatballs dish that sounds amazing. My family are sort of obsessed with meatballs lately so I’m always looking for new meatball ideas to try.
We also still have a big pork shoulder in our freezer so we will plan on smoking that sometime soon. Smoked meats also sound best to me when the weather is cooler, so I’m kinda waiting from some of that autumn cool weather to actually show up before I declare it smoking season.
A kid has been requesting that I make that gumbo again soon, or what I called more like gumbo adjacent but definitely not authentic.
And I got thinking this morning about how I will eat literally almost anything if you put a fried egg on top of it, which then got me thinking about things with fried eggs on top, which got me craving Loco Moco, so I’ve added that to my list as well. This is how my mind works. ;-)
Social Media Highlights:
I’ve been so busy with costume making that I haven’t done a lot of exciting social media interacting lately. But be sure to check out my instagram for all the latest from the kitchen.
Also if you missed my last update - I’m back to posting on my Facebook page too! A lot of the content is the same as what I post on Instagram, but there may be some differences, and it’s another option for keeping up with the latest if you aren’t into Instagram.
That’s it for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed my updates!
Have a Question?
Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.
Reply to this email, post a comment, or hit me up on social media, and your question could be featured in next week’s newsletter.
Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads for daily tips and inspiration.
➡️ Follow Me on Instagram | ➡️ Follow Me on Facebook | ➡️ Follow Me on Threads
Wishing you an easy week ahead!
– Lisa
Notes from the kitchen table: no. 07
Thoughts about self care, a birthday, easy lunch ideas, and meal planning.
Welcome to another week of Notes From the Kitchen Table!
I actually missed a week here, things have been busy. We’ve had house guests, theater auditions, scout and school camping trips, volunteer time, a birthday, and plenty more. The time gets filled so easily that sometimes I have to just push the pause button and take a break from anything extra.
The good news is that two of my girls auditioned and got roles in local theater productions this fall. (For a small town, we have an amazing local arts scene.) The bad news is that it’s two separate productions at two different locations with sometimes overlapping and conflicting rehearsal schedules. Sh*t’s about to get real as far as crazy schedules go!
I’ve learned over the years as a busy mom that pushing pause and taking breaks is really the simplest and often the best kind of self care. Especially when schedules get this busy, I have to take little breaks wherever I can find them. I think my kids have all learned this kind of self care skill too, they all really appreciate the value of down time and saying no, especially now that they are in high school and have a lot of demands on their time.
What do you do for self care? I’d love to hear from you.
In other news - we had a birthday this past week!
My oldest set of twins are 17. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been a mom for seventeen years. The time has flown by. I asked them if they wanted to do anything special for their birthday, but we’ve all been so busy lately that everyone agreed that a weekend of doing nothing was exactly what they wanted. So a weekend at home, pizza and pancakes, pool time and movies, and of course plenty of cake, was just what we all needed.
We have a birthday tradition at our house of a birthday pancake stack for breakfast, complete with candle and whipped cream and sprinkles. It’s a fun little way to start the day. I usually make homemade pancakes, but in extra busy years I have used frozen pancakes for this instead and the kids love it just as much.
What birthday traditions do you have at your house?
(I don't share current pics of my kids publicly, but here's a throwback one from a fun birthday many years ago.)
OK, what’s in this week’s issue:
I’m sticking with the birthday theme for some of the updates this week. For school lunch packing I’ve got some really simple lunches to show you for making a school day special occasion just a little more fun, plus my answer to a really common reader question about packing lunches ahead. We’re going to talk a little about birthday cake and birthday dinners, social media and blog post highlights, and of course updates on family meal planning.
Make sure you don’t miss a weekly update - click here to subscribe to my substack and you’ll get these updates in your inbox. The archive of all my weekly updates and past meal plans will always be available on the blog as well.
Let’s dig in!
Tip of the Week:
For this week’s tip I thought I’d talk about birthday cake, and how as busy moms we’ve really got enough going on without pressuring ourselves to feel like we have to make a homemade cake. Hop on over to this tip to read my thoughts about grocery store birthday cakes, and my favorite homemade cake recipe if you really do want to make one from scratch.
