Happy Monday; how was your weekend? We had two solid days of rain Friday and Saturday, which could be seen as dreary to many but gave us a good chance to catch up on a lot of things we needed to check off. We tried on clothes and took a trip to REI to finalize the things we need for our upcoming sailing charter in the BVI’s. We are SO excited to be partnering with The Moorings again, like we did in 2019, and it’s sneaking up on us.

Sunday the sun came out shining brightly, a perfect day to celebrate Easter! The bunny stopped by our house and brought baskets and hid eggs. We enjoyed a great sermon at church. I also realized my days of standing in the back of family pictures are numbered.

But let’s get to the food!

Monday

Whole roasted chicken in my Instant Dutch Oven have become a go-to for me. I simply season and put it on slow cook for 4 hours. The outside doesn’t look as crispy or pretty as oven roasting (though you could pop it in the oven for a broil if you’re serving it whole). However, I pull all the meat off the bones so I don’t care much about the look. I served with roasted carrots, Brussels, and onions and a bag of Daily Harvest‘s new grain product, which is super convenient and tasty! This one had black lentils, quinoa, brown rice, white rice, cauliflower, and sage.

Tuesday

Burger night! I made a batch of bread machine hamburger buns, which are delightfully easy and I encourage you to try them if you have a bread machine. Lettuce, tomato (gosh I can’t wait for summer tomatoes), pickles and roasted green beans on the side.

Wednesday

David was out of town on Wednesday so I made a salad with whatever leftover things I had in the fridge: mixed greens, roasted chicken, carrots, cilantro, and Garlic Expressions dressings. The girls had hot dogs and bell peppers. The main event was popcorn (I love our air popper!) and watching The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Thursday

This was a fail. I had brisket in my freezer and tried to slow cook it. I followed a recipe and though the meat turned out tender it had little flavor and was super fatty. I’ll stick to letting David smoke it from here on out. The slaw was good though! Just cabbage, mayo, ACV, celery seeds, a sprinkle of sugar and salt.

Friday

I started shifting into my “I need easy meals” mindset, which is continuing through the beginning of this week. I put Butcher Box‘s meatballs (which I LOVE because they are made with all real, recognizable ingredients and come in a 2 lb bag) with a Costco sized Rao’s marinara. Slow cook for 3-4 hours and serve over spaghetti. I chopped oregano, basil, and parsley from the counter top garden to give it a little pizzazz and fresh flavor.

Saturday

We finished out a rainy Saturday with comfort food, which is Mexican for us! The kids had an enchilada bake, but it was small, so the adults had lentils and rice, made together in the rice cooker, with Amylu’s chicken sausages, guac, sour cream, salsa, cilantro, and Siete tortilla chips.

Sunday

Easter Sunday I intended to do ham, but it was sold out by the time I got to Whole Foods, so I improvised and made another whole chicken in the Dutch oven. I served mine over baked sweet potato with BBQ and the most delicious asparagus. The family has eaten this up lately! It’s just asparagus drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, garlic powder, and grated parmesan. Roasted at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. So good!

Breakfast & Lunch

I didn’t snap many of these- whoops! I’ll share more in an upcoming “What I ate Wednesday” post. This lunch was frequent last week, though- Amylu chicken sausage with lentils, rice, and spinach. Hot sauce on top.

Resources

• Find all previous weekly meal plans here.
• Our meat comes from Butcher Box. I’ve used them for years and trust their quality and consistency.
• Fresh herbs brighten up every meal I have two countertop gardens that I grow them in: see the comparison between the two here.
• See what we spend each month on groceries here.
• Print off your own free weekly meal plan printable from the resource page.
• Daily Harvest offers easy frozen organic veggie-heavy heat and eat meals.
• You can find all my favorite kitchen tools here.