The Meal Plan That Stuck

Here is a deep dive on the current rotation, where I detail the current dinner rotation and recipes I’m using, prep notes, and why these meals made the cut.

The New Rotation

	Week 1	Week 2
Monday	Sausage and pesto pasta with peas	Pasta e fagioli soup + rolls
Tuesday	Glazed salmon + fried rice	Sheet pan sausages + roasted potatoes and broccoli
Wednesday	Take out	Gnocchi with brussel sprouts and brown butter
Thursday	Asian beef bowls	Salmon pasta with cream sauce + quick salad
Friday	Naan pizza bar	Hoisin burgers + roasted potatoes
Weekend	(1) Order in/go out (2) Tortellini with sauteed mushrooms and parmesan + chicken breast + arugula, pear, and walnut salad with balsamic dressing	(1) Order in/go out (2) Ravioli and rosatella sauce + chicken breast + roasted broccoli

Recipes and Links

Sausage and pesto pasta with peas

• Recipe:
  • I use this recipe from The Lemon Bowl. The carmelized onions add some delicious sweetness and the whole thing comes together quickly.
• Notes: She suggests mixing all the elements together in the pot, which I do not do. I serve this as a lot of elements so it stays kid-friendly, and my husband and I just mix our servings together in our bowls.
  • Great as leftovers the next day for lunch!

Glazed salmon and fried rice

• Recipe:
  • Salmon: I get 1lb of salmon to feed 2 adults and 3 little kids. I will cut it into smaller portions if it isn’t already cooked, purely to make the cooking faster. Mix a big squirt of honey (1/4 cup?) with the same amount of soy sauce and a couple Tbsp of water in a small bowl, and set aside. Heat up a pan with a little oil, put the salmon in skin-side up for 5 minutes, then flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. Check that it flakes in the middle to confirm that it’s cooked all the way through. If not, cook for a few more minutes. Once they’re cooked, remove the portions for children and serve. For the adults (or for young eaters who are more adventurous than my children), pour the bowl of honey-soy sauce over the salmon. It will bubble up and make a lot of noise, and once it calms down a bit, start spooning the glaze over the salmon until there is very little left in the pan. Serve it quickly – it will probably start burning once you set the pan back down.
  • Fried rice: You can find a million and one recipes for fried rice online. I usually cook 1/2 cup rice at some point earlier in the day and then put it in a random bowl in the fridge (uncovered is fine because you want it to dry out a bit). When you’re ready to cook, heat up some oil, garlic, and chopped shallot and cook for a couple minutes, then add 1/2 bag of mixed frozen veggies (I like corn, beans, peas, carrots). Once those look mostly thawed, push the veggies to the side and add 3 scrambled eggs. Once those firm up, mix it all together and dump the rice in along with a couple glugs of soy sauce, a dribble of sesame oil, and a spoonful of oyster sauce. Done!
• Notes: It’s a little chaotic making these both at the same time, though it’s doable if you need dinner in 15 minutes. Otherwise, make the rice first and let it sit while you work on the salmon.
  • Salmon is not the most popular protein in my household, so I usually offer some shrimp or fish sticks as an alternative to kids who don’t want more than a few bites of salmon. But my husband and I love salmon and we want to keep exposing them in the hopes that ONE DAY they will get on board with it.

Asian beef bowls

• Recipe:
  • I took inspiration from this recipe for Gochujang beef bowls on Little Spice Jar. I love her ground beef and the flavors that she adds in – yum!
  • Instead of her spicy cucumber salad, which wouldn’t fly with young pallates, I do a quick pickle with cucumbers. Slice them thinly, then put in a tupperware with enough white vinegar or rice vinegar to cover about halfway up, plus a big squirt of olive oil and large pinch of salt. Shake it whenever you think of it, and they’ll be briny and salty in about 10 minutes.
  • I also like to add shredded carrots and top the bowls with some sesame seeds.
• Notes: I love “bowl” recipes like this because my husband and I can have it together while the kids have everything separately as elements. They’ll have a scoop of plain rice, a scoop of the beef, some shredded carrots, and a couple pickled cucumbers. Everyone can find something they like.

Naan pizza bar

• Recipe:
  • You’ll need a pack of naan from your grocery store, a jar of pizza sauce, some mozzarella, and whatever pizza toppings you want. My boys love sliced black olives and cooked sausage on theirs, and I love to add sautéed veggies (bell pepper, onion, zucchini) and a hunk of burrata after it comes out of the oven.
• Notes: The best part of this meal is that everyone gets to make their own. I typically keep the list of toppings short to simplify my life, but you could go full-blown pizza bar and give everyone lots of toppings to choose from.

Tortellini with sautéed mushrooms and parmesan + chicken breast + arugula, pear, and walnut salad with balsamic dressing

• Recipe:
  • Get a pack of your favorite tortellini and cook as normal.
  • Chop up some mushrooms (I like baby bella) and then sautee over medium heat in a lot of butter. Serve these on top of the tortellini with some parmesan cheese and anything else you want on it (balsamic glaze is delish!).
  • Air-fry your chicken breast (I like to season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika).
  • For the salad, toss arugula (or any lettuce), chopped ripe pear, and toasted walnuts with a 2:1 oil and vinegar dressing.
• Notes: Keep all the elements separate for kids, and combine into a bowl dinner for adults!

