Hi there. I hope your weekend is off to a great start. Finn is down for his morning nap so I’m popping in quickly to share recent eats.

This is probably the saddest recent eats that I have shared in a while. I was talking to my mom last week about how much I’m struggling with having the desire to cook after I put Finn down. I come downstairs and I’m like “what can I throw together as fast as possible that requires the least amount of cooking?”

One reason that this is throwing me off so much is that cooking has always been something that I’ve enjoyed, looked forward to and relaxes me…even after a long day. I’ve always looked at it as an act of self-care. Most of you probably remember that pre-Finn I didn’t get home from work most nights until almost 8 p.m. and would still cook a meal. These days, after I put Finn down (usually anytime between 6:30-7:30) I simply have zero motivation left to cook.

All that said, I still LOVE cooking…it just needs to change a little for me right now. Some of the ideas that I have for getting back into a better groove include…

• Preparing something on Sundays or slow days that I can eat several days in a row. I used to not be the biggest fan of leftovers but I am all about them these days! I have no problem eating something two or three times in a week…I just need to make that thing!
• Cook earlier in the day. I find that I have a lot more motivation to cook during the afternoon or early evening before bath/bedtime. If I can get my meal started or mostly cooked by the time I head up for bath time, I am good.
• Meal plan. I keep saying that I am going to start doing this again but I REALLY need to commit to it. Without a meal plan, I go to the grocery and buy the same things over and over that I know I can easily make meals out of, and that is becoming so monotonous.
• Start going back to the farmers market. I used to be a big fan of the winter/off season market but I haven’t been this year. I would like to get back to going to the farmers market at least a couple of times a month. Having the fresh produce and local meat/eggs really inspires me to cook and be creative.

And…I’m back…12 hours later. I thought I’d get this post done during Finn’s nap but then he woke up and I wanted to hang out with him before he went to spend time with his dad. And then I got busy with life. So back to the recent eats!

BREAKFAST

I’ve been mixing it up a bit with Dave’s Killer English Muffins with butter and cream cheese alongside scrambled eggs and fruit.

And of course smoothie bowls.

LUNCH

I didn’t even take photos of the turkey sandwiches that I ate…

One day I did mix it up and have a tuna melt with avocado and cheese on sourdough. There was another day that I had a smoothie bowl for lunch.

DINNER

Be prepared to be underwhelmed. Haha.

Hands-down the best thing I’ve made lately is burrito bowls! I ate this two nights in a row. Brown rice, roasted sweet potatoes, rotisserie chicken tossed in salsa, shredded red cabbage, avocado, cilantro and sriracha aioli.

Hands-down the worst thing that I ate was spaghetti and zucchini noodles. I bought these frozen zucchini noodles at Trader Joe’s that were a disaster. So watery and mushy once cooked. And I defrosted some homemade spaghetti sauce from the freezer that I can’t tell if it didn’t reheat well or was attributed to the “noodle situation.” The moral of this story is that frozen zucchini noodles are no bueno.

Arugula, quinoa, veggie burger, hummus, feta, half an avocado and Tessamae’s avocado ranch.

Repeat. Add cheese, subtract hummus.

After two nights of random veggie burger/grain bowls, I had to make something a little more substantial. This is my braised red cabbage with roasted cauliflower and sautéed Trader Joe’s chicken Italian sausage. Buttered sourdough toast on the side.

ETC

So much ice cream. I posted on Instagram Stories that the Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone is my fave. The chocolate peanut butter is a close second.

Finally, a pear tart from Renaissance Patisserie. If you’re in the Charlotte area and close to SouthPark, you must pay them a visit. 🙂

Okay so next week, better job on cooking. I’ll report back.

Favorite tips for making homemade meals happen when juggling work/life/parenting/etc.? 

Do you go to the farmers market off-season?