Week Review - 9/26 - 10/02

This week was rough.  We've had sick kids and have now gotten sick ourselves.  Still, my people had to eat, so here's what I made them.  Looking back, I guess we ate pretty well.

Sunday
 
Marco and the kids ate these awesome uncured hot dogs from Whole Foods.  I no longer eat beef, so I ate salad with leftover chicken.  It was a super quick dinner after a long day.
 
Monday
 
Peanut Soup
 
I got inspired by an old friend to make peanut soup.  I've made a peanut soup before that had butternut squash and tomatoes.  What I made was not as good, but I have posted a few links to some great recipes and some tips on how to make it better!
 
Tuesday
 
Albondigas al Chipotle and Garlic Rice
 
I used a recipe from my Rick Bayless cookbook, Mexican Every Day.  I highly recommend this cookbook.  He has taken classic Mexican recipes and simplified them for people to make for weeknight dinners.  This was really easy.  The entire dinner, including the rice and salad took me 45 minutes.  I was able to use mostly produce from our garden, including the mint in the meatballs.  I find it hard to find ground pork, especially humane, hormone-free ground pork.  Fortunately, I found some at Whole Foods.
 

 
Wednesday
 
All hell broke loose on Wednesday.  The car was in the shop.  Marco was stuck in traffic.  It was pouring rain.  So, my people ate fish sticks and tomatoes.  Marco and I ate leftover peanut soup.
 
Thursday
 
Pasta with Potatoes and Broccoli

 
I found this recipe in Food Network Magazine that incorporated a bunch of stuff I had on hand.  I modified it to use a pasta that is easy for little fingers to pick up.  They have trouble with spaghetti.  Everyone loved this.  Well, the short people did avoid the broccoli.  But Marco and I really liked it.  I tried to keep it fairly low fat.  
 
Friday
 
We splurged and walked down to our little neighborhood Mexican restaurant, Fajita Coast.  It was so nice to relax.  I had some really good ceviche.
 
Saturday
 
Fun times were had at our neighbor's cookout.  I contributed grown up mac-n-cheese (with bacon, red onion and spinach) that was enjoyed by many.  The babies gobbled this up too!  I'm on a diet and could not partake, but I did sample it (seriously yummy).
 
Grown Up Mac-n-Cheese