Grumpy Monday, Half-Hearted Dinners This Week

Wow, am I ever grumpy this morning. Is there a reason for it? No, not really. I mean, I can PINPOINT some grumpy-making things, if you want to know:

1. The weekend was full and social and overall went really well, but I feel like I got NO TIME to myself at all, and I need time to myself or I will LOSE MY MIND. 
2. One of the weekend activities was a volunteer event I co-led, and even though it went pretty smoothly a) I find stuff that involves the combination of logistics, other people, and socializing to be overwhelming and exhausting and b) there was a little hitch in the day that resulted in some adults acting like CHILDREN and while I am trying very hard to have compassion and see things from their side, the whole thing still makes me grumpy. I think in most cases we are all just doing our best, and humans make mistakes and fumble things awkwardly and we can either have a tantrum or we can give other people grace. Reminder to self: GIVE OTHER PEOPLE GRACE. (She says, as she has a mini tantrum on her blog.)
3. My to-do list has too many things on it.
4. Some of the things on my to-do list are FORMS and I hate forms and there are too many and a lot of them are stupid and yes, I know The State requires certain things for certain occasions and I will fill them out but that doesn’t make them less stupid or irritating. 
5. I cannot find frozen cherries ANYWHERE.
6. The effing ROBIN will NOT LEAVE MY WINDOW ALONE and I am not going to resort to bird murder, I promise, but I am THINKING ABOUT HOW SATISFYING IT WOULD BE.

I’m sure there are other things, but those are the grumps that are currently top of mind. 

Oh right.

7. I also have to plan dinners for the week and I don’t wanna.

The good news dinner-wise is that one of Carla’s activities has ended for the year, which means (I think?) that we can cut back to eating fast food only one night per week. Of course, it will mean an extra hour in the car that day, but it may be a good trade off. (That is how sick I am of fast food.)

Dinners for the Week of May 6-May 12

• Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry: I have broccoli, I have chicken, I have mushrooms. I have no particular desire for this dish, but it will be fine.

• Cauliflower Tzatzki Bowls with Sweet Potato Fries: I don’t know if I have enough motivation to make sweet potato fries AND an avocado cucumber slaw (does that combination of foods sound appetizing? I’m not sure), but I could certainly make the cauliflower. Wait a second, am I talking myself out of this? I’m leaving it on the list anyway. Maybe it will sound better later, and if not, I can surely find many ways to make due with cauliflower and sweet potatoes.

• Chickpea Bowls: Yes, this sounds good. I will make a chicken breast for my husband to add to his chickpeas.

• Fish Taco Bowls: Is this too many “bowl” meals for one week? Maybe, but who cares. There’s no law.

• Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas: We haven’t had fajitas in awhile. Let’s fix that. Even though the idea of chopping so many vegetables is not particularly appealing. Oh well.

All right internet. That’s all I have for you. Instead of doing anything at all on my to-do list, I am going to go try to sweat out some of my grumps with this full-body strength video. To be fair, I do have two loads of laundry doing their thing, so at least one item on my to-do list is In Process. 

What to-dos are you avoiding today? Any grumps to share? How was your weekend?

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Mayhem, Summer, and Dinners This Week

I know it’s such a cliché, but WHERE DOES THE TIME GO? This week marks the beginning of May. MAY, people. May is going to be utter mayhem, that’s for sure, and I am already bracing for impact. Carla has so much going on. Three performances, a school presentation, a school trip, a fifth grade “graduation” ceremony, TWO class parties. On top of all the normal day-to-day chaos, of course, with three extracurricular activities that each meet twice weekly. And then BAM!, it will be summer break.

I tried to plan this summer so that it would be easier than last summer. Last summer, of course, we both bought and sold a house, so at least we won’t be dealing with THAT nonsense again. But I think we also over-scheduled Carla last summer. She had summer camp, plus she continued her music lessons through summer. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I felt like we were constantly on the go – like there was no “break” from the busy schedule of the school year. 

