Cooking Through Cultures: Healthy Back To School Dinner Ideas & Meal Planning

My girls are back in school which means gone are the days of long, lazy weeknights, dinners out on vacation and ice cream on an (almost) daily basis, ha. Once school starts, I really try to hunker down on my weekly meal planning and also shift to more clean eating for me and my crew. Of course, we still indulge a bunch! But, my whole family functions better when we’re prepared and we scope out the week a bit more when homework and activities start to build up. We love to learn and share several back to school dinner ideas for the whole family.

Do you meal plan? 

I have a magnetic dry erase 1-week calendar on our fridge that I update every Sunday with our dinners written out so that the girls don’t constantly ask, “What’s for dinner?” (Ok, they still ask, sigh, but I can direct them to the schedule when it’s up-to-date). During school days, I try to consider the activities of each night and my time during the day to prep. In our house, I do most of the weeknight cooking while my husband Brad cooks most meals on the weekends, but we both help each other too.

Basically, on Saturday or Sunday morning, I plan out the meals for the week and create a grocery list. Sometimes I get the girls’ input and meal ideas and sometimes I just do it myself. As we’re putting away groceries, I update the calendar on the fridge. Often one of the girls will update it for me.

My favorite kind of weeknight dinner during the school year is one that is quick (20-minute prep or less plus cooking time), healthy and budget-friendly. If I know one or more of my girls won’t like/eat the main dish (read this article about how I parent my picky eaters), I have them take a “no thank you bite” and also put out a few small bowls of healthy options I know they’ll eat (i.e. fruit, baby carrots, hard boiled eggs, slices of smoked turkey sausage, cheese, cucumber slices, edamame, broccoli etc.) Usually some combination of these things are always in our fridge so I don’t feel like a short-order cook making several different meals and I also know they’re getting some healthy options.

Having said that, here is a recipe that is super healthy, easy to make and my whole crew enjoys it (one protein all of my girls love is shrimp – score!)! After the recipe, keep reading for other quick weekday meals that work for our family & may work for yours too. And then PLEASE share your favorite weeknight meals! 

One-Pan Shrimp Fajita Bowls

Original recipe from The Real Food Dieticians with a few alterations

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ lb. raw shrimp, deveined and tails removed (I often double this
• 1-2 bell peppers, any color, thinly sliced 
• 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• ½ tsp. chili powder
• ¼ tsp. smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp. Garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. ground cumin
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ⅛ tsp. black pepper
• 16 ounces riced cauliflower – I use a bag of Aldi’s frozen riced cauliflower, but you could make your own.
• Optional For Topping your bowls: Fresh cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, lime wedges, plain greek yogurt, salsa, dressing (I’ve used green goddess, but usually I simply dress with lime juice). You could also serve on top of spinach or lettuce, serve with chips or in tortillas and make yummy shrimp tacos.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. Mix seasonings (chili powder through black pepper) in a small bowl. Remove and set aside ½ tsp. of seasoning mix.
• Place peppers and onions onto one end of the baking sheet. Add 1 Tbsp. oil plus seasonings and toss well to coat. On the other end of the pan, add riced cauliflower. Toss with remaining 1 Tbsp. of oi
• Place baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through (stir them both, but not together). After 15 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Arrange shrimp in the center of the pan in a single layer to promote more even cooking of the shrimp. Sprinkle shrimp with reserved ½ tsp. of seasoning. Return the pan to the oven and bake an additional 10 minutes, stirring the shrimp if needed to ensure they’re all cooked through (i.e. pink and no longer opaque).
• Remove pan from the oven. Season riced cauliflower with salt and pepper to taste. To serve, divide cauliflower rice among 4 serving bowls. Top with pepper and onion mixture and shrimp. Sprinkle toppings to your heart’s desire.

Other weeknight meals that are on repeat in our house these days:

• Breakfast for Dinner – eggs and toast or pancakes (with some healthy grains thrown in)!
• Chicken Satay
• Dirty Cauliflower Rice
• Kale Soup
• Slow Cooker Flank Steak Fajitas
• Dinner Salads – We often make grilled chicken or smoked salmon salad for dinner and add nuts, fruit, cheese, etc. Sometimes, we’ll simply deconstruct this for my older daughter who doesn’t love salad and simply put out everything separately.
• Pick-a-pot – I stole this term from a dear friend but basically it’s a glorified charcuterie board or a sort of leftover night (or a combination of the two). Whatever I have in the fridge, pantry or garden is fair game and it’s never the same!

I’d love to hear your favorite healthy, weekday meals that your family enjoys! I’m always on the hunt for new recipes and ideas. Please share yours or link in the comments! Also, check out my Cooking Through Cultures Pinterest Page for new recipes and ideas added regularly!