Have you ever looked at my photos and asked yourself, “Why doesn’t she use plain white plates like everyone else?”
The dishes you see here were our wedding china (more like wedding stoneware since we’re not that fancy). This week, The Pants and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary, and these dishes have been with us since the beginning.
SIXTEEN YEARS. That’s a lot of years. Much like us, these dishes are starting to show some signs of wear, but they are special and familiar. I remember excitedly choosing the pattern and feeling grateful and lucky to receive each piece from our loved ones. They have served us sixteen years of birthday, anniversary, and holiday dinners. The kids will remember them as the dishes they grew up with. They will always have a place in our kitchen.
Do you have special dishes in your family? What is their story?
Now, let’s talk about what kind of food we want to eat off our special dishes! Here is this week’s menu of seven easy dinners. Enjoy!
- Cube Steak with Gravy – Would you believe that this recipe brings more traffic to The Weary Chef every day than any other? This especially surprises me since my original picture wasn’t very good, but it is making the rounds on Pinterest. It does deserve its popularity because it is delicious, hearty, and easy. Even The Tall One approves, and he usually turns his nose up at anything involving gravy. This week, serve it with roasted brussels sprouts.
- Spinach Strawberry Salad – This is a tart, sweet, savory salad that is a perfect light dinner. Pair with garlic bread or a crusty loaf of sourdough.
- Creamy Turkey Spaghetti – I found a similar recipe on Pinterest and made it as written, which is the version pictured here. I adapted the dish to make it faster and lighter, and I think you will enjoy the result. The rich sauce is a nice change from regular spaghetti. Serve with a green salad.
- One Pot Thai Green Curry – This was delicious, and I love the one-dish method. Highly recommended!
- Chili Lime Fish Tacos with Avocado Lime Rice – I found something this week (that everyone else probably already knows about) that may change my life: Frozen Brown Rice. I bought it at Trader Joe’s thinking maybe I would use it for the kids’ dinners if I was in a hurry, and I was shocked at how easy, fast, and perfect it was. With that rice, I could make this side dish in about five minutes!
- French Dip Sandwiches – I had to squeeze in a slow cooker recipe these week, and this is one of my favorites. Serve with homemade or frozen fries and sugar snap peas.
- Mac and Cheese with Rosemary Pork Chops – Here is yet another mac and cheese recipe, courtesy of Alton Brown. This is an easy stovetop version that is very creamy. Great for kids (or adults) who usually prefer boxed mac and cheese over homemade. Pair with this solid, simple pork chop recipe and sliced tomatoes.
4 comments
I kind of jumped on the bandwagon of having nicknames for family members because so many other bloggers do it, but I might change my mind at some point and use all of our real names. 18 years is awesome — Congrats!
For my weekly menus, I only post recipes I have personally made and can recommend. It’s usually 4-5 dishes I made the week before, plus 2-3 past recipes thrown in. My first few weeks I tried to have 7 new recipes every week, but I was a crazy woman trying to get that done. Sometimes I make things I don’t like, so I need to use oldies but goodies to fill out the menu for the week. (Also, sometimes I’m too weary to cook and NEED to order pizza!)
Thank you again for your mention at Food for Fun!
will your kids eat the curry? I love fun dishes like that, but the little ones would take a pass. Thinking your fish tacos need to go in my rotation. (haha, I don’t have a rotation. but if I did it would go in :-) I will indeed make the fish tacos, rotation or no)
No, my kids won’t eat that! They eat dinner around 5 every day, and my husband and I eat after 8. Sometimes the kids have leftovers that I saved from the night before, but more often I make them their own thing. Not ideal I know, but that is the schedule that works for us.
was I supposed to be using white plates? shoot, missed that memo! Congrats on the anniversary. I don’t have a clever name for my husband (another missed memo), but he and I have been married 18 years, so not too many on you.
Am new around here, so wondering if this is the menu of foods you’ll be making this week? Or did you make them last week? Or is it simply instructive? It’s all good whatever it is :-)