This summer, I want time to relax by the pool and have friends over. But… Carla still wants to do summer camp. I am FULLY in favor of camp. While it sounds restful and decadent to spend the summer doing nothing by the pool, I feel like our days would end up being filled by a lot of screen time. And how many playdates can I really handle? Not enough to give Carla the same kind of social interaction she’ll get at summer camp, that’s for sure. So. Summer camp it is.

Okay, so summer camp by itself still gives us evenings and weekends to play and relax. But… Carla is considering trying out a new sport and maybe a new musical instrument. On top of that, we have two other commitments that will take place weekly after camp. Ugh. Now summer is sounding just as hectic as the school year! 

Maybe this is simply a busy season of our lives and I should learn to lean into it, instead of trying to force things to slow down? (Note: I realize that, once again, these are the Champagnest of “problems.”)

One thing that’s always constant: the need to plan and prepare meals. Once again, we’ll have two nights of takeout. I am ready to be done with THAT aspect of this school year. Takeout is fantastic once in awhile, but I am weary of it by now. And the annoying thing is, no matter how much I try to pack my day with nutrient dense foods, by the time dinner rolls around, I am so ravenous I scarf down a bunch of fries or chips. I love fries and chips, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t want or need to be eating them twice weekly. Well. Just a few more weeks of this nonsense left. 

(You may be thinking, Suzanne, simply DON’T ORDER the fries or chips. And yet… I find this hard to do??? When it comes down to it, I am extremely picky. My child, also extremely picky, only has two or three places where she will deign to eat on these takeout nights. And there are only a few options at each of them that I can stand to eat. Plus, I have a lifelong resistance to paying good money for food I don’t like. If I’m going to spend extra money on takeout, I am going to enjoy it, dammit. So. Loading up on fries and chips. I am my own worst enemy, etc.)

I DO have control over what I can make at home, though! So I will try to compensate for the takeout with some protein and veggie packed meals. 

Dinners for the Week of April 29-May 5

• Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Chicken with Potatoes and Veggies: You KNOW I love a sheet pan meal. And I have a bunch of broccoli in the fridge that needs to be used up. 

• Caesar Chicken with Salad: I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw this idea, but it sounds easy enough: marinate some chicken in Caesar salad dressing and roast with a little parmesan sprinkled on. Pair it with a salad. My only question is whether I dress the salad with the Caesar dressing? Or go for a light vinaigrette instead???? I don’t want to over-Caesar myself. 

• Baked Pork Chops and Zucchini: Another sheet pan meal! This recipe calls for asparagus, but I already have some zucchini on hand, so I will probably use that instead.

• Golden Cauliflower Chickpea Bowls: These sound so nourishing right now. I bet my husband will want a chicken breast alongside his, and maybe I will add a salmon filet. We’ll see. I wonder if I could coax Carla into eating this? She likes crispy chickpeas…

 What are you eating, these last few days of April? How’s your summer shaping up?

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Dinners This Week

Spring is arriving in fits and starts around here. I was very glad that my furnace was back up and running this weekend, with temperatures in the mid forties. 

But I know summer will be here before we know it. Already, I have that buzzing-beneath-the-skin feeling of anxiety and anticipation that accompanies the end of the school year and the shift to a new season. 

It’s a call week, so we are going for delicious and simple. Except for the night we have salad; that is a bunch of steps. But it’s worth it. 

Dinners for the Week of April 22-April 28

• Honey Chipotle Chicken Bowls: Even though I normally skip this step, I plan to make quinoa; I’m not going to make the cilantro lime quinoa from the recipe, though, instead opting for crispy quinoa. Yum. 

• Chicken Paprikas: I am sure it’s the chilly weather, but I’m really in the mood for this creamy, hearty stew-like concoction over buttery noodles.

