Monday Meal Planning: The Quick Six Fix

I haven't been regularly cooking for about 1-2 months now and so I'm really excited to get back into meal planning and cooking from a different cookbook each week. This week our dinners will come from The Quick Six Fix by Stuart O'Keeffe.The basic concept is that each recipe uses only 6 ingredients, takes 6 minutes of prep, and 6 minutes of cleanup.

Monday: Lemony Artichoke Spaghetti (p.75)
Tuesday: BLTA Steak Salad (p.41)
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Chicken Risotto w/ Asparagus (p.106)
Friday: Chowdered Scallops (p.92)
Saturday: Cider Pork Chops with Broccolini (p.131) and Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Sunday: Dinner out

Cooking Recap: The Quick Six Fix and Blue Apron

ALMOST completely stuck to the meal plan this week... with the exception of take out TWICE. Ugh. I worked late one day and Emma had to be somewhere, already fed, at 6 :15 one day so I took the easy way out.

SUNDAY

• BREAKFAST: Open-Faced Tortilla Breakfast (p.9) 
• DINNER: Bow Tie Pasta with Mushy Peas, Pork Sausage, and Ricotta (p.79) - not a fan of this one. Felt like breakfast sausage didn't give the dish the right flavor... Next time I would use a sweet or spicy Italian Sausage. 

MONDAY

• Chowdered Scallops (p.92) - really good! I ended up adding more cream ;-) The only thing that I would have done differently was a better sear on the scallops.  

TUESDAY

• Seared Salmon and Lemon Aoli with Red Potatoes, Asparagus and Collard Green Hash (Blue Apron)

WEDNESDAY: PIZZA

THURSDAY

• Seared Pork Chops with Two-Cheese Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach (Blue Apron)

FRIDAY: Five Guys 

SATURDAY (Had friends over for dinner)

• Asian Burger (p.153) 
• Crispy Fingerling Fries (p.166) - Used regular potatoes that we already had on hand to save some money 
• Easy Blender Aoli (p.167) - Easy and I will add some herbs next time 
• Mexican Street Corn (p.188) -- SOOOO AMAZING That I'm going to make this again next weekend! 
• BBQ Baked Beans (p.194) - Really good and easy 
• Raspberry Custard Pots (p.203) - Yummy but needed to cook for a bit longer 

I will cook the Almond Fig Roasted Chicken (p.118)  for dinner tonight since I didn't get to it during the week and I have all of the ingredients. 

I was also really good about my snack prep for work this week! Fruit for the morning, PB and Banana Toast for the afternoon, and veggies to eat in the car on the way home! #WINNING

The Quick Six Fix Cookbook has quickly become a favorite! 

And on Blue Apron... I'm not blown away the same way that I was with Plated. I'm going to cancel the subscription. 

Monday Meal Planning: The Quick Six Fix and Blue Apron

I'm actually hone ALL week and in terms of cooking this week I'm going to switch it up a bit...

After hearing so many positive things I'm going to give Blue Apron a try this week. We have two meals coming today... I'm interested to see the quality and ease of the meals but initially I have to say I'm not yet impressed. We have been a Plated family in the past and one of the things that I like most is the variety of meals that you can pick from and so far with Blue Apron I dislike that you can only pick between four dishes.

Outside of the two days that I will be using Blue Apron I'm going to be cooking from The Quick Six Fix again.

Here is the plan for the week:

SUNDAY

• BREAKFAST: Open-Faced Tortilla Breakfast (p.9) 
• DINNER: Tagliatelle with Mushy Peas, Pork Sausage, and Ricotta (p.79) 

MONDAY

• Chowdered Scallops (p.92) 

TUESDAY

• BREAKFAST: Lemon-Chili Avocado Toast (p.10) 
• DINNER: Seared Salmon and Lemon Aoli with Red Potatoes, Asparagus and Collard Green Hash (Blue Apron)

WEDNESDAY

• DINNER: Seared Pork Chops with Two-Cheese Mashed Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach (Blue Apron)

THURSDAY

• Almond Fig Roasted Chicken (p.118)  
• Sweet Potato & Broccoli  

FRIDAY

• Asian Burger (p.153) 
• Crispy Fingerling Fries (p.166) 

SATURDAY

• BREAKFAST: Goat Cheese Scramble (p.18) 
• DINNER -- We are having friends over for a cook out 
• Sticky Ribs (p.138) 
• Mexican Street Corn (p.188) 
• BBQ Baked Beans (p.194) 
• Raspberry Custard Pots (p.203) 

Meal Planning: The Quick Six Fix (Part Two)

I'm extremely excited to be cooking from The Quick Six Fix again this week! To see what I made last week be sure to visit HERE

And for this week...

