bb and I went to a playdate on Friday with one of my friends from college and her two sweet little girls. Her oldest is a couple months older than bb and watching them play together was the cutest ever. It’s so funny how our fridays have evolved. We used to spend them at our old stomping grounds, the KK, Kollege Klub in Madison, WI, now we get together for playdates ;). She lives in the suburbs and has a big house with a basement filled with toys. It gave me serious house envy. Hanging with the kids was so easy. We had lunch while they played together so nicely. It was one of those moments when I really felt like an adult, lunching while our kids had a playdate. She made the most incredible quinoa salad and I have been thinking about it ever since. I made her send me the recipe and I will be making it asap. It’s the perfect salad to make at the beginning of the week. It holds over in the fridge really well. Here’s the recipe:

QUINOA SALAD

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

1 1/3 cup water

1 1/2 cup diced grilled chicken

1/2 cup craisins (can use dried cherries too)

1/2 cup celery

1/4 cup minced red onion

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

dressing

1/3 cup EVOO

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 clove garlic minced

fresh ground pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1- Cook quinoa, fluff with fork and allow to cool

2- Make dressing and place in fridge

3- Place cooled quinoa in a bowl with all other ingredients (except dressing and walnuts)

4- Add dressing and walnuts before you serve.

CAESAR WEDGE SALAD + GRILLED CHICKEN

picture and recipe inspo from thedomesticman.com

It’s 80 degrees again in Chicago, so we are going to grill out tonight and enjoy the patio weather while we have it. We are thinking grilled chicken + a caesar wedge salad + grilled bread. Yum yum yum. Here’s how we do it:

Grilled chicken marinade:

worchestershire sauce

EVOO

fresh garlic

salt + pepper

Wedge salad recipe

1 head romaine lettuce (I know this has absolutely no nutritional value but it sounds good so that’s what we are having). You can grill your romaine if you want, as shown in picture, but I prefer mine cold and crispy!

dressing: combine 1 tbsp mayo, 1 tsp anchovy paste, 1 clove minced garlic, salt + pepper, stir in 3 tbsp EVOO, 1/2 lemon juiced

We get a big loaf of fresh sourdough bread from Bavette’s. If you didn’t know, you can order a load of their bread to go and it is the BEST bread in the entire world. We cut into thick slices and put it directly on the grill. So good.

SEARED TUNA SALAD WITH SPICY AOILI

picture and recipe inspo from chewoutloud.com

I always crave sushi on Mondays for some reason, and our favorite sushi place is closed on Mondays. I need to make some sort of raw fish/asian inspired dish this week to satisfy my craving! Whenever I am craving something but cannot think of a recipe, I start on Pinterest. I searched “asian tuna recipe.” I picked a few things off of different recipes that looked good and here is where we will end up: a seared ahi tuna salad with a spicy aoili!

Tuna marinade: soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, sesame seeds and red pepper flakes

Heat a skillet until it is smoking hot, add 1 tbsp sesame oil and heat until it is almost smoking. Sear each side of the tuna for 90 seconds. Remove from pan and let it cool for 5 minutes, then slice with an extra sharp knife.

Serve over mixed greens with red onion, green onion, avocado and cilantro

Drizzle with spicy aoili if you want an extra kick! It’s just mayo, siracha, garlic salt and paprika!

MEAL PLAN

breakfast

smoothies:

frozen mango + pineapple, coconut water, flax seed, collagen peptides

frozen banana, almond milk, black coffee

frozen strawberries + blueberries, chia seeds, coconut water, collagen peptides

lunch

leftover quinoa salad

egg + avocado + red onion

tomato + red onion + avocado salad + balsamic dressing

dinner

caesar wedge + chicken

seared tuna salad

quinoa salad

GROCERY LIST

avocado

mixed greens

spinach

romaine lettuce

green onion

celery

red onion

garlic

lemon

cilantro

ahi tuna

chicken (for caesar and quinoa salad)

eggs

quinoa

craisins

sourdough bread

ALREADY HAVE

evoo

siracha

vinegar

sesame oil

soy sauce (I use aminos)

anchovy paste

mayo

garlic salt

paprika

s + p

red pepper flakes

worchestershire sauce

sugar

walnuts

frozen berries

coconut water

flaxseed

collagen peptides