• Crockpot Pulled Pork with Coleslaw: Easiest ever recipe: pork tenderloin in the crockpot with a chopped up onion and some minced garlic. Slather in barbeque sauce and a drizzle of sriracha. Heat on low for eight hours; shred and serve. I like my shredded pork on top of a baked potato. My husband prefers his on a roll with coleslaw.

• Tacos: We haven’t had tacos in a minute, so let’s throw them on the menu.

That’s it for today, internet. Happy Pesach to all who celebrate.

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HVAC, Moths, Dinners This Week

Oh hi! I am once again waiting for the HVAC professionals to arrive at my home! My furnace worked for two days. Then we had a day of beautiful sunshiney 79-degree weather and the interior of my house transformed into a sauna, so I turned on the air conditioning. Which didn’t work. This morning, my husband thought to check whether the furnace would work… and it did not work either. We have neither heat nor air conditioning. I am very glad today’s forecast is for mild temps, but… What is happening?????

Sidebar, since I was already moaning to you last week about pest woes: We opened the windows to help cool the house last night, and when I got into bed I noticed that approximately ten zillion miniature flying critters had taken up residence inside my lampshade, on the wall around my lamp, and on the ceiling directly above my lamp. I suspect they were tiny moths or other light-loving insects. I examined the screen nearest my bed and discovered that there is a large rip in it. It was past one (I fell asleep at my desk while working), so I did not have any energy to do a single thing about the moths. I turned off my lamp and went to bed, hoping they wouldn’t swarm me while I slept. This morning, they were gone. Where… did they go? I closed the window with the broken screen, so they didn’t exit that way. They don’t seem to have congregated around any of the nightlights. But… where are they? On the scale of pest awfulness, a million tiny moths doesn’t really register… but I am still very concerned. Am I going to open a seldom-used closet one of these days and find a full-fledged moth hive, pulsing with winged bugs?

MOVING RAPIDLY AWAY FROM THAT HORRIFYING IMAGE. I am in desperate need of groceries, but I’m afraid to leave the house lest the HVAC person choose that moment to show up. (They are supposed to give me a 30-minute window, but, in my experience, it is more like, “Oh, hey, I’m five minutes away!”) 

Let’s turn our thoughts away from the specter of replacing BOTH air conditioner and furnace and to the much more comforting prospect of food!  

Dinners for the Week of April 15-April 21

• Taquito Enchiladas: I am pretty sure Sarah inspired this one, as I never in a million years would have thought to do this myself. But I am newly in possession of a bag of chicken taquitos from Costco and I really, really want to see if this easy delicious-sounding meal is as easy and delicious as I hope it will be. 

• Whole-Roasted Cauliflower with Feta: I saw this on Instagram and cannot stop thinking about it. My husband will probably require some sort of meat accompaniment, so I am thinking chicken shawarma, maybe?

• Pasta Primavera: It’s that time of year again when I want ALL THE VEGGIES. I will sauté whatever I can find – asparagus! zucchini! broccoli! peas! – and add it to some protein pasta with a ton of lemon juice and parmesan. YUM.

• Sheet Pan Red Curry Chicken and Veggies: This recipe calls for butternut squash, which I will probably sub out for… something else. Broccoli and cauliflower? Green beans? 

Carla is back in the throes of Multiple Extracurriculars, now that spring sports have begun, so we will also be eating some junk food this week – some sort of fast-food chicken or burger, we’ll see. I am not a big fan of eating fast food on the regular, but sometimes it is the best and easiest option. This season of eating fast food multiple times per week won’t last forever, so I will try to lean into it as best I can.

What are you eating this week, Internet?

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Spring Break, Easter, Dinners This Week

Did I tell you that my kiddo has two weeks of spring break? Two. Weeks. Well, at least we get to sleep in.

One week takes place in a beautiful tropical location, but the other week takes place at home. For the at-home week, we’ve got two playdates on the schedule, plus a much-needed haircut for both of us, and color for one. Also on my agenda are fun things like painting our toenails and watching some movies. And some necessary things, like cleaning Carla’s craft room. On Carla’s agenda: all the TV and video games.