This is a grocery store cake!
Ask Lisa - Reader Q&A:
My answers to frequently asked questions from social media, blog posts, and more.
Q: How do I keep sandwiches from getting soggy when I pack them ahead of time?
A: This is another one of the questions I get the most when I talk about packing lunches ahead, so I guess it must be a common problem for a lot of you. If you struggle with how to pack lunches ahead of time I am so here for you. This is my thing!
I pack sandwiches days in advance all the time, I definitely have some tricks that can help! They mostly come down to putting just a little more thought into the construction of your sandwich, and what ingredients and methods are causing it to be soggy. I’ve put all my best tips for packing sandwiches ahead of time in a whole new blog post for you. I promise you that you will definitely want to try these tips because packing lunch ahead of time is one of the best things you can do to make school day mornings easier and less stressful. ➡️ Click here to read that post now.
If you want more tips about packing all kinds of lunches ahead of time, you’ll definitely want to hop over and read this post with all of my tips, because packing lunches ahead is such a time saver and a massive school day morning stress reliever that it’s worth figuring out a few little tweaks to your lunch packing to make this work for you. ➡️ Click here to read that post now.
Lunchbox Inspiration:
Let’s talk about birthday lunches!
When kiddos have to be at school on their birthday, why not make their lunch just a little more special? It’s really easy to add a couple of fun little touches to a lunch to make it feel like a special occasion.
Simple birthday cupcake toppers stuck in a sandwich, maybe a fun cut sandwich, a cute napkin, an extra sweet treat - just a few ideas for how you can really quickly an easily make the birthday school lunch feel just a little more fun and special.
I shared a couple of examples of these ideas on my Instagram this week, so be sure to ➡️ check them out.
I also have a post on the blog with even more of my favorite tips for making lunch packing (and eating) just a little more FUN - great ideas you can use for birthdays, holidays, or any time you need to make school lunch time feel a little more special. ➡️ Check out this post and let me know what you think.
Featured Blog Posts:
Several posts I want to share with you this week!
I’ve already mentioned a few - the one about packing lunch ahead of time, and the new post about how to pack sandwiches ahead of time, AND the new post about how to pack some special fun lunches. (I have been busy!)
I’ve got a few more to share this week too!
I’ve been trying very hard to get better about writing down recipes of things I make regularly, and I’ve actually got a few new recipes posted for you.
My egg bites recipe: one of my secrets for school day breakfast meal prep for high schoolers.
Quick and simple homemade teriyaki sauce that is great on everything from chicken to tofu to veggies.
A delicious Moroccan spiced pork shoulder, with my Moroccan inspired spice rub - one of my favorite meals for impressing dinner guests
Let me know if you try any of these!
Meal Planning Updates:
Last week’s menu is up on the blog. You can click here to go read that post, with links to some pics, a couple recipes, and a bit more detail about a few of the meals.
I never got around to sharing a meal plan for this week, since I skipped the newsletter last week. But I’ve been sharing a lot lately on Instagram and Facebook, so pop on over to either of those to see some pics of what we are having for dinners this week.
For the big birthday I wanted to try combining a couple of family favorites into one meal - so I made Chicken Parm Meatballs. I’m going to have to make this again soon to write down an actual recipe, because they were so good! I made lots extra (as I always do) because we love leftover meatballs! You can see the pic and description here, and hopefully I’ll get a recipe written soon.
Seriously how are we already looking down the barrel at October?
I like to do a rough meal plan for a month at a time. Those big ones often end up evolving over the course of the month, but I think it helps to at least start out with a big picture view of what we have going on during the month and what we want to eat, and then it’s easier to move things around than it is to start from scratch every week. I haven’t done my monthly plan for October yet, that month is kinda sneaking up on me. But hopefully next week I will have more info about monthly meal planning to share.
For now, I’ve got a list of a few things I am planning to cook next week, mostly items that were on my September plan but got kicked down the road due to busy schedules and calendar changes. Check this space next week to see if I figured it all out.
Ideas for next week’s menu:
Some kind of whole chicken. Either Jamie Oliver’s chicken in milk, or maybe Samran Nosrat’s Buttermilk Chicken. I shared a post last week with favorite whole chicken recipes and I’ve been craving several of them ever since.
