Midweek Meal Inspo; Chili, Garlic Butter Chicken, Pad Thai and more.

This weeks meals are a little all over the place! Some are from before Kai started his fitness journey, with his personal trainer and an app that needs to measure his food and some are after. At the moment, we are sort of cooking him separate meals, to best support what he wants in life. It’s been a challenge adapting, but a challenge worth taking on for him. The rest of us are still looking to eat our favorites and try new foods as well!

Gnocchi with Sausages

The children have discovered their love of gnocchi, so we have been experimenting to figure out if they like it cooked different ways. We fried up some sausage in a pan, along with the gnocchi. There are two types; a sort of boiling type that ends up soft and a pan fried type that ends up crispy. These crispy ones got very crunchy on the outside! After they were crispy, we added in some Italian seasoning, cherry tomatoes and some fresh basil. Amelia and Robin decided they like it better soft, where as Kai likes them crunchy!

Chili with Tortilla Chips

Speaking of Kai, he has started a health journey this year, along with a personal trainer and gym membership. As such, he has been looking at more meals that are low in calories and high in protein. This chili is something we’ve made for years and is super easy. I pull out our crock pot and put in four cans of beans. For this one, I used kidney beans as I wanted to make sure it was easy for Kai to log in his app, but you can use a mix of beans if you’d like! I then added in two cans of tomatoes, filled those cans up with water to add in, and a packet of chili seasoning. I set it up at low and then let it go all day! If it comes out a bit too spicy, you can add a pinch of brown sugar, which is what I do for Amelia. For toppings, we had some cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips to eat with it.

Garlic Butter Chicken with Creamy Pasta

Kai has been very pro-active in finding foods he wants to try with his diet, primarily through TikTok. It’s been quiet a learning challenging for him to understand that not everything he sees on the app is going to be exactly the same in real life or allow the same portions for the same number of calories, for example. This Garlic Butter Chicken looked far better on the app then it ended up at ours, but it was an interesting experiment! The chicken itself was chunked up, with a bunch of spices added to it; garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper. It was then cooked up in low-calorie butter until browned and cooked through. We then added in hot honey to glaze and more garlic. The pasta was meant to be a sort of mac n cheese, but it really didn’t have much cheese! The sauce was skim milk and low fat cream cheese, cooked in the same pan as the chicken to get all of those spices, with more garlic, onion powder, paprika and nutmeg added. There also was a small amount of low-fat cheese. The sauce didn’t thicken, so you need to half-cook the pasta in it, so that it combines. Kai did like it in the end, though it does have a lot of seasoning to be tasty!

Pad Thai

Our second attempt at Pad Thai, this recipe didn’t have peanut butter and instead was one made with tamarind paste, which is sort of sour tasting. This dish was made by frying off chicken breast in a bit of olive oil, until cooked through. We then added in some grated, fresh garlic and soaked rice noodles. We then added in a sauce of chicken stock, soy, fish sauce, brown sugar and lime, with a squeeze of siracha. Once everything was cooked together, we added in eggs to scramble and a handful of roasted, unsalted peanuts. Some of us topped ours with chili and sesame seeds. Surprisingly, Robin really enjoyed this dish! Kai liked it too, and Amelia wasn’t much of a fan. It was interesting to try something new. We should have added beansprouts as well, but there wasn’t any in the shop.

Cursed Lasagna

Back by popular request, Cursed Lasagna was on the menu! This meal is a sort of creamy chicken and spinach lasagna. The sauce itself is made by cooking off an onion in some butter, until soft. Then, you want to add in grated garlic and flour, to thicken it. Once you have cooked off your flour, you can add in chicken broth and double cream, making a thickened creamy sauce. I then add in a few handfuls of spinach and black pepper. In a lasagna dish, I add in a spoonful of this sauce, the noodles, then a layer of chicken and cheese. Normally just bake off some breasts and shred them. This chicken is then mixed into a large bowl with ricotta, egg, parmesan and mozzerella, along with Italian seasoning. We do a layer of that on the pasta, a layer of pasta, and then the white sauce again until the lasagna is full. I bake it covered for half an hour, then uncovered for a further 10 minutes.

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