I hope you are having a relaxing summer! My first week of summer was kind of disastrous with plans falling through and the kids whining. I even started second guessing my “enjoy the kids” goal. But like anything, it can take time to get into a groove. Things started to improve as soon I added some structure and enough plans to keep us busy, but not too much that we were stressed.
This week is the 4th of July, one of my favorite holidays. In this meal plan, we’ll be grilling at least once if not twice a week. We’ll be grilling salmon on cedar plank this Thursday and chicken kabobs later in the month. I’ll also be making lots of homemade popsicles.
See Org Junkie for more meal inspiration.
What’s Cooking This Month
Monday (Mexican): Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas with guacamole (fish tacos, chicken taquitos and baked burritos)
Tuesday (Italian): Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs (Cheese ravioli with spinach, pasta bar and slow cooker veggie lasagna)
Wednesday: Kids’ Choice
Thursday (Grill Night): Cedar Planked Salmon, roasted potato salad and fruit kabobs (chicken kabobs, black bean burgers and turkey burgers)
Friday: 4th Baby!!!! (Homemade pizza, old salmon cakes and chicken tenders)
More from Cooking Light
My Latest Cooking Adventures
I’ve been kind of obsessed with this idea of salmon and sweet potato cakes. Because, well, I love eating salmon with sweet potatoes. I first tried my made up recipe baked in muffin tins but forget to add lemon juice and they were still decent. Big A, my fish eater, gave it an almost thumbs up.
Even though it wasn’t ready for prime time, I tried it for dinner but pan fried it this time. It needed a little help holding its shape, but looked good. I served it with a homemade tartar sauce and some other sides.
My husband took a bite and I could tell by the look on his face that that was the only bite he would be taking (I think I heard the word “fishy” come out of his mouth). Big A ate about half of a small one and her thumb was less enthusiastic this time. Little D, who doesn’t eat fish yet, completely ignored it. I thought it was okay, but not good enough to keep making.
I hate when this happens.
But luckily there have been some successes too. I had kind of giving up on making my own pizza dough, but after inheriting a bread maker, I have changed my tune. I just throw in whole wheat flour, bread flour, oil, yeast, some sugar and salt and about 40 minutes later the dough is ready to go and is nice and sturdy. Here are the masterpieces we made the first time.
So I guess you win some and lose some. Any successes or failures you want to share?
Links
Although I’m not the best at clipping coupons or comparison shopping, in the WebMD post I share 5 sneaky ways I help keep the food bill down.
In this other post, I share 7 sure signs of a diet scam, reacting to all the hoopla surrounding Dr. Oz’s promotion of weight loss supplements.
If you’ve got a child preoccupied with food please don’t miss the Feeding Doctor’s food obsession series.
If you have the opposite problem — a child won’t eat — Jill Castle lists 12 reasons that may be causing it.
Dr. Laura writes about Why Boredom is Good for Your Child.
Melanie Potock discusses food jags (children who insist on eating the same food over and over) and what parents can do about it
This eye opening article touches on The Real Reason Kids Fidget.
I hope the rest of your week is awesome!
[…] Monthly Meal Plan (July) – Raise Healthy Eaters – In July’s monthly meal plan I’m trying cedar planked salmon, dishing on my latest meal failures and successes and sharing helpful links. […]