Things to Eat - Tomato Lentil Mustard Salad & Our Four Week Meal Plan

TOMATO LENTIL MUSTARD SALAD (slightly adapted from IT'S ALL GOOD: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great)

Ingredients:
* 1 cup lentils (I buy the bag of cooked lentils at Trader Joe's)
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1 tablespoon course seeded mustard
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* Sea salt
* 1 small red onion, diced (optional)
* 3 cups halved cherry tomatoes
* 1/4 cup roughly chopped Italian parsley

1. If you are starting with dry lentils, bring a pot of salted water to boil, add lentils, turn heat to medium, and cook about 20 minutes (check to make sure the lentils are cooked through). Then drain the lentils and add them to a large bowl.

2. If you are starting with pre-cooked lentils, add them to a bowl.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustards, lemon juice, olive oil, and vinegar with a pinch (or more) of salt.

4. Add the vinaigrette to the lentils along with the onion, tomato, and parsley.

WEEK 1

MONDAY - Goop's black bean cakes. These were a disaster, the beans and rice caused the vitamix to smoke and stop working (though by the next day, the blender started functioning again). The taste was blah. I burned them. The kids felt so bad for me they tried to be nice, "wow, these are great mom". Then they buried the cake under the salsa and ate about 10 apples each for dessert.

TUESDAY - Nachos - Crazy night, we needed something fast and easy. I added black beans in an effort to make them sort of healthy.

WEDNESDAY - Chicken and zucchini noodle pho (via Goop). Fantastic recipe. Everyone loved it.

THURSDAY - Spaghetti with red sauce, ground turkey, and zucchini noodles (that were leftover from Wednesday's pho); regular pasta for the kids.


WEEK 2

MONDAY - Oven baked romaine with (via Mom Filter) Italian sausage, tomato, cannellini bean ragout and polenta (via Cooking Light). The romaine ended up soggy; I think you really need to grill it to make this work, though the taste was fantastic, just not the texture. The polenta recipe has become a favorite with the kids.

TUESDAY - Bricklayer tacos (via Splendid Table). I messed up the recipe a little bit, but all in all these were fantastic. Beef and bacon - you can't really go wrong.

WEDNESDAY - Blackened tilapia baja fish tacos (via Cooking Light). This is a family classic. We have it whenever we need a sure thing.

THURSDAY - Dinner out


WEEK 3 ("Clean" week, sort of)

MONDAY - Broccoli/arugula soup for me (via Goop) ; hot dogs and edamame for the kids and Dan. After a week at the beach, I need healthy simple food for a few days.

TUESDAY - Chicken breasts and rice marinated with Trader Joe's Soyaki Sauce. Easiest meal ever and T said the chicken was "amazing", which in itself is pretty amazing.

WEDNESDAY - Night out with friends at Mazagan; pasta for the kids

THURSDAY - Cucumber avocado soup for me (via Goop); mac and cheese for the kids. I could live on this soup, it is so easy and tastes surprisingly good.


WEEK 4 (Vegetarian week (almost), not so coincidentally, Dan had to "work late" a lot this week)

MONDAY - Black bean tacos (via Dinner: A Love Story: It all begins at the family table). The kids love this meal, plus it's super easy.

TUESDAY - Middle eastern chickpeas with spinach (via Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals). This is one of my favorite recipes, so I was hoping the kids would like it too. But they asked for hot dogs instead. Oh well, I tried.

WEDNESDAY - Medival Times for T's birthday dinner

THURSDAY - Tomato lentil mustard salad (via IT'S ALL GOOD: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great); the kids have spaghetti and kale chips.

FRIDAY - Maggie's pasta (recipe here). Every summer I come back to this recipe. Easy and fresh. The kids ate the sausage and orzo, but wouldn't touch the spinach and sundried tomatoes.