October 29 - November 4

Highlights from this week were not meal related. As you can see, we were too busy with Halloween and other festivities to plan and make thoughtful dinners. Instead of food photos, enjoy these candy, costume, and fencing photos. Yes, we fenced this week. It was hilarious. 

October 29 - Frozen Pizza and Caesar Salad
Again!? I know. I know. Like I said, we were too distracted getting well and getting ready for Halloween. I vow better things in November. Stick with me! Nothing new here, save for the fact that Freschetta has moved their GF pizza option to a "personal pan" size meaning that I spend the same amount for less than half the pizza. Boo. As such, the boys has the good old glutenous kind and, of course, loved it. We had a kale casear salad kit to pair with it.


October 30 - Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries and Kale/Cabbage Salad
I'm nearly done with the pack of frozen turkey burgers I bought this summer. This meal took us down to the last two! Wahoo. It couldn't matter so much save for the fact that I have a Barbie-sized freezer. 4 things fit in it and only when placed in an exact way, just-so. Infuriating! A chest freezer is on the wish list, for sure. In the mean time, we eat through what we have to make room for new things. So, it was turkey burgers to the rescue, again! I used my stand-by Alexia sweet potato fries and the cabbage/kale salad kit from Fred Meyer. Yawn. Nothing to get too excited about, but a descent dinner for a Friday night.

October 31 - Candy and Other Snacks...but let's be honest, candy.
After our fencing adventure in the day we stopped for a late lunch, then, when we returned home the kiddo ate an early dinner so we could get ready to trick-or-treat (in the torrential rain).  As such, I thik I'll call this night's dinner what it was: candy. We didn't have much but we did have it, and it was just around dinner time. I recall eating something "real" as a snack after the toddler went to bed but I don't know what it was.

November 1 - Leftover Pizza and Kale Salad
We had a lovely lunch at our dear friend's house (see photo of our sons together above in the silly glasses) where at my friend made Cranberry Chicken Pilaf. By the time we got home we just wanted to veg out (and mourn the lack of light at 5pm after the end of day light savings time!) so we had leftover pizza and tossed together a fresh kale, pepper, and carrot salad.

November 2 - Kale Frittata
I've made this before a bunch of times and we all always love it. It appeared on my meal plan for a couple weeks in a row, but every time I went to make it I was always short on eggs. I finally had enough this night and so we got to enjoy this dish again! I accidentally got turkey bacon instead of pork: oops! While I'm not always a fan, it worked in this dish (recall that I use pre-cooked bacon instead of the recipe's called for pepperoni). Yum. And healthy. And a meal I actually made from ingredients! Yay me!

November 3 - Chickpea Curry
This one was so tasty and easy the first time I made it, I had to try it again. Turns out it was just as good and simple the second time around. Wahoo! I used 1 TBS of Sriracha and 2 TBS of honey and felt the sweet-to-hot balance was just right. FYI. Seriously, though, such a simple and wholesome dish. I also served this with spinach (we tossed it in our bowls just as we were serving it so it wilted but wasn't a stringy soggy mess) and it was delicious and added some needed greens to our plates (and lives!). If you like a curry, you must try this.

November 4 - Microwave Chicken Fajitas 
I don't love to cook in the microwave, I'll use it to reheat things but don't use it as a primary heat source in meal preparation. But, my mom (who sells Pampered Chef) got me hooked on this Deep Dish Covered Baker that you can use in the microwave and still get juicy, tender, tasty food (especially protein). The key, so she says, is that the microwave heats the stone and the stone cooks the food. I'll buy it. This dish is a must-have for a busy night, just as simple as chop, beep, and serve. I can get it on the table in under a half hour, and that's with all the prep. Yes, please! 

October 22 - 28

Yep, photos of food continued to allude me this week. You'd think I'd have caught on by now, right? Good thing I have a goofy spouse and cute kid to distract you. 

