Current Week Meals

Week of Monday, October 26. Four dinners. The pesto cavatappi goes first because the chicken and mushrooms set the clock. Potato soup is Tuesday, and it makes enough for lunches. Wednesday is the new butternut squash rigatoni, since the squash keeps for weeks. Fried rice closes the week. You already have everything for it, and her portion uses Wednesday's leftover plant-based sausage.

Monday — Creamy Pesto Cavatappi 🍝 (vault) — 30 min

Creamy Pesto Cavatappi with mushrooms. Parmesan Crusted Chicken for you, and the pasta on its own for her.
🥦 Use vegetable broth, not chicken stock, so the sauce is vegetarian.
🍗 One chicken breast is plenty. Bread it and fry it first, then rest it while the sauce cooks in the same skillet.
🍄 Brown the mushrooms properly before the garlic goes in.
🍋 A squeeze of lemon at the end. Save the other half of the lemon for Wednesday.
Toddler version: cavatappi with the sauce, mushrooms picked out if she won't eat them, and extra Parmesan.

Tuesday — Loaded Baked Potato Soup 🥔 (vault) — 45 min

Loaded Baked Potato Soup. Thick and cheesy, with half the potatoes mashed right in the pot. Bacon crumbled over your bowl. Hers is vegetarian as written.
🥓 Bacon goes in a cold oven on its own sheet pan and bakes while the soup simmers.
🧀 Shred the cheddar off the block. Pre-shredded makes the soup grainy.
🥔 Russets, not Yukon Golds, so the soup thickens.
🍲 Serves 6. The leftovers make lunches for a few days. Reheat on low with a splash of milk.
Toddler version: scoop hers before the chives and hot sauce go on, add extra cheddar, and let it cool a few minutes.

Wednesday — Brown Butter Butternut Squash Rigatoni 🎃 (new) — 50 min

Brown Butter Butternut Squash Rigatoni. Roasted squash blended with brown butter, cream, and Parmesan, with crispy fried sage on top. All vegetarian, with plant-based Italian sausage for everyone.
⏱️ The squash roasts for 30 minutes. Brown the plant-based sausage and fry the sage while it's in the oven. Pre-cubed squash saves 10 minutes of peeling.
🍳 Set aside half the plant-based sausage for Thursday's fried rice.
🌶️ Red pepper flakes at the table.
Toddler version: scoop her portion before the sage and pepper go on, and cut the rigatoni in half if it's too big. The sauce is sweet and mild.

Thursday — Fried Rice 🍳 (vault) — 20 min

Fried Rice, 4-serving version. Wednesday's leftover plant-based sausage for her, and whatever protein you have on hand for you. You already have the ingredients, so it's off the shopping list.
🍚 Cook the rice by Wednesday so it's cold and dry by Thursday.
🚨 Vegetarian stir-fry sauce (mushroom "oyster" sauce) in place of the oyster sauce, same as last time.
🍳 Make one big vegetarian pan, then split it. Warm the plant-based sausage into her portion, and cook your protein in the wok after hers comes out.
🌶️ Sriracha at the table.
Toddler version: rice, egg, and peas and carrots, no sriracha.

A note on the order

The chicken and mushrooms spoil fastest. Tuesday's chives and milk hold a few days, and the bacon keeps sealed. Wednesday's sage holds for days, and the squash for weeks. Thursday runs on leftovers and staples.

Ingredient overlap this week

Heavy cream: ½ cup each on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so one pint
Vegetable broth: Monday's pesto sauce and Tuesday's soup
Parmesan: one wedge covers the chicken crust, the pesto sauce, and the rigatoni
Butter: all three cooking nights
Lemon: half for the pesto and half for the rigatoni
Plant-based sausage: browned once on Wednesday, it covers everyone Wednesday and her Thursday
Garlic and yellow onion across three nights

Note

Brown Butter Butternut Squash Rigatoni is new this week and lives in New recipes/ until you decide whether to keep it. Thai Red Coconut Curry with Crispy Tofu and Chopped Italian Salad with Pepperoncini Vinaigrette are still there, untried.