We do also need to eat. What’s a good Spring Break menu plan? Taking a break from meal planning and cooking would be nice, but alas, that’s not in the cards. Even when we are traveling, our hostess has expressed interest in cooking. I would much rather not think about food beyond picking something off a menu at a restaurant, and I would love to wash nary a dish… but. We’ll see. 

Okay, so: meal planning, playdates, and Easter. We aren’t big Easter celebrants here, and none of us particularly likes ham (except in Lunchable form). But it seems like we should do SOMETHING celebratory, no? Aside from copious amounts of Reese’s peanut butter eggs, of course.

Dinners for the Week of March 25-31

• Tacos: Tacos are a great, kid-friendly meal with the benefit of being easy. 
• Hamburgers: Carla eats hamburgers and I’m hoping one of her playmates also eats hamburgers. If not, there are always chicken nuggets.
• Pork Loin with Wine and Herb Gravy: This seems fancy enough for a holiday meal. I bet it would pair well with some baby potatoes and asparagus. 
• Pizza: I just want pizza. Carla won’t eat it, but my husband will. 
• Something else????

There. That sounds sufficiently spring-break-y to me. What’s on your meal plan for the week?

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Attack Robins, Dinners This Week

We have been plunged back into winter. I don’t mind winter – in fact, I adore winter, and we had far too little of it this year. What I do mind is the vacillations between winter and spring. Turns out I prefer the seasons to progress as intended, rather than swinging back and forth willy nilly. Well. Perhaps “seasons” no longer exist, in this iteration of the world, and I should enjoy the beautiful snow falling all around the house while I can. 

The robins, however, have decided It Is Spring. One of the new delightful (no) quirks of our new house is that we seem to be neighbors with a bunch of attack robins. As of this weekend, we are constantly startled by the unpleasant sound of a robin flinging himself bodily into our windows. All. Day. Long.

Robins are not, as I originally assumed, getting distracted mid-flight by daydreams and blundering into the glass. No. I have seen them perch on the lintel outside the window and then flap violently at their reflections. There is also belligerent pecking. A small robin can manufacture quite a lot of racket and I no longer need an alarm clock.

My understanding from a very cursory google search is that the robins are not trying to systematically deprive me of my home and sanity. Instead, they perceive their reflections as rival male robins and attack them. Seems to me like this would be a fairly easy trial and error sort of experience. You see a male robin on your home turf, you flap in his face, but instead of scaring the intruder robin away, you are rebuffed by something smooth and hard between you. I mean, maybe it takes a couple of times to realize that the other robin is in some alternate dimension that in no way intersects with your own. But no. The robin returns and returns. And then when I shake the window blinds at it, it flies away for a few minutes and either returns to that window or a different window. Maybe future iterations of robins could benefit from additional brainpower and a smidge less territorial rage hmm????

My daughter’s brilliant idea of setting up a giant stuffed Pikachu in the window has not been the deterrent she hoped it would be. It seems that our options are a) stick a reflective decal/tape on the window, b) get an owl sculpture to police the windows, or c) close the blinds, although closing the blinds doesn’t seem to work. I am hoping this frenzy of possessive bluster is tied to mating season and ends soon. My husband and I both wonder why this was never an issue at our old house. I guess the new neighborhood’s robins are fiercer/dumber than the old ones.

Robin attack team aside, we must eat. 

Dinners for the Week of March 18-24

• Guinness Beef Stew with Homemade Egg Noodles: To be fair, we made this meal on a whim yesterday; such was the extent of our St. Patrick’s Day observance. But the recipe made such an enormous amount of stew that we have plenty for upcoming meals, so I’m counting it. The egg noodles were my husband’s idea, and much easier than I anticipated. I think of stew as soup, with bigger chunks of things in it. But he was anticipating something thicker, like maybe a beef stroganoff or a chicken paprikash type of texture. This stew is closer to soup, despite a couple of cornstarch slurries. I followed the instructions for making it on the stove, but once the beef was seared and the onions/garlic were deglazed with the beer, I put everything in the crockpot for six hours. I also added about 10 ounces of mushrooms, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and quite a lot of salt. Delicious. 

