Current Week Meals

Week of Monday, October 19. Four dinners. Nachos go first because the avocado, cilantro, and tomatoes set the clock. Teriyaki bowls come second and make Thursday's rice. Scuie Scuie is Wednesday, a quick pasta. Fried rice closes the week with leftovers from Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday — Gourmet Nachos 🌮 (vault) — 20 min

  • Gourmet Nachos, all vegetarian and a half batch. Skip the steak, and halve everything else: about half the bag of chips, 1 cup Mexican blend, ½ cup Monterey Jack, ½ can black beans, ½ jalapeño, ½ small red onion, 1 Roma tomato, ½ avocado, 2 tbsp cilantro, ¼ cup sour cream, 2 tbsp olives.
  • 🔥 Bake the bare chips for 5 minutes first so they stay crisp under the cheese.
  • 🥑 Avocado, tomato, red onion, and cilantro go on after the oven. Sour cream on the side.
  • 🌶️ Jalapeños on one corner only, or at the table.
  • Toddler version: a small pile of chips with beans and melted cheese, plus diced avocado.

Tuesday — Teriyaki Steak Bowls 🍚 (vault) — 40 min

  • Teriyaki Steak Bowls. Homemade teriyaki over jasmine rice with roasted broccoli, carrots, and bell pepper, plus quick-pickled cucumbers. Flank steak for you, crispy teriyaki tofu for her.
  • 🍚 Cook 2½ cups of dry rice, more than the recipe's 2. About 3 cups of cooked rice go in the fridge, uncovered for the first hour, for Thursday.
  • 🍳 Two pans. Tofu in a nonstick, steak in the cast iron. Each gets its own brush of sauce.
  • 🍶 Use water for the sake. No need to buy a bottle for ¼ cup.
  • Toddler version: rice, tofu cut into strips, and roasted carrots, with a drizzle of sauce. It's sweet, so it's an easy win.

Wednesday — Scuie Scuie 🍝 (vault) — 25 min

  • Scuie Scuie. Ditalini tossed with sautéed zucchini, burst compari tomatoes, peas, melty fresh mozzarella, basil, and Parmesan. One skillet, plus the pasta pot. Italian sausage for you, cannellini beans for her.
  • 🍳 Brown the whole pound of sausage in a small skillet and set half aside for Thursday's fried rice. Spoon the rest over your bowl.
  • 🫘 Warm the cannellini beans in the vegetable skillet with the tomatoes, so they go through everyone's pasta.
  • 🌶️ Red pepper flakes at the table, not in the skillet.
  • Toddler version: ditalini with little cubes of mozzarella and peas. It's already toddler-sized pasta.

Thursday — Fried Rice 🍳 (vault) — 20 min

  • Fried Rice, 4-serving version, using Tuesday's rice and Wednesday's leftover sausage. Italian sausage for you, an extra egg for her.
  • 🚨 Use vegetarian stir-fry sauce (mushroom "oyster" sauce, such as Lee Kum Kee) in place of the oyster sauce. Regular oyster sauce is made from oysters.
  • 🍳 Make one big vegetarian pan with 3 eggs, then split it. Warm the sausage in the wok after her portion comes out, and toss it into yours.
  • 🌶️ Sriracha at the table, not in the pan.
  • Toddler version: rice, egg, and peas and carrots, no sriracha.

A note on the order

Avocado, cilantro, and tomatoes spoil fastest. Tuesday's steak, cucumber, and broccoli hold a couple of days. Wednesday's zucchini, compari tomatoes, and mozzarella hold a few days. Thursday runs on leftovers, eggs, and frozen peas.

Ingredient overlap this week

  • Rice: one batch Tuesday feeds Tuesday and Thursday
  • Italian sausage: one pound, browned once on Wednesday, covers Wednesday and Thursday
  • Peas: one bag of frozen peas and carrots covers Wednesday and Thursday
  • Scallions: one bunch for Tuesday's garnish and Thursday's rice
  • Soy sauce and sesame oil: Tuesday and Thursday
  • Avocados: two cover Monday's nachos (½) and Tuesday's bowls (1)
  • Black beans: the other half of Monday's can can go into Tuesday's bowls or lunches
  • Garlic and yellow onion across three nights

Note

Thai Red Coconut Curry with Crispy Tofu and Chopped Italian Salad with Pepperoncini Vinaigrette are still in New recipes/, untried.