Weekly Meal Plan // May 2-7

May Madness!

It’s that time of year: AP exams, ACT studying, paper writing, project finishing, finals! We need a weekly meal plan more than ever. It’s a crazy stressful time of year, and I’m soaking up my children’s worries like a sponge. To tell the truth, I’m running on empty myself and feeling so much of their anxiety. We are not a high-pressure family, but they’re in a pressure cooker environment like so many of your kids. At times, the only thing in my control is to create a calm home life and a homemade dinner. Here’s to summer break!

SUNDAY

Smash burgers cooked on a hot griddle. A batch of steak fries tossed with olive oil and Tony Chachere’s is in the oven at 425 for 35 minutes. Pickles will have to cut it for our green vegetable because I’m busy monitoring the homework and studying and starting laundry for the week ahead. I follow Ina’s recipe for blue cheese burgers (minus the blue cheese and butter), but we cook them in an oiled and very hot cast iron pan and smash them while cooking. Sriracha mayo is a must!

MONDAY

Lentil soup to use up some of the extra veggies I have floating in my fridge. Use spinach, Swiss chard, kale or a combination of all three. Use chicken stock or water for the liquid, and feel free to substitute fresh tomatoes instead of canned (especially if, like me, you had 6 pounds of tomatoes mistakenly delivered from Instacart today!).

TUESDAY

Even though tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, we can’t miss a taco Tuesday. I have cauliflower to use up, so I’m trying this Smitten Kitchen simple cauliflower taco recipe. Beans on the side and a batch of my pickled red onions.

WEDNESDAY

This week, I have a two-day bread class for my Smart in the Kitchen School members. Today we’re cooking off focaccia dough that we made yesterday and making a batch of pizza dough. For dinner, we’re having focaccia caprese sandwiches with buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Need to use up those 6 pounds of tomatoes! Arugula salad with super simple salad dressing on the side.

THURSDAY

I’m making sheet pan fish tacos in a cooking class tonight, so we’re eating them up for dinner. I’m using grouper from Fish Fixe for my tacos — use code Smartinthekitchen for a discount on your first order!

FRIDAY

Homemade pizza with toppings set out to make-your-own. We cook ours on a pizza stone at high heat. Kale salad on the side. To make, cut out the center stem, slice very thin and toss with super simple salad dressing. Top with shaved Pecorino, toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds and