Finally, feeling better and getting back into the normal routines of our day! My husband is training for the Boston Marathon and so we are trying to really make sure he has enough healthy foods to eat to stay full, keep him energized. Still, we are striving to stick to the 80-20 balance that is our goal, so we are using real ingredients and enjoying an occasional splurge!

Breakfasts:
WEEKEND: As I’ve mentioned, we LOVE to make big breakfasts/brunches.
Breakfast: vanilla-cinnamon quinoa cakes with cinnamon apples sautéed in coconut butter and turkey bacon; plus, another weekend with chorizo-potato hash and poached eggs.

I get a bonus day for MLK with all three kiddos, so I may take them to breakfast while my husband has to work. There’s a new breakfast place nearby that we haven’t tried; they serve Mickey pancakes, which is right up a certain three year old’s alley!

WEEKDAY: 3 and I LOVED the green smoothies last week – my goodness, who knew an avocado, frozen banana, handful of spinach, almond milk, and peppermint extract could taste similar to a mint milkshake?! We will be repeating this smoothie and also plan to try chocolate smoothies with super-greens or cinnamon smoothies plus something easy, like breakfast cookies.

Lunches: I just can’t ever seem to get too excited about lunch. I just ordered a bowl-based cookbook, so hopefully that gives some ideas.
WEEKEND: We have some containers in the freezer — they all look like homemade sauce, so I’m thinking we will defrost these and have that with pasta.

WEEKDAY: Rice bowls with peppers & sausage; the kids requested soup and ravioli plus their regularly scheduled fruits and vegetables.

Dinners: I’m trying something different this week — just noting the meals we will make and we can figure out what we want day-to-day.

1. Friday: Vegetarian chili with plain Greek yogurt, tortilla chips, and cheese.
2. Saturday: Bebe Meatballs, rice, and beets — this recipe is from my MIL. It’s weird but it works and the kids love it. The sauce for the meatballs has cranberries and sweet chili sauce. (Tip: My husband uses almond flour in place of breadcrumbs for our meatballs.)
3. Sunday: Football food: goat cheese-stuffed jalapeños and green bean fries with yogurt dill dip from our TrueRoots cookbook, deviled eggs (a family favorite), chili-cheese fries & hotdogs, and a vegetable tray.
4. Monday: Crockpot bbq chicken with Chrissy Teigan’s pineapple slaw with roasted sweet potatoes.
5. Tuesday: Stuffed pepper pasta casserole.
6. Wednesday: Buffalo chicken melts from Skinny Taste and more beets — because I am not into any ‘low fat’ or ‘low sugar’ foods, we will make a few subs to this — we will use Ezekiel bread for our melts.
7. Date night / leftovers, provided there are any. I have some gyoza in the freezer to make if not!

DESSERT — We are going to give Skinny Cowboy Cookies a whirl (The Food Charlatan) to top off our game-day treats. I’ve tried several of her recipes in the past and have enjoyed them, so hopefully this will be a good one too! We will make a few modifications: quinoa flour for whole wheat flour and Enjoy Life chocolate chips.

We are trying A LOT of new recipes this week! I am really excited to get cookin’ — the quinoa cakes, the melts, the pineapple slaw, and the cookies are all new to us!

What are you cooking this week?