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YOU GUYS. I am so excited about this. Something y'all have been asking me for are recipes. I hesitated because I've tried recipes before and they didn't do so well on the blog, BUT I have been linking the recipes I make and my adaptations on my instastories page. That wasn't working either though, because some of y'all asked where certain recipes went. So, I bring you the Elle's Everyday Eats series.

What can you expect from this? I'm going to post my dinners from the previous week, my adaptations if any, and my thoughts (and Nick's!). It will go live every Sunday at 7 am, so you can grocery shop. I polled y'all when you figured out your meals for the following week and the vast majority of y'all said Sunday. Sorry Saturday-ers...I'm right there with you though; ) I'll also include wine pairings, and any desserts, should I make them. I'll pretty much be able to link everything for the most part too, since Nick and I are big Amazon Fresh people. If we are buying fish, we go to Whole Foods to buy it and if we are buying steak (to be eaten as a steak, not mixed in), bacon, or lamb, we typically go to our local butcher. To be honest, I'm not sure how long the series will run. I'd like to say a minimum of 6 weeks, but WHO KNOWS. If you like it, make sure you share it and tell your friends about it! To be honest, that's the attitude you should have toward any influencer and the content they create. If you like it and want to continue to see it, then tell people. That's how they keep their job. If I don't really see that y'all like the series, I probably won't continue it. So just be sure to let me know what you think and if there's anything you'd wish I'd add or include.

For the most part, I peruse pinterest all the time for dinner ideas, because yeah chicken and veggies is fine, but life is too short for things to taste boring. On the flip side, chicken and veggies doesn't have to be boring! I'm all about promoting meals with healthy substitutes and giving you ideas of how to make a comfort food a little better for you. If you want to follow what I pin to try, follow me on pinterest - I post everything to my "dinner plans" board. When I share recipes with you, I'll list out my changes, but I'll link recipes via the original pin, so the creator can get the credit for the recipe. As of right now I'm thinking I'll just do iphone pics, because my whole thing is to give you recipes that are easy, yummy, and on the healthy side and a camera makes me feel like it's more professional. You don't have to spend hours in the kitchen to cook a good meal! Buttt if y'all are feeling more real camera pics, holla at me.

And what is my "diet" like? Well I've never been on an actual diet. I don't think diets are great and while I love juice, I've never done a juice cleanse and I don't plan on it. I try to eat whole food plant based meals, but Nick and I are both foodies, so yeah we like fats and sugars. I just try to think about it like, yes I would love to eat pizza for every meal, but I'm not going to. So if I have options at lunch to have pizza, but I know the plan was for us to have pizza for dinner, I'm not going to have pizza at lunch. Make sense? I try to just strive for balance. Right now I eat everything - meat, dairy, fish, etc. Though I will try to bring you some vegetarian/other options or at least a way to make a meal vegetarian, GF, etc. If you're interested in my typical day, I posted a monthish ago about My Relationship with Food + What I Eat in a Day. Butttt pretty much, you can sum it up and say if you're craving a cookie, eat a cookie, just not 10 cookies.

You're probably like okay...but where are the recipes?! Here you go!! I hope you enjoy them:) Oh and Nick's rating is on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. And no...we don't have wine every night, though I am having some lovely white wine from Epoch, while I'm writing this;)

MONDAY:

elle's everyday eats, easy dinner ideas, healthyish meals that actually taste good, sunday suppers

Recipe: Paleo Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes

Adaptations: I pretty much made it exactly the same, but I didn't make it paleo for the sheer reason that I don't have ghee, arrowroot starch, coconut milk, etc. I also added a little bit of corn start to the potatoes to make them thicken faster.

Wine pairing: Merlot

My thoughts: This was really yummy! I wish there was more mashed potatoes, so I would probably do 3 potatoes instead of just 2 next time.

Nick's Rating: 7.5

Any leftovers? 1 serving

Can I make it vegetarian? Ummm just eat the mashed potatoes?

