When I got the idea for The Weary Chef, I was excited to bring you a menu of easy dinners every week, and I still love that mission. Each of my first three weeks, I brought you seven new recipes. I pulled from my tried and true classics and shared new dishes that I tested and loved. What I’m now realizing is that seven new recipes each week is ambitious, especially for a Weary Chef. Bringing you the best quick, easy, and delicious recipes I can find takes trial and error. Every new dish I try isn’t worth recommending, so if I plan seven recipes for the week and two are flops, that makes it hard to put together your menu.
What I’m getting at is this: Going forward, I will bring you 4-5 fresh, new dinners every week, and the remaining 2-3 will be pulled from my library of past recipes. Not only does this give me time to do recipe testing to find more fabulous, easy dinners for you, those great dinners of menus past shouldn’t be filed away and never seen again!
Now, without further ado, I bring you this week’s weekly menu of quick dinners, including some past favorites.
- Weary Chef’s Catfish Dinner – I’m from Mississippi, and although I have lived in San Francisco for 13 years now, I still miss southern food. This meal reminds me of home, and I hope you will enjoy it. It does take about 40 busy minutes to prepare, but I think it’s well worth it.
- Chicken Tostadas – We used to be nacho or taco people. Tostadas? That’s complicated and messy, right? I’m not sure what possessed me to try tostadas at some point, but they have been a regular guest of Fiesta Night since. You know what goes great with tostadas? Guacamole. Especially when it’s as easy as this 5-minute recipe.
- Potato Corn Chowder – This hearty soup is always a crowd pleaser. It freezes well, makes perfect lunch leftovers, and is born to be dipped. Add diced ham if you want extra protein and flavor, or use vegetable broth for a great vegetarian dinner.
- Lemon Chicken Pasta – A creamy, lemony sauce tossed with pasta makes for a satisfying meal. Add more veggies if you’d like, or serve with a salad.
- Turkeys in Sleeping Bags – I originally posted these as a kid dinner idea, but all the grownups who tried them, including myself, loved them too. If you want something a little more highbrow than hot dogs, try your choice of chicken sausages instead, and maybe upgrade the cheese to provolone. Serve with sweet potato fries (frozen or homemade).
- Greek Salad with Chicken – I need to get a better photo of this salad this week because this one doesn’t do it justice. It has a great balance of chicken, vegetables, and vinegary bite. Serve with garlic bread or a crusty sourdough.
- Creamy Easy Mac and Cheese with tilapia and steamed green beans – As promised, here is another mac and cheese variation, a super easy baked version. Don’t be afraid of the cottage cheese and sour cream. I was skeptical, but it is rich, creamy, and delicious — even with reduced fat ingredients. (Of course you can use their full-fat counterparts if that’s how you roll.) Steam your green beans and toss with a small pat of butter, kosher salt, and pepper for a quick veggie side. Season tilapia with soy sauce and fresh lemon juice. Heat skillet over medium high heat, spray with cooking spray, and cook fish fillets about 3 minutes per side, until cooked through. If you can’t find tilapia, use another white fish that is available in your area.
Ready to shop? Here’s your weekly grocery list for all seven of these meals in doc and pdf formats.
4 comments
Hi there,
I like what you are doing here. Sounds great, and yes lots of people need help creating a weekly meal plan, me included. :) SO I’m sure you are helping lots of people!!
That catfish, and tostada sounds so yummy. I love fish, and love mexican :)
I think it’s smart to take a step back, before you get worn out altogether. I know very well how easily this can happen. A couple good new recipes a week is plenty, and don’t forget you can always ask for guest posts, start a linky party, and share other people’s recipes, or simply link to some fabulous recipes if you are not feeling it one week.
Glad I stopped bu today :)
Have a wonderful day, and stop by anytime to say hello if you can.
P.s. After coming back from an extended blogging break, I’ve started a 40 day challenge to get HEALTHY by my birthday. If you get a chance to check it out, I could sure use the support!
Hugs, Bella :)
Bella’s 40 Day Challenge
Thanks for visiting and all your words of wisdom!
It’s funny, I didn’t plan this blog for a long time. I got the idea and started The Weary Chef about a week later, and it was suddenly an obsession. It’s great to be inspired and excited to work on something creative in addition to being a mommy, but it was also making me very stressed. I imposed a lot of pressure and deadlines on myself that I couldn’t realistically meet while taking care of my family. Changing to 4-5 new recipes instead of 7 each week relieved a lot of that stress.
I do need to get better at linking to other people’s recipes instead of writing so many of my own. The problem is, I will only post recipes here that I have made myself and enjoyed, and it’s rare that I make a recipe exactly as written. By the time I included all the changes I made, I might as well just write an adapted version! This is something I’m working on. I don’t need to customize every single meal I make.
Congratulations on your 40-day challenge! I am very impressed with your willpower and determination. I absolutely love all your headshot photos on your blog. Did you have those professionally done? I need to do that, but I’m sure they won’t look as good as yours. You are gorgeous!
Thanks again for stopping by. Hope to talk to you soon :)
xo,
Andi
Looks like a really healthy varied menu.
Thanks for stopping by! I visited Simple Living and Eating, and your photos are beautiful. Your recent post reminded me that I wanted to try a spaghetti squash recipe I saw on Pinterest. Maybe I’ll try yours instead!