Foodie Friday - Farmers Market Edition

I don't tend to post a ton of food or recipes on this here blog because I don't really like cooking all that much when I'm pregnant, which accounts for 18 of the last 38 months. Kinda crazy when you think about it, huh? One thing I do love though is seeing what other people eat. And I'm probably not alone, because Food Network seems to be doing alright for itself. 

Lately I've been trying to get back into a groove of cooking dinner instead of relying on cereal, sandwiches, and takeout. We've been stocking up on tons of veggies at the farmers market, and it's that perfect in between season time when you can still get peaches, but all kinds of squash are turning up too. Rather than go to the market with a set list we just pick out whatever looks good and afterward I'll come up with a meal plan that incorporates everything. So far we've been doing pretty good about not throwing too much away. Here's what a typical week's worth of dinners looks like for us. Most of these can be made from start to finish in 30 minutes, which is mandatory if you're trying to get dinner on the table with small kids underfoot.

1. Fall Salad.

Since the weekends are basically a free for all when it comes to food I like to do a big salad on Mondays to start the week off on a healthy foot. We've eaten several variations of this salad in the past month, just using whatever we have on hand at the moment, but the basic formula is the same: greens, fruit, roasted veggies, & grains. The one in the picture has mixed greens, roasted sweet potato and chickpeas, quinoa, craisins, grapes, avocado, and citrus dressing.

2. Chilaquile Casserole & Salad.

Chilaquiles are one of our favorite brunch foods, so I used that as inspiration and improvised with what we had in the house. The filling is shredded and sauteed sweet potato, kale, 6 scrambled eggs, cheese, and a can of rinsed black beans. I layered enchilada sauce, corn tortillas, and filling for three layers, then topped it with more sauce and cheese and baked it for 30 minutes at 350. The salad was just mixed greens, apple, craisins, walnuts, and ginger balsamic dressing.

3. Thai Basil Eggplant, Farro, Sweet Green Beans, and Salad.

This was a ton of food and I couldn't finish it all. Also, this is a pretty spicy dish. To make it, I just chopped and sauteed the eggplant, then added store bought sweet & spicy basil sauce, but if you'd like to make your own here is a good recipe. For the green beans, I steamed them, then sauteed with a little bit of brown sugar and olive oil. The salad is the same as the night before.

4. Spaghetti Squash with tomatoes & veggie "meatballs" + roasted potatoes.

To save time I poke holes in the spaghetti squash then microwave till it's tender, about 8 minutes, rotating it halfway through. After I deseeded the squash I sauteed it with some olive oil, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper, and tomatoes. The veggie "meatballs" are actually from Ikea, and are pretty tasty. The potatoes are just roasted with rosemary, salt, and pepper. 

5. Vegan Chinese "Chicken" Salad.

This is a super simple and filling dinner. It's just shredded cabbage and carrots with mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, cilantro, avocado, and sauteed vegan chicken. For the dressing I just added some of the mandarin orange juice to the ginger balsamic dressing I'd been using all week.

Here are a few more family favorites that I fall back on time and time again:
- Coconut Curry
- Eggs for Dinner
- Cauliflower Rice
- Veggie Burgers

What are some of your go-to quick and easy dinners? I'm always looking for inspiration!