what's for dinner?!

Our weekly dinner menu starts with a list...that once all the ingredients have been found and/or bought...ends up here on our fridge.  Mainly, because I am way too guilty of buying things with intention to make a specific item and then forgetting (I swear my brain worked way better 4 years ago).  I thought it might be fun and maybe even mouth watering to take you on a journey of our week of dinners.  Definitely not as elaborate as they once were...they are nourishing and for the most part kid friendly.

yes there are plenty of spelling errors...

When starting the list we always try to aim for 2 vegetarian dishes or more.  It is widely known that reducing your meat consumption is by far the best way to be more "green" in your kitchen.  Many people try to do the meatless monday thing...we skip the monday and say bring it on as much as possible.  Vegetarian eating is easy on the wallet and so delicious...We also look in the pantry and the freezer and ask - what can we make from what we have?  And from there Aaron and I brainstorm.  Lots of easy classics are in the mix and always at least one new recipe.

This week we had:

leftovers...didn't last long enough...

Beef barley soup & homemade bread- Basically just browned beef or turkey with an onion....add 28oz can of whole tomatoes (crush them...), a dash of worsteshire sauce, a bay leaf, 4-5 cups of stock, 2/3 cup of barley and veggies.  This is a great clean your fridge soup... I just put in what ever is in the veggie drawer that won't make it another day.  Barley takes about an hour to cook...so I just simmer until everything is tender.

Orecchiette with broccoli rabe and fried chickpeas - we substituted wine with stock...because we didn't have any vino on hand, halved the chickpeas & pasta amounts, and added the juice of 1/2 a lemon - this was our new recipe of the week... it was delicious!  Isabelle didn't love the broccoli rabe, it is a tad bitter, she tried a few pieces and ate all her pasta and chickpeas.

orange & beet salad...yum!

Hamburgers with  beet & orange salad, A+ for Isabelle...she ate everything!

BLT's with braised acorn squash and kale, Isabelle ate reluctantly ate a little kale (i swear yes we did kale and spinach puree as baby...but it is just taking this 3.5 year old a little longer to love greens...we won't give up though!!!) and inhaled the BLT.

Thai Red Curry w/ tofu- recipe from The food & cooking of Thailand - Bastyra & Johnson- so we didn't get to this one...thats how it goes around here!  Next week for sure!