• Lemon Feta Sheet Pan Chicken and Veggies: I will obviously be excluding the tomatoes.

• Oven Baked Pork Chops and Steamed Broccoli: Easy and peasy.

• Spiced Chicken Kebabs with Salad and Yogurt Dressing: I cannot abide ground chicken, so I will use chicken breast, cut into chunks, and roasted in the air fryer. So not kebabs at all; I know, I am one of Those People. The marinade sounds delicious, though (I am very intrigued by sumac) and the rest of the salad and yogurt sauce are highly appealing.

That’s all I have on the meal plan for this week, Internet.

Has winter returned to your neck of the woods? What are you eating to cope with the ongoing Kate Middleton drama?

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Dinners This Week

Oh, right – dinners. It is dinnertime on Monday as I write this (when will Feedly allow you to read it, I wonder???) and I probably should have put some thought into food before this point. Well. Ham sandwich tonight, I suppose. We do have some leftover balsamic pork in the fridge, which is excellent reheated. (I used a pork loin roast this time, because it was on sale. I think I’ll do that forevermore because there is plenty leftover and it was delicious and easy.)

We’re caught somewhere between winter and spring, and I’m dreaming of grilling out. However, it is a teeny bit too cold right now, plus our grill is still on the fritz, and I haven’t gotten around to even putting “FIX GRILL” on the to-do list yet. (Still playing phone tag with one of the two pool services who called me back; have not heard a peep from the pool service I spoke with who said he’d text me. Champagne problems, not real problems. Still annoying.) 

Let’s see. Dinners. What do people eat for dinner? Have I ever made dinner before? Hmmm.

Dinners for the Week of March 11-17

• Salad with Avocado and Pickled Onions: The intermittent springy-ness is making me crave veggies and salads, so this salad – inspired by JellyJules, who made exactly the substitutions I would have (romaine instead of iceberg, feta instead of cotija) – is just the ticket. I will air fry a chicken breast and/or a salmon filet for my husband and myself. 

• Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup: My husband informs me he would really like to eat chili-mac, which doesn’t appeal to me today. (I love chili; I love mac and cheese; not terribly crazy about them together.) So I will make myself a giant vat of chicken tortilla soup that I can dip into throughout the week.

• Sheet Pan Chili/Honey Chicken and Sweet Potatoes: Yes, I am well aware that last week I announced I don’t really like sweet potatoes. I stand by it. Yams are not my jam. However. I love them in THIS recipe. 

• Miso-Ginger Chicken Slaw: “CHICKEN slaw?” my husband said when I suggested this recipe. No. Slaw, with shredded chicken. 

• Taquito Enchiladas: Sarah mentioned that she was making this dish and… it sounds SO APPEALING. First of all, my child will actually eat taquitos. (Beef ones, but maybe I can get her to try a chicken one?) (She won’t eat melted cheese, or things with sauce though… so… perhaps this is not a grand slam as I originally thought.) (I still want to make it.) Secondly, I also enjoy a taquito, and I looooooooove enchiladas. Thirdly, this sounds so easy, and I could make it from ingredients we already own. 

That’s all I’ve got tonight, Internet. What’s going on with you?

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Dinners This Week

Thank you so much for your well wishes, both in terms of my progress toward my to-do list, and in terms of my health. The former is going better than I anticipated (the electrician AND the furnace person have been here since I posted! yay!) and I got a call back from 2/3 of the pool people I left a message for. (The first one left a message and I need to call them back. The second person called, I spoke to him and got some details, he asked me to text him to see if I was in his service area and if I wasn’t he would recommend someone who was; I texted him and he never followed up.) 

