Happy Sunday!
This might have been the fastest September ever- which I am not mad about because I really like October… its like the calm before the craziness of the Holidays. But before we get too ahead of ourselves…. Lets enjoy the last few days of September!!
As a reminder, I publish easy, mostly gluten-free weeknight dinner menus on Sunday so that I know exactly what ingredients to buy and exactly what I’m cooking every night, which makes my weeknights so much easier. I also usually post school lunch menus for the week. Beyond making weekdays easier, the idea is that the more we eat and cook at home, the lower our exposure level too many harmful, environmental toxins; particularly hormone disrupting phthalates and PFAS chemicals (eating processed foods and eating out are our main sources of phthalate exposure!)
Per popular request, I included some lower tox alternatives to items that I will use in this week meal making at the end!
DINNER
Monday: Korean Meatball Rice Bowl.
My kids love anything in a bowl format, but you could of course make these meatballs on their own and serve with quinoa, just rice, veggies etc!
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Lentil Chicken
Tuesday will be a busy afternoon so perfect opportunity to talk out my slow cooker! I have one made of 100% stainless steel which I love (see blow in the SHOP section). If you want a vegetarian meal of course you can skip the chicken!
Wednesday: Basil Chicken Stir Fry
I won’t lie: I have not made this recipe before and I am not 100% sure certain picky eaters in my house will like the green basil all over their chicken…. But I feel like the taste will be great so here is hoping I don’t end up having to pick out the green basil from their chicken!
Thursday: Black Bean Cilantro Lime Rice Bowls (vegetarian)
I find it hard to find a simple recipe for Cuban black beans - but I have been making them for years and it can be so so easy. The key: Soaking dried organic black beans for ~8+ hours. When you are ready to cook, rinse and drain the beans, add the black beans to your pot and add fresh filtered water (you want to more than double , add salt and boil on the stovetop till tender. You do need to be watching it as you might have to add more waters the time passes (one of the first times I made this recipe years ago I just left it cooking and it dried out and almost caused a fire. The smoke smell lingered for days!). This can take between and hour and an hour and a half. When you are coming the the end of this time make a “sofrito” (cut up small pieces of onions, garlic and maybe red pepper if you have it and cook until onion is translucent with olive oil. Add the cooked sofrito to the beans and salt to taste. Simmer for 15-20 more minutes. Also: you can cook with water and chicken stock (I would do the first boil with water and then anything you add can be chicken stock. This adds a little more flavor) ….. if all of this is too much you can use premade beans and just add the sofrito and warm up! I like Jovial black beans which come in glass containers.
Finally, if you are not into the plantains in this recipe, you can roast sweet potatoes instead. The sweetness of the sweet potato works well with the black beans!
Friday: pasta!
If you have been here for a bit, you know that I like to keep Friday it’s really simple with pasta. This week we have “Friday Night Lights”. A football game for my oldest son (he is the kicker) so am keeping it simple for a quick early dinner”. Just cooking some broccoli with garlic and olive oil and adding that to linguini and topping it off with parmesan cheese.
shop this week’s menu
Stainless steel slow cooker (discount code: AIDASPICKS)
Large Stock Pot (discount code: AIDASPICKS)
School Lunch
We use bento style school lunch containers for my preschooler and larger containers made out of stainless steel for my Seventh grader. For the preschooler, items I usually send her with include: berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, kiwi, grapes, carrots and hummus, edamame, organic corn, green bean ( with some butter)... These are usually snack foods that we find travel well.
MONDAY: quesadillas
TUESDAY: leftover meatballs with freshly made quinoa
WEDNESDAY: left over lentils
THURSDAY: bento grazing lunch: carrots and hummus, turkey slices, pita bread, cucumbers and tomatoes
FRIDAY: freshly made quinoa with corn and green beans ( I buy frozen organic corn and green beans and always have on hand)