April meal plan #1
Banana pancakes & a clever way to stretch one batch of carnitas into two meals
Hi! I (Meredith) am writing you from a house tucked inside a cute little town somewhere in Portugal. We came here for the weekend for a big barbecue and picnic at our friend’s countryside estate, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. After a full month of rain, spending the day outside under a cloudless blue sky was just what I needed. What I did not need was another bout of mastitis, but here we are 🙃. I brought a yummy toddler-friendly chocolate cake, and everybody loved it!
Anyway, this week I came across a post by Richard Makin (School Night Vegan) about the pressure behind sharing flashy, photo-ready recipes on the internet. Katie and I have talked about this a lot. Our weekly meal plans often include the same style or type of recipes week after week. While we want to share new and exciting things with you, sometimes our weeks are just… not new and exciting. (Katie: Hi, yes, can we please normalize this? Repeated recipes, messy plates, bad lighting, and, just a bit less perfection?) So here’s to keeping it real!
This is our honest feedback on what worked (or more likely, didn’t) from last week’s meal plan.
Little victories
Meredith: Fernandito’s class just wrapped up a unit on the desert and the Tuareg people, which is why I was inspired to make couscous this week. He was so excited about it and devoured nearly everything on his plate: the couscous, the carrots, and the chicken, but not the onion. It was easy to make and delicious, and the best part was when he said “Mommy, I’m so glad you made this!” I love that he is so interested in what he’s learning at school, and it’s been really fun to learn alongside him. Did you know that there are different breeds of camels, some with one hump and some with two? I did not.
Katie: I really missed my kitchen last week. This week I opted for lots of meal prep and baking after my kids went to bed, including English muffins, banana bread, and two new loaves of seeded sourdough. All recipes were from Maurizio Leo’s wonderful book “The Perfect Loaf” and 10/10 will be making all of them again.
Katie: When I got home from the Alps, my husband ordered pizza while I showered (anyone else need to do this the second they get home from a day of travel?!). I still can’t get my oldest daughter on the pizza train, but to my delight, I watched as my soon-to-be 2-year-old devoured two slices.
Humbling moments
Katie: Where to begin this week?! Well, the Irish soda bread came out flat as a pancake and confused by whole family (Pablo said it felt like cornbread, and Clara actually said it was, indeed, a pancake.) Then, when I pressure cooked the Guinness beef stew, I heard it boiling in the pot (this has never happened to me and felt very wrong!). When I released the pressure and took off the lid, I found a semi-burnt, not-quite-tender beef stew, which of course we still ate. Well, my husband and I did. Both of my girls turned their noses up to it!
Meredith: the sheet-pan bibimbap was delicious and so beautifully colorful, but it dirtied a lot of dishes. When I hear “sheet-pan,” I think quick, easy, one thing to clean. This was not that.
Katie: My husband and I loved the orzo chicken skillet dish, but both my daughters seemed personally offended by the creamy, garlickly, and downright delicious sauce.
Monday: Pulling leftover veggie burrito filling our of the freezer (via Smitten Kitchen) to make quesadillas or oven-baked nachos
Tuesday: Golden chicken noodle soup (via Always Olives)
Wednesday: Making that leftover burrito filling stretch one more day, meal TBD!
Thursday: Juicy turkey burgers (via Alexandra Cooks)
Friday: Out to lunch to celebrate my husband’s birthday!
Other: Still feeling inspired by Rebecca Firkser’s Around the Table interview, and will be making her banana pancakes! I’d also love to make my own buns for the burgers (another recipe from this book!), but we’ll see how busy life gets next week. I also have an insane craving for crepes, and because I simply cannot put down my sourdough starter or stop tinkering with pizza, I’ve got my eye on this pizza al taglio.
Monday: Carnitas (via NYT Cooking) with rice and beans
Tuesday: Sheet-pan quesadillas with the leftover carnitas
Wednesday: Frozen dumplings, edamame, broccoli, and noodles with peanut sauce (via What to Cook - scroll down about half way!)
Thursday: Double batch of Marcella Hazan’s bolognese to freeze half (via NYT Cooking)
Friday: Crispy cauliflower and white bean grain bowls (via What to Cook)
Other: Rebecca Firkser’s banana pancakes from this week’s Around the Table interview!
Meredith: I owe you all a review of the barrel leg jeans! I exchanged the pair I bought initially for a smaller size (size down if you order), and they are very comfortable. I’m into them, but I’m still not entirely sure what shoes or shirts I’m supposed to be wearing with them. Any pointers?
Katie: I brought home this salted butter with flakes of sea salt from France last week, and needless to say it truly sparks so much joy to spread way too much on my toast each morning.
Meredith: I started reading “Husbands and Lovers” last week, and I’m really enjoying it. A bit of historical fiction, mystery, and summer romance.
Katie: I’m going to carve out an hour this weekend to listen to this podcast on trauma, featuring Dr. Gabor Maté. It’s a heavy topic, but I think pretty universal. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: Becoming a mom cracked me wide open in a way I wasn’t ready for at all—certain things I thought were healed most certainly were not. I’m more intune with my childhoood memories and moments that shaped me, and for better or worse, I’ve had to face some of my bigger demons these past four years.