Sheet pan sausages and veggies. I’m going to Costco this week and my family loves those chicken and apple sausages that they carry, and it’s an easy weeknight meal paired with some veggies and maybe pasta or rice.
Pozole - this is a delicious Mexican inspired stew that we just love. I have a super shortcut recipe here that makes it a quick weeknight dinner and I think it’s just as good as the more time consuming original version. Depending on what chicken recipe I make, I might end up making a chicken pozole with the leftovers.
I saw this chicken saag recipe from Nom Nom Paleo recently and I’ve been dying to try it, maybe just with rice or maybe with paired another vegetable curry.
Our Friday pizza night is probably going to be frozen pizza because schedules are out of hand and I think I’ll be too tired to make homemade, but I’ll try to make a nice big salad with it.
On the weekend, we’re thinking it might be time to start smoking some meat again, I’ve got some tri-tips and a pork butt in the freezer so we might do one of those. I love doing either of those with the Moroccan inspired spice rub recipe that I shared above.
Social Media Highlights:
I’m headed to Costco this week. I don’t go as often as I used to when we lived in the city because Costco is an hour away now, so it’s kind of a special field trip. I like to ask my followers what their favorite Costco finds are, and I always get some great suggestions of fun new things to look for. Take a look at the most recent Thread about that, and let me know if you have any other ideas to add. I would love to know what you buy at Costco. ➡️ Click here to read that thread.
I mentioned above that I shared some fun birthday lunches on Instagram if you want to check those out, and I’ve shared several of our recent dinners. Check out my Instagram feed to see those.
The other big social media news is that I’m back to posting on my Facebook page too! A lot of the content is the same as what I post on Instagram, but there may be some differences, and it’s another option for keeping up with the latest if you aren’t into Instagram.
Coming Next Week:
I realize now that when I pushed the pause button last week I never got around to sharing the things I said I’d share in this section last time. So here’s that list again and hopefully I’ll keep on track this time…
Next week I thought I would share some of my favorite protein packed lunch ideas, maybe school day breakfast suggestions, and some of my favorite household cleaning hacks. And always my quick tips, answers to reader questions, meal plan updates, and more.
Be sure to check back and subscribe so you never miss an update.
Have a Question?
Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.
Reply to this email, post a comment, or hit me up on social media, and your question could be featured in next week’s newsletter.
Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads for daily tips and inspiration.
➡️ Follow Me on Instagram | ➡️ Follow Me on Facebook | ➡️ Follow Me on Threads
Wishing you an easy week ahead!
– Lisa
Notes from the kitchen table: no. 06
Welcome back to school season, a simple but super important cooking tip, help with meal planning for picky eaters, and more.
Hi there,
Everyone who is going back to school is back now, right?
This is when it gets crazy for a lot of us. I have three in school now, and one still homeschooling. We’ve started having a family meeting once a week just to review the calendar, because it has exploded. With school events, scout activities, social activities, our calendar is suddenly full, and we even make an effort to not sign up for a lot of stuff.
Do you do family meetings? I would love to hear about those, or other strategies that work for organizing your busy family.
Are you getting fall weather yet? Here in the Sierra foothills we are definitely still having summer, and still loving it. I love every season here, but it seems like whatever season we are in becomes my current favorite. I love the warm days and clear nights, the swimming pool weather, the garden at its peak.
My homeschooler and I are working on getting back into our homeschool schedule and we’ve started planning weekly field trips. Planning is so much easier with just one. Last week we visited the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento - it’s one of our favorite spots, so well done with so much interesting history.
Once nice thing about having three back in school is that I have time again finally to get back to this blogging thing, and I am really enjoying the process of bringing this old blog back to life for you. I’ve been working hard lately refreshing things, updating old posts, and getting some new content up there.
Ok, so what’s in this week’s issue:
First up this week is a simple tip that applies to both family dinner and lunch packing, plus my thoughts on a common a reader question about a challenge that so many parents face, a fun lunch idea, a few blog posts and social media highlights, and as always our weekly meal plans.
