Often when I plan a weekly menu, I use a particular cuisine or flavor to be a throughline. This time, I picked a couple of Italian-inspired recipes to build the rest of the week around.

breakfast/snacks

Chia pudding

I’ve been making chia pudding regularly for breakfast. As mentioned here, my standard recipe is 1T (9g) chia seeds, mixed with 1/4c (60g) kefir or kefir + almond milk. In the morning, I mix in a bit of peanut butter and enjoy.

Chocolate orange muffins

I cobbled together a couple of recipes, but wasn’t wild about how these ended up. I went very light on sweetener and they tasted slightly bitter, unfortunately.

Ricotta espresso orange snack bites

This was a freestyle recipe: I mixed ricotta, almond flour, almond extract, a pinch of coffee, orange zest, a small amount of oats, and chopped walnuts. Very tasty!

Crepes (adapted from Lucinda Scala Quinn)

I adapted the crepe recipe from Mad Hungry by using almond flour, buckwheat, and whole wheat flour.

Peanut granola (More With Less)

I made a batch of granola with peanut butter for the month!

lunches

baked herb chicken (More With Less)

This was only okay—I was picturing more of a lemon-herb style seasoning when I picked out the recipe, but it was a bit heavier and less flavorful than I expected.

main dishes

panfried steak (Lucinda Scala Quinn)

This was not my original plan for the particular night I made it, but it was very tasty! As I often find with Scala Quinn’s recipes, it’s simple, but very flavorful.

cabbage & kielbasa (Smitten Kitchen Keepers)

I made this one last month and decided to make it again as an easy and tasty summer meal.

braised eggplant with parm vibes (Start Here) with walnut parsley pesto (personal files)

I really liked the braised eggplant; R wasn’t into it, because of the texture but liked the sauce. We both liked the walnut parsley pesto.

pantry bistro salad (Lucinda Scala Quinn)

I added a bunch of stuff to this one—feta and parmesan, avocado, and some pecans—and we enjoyed it quite a bit.

side dishes

Quinoa Salad with Green Beans, Lemon & Feta

recipe below

4 oz cooked quinoa

4 oz green beans

1 T shredded parmigiano-reggiano

fresh cracked black pepper

1 T dijon mustard

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup crumbled feta

Mix all ingredients together; taste & adjust seasoning.

tomato avocado & basil salad (Lucinda Scala Quinn)

This was lovely! A perfect example of a simple recipe becoming more than the sum of its parts. In fact, R requested it again within a week.

cabbage & carrot slaw (wild honey)

I made this a few weeks ago and we liked it so much that I made it again!

thoughts

Overall, this week had some duds (muffins, my work lunches) but also some huge wins (tomato avocado salad, braised eggplant). And, for the most part, it worked for what I needed, which was a relatively low effort, veggie-heavy menu.