Having a new baby is affecting my memory. I just had to sit here for 20 minutes because for the life of me I couldn’t remember what we had for dinner last Sunday. Now that I think of it, I probably wouldn’t have been super quick to recall a dinner from a week prior before I had Luke, either. You can’t remember what you had for dinner last Sunday either, can you? I feel a little better now.
After maximum brain power exerted to remember, here’s how dinner went down in my house last week.
Sunday
Coconut Eggplant Bharta from Daily Garnish. Eggplant is one of those vegetables that I really want to like. I try. But for some reason, I just don’t. I think it’s a texture thing. But I keep trying. When I saw Emily post this recipe, it sounded like something I’d love, and she said her husband Casey liked it despite not being a big fan of eggplant. So I gave it a go. The result? Great flavor. Easy to prepare. I still don’t like eggplant. Tim’s reaction was the same as mine. Meghan? Ummm….no, she would not try this.
Monday
Beef tacos using grass-fed and organic beef. On the side we had this Mexican brown rice, which is a new favorite that I’ll definitely make again. If you need a good Mexican rice recipe, try this one. It’s fantastic. I changed the recipe up a little bit by using red bell peppers instead of carrots, frozen corn instead of zucchini, and instead of the serrano chiles, I just used chile powder.
Tuesday
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Wednesday
Penne with jarred sauce. Tim had some meatless balls with his that I had frozen, but I couldn’t have them because they are made with cheese. So I just had penne and marinara sauce. Pretty boring dinner, but it was quick and easy and that’s what I needed on Wednesday night. We all have those nights, right?
Thursday
Roasted vegetable quinoa pie. Oh, my. I had no idea if this little idea I had would work, but it did! Tim’s side got covered with cheese, my side was left plain. I didn’t think it even needed cheese; I loved it without. Luckily I took the time to scribble down the recipe as I was preparing this so I can make it again and share it with you soon. Very good!
Friday
Homemade pizza night! What?! Pizza without cheese? Yes, ma’am. It was good, too. I’m starting to embrace this dairy-free thing. Not really. But I’m getting used to it. Tim’s is the one with the cheese. No, we didn’t each eat an entire pizza. But I may have eaten half. I used the recipe you see in this post for the pizza dough, except I doubled it and only used 4 cups of flour. The result was a very soft, incredibly delicious dough. I made a simple sauce using canned tomatoes and some Italian spices, and our toppings were sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and chopped spinach with balsamic vinegar. Very tasty!
Saturday
Spicy African Peanut Stew from Peas and Thank You
. This recipe is in the Peas and Thank You cookbook, but can also be found on Mama Pea’s blog. I made the slow cooker version. This was perfect because it was chock full of items I had in my pantry. Coconut milk? Check. Fire-roasted canned tomatoes? Check. Red Lentils? Check. Peanut butter? Triple check. All I had to buy was a sweet potato. Score. This stew was a winner. Tim thought it needed more spice, though. It’s strange that it has the word “spicy” in the title, because it’s not spicy at all. I actually think with the coconut milk, peanut butter, and sweet potato, I’d call this more of a sweet dish. Either way, it was good and suuuuuuper easy. Just throw everything in the crock pot and let ‘er cook. And it was even better as leftovers for lunch today. It thickened up a bit and I think the flavors came out even more.
So there is a week of dinners (and lots of lunch leftovers), from my kitchen to yours. I hope you have an adventure in your kitchen this week!
Question: What’s the best thing you had for dinner last week? Can you even remember?
That Spicy African Peanut Soup sounds great. I’m meal planning for next week and totally need to try that.
Last week, the best thing that we had last week was a spicy Mexican vegetable soup. Pretty much just a hearty vegetable soup with roasted red peppers, jalapenos, tomatillos and poblano peppers. It was quite spicy and very tasty.
Ooh I love a good spicy soup. Sounds delicious!
Not sure how you manage to keep blogging-you are one busy momma!!! LOL
Some days I’m not sure either! haha
I can’t remember what I had for dinner 3 days ago….