Make sure you don’t miss a weekly update - click here to subscribe to my substack and you’ll get these updates in your inbox. The archive of all my weekly updates and past meal plans will always be available on the blog as well.
Let’s dig in!
Tip of the Week:
This weeks tip is a short one at first, so let’s unpack this because there’s so much more to it.
Always Double The Recipe.
I know, doesn’t sound like much of a tip, right? But I’m a busy mom, and any time I can take a shortcut that saves me time in the kitchen, I’m definitely going to do it. Cooking extra is one of those shortcuts, and for me it is the foundation of a lot of good things.
First, I think leftovers are what makes the world go ‘round and what keeps the trains running on time. We often eat leftovers for breakfast and lunch, I love having healthy homemade foods in the fridge that my family just needs to heat up. Some of my kids prefer having warmed up leftovers for breakfast instead of more traditional breakfast foods. My husband works from home, and I’m still here homeschooling one kid, so it’s really nice to not have to make lunch every day. And we do a clean-out-the-fridge leftover night once a week. It gives me a night off from cooking.
Second, some of our favorite home cooked meals take a bit of mess and time to make. But it’s not twice as messy or twice as time consuming to make twice as much. So double that recipe. Make enough meatballs for two dinners and stick half in the freezer. Prep an extra bag of marinated chicken. Make an extra meatloaf. Cut up extra meat for that sheet pan dinner. Freeze all these things and so many more. Future you will be so happy to already have some prepped meals in the freezer during those weeks when the family schedule gets out of control, If you prep extra at the same time that you’re cooking that dinner then you can fill your freezer one meal at a time without having to spend a whole weekend afternoon on meal prep.
Third, making extra is one of my keys to lunch packing success. When I say double the recipe, I’m not just talking about dinner. I’m talking about everything. If you’ve browsed my lunches you’ll see that a lot of them are based on homemade items - I pack muffins, pancakes, pasta, meatballs, quesadillas, pizza, even cheeseburgers, and so much more. All of these things can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer. Lunch packing is quick and easy if you have healthy homemade items ready to just grab and go. I even pack just straight up dinner leftovers directly into lunch containers instead of putting them away in bigger storage containers. I make several dozen muffins at a time, mountains of pancakes and waffles. I make extra sandwiches if I’m making them for lunch at home, also extra quesadillas. Especially as kids get older, having a stack of pre-made sandwiches in the fridge is great. Now that I’ve got a mix of kids at school and at home, when I’m making a sandwich for my homeschooler I always make a few extra for my high schoolers for lunch the next day.
Fourth - Cooking extra of popular kids foods is really helpful if you have a picky eater. Keep reading below for more thoughts about that.
You will never regret having extra sandwiches in the fridge, especially if you have teenagers.
Featured Blog Posts:
Several posts I want to share with you this week!
In keeping with the leftovers and cooking extra theme above - here’s a popular post on my blog featuring a school lunch made of dinner leftovers. I show you in this post how easy it can be to pack a lunch while you’re cleaning up from dinner. Check it out ➡️ Easy Leftovers for Lunch
I promised last week that I would share my tips and ideas for after school snacks. I’ve got a long blog post with loads of snack ideas that I’ve just refreshed and updated for you. Check that one out here ➡️ Quick and Easy After School Snack Ideas
Last week in my social media highlights section I mentioned a thread where I asked for suggestions for meals using ground beef and got lots of great ideas. I compiled all those ideas into a blog post with links to loads of recipes. There are so many good ideas here, you’ll definitely want to bookmark this to refer to when you are meal planning. ➡️ Read the blog post
I also told you about the thread where I asked about favorite cookbooks - and I’ve got those books now all listed in one blog post and I also created an amazon list with all the books, so you can go right now and add them all to your wish list. ➡️ Read the post, or shop the Amazon List.
Reader Q&A:
Q: How do I plan family meals when one of my kids is such a picky eater?
A: I see this question so much in social media and parenting groups. It can be really hard to manage family meal planning when some of you like a wide variety of foods and some of you have a very limited list of what feels safe to eat, but I have figured out several ways to navigate this that work for my diverse family. Here are my top suggestions:
1) Make deconstructed meals.