Pasta e fagioli soup + rolls

• Recipe:
  • I have been making this recipe for pasta e fagioli soup from Cookie and Kate for years and it never fails. The step in the blender is annoying, but don’t skip it. It makes the consistency of the soup so yummy!
  • I usually get a can of biscuits or rolls to serve alongside the soup. Make sure to add a pinch of salt on top of them before you bake to make them extra yummy.
  • I get a lot of pushback on soup from the boys, but I still love it and want to make it every now and then. Because this soup does a lot of simmering, I have plenty of time to put a batch of chicken nuggets in the air fryer as a backup plan if (…when) someone complains.
• Notes: Cookie and Kate’s recipe makes the perfect amount to feed our family 2 dinners, plus maybe an extra serving for me to eat for lunch one day, which makes this recipe even better for the 2 week rotation. I make it fresh every other time, then freeze the leftovers in Souper Cubes, and reheat the next time we’re eating this meal.

Sheet pan sausages + roasted potatoes and broccoli

• Recipe:
  • Chop up potatoes and broccoli into bite-size pieces, and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread veggies and sausages out on 2 sheet pans (try not to crowd the veggies too much) and bake at 425º for about 20 minutes. Give it a shake and check if everything is done. Potatoes and broccoli should be browned, and sausages can be checked with a meat thermometer.
  • I do a quick mix of honey and dijon mustard to make a honey-mustard sauce to serve with this, though any dipping sauce that your family likes would work well.
• Notes: I use sweet italian sausages, but you could use any sausage you want. If you use precooked sausage, you can add them in for just the last 10 minutes or so to warm them up as the veggies finish cooking.

Gnocchi with brussels sprouts and brown butter

• Recipe:
  • I love this recipe from New York Times Cooking and I follow it exactly. If you don’t subscribe to NYT Cooking, there are plenty of adaptations to this recipe available online, such as this one on Jenny Blogs.
• Notes: Gnocchi aren’t always a hit with my kids (some like them, some don’t) so I’ll usually make them the dinner of their dreams – noodles with butter! – as an easy second option.

Salmon pasta with cream sauce + quick salad

• Recipe:
  • I follow this recipe from Salt and Lavender, with some modifications. For one, she suggests panfrying the salmon, but I find it much easier to cook it in the air fryer. I’ll then set aside a portion of plain salmon for kids, and put the rest into the cream sauce. The wine, cream, and cheese measurements are VERY forgiving, so measure with your heart 🙂
  • The salmon pasta is heavy and needs a light side to go with it. I find the best side is a quick and easy salad (lettuce, some avo, and some oil and vinegar do the trick)
• Notes: If you’re mixing all of the salmon into the cream sauce, you could easily cook the salmon earlier in the day (or even the day before) and warm it back up in the cream sauce. The sauce will also give it a lot more moisture if the salmon was overcooked or dry.

Hoisin burgers + roasted potatoes

• Recipe: This one is from an old Blue Apron recipe that my family held onto. I’ve adapted it a bit, as follows.
  • Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces and roast at 425º for 20-25 minutes, until brown.
  • Combine ground beef with 2 Tbsp hoisin sauce and some chopped garlic. The original recipe also calls for some rehydrated dried mushrooms, but I have a hard time finding these in stores and have found that I don’t miss them much. Form the beef into patties and cook on a griddle pan or grill.
  • Thinly slice the green parts of 1 head of baby bok choy, and toss with oil and salt and pepper.
  • Mix equal parts of whole greek yogurt or mayo with miso paste.
  • Top cooked burgers with bok choy and miso sauce.
• Notes: We keep the burgers plain for kids and add some apple slices or whatever other favorite fruit we have as their “veggie” for this meal.

Ravioli and rosatella sauce + chicken breast + roasted broccoli

• Recipe:
  • Cook ravioli according to the instructions. Top with Rosatella Sauce (a family favorite from Trader Joe’s!) or your favorite jarred pasta sauce.
  • Air-fry your chicken breast (I like to season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika).
  • Toss broccoli with olive oil and salt, and then roast for 15 minutes at 425º.
• Notes: Don’t like broccoli? Sub it for something that your family likes. This is a weekend meal and is meant to be an easy win, so don’t force it if your family isn’t interested!

Why These Meals?

I always look for recipes that are simple enough that I can make them quickly while distracted. I love it when there are elements that I can prep ahead of time to simplify dinner prep. And I need recipes that are flexible so I’m not making a different dinner for every person. These recipes all meet the mark, and feel seasonably appropriate for winter when we just want warm, comforting food.

Beyond that, I like the variety of having different proteins throughout the week. If you want to have chicken every night, you could probably adjust most of these to make that work, but I like to mix it up and expose everyone to lots of different proteins.