ethan's weekly eats

MONDAY:

This Monday's lunch was zucchini pasta and it was a huge hit. Ethan devoured most of the bowl. This recipe is mostly zucchini with a little bit of pasta thrown in and topped with shredded cheese. To make this one, I sliced a zucchini in half horizontally. I used a vegetable peeler to remove the skin from each half and then to slice thin spaghetti-like strips of zucchini. You can easily keep the zucchini whole without slicing it in half and make zucchini spaghetti, but Ethan hasn't ventured into the world of full-length spaghetti yet and so I did two halves. Once you have your thin spaghetti-like strips of zucchini, you can pop them into the microwave or a steamer for 3-4 minutes until they're ready to go. In the meantime, boil some pasta (I reheated a mixture of Dreamfields elbow pasta and DeBoles alphabet wheat durum pasta that I had already made previously) and when drained and ready to go, combine with the zucchini. I didn't measure out how much pasta I used as I just used whatever was left in the tupperware. I grated up some mild cheddar cheese and lunch was served!

TUESDAY:

We had breakfast late on Tuesday and snacked a lot in the morning so Ethan wasn't too terribly hungry when lunchtime rolled around. He's been obsessed with putting all of his food on sticks kabob-style lately (my fault entirely!) so we made some fun kabobs together with some things he recognized in the refrigerator: cucumber and watermelon (can we talk about how much that brings me back to 6th grade and my beloved body sprays in that fragrance I nearly bathed in everyday?!) and pear and plum.

WEDNESDAY:

These mini-pizzas are supposed to be shaped as a paw print and a dog, respectively, but they came out looking a little more awkward than anticipated. Ethan didn't notice and devoured them all the same. We are huge Rustic Crust fans in our house. They make some delicious organic and all-natural crusts (and gluten-free crusts that are still delicious!). I took one of their garlic and herb crusts and cut shapes into it with cookie cutters. After brushing the crust with a very light amount of organic olive oil, I topped it with Ethan's favorite tomato sauce and cheese. I only had two blocks of cheddar on hand, so I hand-grated Ethan's pizza with those. He didn't mind. I topped them with some chunks of organic Roma tomatoes and baked them for around ten minutes. I served them with a (what else?) kabob of cheese and grapes.

THURSDAY:

These summer squash bites were the biggest hit of the week, hands down. Ethan loved them. I steamed some slices of organic summer squash. While they were steaming, I mixed together 1/4 cup of organic ricotta cheese, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon basil and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder in a small mixing bowl. Once the squash slices are cooled completely, fill them with a spoonful or two of the ricotta mixture and make little "sandwiches." Ethan couldn't inhale these quickly enough.

FRIDAY:

This was another variation of mac 'n veggies and a little bit of cheese, too. I had made this before but with cauliflower, carrots and zucchini. This time, I made it again with butternut squash, sweet potato and zucchini. I like using zucchini because it thins out the sauce without having to add excess water and, well, Ethan likes zucchini a whole lot. This recipe is a little more time consuming than the others so I made it in parts: steamed and pureed the vegetables in the morning before Ethan woke up and the boiled the pasta and "assembled" everything at lunchtime. I steamed a half a sweet potato, half a butternut squash and a zucchini. Once everything was ready, I popped them into my trusty Baby Bullet and pureed them until smooth. I made Ethan some pasta and stirred in the vegetable puree until smooth. I hand-grated some cheddar cheese and mixed it in until everything was combined. Ethan isn't very excited by butternut squash but after a hesitant first bite, he really enjoyed the rest of his lunch.

SUNDAY:

Yes, if you're counting, Saturday is missing. That's because we went out for pizza after shoe shopping for Ethan's new pair of big boy running sneakers. This afternoon, he had a grilled cheese and apple sandwich with provolone cheese and made on fresh Challah bread that they were just finishing baking at the grocery store this morning. I sliced an organic honeycrisp apple into a few paper-thin slices and added them underneath the provolone cheese layer of Ethan's grilled cheese. Everything was melty and gooey and delicious. I served this alongside some fresh organic strawberries and an organic plum.