Plan to make the foods you like to eat and cook, but figure out how to deconstruct the components of that meal and serve it as a make-your-own bar style of dinner. The easiest example of this is instead of a loaded one pot pasta with the noodles and sauce and meatballs and veggies all mixed together and topped with cheese, serve all of those components separate. If someone just wants pasta with cheese, they can do that. If someone wants just meatballs and sauce and veggies but no pasta they can do that. But if the meal you wanted was all of it together, then you still get to have that. Everybody is happy.
Other ideas for this type of meal include taco bar, baked potato bar, ramen soup bar, rice bowl bar. Make a list of all the meals you like and see how many you can figure out how to separate into a deconstructed bar. You’ll probably be surprised at how many you come up with.
Cooking this way is also awesome for meal prep, because if you’ve made extra of the separate components each night, then you can easily combine those things in new ways for probably several more different meals.
2) Have an available safe food for the picky eater.
I always try to make sure there is something available for the meal that my pickiest eater will eat.
If I really wanted to make that one pot pasta or a loaded casserole or spicy gumbo, then I will always have something available that is separate. This brings us back to my tip above about making extra. Did you know that plain pasta and rice freeze really well? Make extra when you’re cooking and freeze some in single serving portions. Then you can always pull out a bag of cooked pasta for that one kid who is going through their “nothing but buttered noodles” phase. I also recently discovered these pouches of single serving pre-cooked pasta and I always make sure I have some in my pantry. My picky eater makes this for herself often, just a minute in the microwave and a little butter and she has a dinner she is happy with.
3) A bowl of cheerios is not an unhealthy dinner.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, and I don’t care what your mother-in-law says, it’s ok to let them eat cereal for dinner sometimes. I don’t buy cereal that I’m not ok with my kids eating, so super sugared cereals aren’t an option here, but a healthier whole grain cereal is always an available meal choice.
Teach them how to slice a banana, or have some cut fruit or a container of blueberries available. Have them set their place and bring their cereal bowl and a pitcher of milk and their fruit to the dinner table and eat it with the rest of the family. They are getting a balanced meal, and they are still learning about healthy eating by seeing what you serve and what the family is eating, nobody is feeling shamed for their food choices, and you’re not feeling guilty about them not getting a healthy meal. I can almost guarantee you that eventually they will feel brave enough to try what the family is eating because you are leading by example and without pressure or shaming.
Lunchbox Inspiration:
Weekly lunch packing inspiration and ideas.
Here is a quick and easy lunchbox idea: Sandwiches don’t always have to be boring. A fun twist on a simple sandwich is to use mini bagels instead of bread. Kids love bagels. Making lunch fun and cute isn’t hard, really takes no extra time, but does make it much more likely that your kiddo is going to want to eat it.
I shared an example of this lunch on my Instagram today - check it out ➡️ Easy Bagel Lunch
I also wrote a quick blog post with this lunch - and even included a fun little video about how to make it and links to supplies I use to make it easy and fun.
Meal planning:
Updates on our weekly meal plans.
I’m doing Whole30 this month, which means I’m not having any grain or dairy or sugar or alcohol, and a few other things. But I still have a family to feed so I just have to get a little extra creative with my meal planning. If you’ve planned ahead it’s pretty easy to adapt your meals to work. My biggest meal planning tip for when you are trying to eat a little different from the family is the same as my first tip above - deconstructed meals. I’m planning meals for this month that are easy to take apart into components. So the family can still have spaghetti and meatballs, and I am very content with my bowl of spinach and meatballs.
Here’s an overview of what we had for dinner last week, and a peek at what is on my list for the coming week. I’ve included links to pictures and recipes where I have them.
Last week’s menu:
If you compare the actual to what I had planned from last week’s update, there are always some differences. But the beauty of meal planning is that you’ve already got some ideas figured out, so even if you need to rearrange or change things up, you aren’t starting from zero. Here’s what we actually ate last week:
Sunday: Salmon, pasta, green salad with berries & lemon vinaigrette.
