Okay, so it isn’t my first cookbook, as I’ve had one cookbook given to me in the past, but all our other cookbooks are Ben’s. Either he purchased it or we gifted it to him because it was on his wish list. He was the main chef in this house up until a year ago when I started taking the reins and meal planning, and I started doing the cooking myself. So this It’s All Good cookbook by Gwyneth Paltrow is the first ever cookbook I bought for myself! Hip hip, hooray! It’s a milestone for me.

My friend Steph recommended it and she told us there was a recipe to make our own Sriracha sauce and that pretty much sold me, and I ordered it. Just at first glance, based on the pictures, I loved it. I love the simplicity of the design. Next, I started diving into the recipes and the combos for the dishes had me smitten even more. Now, all the recipes don’t have a picture of the finished dish, which is slightly disappointing because I think food pictures are a big deal, but I’ll survive. Maybe next time Ms. Paltrow will add more pictures! I’m definitely going to try to incorporate at least one dish into next week’s meal plan.

I haven’t had time to read the book cover to cover, so I know there’s a lot more information in there about diet and allergies, but overall just based on the recipes and pictures, I like it. Now, I hope it all tastes as good as it looks! Do you have a favorite cookbook? I’d love to hear other recommendations!

Chicken Enchiladas. I can’t get enough of this recipe. It’s so good! I made two batches of sauce this time. One with the peppers and one without. We leave out the cream sauce and even without that, it’s still really tasty.

Spaghetti Carbonera with Black Kale. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but it turned out alright. I don’t think I’ll have any cravings for this, but it was a good way of using the kale that’s growing in our garden.

Bruschetta. Yummy! I didn’t butter the bread, which I’m sure would have made it more yummy, but I went without that step. I can’t wait for our tomatoes to fruit because I’m definitely making this a lot this summer!

Week 5/27 – 5/31

Monday: Sopas (I’m putting Ben in charge of dinner since he’ll be home)
Tuesday: Orzo with Feta, Basil and Shrimp (I didn’t get to make it this week, so I’ll try to do it next week)
Wednesday: Simple Tacos
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Pizza/sushi night

I’ve cooked so many different recipes since I started meal planning that I need to go back to help refresh my memory of some of other dishes we really loved. Cooking doesn’t come naturally to me and I’m still not a wing it sort of cook, so I definitely need recipes to help guide me. How do you decide what to cook for dinner?

Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa. The salsa was very good, but it tasted better a day later. I think all the flavors had time to blend and it was much more yummy. We love fish tacos, so it’s hard to go wrong with that for dinner. Brave is the only one who isn’t wild about salmon, but I think True had like 5 tacos! Of course, the girls did theirs without the spice. The radishes we used were straight from our garden and they are the best radishes I have ever tasted!

Kale Noodle Bowl with Avocado Miso Dressing. This one was just, “eh.” It sounded good in theory, but something was missing to me. Ben liked it, but he wasn’t wild. True loved the soba noodles and Brave loved all of it (she had a couple of servings). It was loaded with lots of kale, so that was one good thing about it. I probably tripled what the recipe called for because we had a lot to use from our garden.

Week 5/20 – 5/24
Monday: Orzo with Feta, Basil and Shrimp
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Hummus wraps
Friday: Sushi night

I would love to make this, but Ben says it’s a bit costly for a family dinner, so I’m thinking of making a similar version using cod. Anyone ever try to change crab cakes into fish cakes? Is it just as good? I’ve totally been loving the Williams-Sonoma food blog. All their pictures are just gorgeous and almost every dish suddenly makes me hungry! I’m obsessed with looking through their blog for ideas and I’ve been pinning so many of their recipes. What have you been cooking lately?

Pan Seared Tuna with Kale and Chorizo. The recipe calls for hake, but we didn’t have that so we used tuna, and it also called for chorizo, but we used soy-rizo instead. Another change we did is instead of mashed potatoes, we did mashed cauliflower. It all tasted good together, but I don’t think it’s a recipe that I will make again. We just weren’t wild about it. We got the fish from my mom and dad who went to the port to get some fresh seafood over the weekend, so I wanted to use up the fish she gave us and things we already had. Our garden has lots of kale, so I googled kale and fish and this recipe came up.

Week 5/13 – 5/17
Monday: Kale Noodle Bowl with Avocado Miso Dressing
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Sandwiches (swim nights are usually easy meals)
Friday: Sushi night

Sometimes I don’t always follow our weekly meal plan because things will come up (or I forget to give Ben the grocery list), but they still provide a little bit of guidance on what to make. I’m looking for more vegetarian dishes to cook, so if you have any good recipes to recommend, I would love to hear it!

Tilapia Ceviche on Crispy Wontons
adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:
1. 2 avocados
2. 1 medium tomato
3. 1 lime
4. Habañeros finely chopped (we used 6 because we like it that spicy, but unless you like it pipin’ hot, maybe just use 1)
5. 1 small red onion finely chopped
6. 1 package of wonton wrappers
7. 1 tbsp sesame oil
8. 1 pound of sashimi grade tilapia
9. 2 tbsp rice vinegar
10. 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (can do without it if you don’t have any)
11. 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
12. Salt to taste

Directions:
Chop up the avocados, tomato, habañeros, onion, tilapia, and cilantro and toss together (note the finely chopped items in the ingredients list). Continue to add in the rice vinegar and fish sauce, and mix well. Sprinkle with salt (about 1/2 tsp – 1 tsp should do it) and squeeze the lime juice on top. Mix, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Set the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly brush each side of the wonton with sesame oil, and then lay each piece separately onto a baking sheet. Watch the wontons carefully as they can burn pretty fast, but generally it takes about 4-8 minutes (depending on your oven) to get them crispy. Once they turn a nice golden brown, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. Top your wontons with the tilapia ceviche and enjoy!
When we want a sushi night, but don’t really want to dish out the money, this is what we do. Tilapia is so much cheaper than salmon sashimi, which is our fave, and most definitely cheaper than getting sushi for take away. It’s Ben’s favorite way to eat raw tilapia (this is my favorite way to eat it as I just substitute the tuna with the tilapia). We probably put a little more habañeros than the average person because we like things spicy, but 1 should do it, or if you can’t hack spice, just lightly sprinkle some red pepper flakes. The habañero tastes so good here because it’s a pepper that has a sort of spicy sweet thing going on and we love it! I’m pretty sure we’re probably going to eat some version of this on Friday night. It’s just so good and quick to make, plus it’s perfect to eat while we relax and watch a movie in bed! If you like sushi, I’m almost sure you’ll like this too!

Curried Split Pea Soup with Coconut Milk. Even if you aren’t a fan of vegetarian dishes, I’m almost sure you’ll like this one. It’s a yummy one!

Dumplings. Shrimp & Chive Dumplings and the other kind, which was ground turkey based, I kind of just winged it with my own ideas. The dumplings were a hit with the girls! Brave and Glow especially liked the shrimp ones and those were spicy! It was about a year ago when I first made dumplings for our dumpling party and they are such an easy dish to make. Don’t get intimidated and give it a shot! Mine aren’t perfectly wrapped, but whatever. As long as it’s yummy, there’s not much to complain about.

Week 5/6 – 5/10

Monday: Chicken Enchiladas (Just made it a couple weeks ago, but it’s so good, I want it again!)
Tuesday: Salmon Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Hummus Wraps
Friday: Pizza/sushi night

We have had one meal outside this past month, but I’m hoping for more soon. I’m ready to sit under twinkly lights and our (mostly) cool summer evenings!