October 22 - Breakfast for Dinner
This week is honestly a little hazy to me. I'm catching up on posts from about 3 weeks back and this was the thick of "everyone is sick, what are we going to eat?!" I didn't do a great job of making or following a meal plan, noting what we actually ate, or, documenting my meals. So, apparently I am human. ;) I'm fairly certain there was a breakfast for dinner that happened this week, though, and I know it wasn't any of the other days, so we're going to pretend that is what we had on this night. Again, this a is standby and shows up when we get overwhelmed. Usually it involves a breakfast bread (waffle, pancake, bread, or bagel -- all of which we find GF), eggs in some fashion, and breakfast meats (we love turkey sausage and bacon).

October 23 - Takeout Thai from Thai Village in Wilsonville
I had to work late this night and I picked up dinner on my way home. This is our favorite Thai place in the area. We usually get a Curry - this time it was Panang - (with tofu or chicken) and the Mango Paradaise (with chicken or shrimp). They never disappoint. This time I got "medium" spice level and enjoyed the little kick, especially since we were fighting the chest/head cold.

October 24 - Leftovers
Not my finest week of cooking so far, eah? Sometimes, you and your spouse and your kid are all sick and you just need to put calories in. That's what we did. Blessed, blessed Thai leftovers. Thank you for your tasty ease.


October 25 - Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
I made real food this day (cue applause)! This is a recipe my mom adapted from several she found. They live in North Dakota (a land where wild rice is abundant, donchaknow!) and when they moved there mom was determined to find a good recipe. She made this for us on one of our visits out there and it was tasty and hearty. My version was similar. Great for the turn in weather to fall conditions. I liked serving this with a piece of toasted GF bread and a small smear of butter.

October 26 - Mashed Chickpea Salad
I've made this before a couple of times and loved it every time. It is such a bright, crunchy, healthy dish and I love that it keeps well in the fridge. I actually made this at the same time I did the soup and just packed it up and kept it for the next day. That method is actually how me and the hubs used to cook prior to the arrival of the kiddo. We used to spend a weekend day making 2 or 3 big things and just portion them out for the week of lunches and dinners. It was rad. But, now we spend weekend days fabricating Halloween costumes, building forts, and taking part in epic and unending rounds of "hide and seek".


October 27 - Chicken and Wild Rice Soup Leftovers
One of the best things about a big pot of soup is the fact that it is big. All the work pays off when you get to revisit your yummies for lunch or dinner with the ease of reheating. Wahoo!


October 28 - Sausage, Pepper, and Potato Hash with Roasted Brussel Sprouts
My in-laws joined us for dinner on this night and I made this new recipe. It was tasty and easy (mostly just chopping and sauteing). It was tasty but almost felt like a breakfast dish, I kept thinking it would have been great topped with a fried egg.  I adapted it by putting the potatoes in the oven rather than roasting them stove top. That required less attention (so I could direct mine to the kiddo). The potatoes roasted right alongside my sprouts. For those I cut off the bottoms and cut them in half and then toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper. If I have one on hand I add a chopped shallot to the mix, too, that gives a nice punch of flavor. Then, I roast at 400-450 for 30-60 minutes until the get tender in the center and some of the leaves start to blacken. Yum.

October 15 - 21

 I got two meals captured this week. Here's a cute kid pic to help round out the collage.

October 15 - Lentil, Cauliflower, and Sweet Potato Curry
This was decent and a good way to bulk up a curry with some protein and veggies, but it wasn't honestly my favorite curry recipe. I went ahead and bought the special Tikka Masala curry paste that the recipe calls for (I found it on Amazon, thanks Prime!) and it was pretty tasty. I think the proportions were a little off, though. I added more broth than it called for and it was still a little dry and the cauliflower certainly over powered the dish. I also forwent the black mustard seeds (found those on Amazon, too, just didn't want to have them hanging around) and I don't think we missed out terribly without their presence. If you're looking for curry I suggest a red lentil and butternut squash recipe that I make every fall or the chickpea curry that I made a few weeks back that was rad, both are superior to this one.

