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What’s For Dinner?

May 19, 2020 By Deanna Piercy 8 Comments

I’m well into the habit of taking a photo of my plate every night. What I’m not doing so well with is getting around to writing these What’s For Dinner posts on a weekly basis. And that is why there are three weeks’ worth of meals in this post. I do apologize if this takes forever to load. I’ll try to do better…I promise! Or I may just drop this series altogether. Let me know in the comments whether these posts are at all helpful or interesting to you. I promise I won’t be offended if they aren’t. 

What's For Dinner

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What’s For Dinner? – 21 Meal Ideas!

Every Tuesday around here is “Taco Tuesday”, or at least some sort of Mexican food. Most of the time I use lentils or black beans for our tacos but this night I used grass fed organic ground beef. I served them with refried beans, chips and salsa. Always a family favorite!

 

What's For Dinner

 

Now that the weather is warm we are grilling outdoors once a week. I’ve been alternating hamburgers and hot dogs. This night we had Black Angus burgers from Aldi. I thinly sliced an onion and caramelized it to top our burgers, along with lettuce, tomato, bread and butter pickles, mayonnaise and mustard. I served these with homemade coleslaw and seasoned fries. 

cheeseburger

 

This night I made a vegetable curry and rice, topped with plain yogurt, mango chutney and raisins. I served it with fresh pineapple spears on the side. I thought I had naan bread in the freezer but I was mistaken. 

curry

 

One of my favorites is chicken in a white wine cream sauce. I served it with a baked potato and fresh asparagus. 

chicken

 

I have to admit I’m entirely certain what this next one was. It’s some sort of soup, probably from leftovers. And those are quesadillas along side. This one more reason I shouldn’t wait so long to do these posts. 

soup

 

I had homemade waffles on the menu but opted for French toast instead since I had some bread that was a bit stale. Waste not, want not! I served it with sausage links and fried eggs. 

French toast

 

Grilled hot dogs were on the menu this next night. Fresh corn on the cob is delicious this time of year and homemade coleslaw makes a good side dish for this meal. 

Hot Dog

 

Black bean enchiladas, rice, chips and homemade guacamole hit the spot on this “Taco Tuesday”.

Enchiladas

 

David requested his favorite – Sweet and Sour Meatballs. I normally top this with crunchy chow mein noodles but we didn’t have any. I did, however, have some French fried onions and that made an adequate substitute. I served it with roasted zucchini and a green salad with Homemade Thousand Island Dressing. 

sweet and sour meatballs

 

I cooked some frozen chicken tenderloins in the Instant Pot and shredded them. I then cooked pot of beans, also in the Instant Pot, and added the shredded chicken, along with salsa and lots of seasonings. I served this mixture in softened corn tortillas topped with cheese, tomatoes, green onions and hot sauce. It was a busy day so that’s all I made. 

Tacos

Ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, homemade cranberry sauce and deviled eggs almost felt like a holiday meal. 

ham

The best part of last night’s meal? Leftovers! I added some Stove Top Stuffing and a salad this night. 

Ham

David decided I deserved one of my favorites for Mother’s Day. Pre-coronavirus, we usually ate lunch at a local Mexican restaurant each Sunday after church. It’s the one thing I’ve mentioned missing repeatedly. David called in our orders and picked it up curbside. It was delicious and the break from cooking was much appreciated. 

Mexican takeout

 

Another of David’s favorites – spaghetti and meatballs. I served it with crusty Italian bread and a salad. And if you’re wondering about the butter, I usually put butter, garlic salt and shredded parmesan on part of my pasta. 

spaghetti and meatballs

 

I had some corn tortillas that were a bit too crumbly to hold together for tacos so I made a Mexican casserole instead. I served this with a salad, chips and salsa. 

Enchiladas

 

Smothered pork chops, cheesy baked cauliflower, salad and homemade cranberry sauce made a tasty Wednesday night dinner. 

Pork Chops

 

I love sheet pan dinners for their easy cleanup. Aldi has some delicious chicken and apple sausages. I used those plus quartered red potatoes, carrots, onion, red and green bell peppers. When almost done I sprinkled some sharp cheddar cheese on the potatoes. All we needed as a side was a tossed green salad. 

Sheet Pan dinner

 

Another grill night. Cheeseburgers, baked beans, seasoned french fries and more delicious corn on the cob – yum!

cheeseburger

 

In my efforts to avoid food waste I’ve been making soups from leftovers periodically. This one included the leftover Mexican casserole (rice, corn, black beans, corn tortillas), leftover pork chop (diced), leftover sheet pan dinner and leftover baked beans. When I told David what I was making he joked that it was a good thing he had finished the leftover spaghetti for lunch. But when he tasted the soup he stopped teasing me. He and Chris both raved about it and said it was probably the best soup they had ever had. Too bad it will never happen again – ha! I served it with quesadillas. 

soup

 

I usually do some form of “Breakfast For Dinner” on Sunday nights. I switched it up a bit this time. I cooked a sliced onion and an orange bell pepper until just softened and set aside in a bowl. In the same skillet I cooked a pound of breakfast sausage and set it aside in another bowl. Again, in the same skillet I scrambled half a dozen eggs. I served the sausage, eggs, onions and peppers in fried corn tortillas and topped with grated cheese, green onions, salsa and sour cream. Delicious! And I only had one skillet to wash. 

