Week of Weeknight Meals: April 2021

I hope you’re stopping by the blog feeling hungry today because I have some delicious dinners to share with you guys as part of my monthly Week of Weeknight Meals series. This series gives you a glimpse into our weeknight dinners for one week of every month with pictures snapped in real time — no fancy schmancy food styling allowed!

This week we kept things simple with a lot of protein + veggie + starch combinations, a freezer meal and leftovers. It was easy and tasty — my two biggest criteria when it comes to our evening meals lately.

Week of Weeknight Meals: April 2021

• Monday: BBQ Pulled Chicken with Sautéed Garlicky Swiss Chard, Mixed Grains and Avocado

We had some leftover BBQ pulled chicken on hand from BBQ chicken sandwiches that we made over the weekend using this recipe from Ambitious Kitchen and I gave the chicken a new life by pairing it with a rather random but very yummy side dish. I followed the New York Times’ recipe for garlicky swiss chard and then added a pack of ALDI’s Simply Nature 90-second seven grains pouch and topped it with half of an avocado, salt and pepper. It was a random combination but nourishing, filling and delicious.

• Tuesday: Instant Pot Butternut Squash Chicken Curry (Freezer Meal!)

The last time I made my Instant Pot butternut squash chicken curry I doubled the recipe and I was so grateful I did on Tuesday night because it made our dinner a breeze. I simply let the curry defrost in the fridge overnight and then reheated it on the stovetop on Tuesday evening. I need to remember to double up on recipes more often because it was so, so handy to have a homecooked meal on hand without doing any real cooking.

• Wednesday: Salmon with Roasted Veggies and Mashed Sweet Potato

I think this picture reveals the fact that I often meal prep our dinners at lunchtime and reheat them since my salmon looks a little less-than-appetizing but I’ve always loved leftovers and never mind reheated food so it was still a winner in my book! I marinated the salmon in a mix of maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic cloves, ginger and sriracha and it was a big-time winner. For our sides, I mashed up a baked sweet potato and roasted shaved brussels sprouts and a bag of cole slaw mix (shredded cabbage, broccoli and carrots) after tossing the veggies in olive oil, garlic salt and pepper. We’ve been going through a TON of sweet potatoes in our house lately because they’re one of Rhett’s favorite foods at the moment!

• Thursday: Paleo Marinated Chicken Thighs with Roasted Carrots and Buttery Rice

I know you’re less than shocked to see yet another batch of my Paleo marinated chicken thighs pop up on the blog, right? I know I’ve mentioned time and time again that this recipe is the blog recipe I make most often and it’s the truth because we never seem to get sick of it in our house! We served the baked chicken thighs with roasted carrots and buttery rice and I forgot just how amazing roasted carrots taste when they’ve had the chance to brown and almost caramelize in the oven. Gosh, they are SO GOOD and our whole family gobbled them up.

• Friday: Turkey Vegetable Meatloaf with Leftover Veggies and Drop Biscuits

Ohhh turkey vegetable meatloaf, how I adore you! This recipe is still popping up on our dinner menu on repeat these days! If you happened to read the “notes” section of my turkey vegetable meatloaf recipe when I first shared it back in March, you may have noticed that I said you can add even more veggies to the meatloaf if you aren’t worried about it holding its shape. That’s exactly what I did on Friday night and it was basically a veggie explosion. (I used two whole zucchinis, three large carrots and a large onion in the meatloaf.) The end pieced held their shape decently but the middle pieces collapsed a bit which was fine with me since we were just enjoying the meatloaf as a family and I didn’t care about presentation. More veggies > Pretty meatloaf! I served the meatloaf with leftover roasted veggies from Wednesday night’s dinner and drop biscuits I made with the help of Pamela’s pancake baking mix.

Question of the Day

What was the best meal you ate for dinner last week? Any must-try recipes out there?