Peanut Butter Fingers

Hot dang, I did not thing I would be disappearing from the blog for more than a week! The past nearly 10 days have been dominated by one major thing in our area: SNOW! We had two back-to-back snowy weekends and this past weekend in particular was wild. We had a full foot of snow in Charlotte — the most in 20+ years — and it was equal parts beautiful, fun and crazy! So much ice and snow has also meant lots of snow days home from school for the boys (they’ll be home from school a decent amount of days this week as well, I’d imagine) which means work is a little wonky and blogging is a little sparse but I’m here and I miss ya!

I set an alarm this morning to sneak in a quick blog post before the boys are awake by 6:30 a.m. (the time their internal alarm clocks go off no matter what) and am thrilled to be back this morning with the return of a series I began on the blog years ago: My week of weeknight meals monthly roundup! I started this series as a way to give you guys a glimpse into what we’re eating in our house one week of every month. I used to share three meals a day on this blog so it’s also a little nod to the early blogging days of more than a decade ago.

As always, dinner pics were snapped in real time and no fancy food photography is allowed. Meals last week included a couple pasta dishes, breakfast for dinner one night, a comforting bowl of soup and an easy pork dish. Hopefully something below will pop out at you if you’re looking for a new recipe to try this week!

Week of Weeknight Meals: January 2025

• Monday: Cottage Cheese Baked Pasta

My love for this recipe knows no bounds. We make this cottage cheese baked pasta multiple times a month because every single person in our family eats it well and it’s so, so comforting. It also reheats well for leftovers which I appreciate as someone who eats lunch at home pretty much every single day. It was a great snow day dinner! (This is the high-protein pasta I use — it truly tastes like traditional pasta! I like it a lot more than chickpea pasta.)

On the kids’ plates: Cottage cheese baked pasta, carrot slices and apple slices

• Tuesday: Bagel Breakfast Sandwiches (Breakfast for Dinner)

On Monday morning, I took a little extra time making breakfast for our family and followed a recipe for high protein bagel breakfast sandwiches from the Skinnytaste High Protein Cookbook. I doubled the protein egg bagels in the recipe on Monday so we had extras on hand to toast up and enjoy which made Tuesday night’s breakfast for dinner come together quickly. (This pic was actually snapped during Monday’s breakfast but I made the exact same thing for Tuesday’s dinner.) We also had fruit salad on the side but I forgot to snap a picture of that!

Aaand for dessert, since it was a snow day and we like to spiral into a pit of treats on snow days, I also made a batch of biscuit donut holes for our crew for a special dessert!

On the kids’ plates: Deconstructed breakfast sandwiches aka Dave’s Killer Bread blueberry bagels toasted with butter and served with scrambled eggs, sausage and fruit salad and donut holes for dessert

• Wednesday: High Protein Broccoli Cheddar Soup

The ultimate cold weather comfort food! This high protein broccoli cheddar soup came together relatively quickly and it always makes a ton. It was great for dinner and then I really loved having it on hand for lunch leftovers, too. It’s one of those recipes that tastes indulgent but is actually packed with good-for-you ingredients, including lots of broccoli, cauliflower, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt (but you’d never know there’s cottage cheese in there)! Can ya tell I’m a big fan of this one!?

On the kids’ plates: Grilled cheese, raw broccoli florets with ranch for dipping and sliced strawberries

• Thursday: Pork Tenderloin with Greek Beans and Stuffing

This meal was a simple one but also a little random. I marinated and roasted a pork tenderloin and served it with green beans and stuffing. The stuffing was a pre-made mix from Whole Foods that was actually quite good and suuuper easy. I typically think of stuffing as a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner side only but I love it so much that I’m thinking that must change because it felt like a treat to have it on a random Thursday.

On the kids’ plates: Applegate organic chicken nuggets with ketchup, green beans and raspberries

• Friday: Philly Cheesesteak Pasta 

This is another dinner winner from the Skinnytaste High Protein Cookbook! Clearly we love this recipe in our house because it was my third time making it. The flavors are unique for a pasta dish and really do remind me so much of a gooey, cheesy Philly cheesesteak. If you have this cookbook and try this recipe, I’ve also had good luck stirring in a cup of cottage cheese at the end for extra creamy cheesiness. It combines perfectly and you’d never know it’s in there!

On the kids’ plates: ALDI’s organic white cheddar macaroni and cheese, blueberries and bell pepper slices

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Have you made any especially delicious dinners lately? Feel free to drop recipe links below!