TUESDAY:

Recipe: Low Carb Meatball Casserole

Adaptations: I used both ground turkey and ground turkey sausage.

Wine pairing: Barolo or Tempranillo

My thoughts: This was so flavorful and good. I think there is a lot of cheese, so don't let "low carb" make you think super healthy. I served with a side salad just to get some greens in there.

Nick's Rating: 9

Any leftovers? 2+ servings

Can I make it vegetarian? Sorry it was a meatball kinda week lol.

WEDNESDAY:

Recipe: Pepper Steak Stir Fry

Adaptations: I added about 1 cup of chopped pineapple. I let the peppers cook for about 2ish minutes, then added in the pina!

Wine pairing: Pinot Noir

My thoughts: I don't think I would have liked it as much if it didn't have the pineapple - it made it interesting! To make it go further, top a bed of rice with the steak goodness.

Nick's Rating: 8

Any leftovers? 2+ servings

Can I make it vegetarian? I think it'd be easy to just add in more veggies like snap peas and water chestnuts. Could even do some cauliflower rice!

THURSDAY:

Recipe

steak from our local butcher, Rudolph's
brussels sprouts ( I usually preheat the oven to 375, cut the ends of the brussels off, then cut them in half. I lay them on a cookie sheet, cover in olive oil, salt, pepper, cracked red pepper, and lemon juice. I usually bake them around 30 minutes and broil for 1 minute)
sweet potato wedges (I preheat the oven to 425, slice small wedges, then lay on a cookie sheet. Douse in olive oil, then sprinkle pepper, salt, paprkia, cracked red pepper, and garlic powder. I bake for about 25 minutes.)

Adaptations: N/A

Wine pairing: Napa Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux

My thoughts: This is easy and delicious. The veggies take a little time to make, but pretty much nothing to mix or clean up.

Nick's Rating: 9

Any leftovers? Yep! Just depends on how much steak you get and how much veggies you cook. We usually buy enough meat to get 2 more servings.

Can I make it vegetarian? Just remove the meat I guess?

FRIDAY:

Recipe: Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash

Adaptations: I couldn't find spaghetti squash on Amazon Fresh, so I opted for pre-cut summer squash noodles. It's less work on my end too! I also used low fat cream cheese, instead of full fat.

Wine pairing: Chardonnay or Albariño

My thoughts: I'm def a red sauce kinda girl, but Nick's favorite is white sauce. I liked that I got to make the sauce myself and monitor what went in it, because white sauce tends to be too rich for me. I really liked it and especially liked that the squash makes it a little better for you! Don't get me wrong, I love a good pasta, but this is a good alternative when you don't have time to make it yourself.

Nick's Rating: 8.5

Any leftovers? 2+ servings

Can I make it vegetarian? Yes!! Just don't add the chicken :)

DESSERT:

Recipe: Homemade Whipped Cream

1 cup of heavy cream
a splash of vanilla
1 TBS of Truvia (or 2 TBS regular sugar- I use Truvia because I can't taste the difference in most cases and it is half of the calories)

Adaptations: I have this memorized. Make it fun by adding in some spiced rum, lemon curd, or any other flavor you like. During summer I like to grab all the summer fruits and mix them in - strawberries, peaches, cherries, blueberries...I can't get enough! Here I paired it with peaches.

Wine pairing: Aperitif or White Port

My thoughts: Like I said above, I can't get enough of it! It's satisfies your sweet tooth without being too crazy and is freaking good.

Nick's Rating: 9

Any leftovers? Sometimes I make a whole cup and divide it into 4 servings and sometimes I just half it with Nick and call it a day. The picture here shows 1/2 a cup.

Can I make it vegetarian? Yupppp. It's meat free. (lol)

SO. I hope you liked this first installment of Elle's Everyday Eats: Week 1!! Let me know what you like, if you try anything, and if you have any favorite recipes!! If you make anything and share it on Instagram or Facebook, use the hashtag #EllesEverydayEats . Oh and here's a little pin for ya if you want to save to Pinterest!