I am feeling so much better, but also I am pretty sure I have a sinus infection. (By the way, Word is insisting that “sinus” is misspelled. I really don’t think it is, but that little red underline is making me question everything I thought I knew.) A sinus infection is typical for me, when I have a cold. Alas, even though I feel like I recognize the symptoms, it’s one of those things where you have to wait for at least ten days before you can call the doctor, or they will say, “Well, colds can linger. Give it at least ten days and then give me a call back.” No way am I making ONE MORE CALL than I need to. Especially because today I also need to call the orthodontist about a loose bracket and try to convince them that they should see Carla after school and not in the middle of the school day, even though they seem completely baffled every time I suggest the latter. 

Carla did end up calling the hair salon to make an appointment for my husband. She did a great job. The only mildly amusing thing was that the scheduler didn’t question her AT ALL. Just said, “Oh, you’re making an appointment for your daddy? What’s his name?” and then went through with scheduling the appointment like it was totally normal for a ten-year-old to be in charge of her father’s calendar. Maybe it is! I am not complaining! I just thought she might get some gentle pushback, like, “Oh, is your daddy there helping you make this call?” or something. I don’t even know. Perhaps since there have been multiple times when people have asked me, a grown woman, whether my husband is there to give his permission for me to talk to them about things for which we share joint ownership, I thought it might be a little more difficult for a CHILD to make an appointment not that I am bitter or jaded or anything. 

Oh right, we’re supposed to be talking about DINNERS. What are you in the mood to eat, Internet? I’ve got nothing. And yet I cannot have nothing, because it’s part of my job to plan the meals! 

Time to scroll my endless lists of meal ideas… 

Dinners for the Week of March 4-10

• One Pan Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, and Broccoli: It’s a sheet pan meal kind of week, I think. Plus, I already have broccoli in my fridge and chicken in my freezer. Maybe a sweet potato will materialize on my car hood tomorrow morning. The thing about sweet potatoes is that I always WANT to like them and then don’t like them in practice. But this dish sounds really good. So probably this is the one time when I WILL like them. Right? Right.
• Lentil and Chickpea Salad with Feta: I’m in a lentil state of mind lately. I plan to eat this alongside some roasted salmon, but will make a chicken breast for my husband because I don’t want him to hate his life.
• Crockpot Balsamic Pork Tenderloin: We haven’t had this in a hot minute! Yum. I could eat a big pile of this tangy shredded pork right now. (We serve it over rice with caramelized onions, feta, kalamata olives, and sundried tomatoes. Look at me, dual-purposing the feta rather than putting half a block in the fridge until it liquifies.)
• Fish Tacos: You know tacos are one of my love languages. Let’s be honest. I will probably use fish sticks instead of buying and cooking wild cod. Wild cod is EXCELLENT, but fish sticks are EASY. 

Because I spend too much time ogling recipes on Instagram, I have also been influenced to make this three-ingredient yogurt cake. There is no way it will actually resemble Basque cheesecake right? That is just a pipe dream? But if I can persuade Carla to try it, it will feel like a win. A high-protein win. We’ll see. 

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Dinners This Week

We have the end of a month AND a Leap Day this week. Are you doing anything special for Leap Day? I kind of feel like it could be special, but doesn’t have to be special, you know? So I guess I’m still in the dithering phase. My mind is blanking completely when I try to scan it for fun Leap Day meal ideas. The only remotely leap-y things I am coming up with are rabbit and deer and frogs, but, while many people do eat those creatures, I do not care to. Plus, part of me is groaning at the necessity of making ONE MORE MEAL than the already overwhelming number of meals we have to plan, prepare, and eat. 

Well. Needs must. In addition to leftover tacos and cupcakes, I have come up with a few appealing meals for the week ahead.

