currently eating
here is our meal rotation for all our breakfasts, snacks, lunches, and dinners:
currently cooking
sunday:
dinner: grill and chill
brett grills or roasts a whole chicken (he references his favorite cookbook)
orzo salad with chickpeas, lemon, dill, and feta to use up that cucumber, orzo, feta, and chickpeas we have lurking around
crispy smashed potatoes + roasted green beans (offer ranch to dip)
buttery pull apart bundt bread or macaroni grill rosemary bread
monday: sandwich night (+ soup/salad, if we're feeling it)
why we love a weekly sandwich night
hot ham and cheese crescents (use leftover thanksgiving ham in freezer)
roasted sweet potatoes (or frozen french fries)
salad + ranch (could also dip the potatoes in ranch)
fruit
tuesday: taco-ish tuesday
with lettuce, tomato, guac, beans, pico, cheese, crema, diced red onions
reheat that frozen leftover fajita meat from Fajita Friday in the freezer for brett
wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice
creamy tomato spinach tortellini
or tortellini with jarred sauce. i haven’t decided.
salad with ranch and/or blistered garlic green beans
big bowl of fruit
thursday: chicken, fish, or sausage
use leftover thanksgiving turkey in freezer
or! pull my creamy chicken noodle soup from the freezer
here’s how I freeze and thaw soup
leftover salad/veggies
leftover bread
leftover fruit
friday: takeout or leftovers
saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with family
our annual hyde park grill date
many, many years ago, brett and I were little dating babies in college. and when we went home for the holidays, we’d meet back up around Christmas time at my favorite restaurant - which, given that I’m from Houston, he’s from New Braunfels, and said restaurant is in Austin, was quite impressive. since then we’ve gone every year around Christmas. i love it so much.
here’s our full list of things we do every december
currently using
our grape cutter for KK (but also for cherry tomatoes for salads)
our roll-up, over-the-sink dish rack - we bought this in our 600 sq-ft apartment manyyy years ago and still love it in our current home!
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currently meal prepping
i usually do a little meal prep on Sundays as a part of our Grill and Chill, but I may instead do a bit here and there throughout the week. (you’ll notice I allow space in my daily rhythm for potential meal prep.) at a minimum, I try to always do this - makes the whole week SO much smoother!
below is the list of what I hope to meal prep this week - it may not all happen, and that's okay! even 5 minutes of prep is super beneficial.
prep some dinner components:
none
prep some sort of dessert for the week:
one of my favorite podcasters said this is an incredibly easy way to plan joy into your week and I SO agree. see here why it’s our new favorite thing for our marriage.
spritz cookies using this cookie gun or pecan snowballs or old fashioned crumb cake
prep some things to make breakfasts/snacks/lunches smoother - at a bare minimum, I try to always prep some sort of eggs, some sort of oats, and some sort of muffins/waffles/pancakes for our breakfast rotation, and I try to change up the recipes each week so that cooking stays fun for me and so KK is exposed to variety:
prep tropical yogurt overnight oat parfaits (KK and Brett would LOVE these)
or try breakfast quinoa or try oatmeal peanut butter bites
pull cottage cheese pancakes or mini blueberry muffins from freezer
make toddler breakfast egg cups 4 ways - try quinoa/cheese version for KK and me - freeze half
prep a few sweet potato quesadillas for lunches/breakfasts/snacks for KK and me
pull my favorite creamy tomato parmesan soup or my favorite slow cooker broccoli cheese soup from the freezer for lunches
here’s how I freeze and thaw soup
currently reading
my favorite fertility health book. I first read this book yearsssss ago and I swear by it - it influenced and shaped a lot of my routines. reading this book again is bringing me a lot of calm and joy in this season.
(i’m not pregnant. i’m just reading to get a refresher on things I can do to take care of myself. after a season of grieving and healing, we’re in a season of nourishing and appreciating.)
currently streamlining
my list of things we do every December. seasonal things, household tasks, holiday traditions, yearly routines, renewing memberships, recurring expenses, etc. a big ol brain dump, if you will.
currently loving
this page full of menu plans! so many great ideas!
this new weekly routine - aka our our marriage’s new favorite thing.
my go-to lunch when I don’t want to spend time making food…and none of our leftovers or meal prepped goodies sound appealing. (it happens.)
currently working on
sticking to our christmas plan (and budget). saying no to things that don’t align with our priorities. leaving plenty of room to savor this season. and scheduling lots of rest and recharging for this INFJ.
currently sharing
always sharing our favorite routines, our favorite systems, and our favorite dinners on Instagram - come say hi! your kind words make my day. truly.
and know that when you share my page on Instagram with your followers, I do a happy dance. your support means everything, and your support allows me to spend time creating free content, like this menu plan. xo.