Bossam. First made here. I made it again because it’s yummy, but I documented it along with my own tweaks, so I can share the recipe with you. I’m totally enjoying experimenting in the kitchen these days! Ben and I are want to try this with chicken breast and see how that comes out too.

Week of 2/17 – 2/21
Monday: Spring Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs
Tuesday: Seafood Soup
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: White Bean Chili
Friday: Sushi/pizza night

Our family weekly grocery budget is $200. These girls are teeny tiny, but they eat insane amounts of food! Since putting out an official budget on paper, it’s been so helpful and it’s kind of like a game every week. We also get better at not wasting any food and making sure we clean out the refrigerator. I remember when Ben and I first got married our weekly groceries was between $25 – $50! My how things have changed…

I wanted to make heart-shaped, healthy, strawberry flavored, baked doughnuts, so I started off playing off of this old recipe I’ve done before, which is pretty tasty and slightly healthy. I was experimenting to infuse a strawberry flavor with some fresh pureed strawberry, and also using more whole wheat to make it healthier, and it just didn’t come out right. It came out downright nasty, to me anyway. It definitely wasn’t what a doughnut should taste like.

The recipe I made used 5 cups of flour, so you can imagine how much dough I had (yup, not sure what I was thinking)! I only baked a batch of 4 and well, that was enough to give me a taste and tell it just wasn’t right. They weren’t going to make good doughnuts, though it definitely tasted like it would make good pizza dough. Thus, I separated my dough into separate balls because while you could clearly see the strawberry pieces in it, it seems like pizza dough is what it was meant to be.

That was my total doughnut fail. I wanted to play with the recipe some more to come up with something yummy for my girls and to share here, but you know what, 4 kids need me more than doughnuts, so I just scrapped the whole experimenting again idea for the week. Maybe another time (when there’s more of it), but for now, I will stick to following someone else’s recipe. Anyone know of a good one?

Oh! And what did I do with the 4 doughnuts I did bake? I still stuck some glaze on it, topped it with sprinkles (took a picture), and gave it to my girls. My sweet little daughters-of-a-dietitian don’t know any better and all said they really liked it! Brave said, “Mommy, this tastes really healthy! It’s kind of like a bagel.” HA! A doughnut that tastes really healthy, almost bagel-like, is most definitely not a good sign.

Spicy Thai Noodle Curry. This was supposed to be this, but I added more veggies than the recipe called for and it didn’t come out a soup! Oh well! It didn’t come out looking too great either, but it was delicious, and the only ones who didn’t like it were True and Glow. True seems to be our most finicky eater. I want to try this again, but make sure it comes out a soup. Ben was loving it and indulging until he realized I didn’t use whole wheat noodles. Next time, I’ll be sure to use buckwheat, so it will be a little more guilt-free.

Mackerel & Sesame Leaf. My BFF and her mama have some of the greatest recipes up their sleeves and I feel lucky they teach me their ways, and then I can share them right back to you! Don’t you worry, there will be a recipe for this.

Week of 2/10 – 2/14
Monday: Spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday: Bossam (We just had it, but it’s so good so we want more!)
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Sushi night… oh yeah!!!

We’ve been so much better at eating veggies throughout the day and figuring out ways to incorporate it in at night, so while the veggie dish isn’t always listed here, it’s been happening. What do you do to make sure your family is getting their needed fruits and vegetables throughout the day?

White Bean Hummus with Parsley. I made this for the kids for Friday family night. I prefer hummus without tahini because I never have tahini on hand. This one had white beans, a little bit of olive oil, tons of garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste; it’s so easy and so good! They eat while we watch something together and then we cuddle when they’re done for the rest of the movie. After we skedaddle them off to Ben, Ben and I have our special time together which involve one of our Friday night sushi dishes (see here) and a movie on Netflix.

Week of 2/3 – 2/7
Monday: Spicy Thai Curry Noodle Soup
Tuesday: Spicy Mackerel
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: White Bean Chili (once again dinner club didn’t happen, so this week for sure!)
Friday: Sushi/pizza night

We love spicy food! I cook spicy dishes pretty much all the time and make two batches of the same thing, but one without spice for the kids. I think Ben and I are addicted to spice and our spice tolerance just keeps increasing.

Last week we went through some of the frozen meals I had saved these past few months. I tend to save meals and forget about them, and they end up freezer burn and wasted, so I’m trying to get better at remembering to eat them. We’re trying not to waste food or money and meal planning has definitely helped with that a lot!

Spicy Seafood & Udon Stir Fry
about 4 -6 servings

Ingredients:
1 pack of seafood mix, thawed (usually found in the frozen section at the grocery store)
1 head of napa caggage, core removed and thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced (I’m the worst at keeping all the pieces uniformed)
Pack of enoki mushrooms
1 onion, sliced
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 serrano pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 packs of udon noodles
1/4 cup noodle soup base
1 tbsp of Korean chili pepper flakes
1 tbsp of Korean chili paste
2 tbsp of canola oil

Directions:
Follow the package instructions to cook the udon noodles, and then set aside.

Heat up the canola oil in a large pan (or pot, but if you have a wok that would be perfect!), give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the garlic and onions and stir fry for a minute until fragrant. Add the carrots, mushrooms, and cabbage, and continue to stir fry until wilted and soft about 6 minutes. Add in the noodle soup base, along with the chili paste, serranos, and the chili pepper flakes and continue to stir for another minute. Proceed to add in the seafood mix and stir fry until cooked completely. If it seems a little dry, put in a splash of the noodle soup base, and continue to mix. Lastly, add the noodles and half of the green onions in and toss together for an additional 3-4 minutes or until everything is heated through. Serve warm and garnish with the remaining green onions.

I actually doubled the recipe and did half of it without the chili paste and peppers for the kids (with imitation crab instead of the seafood mix), and Ben and I got the half with the spice. Just typing this up is making me hungry and I think I’m going to make this again for dinner tonight. I’m going to break my meal plan for the week because the weekend was so busy that I never was able to get fontina cheese to make pizza, so that recipe will probably get made next week instead.

If you don’t like spice, just omit the spicy ingredients. Or if you don’t have the Korean spices and paste, I’d make it with regular cayenne pepper and add a bit more noodle soup base (or soy sauce if you don’t have noodle base). Also, if you don’t eat seafood, you could most certainly stir fry in some chicken or leave meat out if you are vegetarian and just up the amount of vegetables you put in. I love how easily adaptable this dish can be. If you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it works out for you!

Bossam. I mixed this and this recipe together, healthified it a bit (by using more veggies and lean pork sirloin), threw in some of my Korean food know-how (thanks to this lady!), and we had a yummy dinner that had my husband wow-ed. We are making this again soon for sure, especially because the reason I made this was to find a use for the 4-pack of lean pork sirloin Ben bought on sale (we don’t normally eat pork, but thought we’d try it).

Spicy Tomatillo and Chicken Enchiladas. I used to follow this recipe, but this time I didn’t follow it, and just went off memory and what I thought. I’m getting more courageous in the kitchen to not follow something word for word, but I have made a few mistakes here and there (like forgetting to put salt, but which is just as well because we go light on salt anyway). I make the girls a batch without the spice and they love it too!

Week of 1/27 – 1/31
Monday: Spaghetti
Tuesday: Caramelized Butternut, Crispy Kale, and Fontina Pizza
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: White Bean Chili (we didn’t have dinner club last week, but we’re bringing it back this week)
Friday: Sushi/pizza night

I’m feeling some homemade pizza this coming week, so we will be doing dough making on Monday. I can’t wait to teach True how to make it! What are some of your favorite homemade pizza recipes?