Dinners for the Week of February 26-March 3

• Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls: I went to the grocery store several times last week, and each time I came across something that whispered the same seductive phrase to me: burrito bowl. I’ll be using the chicken marinade recipe from the @ShredHappens recipe for chipotle chicken rice bowls. Except I plan to air fry the chicken instead of pan frying it. I picked up some cilantro lime cauliflower rice and cilantro lime regular rice from the freezer section of my grocery store, plus some frozen cubed sweet potato, and frozen Mexican street corn. I am going to make some black beans, cut up an avocado, roast the sweet potatoes, air fry the corn, and put everything together with some generous squeezes of lime juice and glops of sour cream. And hot sauce, of course. 
• Orzo with Feta, Asparagus, and Peas: I plan to roast a chicken breast for my husband and a filet of salmon for myself. Carla is going to get chicken nuggets, a bowl of plain orzo, and a bowl of plain peas. 
• Caramelized Vietnamese Pork Bowls: Allison mentioned this on her blog and then sent me the recipe and it sounds SO GOOD. I will probably try to do shredded pork rather than ground pork because I have a weird ground-pork aversion. And I plan to spruce it up with some veggies – bell peppers? Broccoli? Sugar snap peas? 

Are you celebrating Leap Day this year? Proposing marriage to anyone, perhaps?

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Dinners This Week

I overheard the cutest conversation between my husband and daughter yesterday. We were gearing up for a trip to Target, and I’d mentioned that I wanted to see if Target carried my favorite yogurt. (Unlikely.) Then I went into my office to contemplate the depth of the sea surf endlessly through the muck of the internet do some work. My husband was looking through the fridge and asked Carla what kind of yogurt I eat. She said, “Fage.” (Rhymes with sage, to her.) And he said, “The cherry kind?” (Which, YES! Good job, team!) But then Carla said, “Wait! She had yogurt this morning!” and I heard her run to the garbage can to see what I’d eaten. (It was Chobani less-sugar vanilla cinnamon, because I was out of the cherry Fage.) I could have corrected them, but they were so obviously trying not to bother me and it was adorable to listen to them use investigative reasoning to figure it out. I don’t think Target carries cherry Fage anyway. 

This is a short week of school for Carla and a call week for my husband and I have multiple freelance projects due and also multiple appointments and I am volunteering at a school event AYIEEEEEEE so we’re starting the week with a surge of Panic Energy, which admittedly can be quite helpful if you can ride the wave rather than allowing it to drown you.  

Probably I will be eating nothing but Ham Sandwich this week – and butternut squash soup with cannellini beans, of which I made a vat yesterday – but if I DO get it together enough (ha) to make some real meals, these are the ones I’m contemplating.

Dinners for the Week of February 19-25

• Spicy Caramelized Shrimp with Lemongrass: This sounds different and tasty. I will add some sort of veggies to it – most likely bell peppers or sugar snap peas. But I bet edamame or asparagus or even zucchini would also be delightful. 
• Lemon Chicken: I will use chicken breast and make this in the air fryer. Probably I’ll serve it with couscous and either zucchini or broccoli.
• Stir Fry: The Birchwood Pie Project recommended this stir fry sauce, and I’m always up for a good stir fry. If my husband makes it home in time, I’ll make it with chicken; if not, I’ll probably skip a protein and stick with veggies. 

• Coconut Curry Salmon: This sounds so good to me right now. I would substitute chicken for salmon if my husband is home for this dinner. Rice and something green on the side. Peas would be good with a curry sauce, so maybe peas.

• Tacos: I want tacos for my birthday, so that’s what I’ll make for my birthday! I also plan on having a big frothy margarita. YUM. If I am feeling fancy, I might make some lemon curd filled cupcakes as well, but after the cookie extravaganza of Valentine’s Day, I may be okay to skip a baked good.

Just a reminder: if you want to participate in a little book giveaway, make sure you leave a comment on this post by midnight PST tonight. And “tonight” could mean Monday night, the day I am posting this, or it could well mean a different night, based on whenever Feedly decides to list this post, so I will base “tonight” on the latter. 

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