MONDAY

• Angel Hair, Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Lemon (p.70)

TUESDAY 

• BREAKFAST: Lemon Chili Avocado Toast (p.10)
• Pork Curry in a Hurry (p.128)
  

WEDNESDAY

• Bacon, Kale, and Tomato Soup (p.51) 

THURSDAY

•  Jumbo Shrimp Roll with Spicy Chili Butter (p.101)
• Crispy Fingerling Fries (p. 166) and Blender Aioli (p.168)
  

FRIDAY

• Pizza Night for my boys! Emma and I will be on the way to CA for her spring break!

EXTRAS

• S'Mores 2.0 (p.207) 

The Quick Six Fix Recap

This week I LOVED cooking from The Quick Six Fix cookbook by Stuart O'Keeffe.

MONDAY: Chicken Risotto (p.106) -- 

For this first dish I set that timer for 6 minutes and true to the claim I only had 6 minutes of prep work! The dish called for chicken but could also work with scallops or shrimp. I also felt that the  total cook time, between the cooking of the chicken and the risotto, was about 40 minutes... not the 30 minutes claimed BUT well worth it!

TUESDAY: Ten-Minute Coconut Shrimp Curry (p.93) -- 

SUPER easy recipe that I will make MANY more times! In fact I plan to always have the ingredients for this dish on-hand as it would make an easy meal to make when time is short on a busy weekday. I left out the mushrooms (we are not a mushroom family) and I would add snowpeas next time.

WEDNESDAY: Cider Pork with Broccolini (p.131) --

Ahhh the glaze on this dish is killer! Next time, I would even add a few figs and try it with fig jam as opposed to the raspberry jelly. Great just the way it is but I like to mix things up sometimes!

THURSDAY: Pizza Night!  

FRIDAY: Port-Marinated Skirt Steak with Roasted Grape Tomatoes (p.148), Velvety Smooth Mash (p.165, Chorizo Roasted Brussels Sprouts (p.185) 

We had friends over for dinner and everything was yummy. The only thing that I was slightly on the fence about was the addition of chorizo in the Brussels Sprouts. Just not my jam I'm more of a bacon girl!

SATURDAY: BREAKFAST: Speedy Gonzales Eggs (p.13)  

Another great dish! Just added some Avocado on top. Also, would NEVER, on my own, add crushed tortilla chips into scrambled eggs but, guess what people, it works! 

Didn't cook dinner tonight because well... I had a tub to hang out in with a few of my favorite peeps..

SUNDAY: Cider-Braised Chicken (p.114), Creamed Brussels Sprouts (p.186)

 

The Chicken dish was really great. I added some whole wheat pasta as a starch. For the pasta, after it was cooked and drained I put it back into the pan and added two spoonfuls of the reduced leek sauce, for a little favor.

For the Creamed Brussels Sprouts... the only word needed is PERFECTION. I added a 1/2 Cup MORE of the heavy cream, that is called for, and reduced it down for an extra 5 more minutes. I wanted the dish to be extra creamy. Emma was even a fan and she HATES brussels sprouts.

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So that was the week... and I've enjoyed the cookbook so much that I plan to cook a few more recipes from it again this upcoming week! Check back in tomorrow to see what the plan is!

Meal Planning: The Quick Six Fix

A high school friend recently tagged me in a post about The Quick Six Fix Cookbook by Stuart O'Keeffe.

As the cover boasts the cookbook includes "100 No-Fuss, Full-Flavor Recipes." The concept is that each recipe calls for SIX, or fewer, ingredients (outside of staples) with SIX minutes of prep and SIX minutes of clean-up.

Full disclosure, I was all set to cook from a different book this week and has planned out my menu... that was UNTIL The Quick Six Fix showed up at my house. The second I flipped through the pages I knew that I had to get cooking!!! Here is what is on the menu for this week:

MONDAY

• Chicken Risotto (p.106)

TUESDAY 

• Ten-Minute Coconut Shrimp Curry (p.93) 
  

WEDNESDAY

• Cider Pork with Broccolini (p.131)
• Crispy Fingerling Fries (p.166) with a Blender Aioli (p.168)
  

THURSDAY

• BREAKFAST: Blueberry Kick Smoothie (p.20) 
• Cider-Braised Chicken (p.114)
• Creamed Brussels Sprouts

FRIDAY

• BREAKFAST: Lemon Chili Avocado Toast (p.10) 
• Port-Marinated Skirt Steak with Roasted Grape Tomatoes (p.148)
• Velvety Smooth Mash (p.165)
• Chorizo Roasted Brussels Sprouts (p.185)
  
• 
  

SATURDAY 

• BREAKFAST: Speedy Gonzales Eggs (p.13)  
• Angel Hair, Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Lemon (p.70)

EXTRAS

• S'Mores 2.0 (p.207) 
• Black and White Croissant Bread Pudding (p.211) 

It was SOOOOO hard to do the menu planning because I literally wanted to cook EVERYTHING from this cookbook. If these recipes taste as good as they sound/look I will be cooking from this on a regular bases!