Monday: Chicken with basil and garlic, zucchini patties, sliced tomatoes
Tuesday: Fish tacos (fish sticks for kids, leftover salmon for adults, I had mine as a salad)
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Baked pasta with cheese sauce, chicken, tomatoes & basil; Cobb salad
Friday: A frozen pizza for the boy, a salad for me (the others were camping)
Saturday: Leftovers for the boy, a salad for me
On the menu this week:
Here’s the menu this week. Check back next week for the actual list of what we ate, we’ll see how well I managed to stick to the plan.
Sunday: Big meatballs, pasta, spinach
Monday: Teriyaki chicken, rice, broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken tacos
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Thai basil, chicken, & lemongrass soup (my garden is overflowing with Thai basil)
Friday: Homemade pizza
Saturday: Chicken shawarma, flatbread, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, etc.
Sunday: (we have company) Moroccan spiced pork shoulder, roasted veggies, couscous, maybe a kale salad
Social Media Highlights:
Here are some highlights from my recent social media activity.
If you’re not already on Threads, come on over and join the conversation!
This week I asked for ideas for cooking a whole chicken, and folks came through with some awesome recipe links that you’ll definitely want to grab. ➡️ Click here to read that thread.
Seems like the excitement is mostly happening on Threads these days, but I’m posting almost daily on instagram too. That’s the spot to see what we’re having for dinner in almost real time, so be sure to follow me there too.
Here’s a fun one - this is my first year with a garden at our since we moved here three years ago. Something I’ve always wanted to grow is melons, but I never could grow them where we lived before because it wasn’t warm enough. I have finally had success with growing melons and I’m seriously giddy about it. I shared a couple of pics of my melon bounty here and here.
Coming Next Week:
Next week I thought I would share some of my favorite protein packed lunch ideas, maybe some school day breakfast suggestions, and some of my favorite household cleaning hacks. And always answers to reader questions, meal plan updates, and more. What would you like to hear more about? Be sure to check back and subscribe so you never miss an update.
And coming soon - hopefully - I’m working on a series of blog posts all about my simple meal planning method. What’s funny is that the method is really simple but somehow writing the blog posts isn’t.
Have a Question?
Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.
Reply to this email, post a comment, or hit me up on social media, and your question could be featured in next week’s newsletter.
Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram and Threads for daily tips and inspiration.
➡️ Follow Me on Instagram | ➡️ Follow Me on Threads
Wishing you a delicious and stress-free week ahead!
– Lisa
Notes from the kitchen table: no. 05
top lunch packing tips, reader questions, what we've been eating, meal plans, and more.
Hi there,
If you’re in the US (which I think most of my followers are) - I hope you enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day weekend!
Some of us have already started back to school, but for many of you, this week marks the start of back-to-school season—so it’s the perfect time to focus on making our days as stress-free as possible. In this week’s letter, I’m sharing my top tips for easy lunch packing, the most frequently asked lunch packing reader question, a super simple lunch idea, and an update on our weekly meal plans.
Make sure you don’t miss a weekly update - click here to subscribe to my substack if you aren’t already, and you’ll get these updates in your inbox. The archive of all my weekly updates and past meal plans will always be available on the blog as well.
So let’s get into this tasty week!
Tip of the Week:
I’m going to start sharing some of my favorite time saving tips with you every week.
This week, sticking with the back-to-school theme, it’s actually 5 tips to get you started: my top five tips for easy school lunch packing. Packing lunches doesn’t have to be a hassle, and these tips are my favorite ways to make lunch packing easier, quicker, and more enjoyable for both you and your kids.
Here are my top five tips for easy school lunch packing:
Don’t overthink it.
Have a plan.
Shop and prep ahead of time.
Buy the right lunch packing supplies.
Pack lunch ahead of time.
If you want to know the detail behind each of these tips and how I implement them - click on over to the blog to read my full blog post.
Check out the full tips here ➡️ Top 5 Tips for Easy School Lunch Packing
Want even more? Download my Top Five Tips for Easy School Lunch Packing eBook for an in-depth guide to making school lunches a breeze.
Reader Q&A:
Answers to your questions!
Q: How Do I Keep Apples from Turning Brown in My Kids' Lunches?
