That grocery mental load, let’s lessen it.

I’m writing your grocery list for you darlin’, because its my love language.

The Menu

These recipes are designed for two adults and two toddlers (who eat a LOT).

Four Dinners:

Italian Pork Sausages with Bone Broth Pasta Star Risotto and Roasted Butternut Squash (great for kids lunch nxt day)
Mediterranean Burgers with Yogurt Sauce, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes & Cucumber Salad (great for kids lunch nxt day)
Spaghetti Pork (&hidden veg) Ragu (great for kids lunch nxt day)
NY Strip Steaks with Garlic Toast, Roasted Eggplant & Broccoli

Two Additional Proteins for Kids Lunch:

Apple Tuna salad with Pretzels to Scoop
Toddler Charcuterie Board

Kid’s Snack

Protein Blueberry Mini Muffins

Items you will need that I’m assuming you already have, and are not included on the grocery list: Olive oil, salt, salted butter (4+sticks), honey, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, coconut oil, maple syrup, whole wheat or all-purpose flour, baking powder & soda, apple cider vinegar.

Meat

6 Sweet Italian Sausages
6 beef burger patties (or about 1.5oz ground beef to form)
1lb ground pork
2-3 NY Strip steaks (depends how much y’all eat but we aim for 1.5lbs)
4oz prosciutto slices

Dairy

32oz plain greek yogurt
small package of feta
parmesan cheese
cheddar cheese slices

Produce

8 medium gold potatoes
1 large butternut squash
1 bag/box arugula (or your preferred lettuce)
2 avocados
2 large sweet onions
2 lemons
6+ sprigs fresh rosemary
1 large hothouse cucumber
fresh dill
1 med/large eggplant
1-2 crowns of broccoli
frozen blueberries

Pantry

17oz chicken bone broth
1/2-2/3lb pasta stars (or orzo works great too)
6 burger buns
sourdough bread
1lb spaghetti
28oz crushed or whole tomatoes (san marzano best)
2 cans of tuna
sweet relish (optional but great in the tuna salad)
pretzel chips

The Grocery List

Note: This list does not include your regular grocery needs outside of the listed menu (breakfast, fruits, etc).

Recipes

Spaghetti

Pork Ragu

Spaghetti Pork (&hidden veg) Ragu

28oz can of San marzano tomatoes
1 stick of salted butter
1 sweet onion, halved
2 cups diced butternut squash
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of honey
1.5 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar

Throw tomatoes, butter, onion in a med sauce pan and simmer for min 45 min - ideally two hours. Half way through, throw in the butternut squash.

Once your time is up, blend it all with a hand blender in the pot (or you can throw in a real blender then back in pot) add your salt, honey, and apple cider vinegar and mix well.

Make sure to cook your pasta in very salty water and always finish the last minute or two of cooking in your sauce. Serve drenched in fresh parm, of course, and enjoy!

Mediterranean

Burgers

Mediterranean Burgers with Yogurt Sauce, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes & Cucumber Salad

6 beef burger patties, seasoned liberally with onion powder and salt
6 Burger buns, lathered with mayo and toasted on the grill
2/3 cup plain greek yogurt
juice from a lemon
teaspoon of garlic powder
1 large sweet onion, sliced up
extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
2 teaspoons of sugar
1.5 tbspn salted butter
two rosemary sprigs, removed from sprigs
8 gold potatoes, washed and cubed into big cubes (usually cut one potato into four or six pieces)oil
1 cucumber
1-2 avocados (half for burgers, half for salad)
2/3 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup fresh dill, minced

Preheat your oven to 425. Dice up your potatoes and put in a single layer (no overlapping! makes a diff!) on parchment paper on a roasting pan. Toss in rosemary and enough extra virgin olive oil that there is a full layer of it at bottom of the pan and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 25 minutes, flip pieces over and continue roasting for 20 minutes. After that make sure to check on them and either take them out or continue roasting until desired color. When done remove from pan and let cool on a cooling rack and season with lots of good salt.

For the Onions: throw your butter, 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, onions, sugar and a big pinch of salt in a large pan and toss until coated. Cook on medium low heat and stir often until onions are dark brown and caramelized. should take about 20 min.

For the yogurt sauce: mix your yogurt, garlic powder, a huge pinch of salt and juice from half of a lemon together and keep in fridge until ready to serve.

For the Cucumber salad: cut up your cucumber and combine it with the crumbled feta, fresh dill, half your avocado and drizzle some fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and garlic powder on top.

Last step: Season your burger patties liberally with onion powder and salt right before they hit the grill (or a very very hot pan). For smash burgers, should take under 2 minutes on each side - thicker burgers can take up to 5 min on each side. Toast those buns in the last minute.

