I’m always curious to see how other couples meal plan/eat for the week, so I thought I’d try something new + share what was on the menu for us last week!

When planning our dinners for the week, we like to mix cookbook meals, recipes we find online + our favorite dishes that we’ve perfected + know we love. I try to include a variety of protein throughout the week + I also let the current season influence my meal planning. Right now, it’s spring in New England + I’m loving it! Here’s what we ate last week, including how we modified each recipe to taste + to serve two!

This week we weirdly started on a Saturday.

This meal was SO flavorful. We tend to love anything with Asian flavors such as soy sauce + ginger + this soup deliveredddd. The original recipe made 4 servings, so we made it on Saturday night + had the leftovers Sunday! See modifications below. My rating: 8/10

Sunday — Leftovers of Chinese Shrimp + Pork Dumpling Meatball Soup

Modifications: This recipe made 20 meatballs as it said it would, which we felt was perfect — 5 per bowl. We subbed ground turkey for the ground pork which worked out great. However, the broth only filled the bowl halfway + I love broth, so next time I’ll be doubling it. We aren’t mushroom people, so we omitted those. In place, I should have added about 1.5-2x the amount of Napa cabbage/baby boy choy. They’re purchased in such large quantities, so we had it anyways! Both shrunk once boiled, so I felt like there could have been more.

New England has been warming up + I couldn’t not make something summery! We toasted some sweet Hawaiian buns, used store-bought coleslaw as the sandwich topping + boiled up some ears of corn to butter, salt + pepper as our side. Such an easy meal!

Modifications: We cut the amount of chicken breast in half, but made the original amount of barbecue sauce. This was enough to cover the chicken in the crockpot + still have extra to add to the sandwiches. Never pour all of your sauce in the crockpot — save some extra in the fridge to add to your crockpot meats after shredding because it adds back some major flavor + moisture. I had one sandwich + Ryan had two + we still had about two sandwiches worth of chicken leftover. 3/4 lbs. of chicken would have worked out better. My rating: 6/10

We’re huge sushi fans, but we’ve never made our own rolls or bowls! I stumbled across this recipe + knew we had to try it. The serving size was already two + we had most of the ingredients. This was super delicious + easy. My rating: 8/10.

Modifications: Ryan’s not a salmon person, so I bought 12 oz. of tuna steaks to substitute!

During quarantine, my sister’s friend’s boyfriend [a chef] started a weekly Zoom cooking class. It was the best thing ever! One of the first meals we made was the most amazing kale salad topped w/ salmon. I modified this meal to be quicker, easier + meatless. I try to do at least one meatless dinner a week. This salad is SO GOOD + SO HEALTHY. You might get addicted. This recipe is for 1 serving:

• Chop up your kale super small [cut it the long way + then the short way like you’re dicing it into 1/2″ pieces]. It doesn’t have to be perfect — this makes the kale easier to eat + I swear it tastes better this way. Add it to a dinner plate.
• Dice 1/8 or 1/4 of a red onion. I love onion so I do 1/4.
• Slice 1/2 an avocado. Top it with salt + pepper.
• Add a handful of Craisins [the “50% less sugar” ones]!
• Add a handful of sliced almonds.
• Cook up your veggie burger of choice. I love these Dr. Praegar’s or Gardein’s Chipotle Black Bean Burgers. I use the toaster oven + slice it into strips once warm.
• Arrange all ingredients on your bed of kale.
• Slice 1/4 of a lemon. Squeeze it over your salad as your dressing.

That’s it!! I switch this salad up w/ different proteins [like chicken or salmon] + different toppings [like black beans or shredded cheese]. My rating: 9/10

This is our FAVORITE meal EVER [that we’ve been cooking for 5+ years]! It was one of the first meals we ever made together + to this day, it’s our favorite dinner. This makes lotsss of yummy leftovers that are just as good!! I promise. See modifications below. My rating: 10/10


Saturday — Leftovers of Spicy Thai Noodles

Modifications: She gives you the option to add 1 or 2 tbsp. of crushed red pepper to the sauce. We always do two, but we love spicy!! We cut up 1 lb. of chicken breast into bite-size pieces + cook it in a little bit of olive oil to add to this recipe. We substitute olive oil for the vegetable oil. Also, we omit the shredded carrots. I don’t know. I have a thing against shredded carrots.

This was SO FREAKIN GOOD. This is a great meal to make if you need to get rid of some eggs! It uses 6 in total [4 egg whites + 2 eggs]. We didn’t change anything about this recipe, except we ran out of cilantro, so I added cubed avocados to the pico which we both loved. My rating: 8/10.

I hope this was semi-interesting or at least gave you some dinner ideas! Let me know if you make any of these + how you like them!! Tag me on insta: @aurainteriors_