Hello and good morning; up for chatting about some food this morning? For me? Always!

I remember when I used to write these meal plan posts every week. Here’s the archive of visual meal plans if you’re ever in need of some dinner inspiration; I use it quite often myself.

They’re fairly easy to write in August when the evening light is pretty and we aren’t loaded down with sports practices and lesson commitments yet, but perhaps I’ll try to do these a little more often, like monthly or so. It’s fun to see how our meal plans evolve based on the season.

Monday: Easy slow cooker pot roast with onions and carrots over rice

I love this pot roast recipe because it literally takes two minutes to set it up but I do find with a thick chuck roast (I think this one was 4 lbs) that I really have to get it started first thing in the morning so I can guarantee it a cook time of 11+ hours.

Fun fact: I finally decided to get an Instant Pot, so a decade after the trend really took off, here I am jumping on board! 😉 I’m excited to try this recipe in Instant Pot and report back. I also got the tempered glass lid so I can use it as a slow cooker and the steamer basket, too. Send me your favorites; I have so much to learn!

.

Tuesday: Lemon Dill Salmon with roasted golden potatoes, easy green beans (from the garden!), and tomatoes (from the garden!)

We enjoyed the last of my garden tomatoes and green beans before I ripped out the plants, as they had run their course. I have a bunch of beans blanched and frozen for soups and have a better plan for tomatoes next year now that I know I need/want both determinant and indeterminant.

.

Wednesday: Chicken Fajita Bowls

A meal that never gets old: bone broth rice with sauteed bell peppers and onions, plus chicken. For this chicken, I used one a seasoning packet for ease. The toppings are what really makes it! Pico, sour cream, guacamole, pickled jalapenos (garden!), and microgreens.

.

Thursday: Meatballs and pasta

I really see this being a weekly staple for us as we head into the fall activity season. I’ve tried a variety of freezer meatballs and am narrowing it down to my favorites to stock the freezer with. Add this with some jarred sauce to the slow cooker for 2-3 hours and mix in a fun shaped pasta and everyone is happy. I add a little fresh basil and red pepper flakes to mine to jazz it up.

.

Friday: Pizza Night!

Will always be my favorite family tradition. I made two batches of bread machine pizza dough (using bread flour instead of my usual all purpose and I do think it made the crust fluffier) and we played Ticket to Ride Europe while we enjoyed our feast. Our go to toppings: red sauce, freshly shredded mozzarella (IYKYK), pepperoni, onions, green peppers, basil.

.

Saturday: Smoked wings, carrots & celery with blue cheese, mac and cheese

Honestly, we kind of threw this one together but it worked. We had a late lunch with my bro and niece so no one was very hungry and this snack-ish dinner fit the bill!

.

Sunday: Skillet burgers with caramelized onions on homemade buns

Every Sunday I’m making a recipe from Ina’s cookbook and yesterday I hadn’t been to the store so needed a recipe with things I already had on hand. So I decided on her burgers and made some bread machine buns to go with them. The burgers themselves are very simple, just salt, pepper, and dry mustard powder. But all put together with a fresly toasted buttered buns, garden tomato slice, the caramelized onions, cheese, and some dill pickle kraut? WOW. So good!

.

Extras

• Chocolate chip sourdough from this sourdough book that I’m baking my way through and thus far very impressed by
• Had to mentioned my new 2 qt measuring cup/batter bowl – love it because the measurements are etched in vs printed on so it won’t fade over time. Love the size, too.
• Garden tomato and avocado on everyday sourdough (from the same sourdough cookbook)
• Ina’s split pea soup with kielbasa sausage, which was very good!

.

And that wraps up our eats from the week! What’s the best thing you’ve eaten recently?