Pro Tip: Burger layers should go… bun, then avocado, burger patty, onions, yogurt sauce heavy on the top bun - then close. This order will keep your burger from getting soggy and falling apart. and don’t be shy on the onions or yogurt sauce!

Sausages &

Risotto

Sweet Italian Pork Sausages with Bone Broth Pasta Star Risotto and Roasted Butternut Squash

6 Sweet Italian Sausages, I use Pork
1 tbsn of salted butter
17 oz chicken bone broth
½ - 2/3 lb pasta stars (orzo works great here too)
Arugula
Half of a large butternut squash, large dices (like the size of dice)
extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 425. Dice up your squash and put in a single layer (no overlapping! makes a diff!) on parchment paper on a roasting pan. Toss in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 20 minutes, flip pieces over and continue roasting in 10 minute intervals until you see good color and they’re soft. All depends on size you cut but typically it takes 40 min total.

For the risotto style pasta side: Throw your stars, bone broth, sprinkle of salt and butter in a med sauce pan on high heat. Bring to a boil and lower to medium low heat, stir very often so pasta doesnt stick and burn onto pan and absorbs all the broth and butter until cooked and delicious.

Grill those sausies until they charred and delicious!

Kiddos get the items as is. For the adults I like to put a bed of arugula(dressed with a little olive oil, fresh lemon juice and salt) on the plate and put my squash and stars on top.

Steak

Night

NY Strip Steaks with Garlic Toast, Roasted Eggplant & Broccoli

Preheat your oven to 425. Dice up your eggplant(no skin) and broccoli and put in a single layer (no overlapping! makes a diff!) on parchment paper on a roasting pan (use two pans if necessary to not overlap veg). Toss liberally in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt, onion powder and paprika. Roast for 20 minutes, flip pieces over and continue roasting for around 15 minutes. Make sure to check them ofter after first flip and continue roasting until desired color.

For the Steak: Pat steaks completely dry with paper towels. The dryer, the better.

Preheat a dry (no oil at all) cast iron skillet on high heat for 5 minutes prior to cooking, figure out cook timing and have timer ready!

1” steak is around 3.5 min each side.
1.5” steak is around 4 min each side.
2” steak is around 4.5 min each side.

Right before steaks hit grill, season LIBERALLY with FRESH cracked pepper and KOSHER salt. Put way more salt than you think! Smash and peel one or two garlic cloves for each steak, have a rosemary spring ready, a have a huge tab of butter (like a tablespoon for each steak)

1. Once pan is preheated, take seasoned steaks and press down on pan, then DO NOT TOUCH until timer goes off.

2. Once timer goes off, flip over, lay garlic and rosemary on each steak, lift up side of pan and drop butter tab to melt on lower edge. Use spoon to scoop melted butter over the steaks… over and over again for atleast a minute until fully drenched.

3. Don’t touch until timer is off! Then sear each side for 45 seconds until you reach desired temp. For medium rare, take that steak off the heat no hotter than 120 degrees.

4. Let that steak rest for 10 whole minutes before you cut it!

For the garlic toast: Prep it while steaks cook, but don’t put into oven until steaks are done cooking and are resting. Preheat broiler. Take your sourdough, lather in room tempurature butter topped with tons of fresh parm and lastly salt and lots of garlic powder. Throw under broiler for 2 minutes and then keep an eye constantly until desired toast. Be careful it burns quick!

Kid’s Lunches

& Snack

Apple Tuna Salad with Pretzels to scoop

I always make enough for the adults to eat too. 2 cans of tuna, mayo to desired wetness, 1 whole med apple (grated), two tablespoons of sweet relish, a pinch of salt, a drizzle or fresh lemon juice, and a drizzle of onion powder.

Toddler Charcuterie Board

Guaranteed to come home with an empty lunchbox, don’t over think it! Sliced Proscuitto, salami rolls stuffed with avocado, cheddar slices, fruits & chips.

High protein, zero sugar blueberry mini muffins.

1 ¾ cups plus 1 teaspoon whole wheat flower (regular ok)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup honey
¼ cupc maple syrup
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease your mini muffin tin with coconut oil or cooking spray.
Combine 1 ¾ cups of the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix them together with a whisk.
In another bowl, combine the oil and honey or maple syrup and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt and vanilla. Mix well. (If the coconut oil solidifies in contact with cold ingredients, put the bowl over a boiling pot of water to gently warm.)
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining 1 teaspoon flour (this helps prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom). Gently fold the blueberries into the batter. The mixture will be thick, but don’t worry.
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Bake the muffins for 14ish minutes, until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. Store them covered at room temperature for 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months. Enjoy!