October 16 - Kale Salad with Butternut Squash and Chickpeas
First of all the pecans in the salad were amazing. I'm planning on making them separately for Christmas gifts (and so the hubs can enjoy them again, he RAVED about them).

Second, the salad was decent but my fatal error was using chopped baby kale and dressing it too early before dinner. Somewhere in the midst of all that the kale wilted and it was a bit more soggy than can really be called delicious by the time we ate it. All that said: the recipe warrants making again because all the elements were yummy and it could go so well assuming I made those few changes. I'm thinking it would be a good side dish at a holiday meal.

October 17 - Frozen Pizza and Salad
I'm not proud of the number of times this meal appears in our menu plan, and yet, that doesn't stop me from eating it with unabashed joy. There is always salad. We always eat that first. And it is always good salad, with dark leafy greens. So, I can take some solace in that. As a final plea to my Catholic guilt, this was slated to be a date night and we stayed in because the kiddo came down with croup in the afternoon (no fun for him or a babysitter). So, pizza felt like a decent alternative to a meal out without a kid in tow.  We shopped at New Season for this meal (and just handed over our wallets upon entry, as is necessary when shopping there). We got a Caesar salad kit and I honestly don't recall the brand of pizza. It was neither  so bad or so good that it needs referencing here.

October 18 - White Beans with Spinach and Sausage
This was good and easy. Win. Win. Mine turned out a little salty, but I think it was my fault in the "to taste" seasoning rather than an error in the recipe. I almost always have all of these ingredients on hand and so this has become part of my "oops, what's for dinner?" playbook. There was also something for everyone in this dish: meat, beans, and greens makes it appealing and balanced. Wahoo.

October 19 - Parmesan Crusted Salmon with Broccoli
This was also good. I substituted GF bread crumbs and it worked well. I left the skin on the salmon and it turned out fine. And, I roughly halved the topping recipe as I had half as much salmon and it worked well. I'm always looking for a new way to make salmon and this is defiantly to which we will return. Something really gratifying about cooking everything in one pan (that's my dinner M.O.) and you'll love the oven roasted broccoli if you haven't had it before. Slurp!

October 20 - Pesto Pasta Toss with Italian Sausage
I've make a version of this every few weeks. Its is easy, mostly wholesome, and a crowd pleaser. For whatever reason I forgot to buy a zucchini and I was out of frozen stock from the summer (how is that possible?!) so I substituted with chopped spinach and broccoli. It turned it into more of a primavera style dish which was yummy. Great way to use up extra veggies in the fridge, too.

Chop a whole purple onion, a red bell pepper, and grate a zucchini. Boil water for pasta and cook according to package instructions. Saute the onion and 3 cloves garlic until onion is translucent. Add pepper. Add 1/4-1/2 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. When pepper is crisp-tender, add zucchini, 2 TBS of white wine, and 2 TBS of lemon juice. After the pasta is cooked and drained, toss it in the veggie mixture and toss to coat with about 1/2 the container of pesto (about 1/4-1/2 cup). Then, use the pasta pot to pan fry the sausage (I pre-cut into rounds). Toss together and sprinkle with Italian herbs (fresh or dried) of your choosing and serve with grated parmsean and fresh greens.

October 21 - Taco Salad
Another standby. Open a can of black beans, drain, rinse, toss into a pan to heat. Chop a tomato, an avocado, a lime, cilantro (if you roll like that), and a couple leaves of romaine lettuce. Open your favorite bag of tortilla chips, can of black olives, salsa, sour cream, and pre-grated Mexican blend cheese (sure, you could be classy and grate your own cheese, that sounds like work to me). If you're feeling really adventurous and have the tortillas around, you can make some quesadillas with the extra cheese.

Assemble salad according to the wisdom of my great-grandmother: "Put what you like!" I start with a bed of lettuce, add beans and veggies, and top with salsa. I eat with a small handful of chips (small because otherwise I'd eat the whole bag: Yum!)

