What's For Dinner & School Lunch Week of 10/13
Because cooking at home significantly lowers your chemical eposure!
Dinner
Here is what’s for dinner ( 2 adults, 3 kids ages 3,12, & 15) and school lunch x 2 (3 yr old and 12 year old). Most recipes are gluten free since 2 of us are gluten free.
Monday: Shredded chicken sope
This is a favorite go to recipe in my household. Every single one of us loves it. What I do to make it more child friendly and lower tox:
I use avocado oil instead of canola oil
We make our own black beans from organic dried beans instead of using canned refried beans,
The green tomatillos we find locally are usually not organic so we clean them with water and baking soda for 15 minutes, which helps remove pesticides from the skin
We skip any spicy ingredient because my kids don’t like it.
Masa harina is always organic ( corn is usually treated with a lot of glyphosate and other pesticides so organic corn products are always a priority)
Tuesday: Chicken rice with pistachos& saffron
This is a new recipe, but I love that it is a one pot recipe, which is always ideal for a quick family weekday meal. Adding different spices always expands kid’s palates and makes them more adventurous eaters
Wednesday: Lentil skillet, tamale pie
I like to incorporate one or two nights of vegetarian meals in our weekly menus so this one I am going to make with lentils. However, the recipe calls for ground turkey or ground meat. This is another one pot meal, which is great for easy cleanup for weekday dinners and promises to cook quickly too!
Thursday: Grilled marinated flat iron steak with corn tomato salsa
Grilled steak is also great for weekday nights because it cooks quickly. This is a very simple recipe. To make it lower tox I try to source meat that is raised in a regenerative agriculture setting, organic . I will pair it with a organic corn and organic tomato and avocado salad. For my older boys, I might add some mashed potatoes because they have soccer on this day and get home hungry!
Friday: Grilled cheese sandwich with cauliflower steaks
The key to making this healthier, and lower tox, is the quality of cheese and bread. I go to my local Erewhon ( or farmers market) and get authentic sourdough that only contains 4 ingredients: yeast, flour and water and salt. The gluten-free bread we bought this week is from our Farmers Market and it is an organic chestnut flour bread. (note: because these simple “real’ ingredient breads do not contain preservatives, you usually have to store them in the refrigerator otherwise they will start growing mold in a few days.
The cauliflower steaks are super easy for that end of week - i-am-tired-and-dont-want-to-cook- but-want-something-healthy-the-kids-will-eat
SCHOOL LUNCH
Pesto pasta with green beans on the side and a grape tomato/ mozzarella salad on the side
Cobb salad: using leftover chicken from Monday night’s sopes. For my toddler its a deconstructed cobb (no bacon) and for the 12 year old": a large hearty salad
Corn quesadillas with sliced avocados (add lemon to avoid browning) and sliced cucumbers on the side
Quinoa and black beans (from Monday’s sope recipe) with carrots and hummus on the side and a fruit salad
Cream Cheese bagel with thin slices of cucumber and homemade apple butter on the side (super easy to make following this Weelicious recipe)