Weekly Eats: Mon Mar 26 to Sun Apr 1

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  Windy City Part 2/Easter edition.
Oh my goodness, we have a lot of ground to cover this week...picking it right up from where we left off on Spring Break in Chicago...

Monday
Breakfast: fancy restaurant near the hotel.  I had eggs florentine, the hubs and stepson #2 had pancakes, and stepson #1 showed off his growth spurt by having pancakes AND french toast.  We went back to the hotel and had what would end up being the only leisure time of our vacation.  I worked out, my menfolk hit up the pool.

Lunch: We went to sister-in-law #2's house for sandwiches.  Then we took our monkeys to the zoo.

Dinner: Back to SIL #2's for dinner.  Flank steak, potatoes, and salads.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Dunkin Donuts.

Hate to throw shade, but the turkey sausage sandwich...not good.  The kids had donuts and were in heaven.

Lunch
We spent the day at the Field Museum.  It was three in the afternoon by the time we had any spare time to eat.  The kids had nuggets, hubs had a chicken sandwich, and I had a veggie burger.

Dinner
Back to SIL #2's for our final night.  Fried chicken, brownies, and good times.

Wednesday
Time to go home.  One last breakfast at Dunkin Donuts.

The kids chowed on donuts, I had a croissant sandwich that was much better than the turkey sausage sandwich but still not awesome.

Lunch
Popeyes on the turnpike.  More meh.

Dinner
All of a sudden we're home and it's date night.  Hubs whipped up grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Thursday
Back to real life!  Breakfast was fruit, a cheese stick, and a cereal bar.  Veggie Burrito for lunch.  Single girl night for dinner since hubs had a work event.

I got inspired and dragged up a salmon filet from the freezer and combined it with frozen broccoli and the last of the glass noodles and mixed up some korean stir fry sauce.

Friday
Breakfast: fruit, string cheese, and cereal bar.

Lunch: the very last serving of spinach-artichoke-mushroom stuffed shells

Dinner: chill time with hubs.  Frozen pizza and margaritas.

Saturday
Breakfast: cereal bar pre run, kefir afterwards.

Lunch: no holds barred meal prep:

• Spinach artichoke pasta (one serving for lunch, five more for the freezer).

• Breakfast Burritos

• Thai Sweet Potato Noodle Bowls  

Dinner (aka the last food prep session of the day): Baked ziti

Sunday
Easter Brunch at our house with SILs#3 & 4, their families, and a handful of cousins.  The spread:

• Mini Quiches from yours truly.  I made a double batch, half with sausage, green pepper, and onion (specific quantities: six small links of sausage, one green pepper, and about half an onion) and the other half with bacon (specific quantity: a pound of bacon).  It's a funny thing, I've found that if I make real quiche for a party, only a few slices get eaten.  If I make single serving sizes, they all get eaten.

• Ham from hubs
• French Toast Casserole from SIL#3
• Cheesy potatoes from SIL#4
• Fresh fruit and fruit dip from a cousin

Other

Workouts: the usual treadmill runs and weight lifting, though I juggled the days around to accommodate vacation.  I've been thinking for a while about adding a running day on Sunday and today was the day that I put it in action.  I was reading an old post on Hungry Runner Girl and she said something about hill workouts being "the worst kept secret in running on how to get stronger and faster" and I knew I had found my Sunday mission.  I did this one, though I chickened out at minutes 6-10 and just did repeats of  2% and 4% inclines, but I followed the rest of it and then walked a few minutes to get to a full 2 miles.  My legs are feeling it so I think I'm on the right track.

The view from the hotel treadmill:

The view from my home treadmill:

Watching (from the treadmill): A Place to Call Home.  Almost done with season 3.

Watching (from the couch): Brooklyn 99 and Ash vs Evil Dead, Naked Gun and Naked Gun 2½.

Reading: Still happily chugging along on The Good House.

Your Turn

• Tell me about your Easter
• What are you cooking this week?
• What are you reading and watching?