Good morning and happy unofficial send of to summer weekend! Labor Day weekend is historically one of my favorite weekends, where summer fun collides with college football in a long weekend of good food and fun. This year, though, we went the low key route and tackled house projects instead. Whomp whomp.

In all seriousness though, it did feel good to have some downtime. The girls and I went through all their clothes, started decorating for fall, and listed long overdo items on Facebook marketplace. I cleaned out the entire pantry and David filled holes, painted, and installed new solid shelves. I get to load it back up today and see the final product; I’m so excited to see it and show you.

Of course we had some fun, too, watching football, playing at the pool, and relaxing. Now we are feeling rejuvenated and ready for the full week ahead as we return to soccer, co-op, art classes, theater, and more! Bring it on; but first… food 🙂

Monday

Deserving of it’s own post, I made slow cooker sloppy joes. So easy to make in the Instant Dutch oven because you can cook the onion and brown the beef together, then add everything else to the same pot and slow cook. Served on a ciabatta roll with simply dressed arugula and pickles.

Tuesday

Simple can be so good. This chicken thigh sheet pan dinner with potatoes and Brussels is simple and satisfying. I deviated a bit from the recipe by dicing the potatoes smaller and baking it all for an hour. It’s fairly versatile and hard to mess up. Everyone enjoys this meal, though Kaitlyn uses ketchup for dipping.

Wednesday

The real hero of weeknight dinners- frozen meatballs in the slow cooker, covered with a large jar of sauce, and put on low for 4-5 hours. Serve over spaghetti. My family would happily eat this once a week with no complaints.

Thursday

Steak fajitas salads. I used honey chili lime marinade for the flank steak then grilled it. I did 4-5 minutes per side and slightly overcooked it. Lesson learned. On the stove I sauteed portobello mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers in a little olive oil with salt, pepper, and cumin.

Friday

This is a spartan representation of all that was consumed, but I went with snacks and wings for the Georgia Tech kick off game! I’m loving wings lately. I play around with the prep, but find that tossing them in salt, pepper, garlic powder, and baking powder (to help with crispiness), then cooking them on 400 convection for 40ish minutes, flipping half way, works pretty well. I don’t use a rack because I hate cleaning it; just put them on parchment. The kids love them, as do David and I. Kaitlyn likes them plain, and I use Noblemade’s buffalo and garlic parmesan sauces to toss them in afterwards.

Saturday

It’s not a Georgia kick off weekend without David’s Famous Chili! And Fritos. Served in these attached combo bowls that are just the best. I use them for grilled cheese and tomato soup, veggies and dips, among other things.

We paired this chili with an unusual choice of a beverage – margaritas. I went out and got the necessary items as a salute to Jimmy Buffet. I think I broke David’s heart when I broke the news to him; Jimmy’s songs are like the soundtrack to David’s life. So we toasted margaritas in honor of a man who will remain a legend. You will be missed Jimmy! The time we went to the Jimmy Buffet concert. The time Jimmy served us rum.

Sunday

Hailey asked to make dinner one night and picked potato and haddock cakes from her favorite cookbook (currently on super sale!). I love how they show step by step instructions with pictures. I played sous chef while she lead the charge. It was a lot of fun! I made a simple cabbage and carrot slaw with a homemade dressing- mayo, apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, celery seed.

Odd & Ends

• Football game snack plate
• Delicious pastry goodies from The Batch House in Charlotte
• Naan pizzas for lunches
• Simple lunch of tenders plus a fruit and veg
• BLTs (!!) on fresh sourdough

Resources

• Find all previous weekly meal plans here.
• You can find all my favorite kitchen tools here.
• Our meat comes from Butcher Box. I’ve used them for years and trust their quality and consistency.
• Fresh herbs brighten up every meal I have two countertop gardens that I grow them in: see the comparison between the two here. AHS will get you 10% off of Click & Grow.
• See what we spend each month on groceries here.
• Print off your own free weekly meal plan printable from the resource page.
• Daily Harvest offers easy frozen organic veggie-heavy heat and eat meals.