October 8 - 14

OOPS! This has been sitting unpublished in my drafts folder. Sorry about that. Eat well!

As you can see, I failed miserably at taking photos of my meals this week. Hopefully cute pictures of my family will make up for the disappointment.

October 8 - Out at La Sen in Tualatin
The kiddo was sick all day this day so my wonderful husband brought home dinner so I didn't have to unearth myself from the feverish toddler to cook. I got the pho with beef broth with chicken in it (rather than beef) and it was rad. I prefer the beef broth on this one, it is more savory and flavorful. But, not having eaten real beef itself for over 2 decades, I opted for the easier-for-me-to-digest, chicken.

October 9 - Fred Meyer Sushi (California Roll)
We grabbed sushi to have in the cafe at Fred Meyer before we headed to Bend this evening. Since I'm currently avoiding soy, it was not as delicious as usual (as I couldn't mix the wasabi with tamari for a dipping sauce) but it was still tasty and good pre-road-trip fare. Double bonus: the toddler ate his first sushi roll. Wahoo!

October 10 - 
Out at Kebaba in Bend (lunch)
This was recommended to us by our friend's mom. Thanks Mabel! What a great choice. I had the vegetarian mezza with a chicken kebab. Yum, yum, double yum.

Out at Spork in Bend (dinner)
You may recall that I went here last time we were in Bend. It was so good I went back. This time I had the Grilled Vegetable Coconut Green Curry with Chicken. It was awesome. Spicy but not too much. And the perfect balance of roasted and fresh flavors.

October 11 - Turkey Sandwiches 
After 4 hours in the car and returning home to a very empty fridge, it was time for something easy and to use what I had on hand. Same old, same old here. Good thing we like these. ;)

October 12 - Oven Pancakes with Berries and Turkey Breakfast Sausage
Oven pancakes used to be a Saturday morning stand-by at our house until gluten went the way of the do-do. I hadn't tried it with GF flour and I'm not sure why. I was trying to keep up the tradition of breakfast for dinner while dad is away, but didn't want another night of GF waffles and scrambled eggs. I'm glad I remembered these. You don't get the same awesome souffle effect with the GF flours, but the taste is spot on. I topped with a little butter, some lemon juice, 1/3 cup of mixed berries (defrosted from our picking adventures this summer), and a sprinkle (or two) of powdered sugar. I served with ready-to-eat turkey breakfast sausage. We were happy and full.

Oven Pancakes
Preheat oven to 425

Beat 3 eggs with 3/4 cup milk (or alternative milk if needed/wanted). *Note it is best to use eggs that are room temperature.

Add 1/4 cup gluten free flour mix, 1/4 cup coconut flour, and 1/4 cup almond flour and mix until well blended.

Pour batter into 1-2 greased round baking dishes (8-9 inch) and bake for 15 minutes.

October 13 -Turkey Burgers with GF Buns, Sweet Potato Fries, and Southwest Chopped Salad
I am trying to use up things that have been in the freezer since summer, so I put some of the remaining "have these around in case of an improptu BBQ" turkey burgers to use. Since I went GF we often skip the bun, but I splurged this time and bought them. I served with our standard Alexia SPF's and a Fred Meyer brand of chopped salad kit that was southwest themed. All was tasty. I'm ready, though, after a two week hiatus from real cooking not only to get back to making things for myself but to do so with things that involve more than opening a package and heating something premade. Sigh.

October 14 - Shrimp Scampi with Spinach Salad
This was yummy and super easy. Sometimes I serve a scampi over zucchini noodles "zoodles" but I opted for GF spaghetti this time. It was tasty. The toddler thought it was "too spicy" with the red pepper flakes and my hubs said it was a little heavy on the garlic (which, around here is saying something, garlic goes in EVERYTHING). I think it was tasty just as it was.

The spinach salad was just spinach, chopped peppers, grated carrot, and some cucumber. I usually have an assortment of dressings from which to choose - those can be gluten hiders, though, so be sure to check your labels!