Breakfast tacos

Finally, we wrap up this edition of What’s For Dinner with pork tenderloin, roasted red potatoes, broccoli and green salad. I tossed the cut up potatoes in olive oil, garlic salt, seasoned pepper and Creole seasoning then placed on a foil-lined sheet pan. I roasted them for about 20 minutes then added the tenderloin to the same pan I had rubbed it with olive oil and the same seasonings as the potatoes. The only other pan I needed was a sauce pan for the frozen broccoli. Can you tell I’m getting a bit tired of doing dishes? 

pork tenderloin

 

And there you are…21 dinners from Chez Piercy! 

I’d love to hear what’s cooking at your house these days. I’m ready to transition to lighter meals for summer. Our local farmers market opens up tomorrow. If people are practicing good social distancing I plan to put on my mask and start loading up on locally grown produce. We are entering my favorite season for meals and I am more than ready for all the wonderful summer fruits and vegetables. 

 


 

What's For Dinner

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Comments

  1. Tori says

    May 20, 2020 at 12:53 am

    Personally, I find these posts interesting, even if I wouldn’t eat most of what you’ve been eating. But whether or not you continue to do these posts is up to you, and I wouldn’t want you to go to all that work just because one person – meaning myself – happens to be incredibly nosy. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I’m looking forward to all the Summer veggies too, and lighter meals like salads. It’s not gotten all that hot here yet, and I do love my root veg, but still.

    As for what’s been cooking at my house…

    I made the Haluski, but – as I mentioned in the comments section of a previous post of yours – added some hoisin sauce to it (since I found it a bit too dry without). I enjoyed it… Once I had the extra sauce. Also, I had some of the cabbage mixture part of the haluski left, as well as some of the hoisin sauce, so I fried that up for dinner the next night. Since there was very little hoisin sauce left though, I added some liquid smoke. It made an amazing BBQ style sauce (though I enjoyed it more than I usually do BBQ sauces) since it had the sweetness of the hoisin combined with the smokeyness of the liquid smoke. Anyway, I served it with a baked potato, and loved it.

    The following day was hubby’s birthday, and he wanted to order Mexican for a change. I ended up having chips (fries) and spicy beans, since it was the only vegan friendly thing on the menu.

    Other meals I’ve made in the past few weeks have included:
    *Tofu omlet, hash browns, and peas.
    *Garlic chips (fries) which I had on their own, because I couldn’t be bothered to make anything more than that.
    *Baked potato with a root vegetable mash (consisting of carrot, parsnip, and turnip) and broccoli.
    *Minted vegetable grills (basically home made veggie burgers well seasoned with mint) served with cabbage, kale, plus mashed potatoes and carrots.
    *Creamy baked coconut cauliflower, baked potato, cabbage, carrots, and kale.
    *A plate of chips (fries) and some rhubarb crumble (this would have been the day I made the crumble from the fresh rhubarb my Dad sent me, since baking that and the cinnamon buns had me too tired to do more than throw on some chips for dinner… I didn’t even bother doing more than putting a bit of salt and vinegar on them to serve).
    *Lentil hotpot, cabbage, and bread and butter.
    *Sweet & sour tofu with boiled rice.
    *Vegan sausage roll with chips (fries).
    *Smoky tofu with baked potato and cauliflower-broccoli cheese.
    *Battered cauliflower, potato wedges, carrots, and cabbage.

    Reply
    • Deanna Piercy says

      May 21, 2020 at 3:25 am

      Your meals always sound delicious and creative!

      Reply
      • Tori says

        May 22, 2020 at 2:28 am

        It comes with trying to make the same vegetables turn in to very different meals. When you’ve got a big cabbage to use, for example, you don’t want to just be having boiled cabbage all week, so you think of ways it can be served differently, whether that be cooking if differently, seasoning it differently, or simply having it with a different combination of other foods (which you can also cook or season differently to change the meal somewhat). At least, I do. If you look carefully, you can see it’s essentially the same ingredients – with maybe one or two additions or substitutes – used for most of the meals. I just cooked them in different ways, and maybe added some seasonings or sauces or something, which gave different flavour combinations. It’s amazing how creative you can be with a few simple ingredients – if you’re prepared to risk experimenting in the kitchen.

        Reply
        • Deanna Piercy says

          May 23, 2020 at 1:47 pm

          I really enjoyed the creative aspect when we were vegetarian. It helped me learn some new recipes and just think about food in different ways.

          Reply
  2. Sandi says

    May 20, 2020 at 1:20 am

    I LOVE these posts! You remind me of things I have forgotten to make in ages! Like Haluski! ๐Ÿ˜Š I love seeing your plate pictures and I hope you will continue the Whatโ€™s for dinner posts! I donโ€™t mind if they are 3 weeks apart! I really enjoy the inspiration!!!

    Reply
    • Deanna Piercy says

      May 21, 2020 at 3:23 am

      I’m so glad you are finding these helpful. ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  3. Cheryl says

    May 22, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    Unless it is too much for you, please continue the What’s for dinner posts. It gives me some ideas, I don’t know how I missed this one.

    Reply
    • Deanna Piercy says

      May 22, 2020 at 3:27 pm

      I will continue at least for the time being. I just need to try to do them a bit more frequently! I’m glad you find them helpful.

      Reply

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I’m Dee, a Francophile with a hippie heart, trying to create a beautiful life in the country while dreaming of Paris.

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