A: This is the question I get most often when I share lunches on my social media! Seems like brown apples is a big concern for a lot of folks. Keeping apples fresh and crisp in your child’s lunchbox is easier than you might think! I’ve seen lots of folks share all kinds of tips for this, but I’ve never seen anyone else recommend my method. My go-to method is so simple, and has always worked for me, and is basically just involves using a really sharp knife. I’ve got a whole blog post about this if you want to read more.
For more details, check out the full post here: How to Keep Apples from Turning Brown.
Lunchbox Inspiration:
Weekly lunch packing inspiration and ideas for you.
Here is a quick and easy lunchbox idea: Try leftover pizza for lunch! Kids love pizza, and if you plan ahead and make extra it makes for a super simple lunch. Cut into strips or bites to make it easy for them to eat fast at lunch time, pair with some fruit and maybe a veggie, and lunch is done. You can check out an example of this in my latest instagram post. If you don’t have leftover, but you want to send pizza for lunch - just cook a frozen pizza, there are loads of good ones out there.
I shared an example of this lunch on my Instagram today - check it out ➡️ Pizza bites for lunch
Meal planning:
Updates on our weekly meal plans.
Here’s an overview of what we had for dinner last week, and a peek at what is on my list for the coming week. Feel free to borrow our menu or use these ideas as inspiration for your own meal planning. I’ve included links to pictures and recipes where I have them.
Last week’s menu:
I don’t usually make separate dinners for adults and kids. We had guests over the weekend so our weekend meals were a little different than usual. Here’s what we actually ate:
Monday: Gumbo (maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t? see below)
Tuesday: Ground beef tacos
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: chicken & tofu stir fry
Friday: the kids had frozen pizza, the adults had the Costco street taco kit
Saturday: the kids had Costco chicken pot pie, the adults went out
Sunday: Salmon, rice, green salad with berries & lemon vinaigrette.
Monday: Chicken thighs with basil & garlic, zucchini patties, sliced tomatoes, white pasta.
On the menu this week:
Here’s a sneak peek at what’s on the menu for my family this week. Once again our weekend is a little off, I’ve got four out of six of us gone on scout camping this weekend. Check back next week for the actual list of what we ate - sometimes I don’t follow the plan exactly.
Tuesday: Fish tacos. Fish sticks and Salmon, with all the taco fixings
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Seared ahi tuna bowls, with greens, rice, edamame, cucumbers.
Friday: Pizza for the boy, chop salad for mom
Saturday: Mac & cheese for the boy, another big salad for mom
Sunday: Meatloaf, probably some roasted veggies and pasta
Social Media Highlights:
Here are some highlights from my recent social media activity.
This week it’s all about Threads - I love asking questions there, I get such a great variety of answers from people. If you’re not already on Threads, come on over and join the conversation!
Regarding the gumbo mentioned above - I wasn’t able to get okra, and I asked my followers if it’s still gumbo without okra. As you can imagine, the answers varied. ➡️ Click here to read that thread.
Recently I asked followers about their absolute favorite cookbook, and the responses were great. I’ve now got a whole new wish list of books I want, and I’ll probably summarize these into an upcoming blog post soon. ➡️ Click here to read that thread.
I also asked for suggestions for meals using ground beef and got lots of great ideas. Meat is so expensive these days, but ground meat is usually a bit less, so it’s great to have some fresh ideas for how to use it. ➡️ Click here to read that thread.
Finally - here’s one where I asked folks about their favorite last minute dinner to make when they haven’t planned ahead. You know I’m big on meal planning, but sometimes plans change or I get behind. This is a great list of ideas. ➡️ Click here to read that thread.
Coming Next Week:
Next week I plan to share some of my best ideas for after school snacking, more lunch packing tips and ideas, answers to another common reader questions, meal plan updates, and more. Be sure to check back and subscribe so you never miss an update.
Have a Question?
Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.
Reply to this email, post a comment, or hit me up on social media, and your question could be featured in next week’s newsletter.
Don’t forget to follow along on Instagram and Threads for daily tips and inspiration.
➡️ Follow Me on Instagram | ➡️ Follow Me on Threads
Wishing you a delicious and stress-free week ahead!
– Lisa