Welcome to mama eats, a twice-weekly newsletter inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. This week’s post, a week of meals, is free to all readers. I try to provide as much free content as possible, however, this newsletter is a labor of love and I am a busy mama to three. If you have the means, and find value in what I share, please consider becoming a paid subscriber, which also gives you access to the growing archive of posts older than a month.
Hello all, and happy weekend. Here is a snapshot of things as they are right now: We’re slated to have a rainy day here, after quite a nice few days of warmth. The roses are just, just, beginning to unfurl, with a promise of hundreds to explode in the next week. Our apple tree is blossoming and the tulips are finishing up. The artichokes are finally ready to begin harvesting, such a treat. A cake is in the oven to take with us visiting family later today. Joel and James are going to head out to the farmer’s market to pick us up fresh produce while the older kids and I clean together at home.
I love to refresh the house on Saturday mornings and then have the whole weekend to enjoy- how about you? I know a lot of people like to do a clean on Sunday, or break it up into small tasks throughout the week. I’m always voyeuristically curious about other’s routines with home things.
In reading this week, I finished Indelicacy by Amina Cain. It is such a slim little novel, but it holds so much. It is about a woman who works cleaning a museum, who also has a deep passion to write- she then marries a rich man, and her life both changes and does not. In the deceptively simple story, there is multitudes: the richness of female friendship, the societal expectations of gender, creating a space of one’s own to pursue creativity and self expression and personal pleasure, especially as a woman. Both the time and the place in which the novel is set is unspecified, which adds to the intrigue and interest, leaving you as a reader slightly unmoored. Lovely and spare prose with lots to unpack- as soon as I finished I wanted to re-read it to see what I’d read into it the second time around. I’ve now moved on to My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, which I am enjoying so far. Last year I read The Days Of Abandonment, and loved it- so giving her well known series a try.
In food this week, we’ve got tacos, lots of herbs, enchiladas, a soup, black bean brownies, and sourdough spelt waffles. I hope you find some inspiration for cooking this week for you + your loved ones.
the meal plan
weekend prep: soak + cook black beans; roast tofu (roast a few sweet potatoes at the same time for lunches).
Sunday: tacos spread thickly with refried black beans, achiote roasted cauliflower/pineapple, topped with pickled onions and avocado / cilantro rice on the side
Monday: sushi bowls with maple/soy tofu, edamame, pickled sushi ginger, shredded carrots, and green onions, furikake.
Tuesday: chard, black bean, and corn enchiladas (sauce recipe here) with leftover pickled onions + avocado and lime cashew crema (recipe, scroll to the bottom of this post), sauteed broccoli
Wednesday: lentil, potato, and chard soup + steamed artichokes with aioli (p 100 of my cookbook) to dip
Thursday: lentil salad with vinaigrette, herbs (green onion, mint, parsley), chopped radishes, feta, onion + roasted asparagus and roasted rosemary lemon potatoes (boil till almost tender, roast with oil/s+p till toasty, remove from oven and toss with minced fresh rosemary and zest of a lemon + a squeeze of its juice)
Friday: pizza night- one red sauce + mozz with red onions and dried oregano, one leek confit and feta with fresh herbs on top after the oven bake. Dough recipe here. Green salad with pieces of dill tossed through, avocado, spring onions, vinaigrette.
Saturday: quick black bean chili made from the leftover black beans (will fry off an onion and some garlic, add soyrizo, then add a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles and the leftover black beans) ; top with leftover accompaniments from the week- pickled onions, leftover cashew crema, corn chips, avocado
weekend bake: tarte aux fraises (will write down + share recipe soon)
midweek treat: black bean brownies
weekend breakfast: overnight spelt sourdough waffles with coconut yogurt and fresh strawberries to top
cocktail: chamomile strawberry gin daisy
Leaving you with a poem, as always. I hope you are able to feel the warm sun on your skin this week and bring some fresh flowers inside to your table. Till next time xx A