Week 2: A Quick Batch of Quick Dinners
Welcome back, I’ll make this one quick. It’s a batch of my quickest dinners for a busy week. You’ll see these mixed into other weeks in the future too.
Click the links below to skip to the grocery list and each recipe, or just scroll through.
Dinner 1
Dinner 3
Grocery List:
~ .5 lbs chicken breast per person
~ .25 lb ground chicken per person
~.25 lb imitation crab per person
1 head green cabbage
2-3 broccoli crowns
1-2 cucumbers
1-2 avocados
1 bunch green onions
teriyaki sauce, or something similar (I like bachan’s)
hondashi (or any dashi soup base)
pizza sauce and your favorite pizza toppings
shredded mozzarella
pita bread (or tortillas)
hamburger buns
Pita Bread Pizzas
pita bread (tortillas will also work)
olive oil
pizza sauce
shredded mozzarella
whatever you like to top your pizza
Warm a cast iron pan on the stove (or any pan that you can put in the oven) and preheat your oven’s broiler on low
Take your pita bread (or tortilla), sauce it up and put on your favorite pizza toppings
Drizzle some olive oil on the pan, and place your assembled pizza on it and cook for 2-3 minutes
Remove pan from heat and place under the broiler until the cheese is melted (another 2ish minutes depending on how much you put on that thing)
Picky Eater Notes:
This one should be pretty foolproof, if you can’t get around “put what you want on your pizza” then i can’t help
Chicken Burgers, Miso Soup, Salad
1/4 lb ground chicken per person
1 burger bun per person
1/2 cup panko per pound of chicken
1/4 cup bachan’s sauce per pound of chicken
2 green onions
1/2 cabbage
spring mix
miso vinaigrette
hondashi
miso paste
For the burgers, i just use Pinch of Yum’s Recipe, using Bachan’s sauce as the flavoring sauce. Use about 1/4 of the cabbage for the slaw here and save the rest for later in the week
Make my recipe for miso vinaigrette and toss the spring mix in it.
For the Miso soup, just bring a few cups of water close to boiling, stir in a few teaspoons of the hondashi, then stick your whisk into the miso paste and glob that into the broth, usually about a full whiskful is enough. Add green onions and tofu if you want and simmer for a few
Picky Eater Notes:
I usually keep some frozen gyoza on hand to replace as the protein for my picky kid, these are pretty kid friendly in general though
California Bowls
The Base
2-3 cups rice (sushi rice preferred, but try making it healthier and less tasty with cauliflower rice)
1 lb imitation crab/surimi
3 tbsp mayo (better if you use home made)
Sriracha to taste (i like it spicy, so i use a lot)
The flex spots for the rest of the bowl
Avocado
Cucumber
Jalapeno
Cilantro
Kimchi
Wasabi
Dried Seaweed
Whatever your heart desires
Cook your rice in whichever method you prefer. I’m not great at it so I’m not going to teach you how to make rice. I should get a rice cooker.
Separate the imitation crab meat with your fingers into easy to fork pieces into a bowl. Mix with the mayo (and sriracha if you want).
Place rice in bowl, put meat in a mound in the center, surround with your other ingredients to make it pretty. It’s kid friendly if you use kid friendly stuff.
Picky Eater Notes:
Just replace the protein with something they’d like, or omit it all together
Stir Fry Chicken (Chicken of the Week!)
2 lbs chicken breast, sliced an marinated for stir fry
green cabbage
broccoli
green onion
any other veggies you have laying around
rice
handful of basil leaves
balsamic glaze
2 cups pearl couscous
Spring mix (or a bag salad)
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees
Ahead of time, make sure you prepare the chicken with the recipe above (or something similar)
Start cooking your rice
Cut up and place all veggies on a tray, and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until done. You don’t have to follow the veggies I have here, any combination will do
Picky Eater Notes:
Just keep everything separate, or have them pick what they want, this one is also pretty foolproof