Munch Menu V.21
On the vacation gelato diet and getting back on track
If you’re new here, welcome! To get started, check out my first munch menu, which includes my dietary philosophy and an overview on how to use these weekly meal plans. Also, make sure to stock up on my (mostly) non-toxic munchkin kitchen essentials which help make meal prep much easier.
We are clawing our way out of an ice cream free fall.
As my daughter doubled down on rigidity with the few things she could control in our new living environment in Spain, and we desperately wanted to avoid power struggles (it being vacation and all), the two-gelato-a-day diet became our norm.
In the midst of things going off the rails, I read this article on Melissa Wenner Moyer’s fantastic Substack about the pull of forbidden foods. It’s a fascinating argument against restriction, and part of an ongoing conversation I’ve been having with moms about what to keep in the house. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I think hearing varying perspectives always leads back to: there isn’t a right one.
My philosophy has always been to set yourself up for success at home so you can find more flexibility out in the world. This means we don’t usually stock ice cream or other packaged snacks that I view as “sometimes” foods. However, when we are out of the house, all bets are off.
According to the research in Moyer’s article, therein lies the problem. It’s the sometimes foods that hold the most allure, that drive the most desire. And from my recent experience, I can say that setting yourself up for success at home is moot if there is a very good gelato shop ten feet from your apartment.
I’m not sure how I will change our habits back home, but I do know that now that we are stateside and mercifully a 10 minute drive from the nearest ice cream facility, that we will have the opportunity to refind our footing at meals.
This month’s menu contains a lot of crowd-pleasers: hot dogs, pizza, corn on the cob, proteins slathered in BBQ sauce, and salads made up of 50 percent bread.
I’m hoping that these meals bridge the gap between the bread-and-gelato diet we’ve been living and where I’m hoping we are headed—ideally, back to a place where pasta with tomato sauce won’t be rejected because the sauce it a little too orange, and where vegetables won’t be a constant battle.
I’d love to know what your framework is for what foods you keep in the house, and any advice on how to bounce back after a vacation free for all!
Happy munching!
Phoebe
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
The Store Bought Pantry Meal Planner
I find September to be one of the most frenetic months of the year. Everything that has been swept under the rug in the name of extra beach days and sanity, comes back to haunt you. The social calendar is packed after months of kicking the can down the road with friends who had opposite summer travel schedules. And then there’s the school of it all.
THE GAME PLAN
Store-Bought Spotlight
(elements you can buy)
Tahini: This is an unsung hero of the munch menu condiment arsenal. Not only is it the base for my sweet and salty everything sauce, it’s also a lightning fast creamy dressing and topping for this week’s fish packet. This brand is my favorite.
Stubb’s Original BBQ Sauce (also available sugar-free): It’s hard to find the right balance between a condiment that will encourage your kid to try a new food, and a sauce that is not loaded with sugar. This BBQ sauce strikes the right balance and usually entices my munch to eat just one bite of veg.
Frozen Chickpea Pizzas: Banza is the gold standard for all things chickpea-based carbs if you aren’t going to be making your own! It’s not my favorite GF crust but it gets the job done.
P.S. Have you been enjoying Munch Menus as a free subscriber? It takes me many many hours to put together these game plans every week. If you love them, it’s a very reasonable $1.50 per week if you do the annual option. A small price to pay for someone to do all the planning for you!
Meal Prep
(elements you can make in advance)
Quinoa: Any grain is always a good option for meal prep and can be used many ways throughout the week, including as a carby side to my no clean up fish packets.
BBQ Tofu + Sweet Potato Sheet Pan: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Slice a pound of tofu into planks, arrange in an even layer and brush with BBQ sauce. Arrange 2 pounds of sweet potatoes cut into thick wedges around the tofu and drizzle with oil and salt. Roast for 30 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender. Brush the tofu with more sauce if needed.
Cornmeal Eggplant Fries: Cut one small eggplant into matchsticks and toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup of cornmeal and toss to coat. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until the fries are golden brown on the bottom. Flip and return for 5 minutes until crispy. You can reheat using the same method until crispy again.
Green Beans: Steamed or blanched green beans can be ready in under 10 minutes, but they also keep well when made ahead! Toss with salt and butter, maybe a delicate herb, and you’re good to go. You can also top with a vinaigrette!
Quickies
(non-recipe recipes you can cook the night or day of)
Chicken BLT Panzanella Salad: This month’s paid subscriber recipe is a complete meal on one sheet pan. If you don’t have 30 minutes to make this one, you can meal prep just the chicken and bacon, then reheat on the sheet pan with the cubed bread to shave off 15 minutes from your dinner prep.
Chickpea Crust Pizza: I included a store bought option, but if you have chickpea flour on hand, it takes only 10 minutes to make my munch approved from-scratch version!
Lemon-Tahini Fish Packets with Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes: One of my go-to formulas for quick weeknight meals. The whole thing comes together in one packet in 10 minutes. You can vary the veggies if your munch doesn’t do zucchini. More ideas here.
Corn Ribs: My corn ribs with garlic aioli are a play on Mexican street corn. If they are too much effort, the quickie cheat is a simple corn on the cob with butter! They take the same amount of time to blanch as the hot dogs will to crisp in a pan.
FAMILY MEAL IDEAS FOR WEEKENDS
If you’re someone who goes the family dinner route, don’t worry, I still got you! Every month I’ll add two ideas from my archives or the internet that have been kid-approved in my house. You can make them on the weekends or rotate them into a munch menu.
Chicken Paella Casserole: We’re skipping the seafood in this baked paella, which is made with juicy chicken thighs. Ready in 45 minutes, it’s my twist on a classic Spanish paella made in the oven (without a specialty pan!). I haven’t sold my child on seafood yet (not even in Spain) so we will remain in inauthentic territory with this recipe to reminisce about our travels.
Tex Mex Kale Salad: My pal Julia Turshen created this lovely spin on a tex mex salad using kale (another food my child has yet to get on board with). For kale skeptics, the tomatoes, beans and cheese are a meal in and of themselves. You can toss and serve that part separately, or make them pick out the green stuff themselves.
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We are the opposite for ice cream. We have it outside the home once in a long while, usually during those awkward waiting periods between end of school and beginning of speech therapy class. We do stock ice cream at home but only in the summer. We do this for cost purposes and also cuz we are mostly homebodies. But the kids know the limit for ice cream (not free for all) and that it's only stocked in the summer, not in any other seasons and that we only get new flavors when the old tubs are done