Happy Thursday, y’all! How is your week going? It’s almost the weekend!
I thought I’d start a new fun series on the blog where I share some of my family’s weeknight dinners! I do a lot of meal sharing over on my Instagram stories, but I thought it might be helpful to find some recipe ideas all in one place.
To start off the series, this is what my little fam of three ate last week. I also included what my daughter Blakely (20mo old) ate in hopes you might find that helpful if you have a toddler.
Last week was a wonderful three day week as we left Wednesday evening for a weekend getaway at Lake Lanier. Caseys’ moms side of the family (a total of 36 of us on Saturday!!) all got together for an end of summer lakeside vacation.
Since it was only two nights of cooking before we left for the lake, I did a *light* grocery shopping trip Monday morning to last us through Wednesday (and somehow still almost spent $100!). I only shopped at one grocery store and usually I do my shopping between two or three to save the most money & find the deals.
Monday through Wednesday’s meals are somewhat normal nights of cooking and eating for us, while Thursday and Friday’s meals are great options and inspo if you need ideas for what to feed a big group of people!
Reminder that I am not a registered dietician, just a young mama who loves to cook and share easy fun recipe ideas with you all.
With that said, let’s dive into the weeknight meals!
WEEKNIGHT MEALS – AUGUST 2022
MONDAY: Healthier Crispy Pan-Fried Chicken with Roasted Broccoli & Rice
A nostalgic meal for me! This was my all time favorite chicken dinner that my mom would cook growing up. Between the crispy breading and flavorful taste, the chicken breast absolutely melts in your mouth. It pairs well with any roasted veggie and rice. My mom would even sometimes cook the chicken and then melt fresh mozzarella cheese on top in the oven & pair it with spaghetti & sauce for a chicken Parmesan. So good! Let me know if y’all would like me to share the recipe for this one and I can do so in a separate blog post!
Blakely: She ate everything that we ate for this night’s dinner…just in smaller bites! Her favorite part was definitely the chicken. We even gave her seconds!
TUESDAY: Chicken & Cheese Quesadilla with Salad
When in doubt, a quesadilla dinner never fails! This was the last night of dinner at home before we left for the lake on Wednesday. I did a fridge clean out dinner for us with Casey, Blakely and I eating the same thing different ways. Casey made his into a salad, I had a loaded quesadilla with a side salad and Blakely had a quesadilla & broccoli.
Blakely: We made her a chicken & cheese quesadilla with a side of more chicken and broccoli for her veggie. Since we didn’t have a lot of vegetable options in the fridge, we opted to make use of Monday’s broccoli leftovers.
WEDNESDAY: Steak with Potatoes & Asparagus AND Rao’s Lasagna with Roasted Green Beans
This is a perfect example of how some weeknight meals look for Casey and I… completely different from what Blakely eats. We arrived to the lake late Wednesday evening and were welcomed with this delicious dinner prepared by Casey’s parents. After putting Blakely to bed, we enjoyed this juicy steak, crispy potatoes and roasted asparagus made for the perfect homemade comfort meal.
Blakely: I made Blakely a frozen Rao’s lasagna dinner with a side of steamed fresh green beans before we left for the lake and she loved it! It was my first time buying their frozen meals and I will definitely be getting more for an easy dinner idea for the future. I love that the ingredients are so simple too.
THURSDAY: Spaghetti Casserole
This was the first night with the big crowd at the lake and Casey’s parents were cooking for about 20 plus people! They prepared a giant spaghetti casserole and served it with a side salad and garlic bread. It was a crowd-pleaser to say the least!
Blakely: I got caught up in visiting with Casey’s family this night & Friday that I totally forgot to take a picture of what I fed Blakely. It was a bit of chaos at the house with 5 other kids running around, so we all just fed them early before the adults ate later. She mainly ate the spaghetti that I chopped up with a side of butter toast.
FRIDAY: Chicken Thighs, Baked Potatoes + Sweet Potatoes and Salad
Last but not least we have this amazing chicken thigh dinner. The men were sent to the grill to cook the chicken while the ladies were inside making the salads and potatoes. We had over 20 people eating dinner this night, but the Saturday night we had even more at over 35 of us! It’s safe to say that at the end of the trip there were TONS of leftovers!!!
Blakely: We didn’t eat until around 9 p.m. this night, so we fed the kids mac n cheese and chicken nuggets earlier in the evening before our dinner was ready.
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And that’s a wrap on last week’s dinners! A big reason why I post my meals is because I too love to see what other people are cooking for dinner. I thought it was a fun spin on things to add Blakely’s plate as well. I’ll be doing this again one week in September and will try to plan ahead to do it on a week that I am home to share more homecooked meals for three.
Let me know in the comments what was on your menu last week!!
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