It’s another busy week ahead of us, with evening events that won’t get us home until at least 6 pm at the earliest most nights. So we need meals that can fill in around the edges – things I can grab for myself only after Wednesday evening’s marathon, when we leave the house at 7:15 am and don’t get back until 8:45 pm (#SheTeen gets dinner at her middle school event, at least), for example. Or items I can point #HeTeen at if/when we’re not home (not that he’ll typically eat leftovers – but it’s always worth a try…)

Complicating things even further? My picky requirement that at least 90% of the food be paleo-friendly (before kid adaptations close to finishing time, that is). Yes, that’s also part of the weekly shopping/procuring drill. But at least I have my weekly box from Organics to You that helps provide fruit for #SheTeen (she’s on a major citrus kick these days) and both inspires and challenges me on the cooking front! (This week’s challenge – what to do with all of the baby celeriac roots I now have!)

So here’s the plan:

• Sunday: Chicken rubbed with spices, stuffed with aromatics (lemon, onion, apple), & roasted on a bed of cabbage & leeks. (Need to use up weekly veggie allotment before the Organics to You box arrives tomorrow night!) We’ll use leftover chicken during the week (& I’ll take some to work for salads), while the carcass will be used with veggie scraps to make chicken stock.
• Monday: Meatloaf (inspired by Richard Nikolay’s Gluten-Free/Nearly-Paleo meatloaf recipe, except – not really by the time I was done…!) Used leftover mashed potatoes as filler instead of his dry white rice (the non-Paleo part), plus a handful of dried veggie soup mix & a healthy dose of the leftover wine/herb braising liquid from last night’s chuck roast (have more of that elixir to use during the week, in fact). Also skipped the dried fruits part & added in sage pork sausage from New Seasons for part of the meat. Plus a squirt or two of sun-dried tomato paste (love the pastes that come in a toothpaste-esque tube).

  Come to think of it? I completely bastardized Richard’s recipe, didn’t I? (It’s what I do…) But his post did inspire me to make meatloaf (which is what counts in the end, right?), that’s now already mixed together & ready for the oven tomorrow night. Since the kids have the day off for the MLK holiday? #SheTeen just needs to pop it in the oven at the right time. (If there are leftovers, they’ll go to work with me for lunch later in the week…)

• Tuesday: Kids have dinner with their father; I have plans with a bunch of my female friends. Kitchen is: CLOSED.
• Wednesday: It’s a heavy #momtaxi day for yours truly after I get out of work. Depending on how the week’s going, may start the chicken stock to do its thing in the AM & then strain/refrigerate in the PM. Also – leftover chicken will fill in dinner gaps if needed for me/#HeTeen…
• Thursday: Potato-leek soup (or possibly matzoh ball soup if #HeTeen gets his way), made w/chicken stock for the kids (either from this chicken or what’s already been frozen from before) – and I’ll forage for myself. (Roasted brussels? Sure…) Of course, all veggie scraps during the week get saved to replenish the regular stock-producing mode I’m in during winter months.
• Friday: #SheTeen heads to her dad’s for the weekend after jazz band practice, while I may have evening plans with friends, since it’s a kid-free weekend in theory. #HeTeen? There should be plenty of leftovers by this time – or else he’s free to nuke one of the burritos I keep stocked in the freezer, just for him!
• Saturday: It’s probably a ‘steak at home’ night if #HeTeen is around (he’s been urging me to stick to steaks as a general rule when I buy meat for the week). Since I’m not independently wealthy and he’s a voracious steak eater? Um, not doing that, kid. But I might just spring for a decent grass-fed cut or two on Saturday. (For those of you wondering just why #HeTeen’s going to be around on a kid-free weekend? Stay tuned – there’s an update to this story…)
• Sunday: Kitchen typically closed on kid-free weekends…

Of course, this is entirely modifiable as whims dictate. (Yes, I’ve been known to drive through Taco Bell to bring crap back for #HeTeen, or skip dinner-making in favor of an evening with #SheTeen at Sweet Tomatoes.)

And nope – I don’t plan out breakfasts or lunches in any major way, ever. Planning dinners out *should* be enough, no?