I am not an eggplant fan either. I’ve tried, like you, but just can’t embrace them. I’ve had them at restaurants when they are very fried and they aren’t bad that way, but I’m not going to attempt to fry them at home.
Looking forward to the quinoa pie recipe!
Yeah I’ve had a few eggplant parm dishes at restaurants that I’ve liked. The texture gets disguised in the frying!
I can’t usually remember what I had for dinner the *night* before much less the week before! 🙂
I’ve really tried to love eggplant too, but I just can’t say that I do. Yet. There have been two times that I actually liked it though–the eggplant ‘bacon’ I made, and in a Buddha-bowl type dish at a restaurant in San Diego. All attempts to recreate said dishes since have failed. And all attempts to even like it since then have also failed.
Hooray for Pizza Fridays!
My boyfriend recently got me the Peas and Thank You cookbook and last week I made the Spicy African Stew; however I sampled it after putting everything into the slow cooker and I could tell it wasn’t spicy enough for my/our taste! I added almost another full teaspoon of garam masala (a spice with which of course you have to be careful with or you can overdo it!) and some more curry powder and it turned out nice and spicy. I also didn’t have sweet potatoes on hand so I used regular potatoes. I would recommend making those changes. Being that it’s a throw-everything-into a slow-cooker recipe, I will definitely be making it again.
Love your blog and your “how dinner went down” posts, Maryea!! p.s. don’t worry that you feel forgetful…I have no kids yet would have a very difficult time remembering each dinner for the past 7 days!
Good call on tasting it ahead of time. I totally should have done that. Next time! Thanks for telling me you are enjoying these posts. It’s really nice to hear feedback when I never know what my readers want to see on here!
I love eggplant! I’m Italian and it’s a really popular vegetable where my parents are from in Italy. Have you ever tried slicing it, drizzle with some evoo salt & pepper and then grilling it?? It’s my favorite and I make it like that all the time in the summer!
Hmmmm…I may have to try your method this summer. Maybe on a sandwich? I won’t give up that easily!
I’m doing good to remember what we ate for dinner two days ago! So i’m impressed that you remember as much as you did! They all look delish! Looking forward to the quinoa roasted vegetable recipe! I also am not a fan of eggplant but I find that love eggplant bacon. Probably b/c it tastes nothing like eggplant and more like bacon! lol. I love to add it to my BLT sandwiches.
Hmmm you are the second person who mentioned eggplant bacon. I maybe have to look into this–I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it!
Oh I love the sounds of your roast veggie quinoa pie!
I understand your problem with eggplant, it IS kinda creepy texture wise… I would recommend trying the Japanese dish Nasu Dengaku…. it’s delicious… a roasted eggplant with the most delicious caramelly-sweet miso sauce, it’s almost like a dessert, the perfect sweet/salty balance – if that doesn’t convert you to eggplant, then nothing will I’m afraid!
Also… you should try making like a cashew/nutritional yeast “cheese” sauce (nothing like cheese, I agree) Mama Pea’s mmmm sauce is exactly that, mmmm. Anyway, it’s something to drizzle on top of pizza!
My little one is almost 18 months and I am still blaming stuff on “Baby Brain” – so you are totally entitled to memory lapses 🙂
That’s funny that you mention the “cheese” sauce–I just attempted one a few days ago w/ cashews. It definitely made for a nice, creamy sauce for pasta. I’ve had Mama Pea’s mmm sauce….so good!
Tim is so lucky to have you making all of these delicious meals every night!!
Sometimes he needs to be reminded of that–I’m going to have to show him this comment!
Ha! No, I don’t think I can remember the best thing I ate last week. But I did do the dairy-free thing for about 3 months after my son was born. My mom made me strombolis (essentially pizza) without cheese, but with lots of veggies, and I, too, was really surprised at how good it was!
I am the same way with eggplant. I want to like it, but I just don’t. Although when it’s mushed up into baba ghonoush, I like it.