Welcome to mamaeats, a twice-weekly newsletter (Tues. & Sat.) inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. I’m a mother of three, avid reader, gardener, and home cook who focuses on nourishing, plant based, whole food meals. Subscribe below for weekly meal plans, reading and garden talk, and simple living inspiration.
Good morning lovely readers! I hope you are having a nice start to your Saturday, coffee in hand, windows open to allow the cool air to come in, with cozy plans for the weekend or week ahead.
We had such a nice summer’s week last week. We were finally able to get in a day trip to the beach fter five weeks of checking the weather only to be met with cold and wind! A day in the high 70s warm enough to alternately swim in the water happily and lay on the blanket whiling away the hours reading, digging moats, exploring…a true delight. My children are so happy and content for hours at the beach that it’s like a mini vacation for me. Have you been this season?
The book I read at the beach and otherwise before bed this week is Elsa Morante’s Lies and Sorcery—I talked a bit about it last week—and now I’m about 400 pages in. I’ve had to set some, ahem, boundaries with this book because it’s so good. I only read it at night now or if I’m out somewhere passively, like the beach or splash pad. Because, if I read it at breakfast or anytime during the day, I will not be able to stop and will ignore everything else around me, haha. It’s so juicy yet so sophisticated. I just love an NYRB classic, and women in translation. I also very much appreciate the quality of the creamy, substantial and acid-free paper, binding, and print of The New York Review of Books. Have you noticed how horrific the quality of most paperbacks are lately? It’s so sad, and I really prefer a paperback reading experience, anyone else like this too? I find them a lot more comfortable.
We also spent time in community—helping out to close down our sweet little parent co-op nursery school and organize a yardsale with the excess (Any local people, we are having the yardsale at DPNS Danbury today, Saturday the 18th from 8-11, lots of good things.) How bittersweet it is and a sign of the times. Many other small preschools in our community are closing/have closed due to TK becoming available, and I think, the time commitment involved in a parent co-op. However, I can’t tell you how rich and rewarding our experience has been, the deep community we’ve built, and how much we’ve learned and grown as parents being apart of such a program. If you’re looking into preschools for your child, I’d highly recommend looking into parent co-ops in your area if you have them.
In food this week, lots of out-and-about time, and lots of favorites and repeats. If you haven’t made the chickpea zucchini fritters, I’d reccomend them. They’re easy, good, and full of fiber and nutrients, plus they use up that proverbial zucchini you’ve probably got lying around.
And the strawberry rhubarb crisp! Make that, and make or buy some ice cream to go with it for a perfect dinner party or otherwise dessert. Makes the house smell incredible and the combination of warm and cold, soft and crisp is so enjoyable.
notes: I make a meal plan every week based on what’s in season, always focusing on getting a wide variety of plants, legumes, lots of fiber (and overall satisfaction!). You can read about my meal plan process here.
I cook for 5; 2 adults, 2 teens, and 4 year old with a big appetite. I always make extra food (often doubling recipes or components of recipes; for example, if I am roasting potatoes I will roast some extra, if I’m baking baguettes I will double and freeze the extra), as at least 3 of us eat leftovers for lunch the next day, whether packed or at home, and I hate cooking a new lunch from scratch. This makes cooking more sustainable for our family and ensures we are eating healthy, home cooked food.
Breakfasts: everyone is on their own, as everyone has their particular favorites and eat at different times. We always sit down and eat dinner together, which you can read about here.
Weekend prep work: Clean out the fridge, go to the farmer’s market and grocery store to re-stock pantry and fridge. Bake our weekly 2 loaves of sourdough bread.
Sunday: out for a date night with Joel
prep before bed: soak chickpeas
Monday: chickpea zucchini fritters, tzatziki, simplest tomato shallot salad (get the ripest, best tomatoes you can find and slice them into thick slabs and layer on a plate. Sprinkle minced shallot over the top, drizzle some good red wine vinegar, olive oil, flaky sea salt, a touch of fresh cracked black pepper) + sourdough bread to soak up tomato juices
prep before bed: soak black beans
Tuesday: going on a pre-birthday beach trip with a friend, but Joel will be making chipotle lime black bean bowls with plantains
Wednesday: out for a picnic dinner with friends/family at our farmer’s market which puts on live music every week; bringing BLTs with smoky tofu bacon and thick slabs of early girl tomatoes from our garden + sea salt potato chips, will have fresh fruit from the market and a popsicle from the popsicle stand for dessert. Summer!
prep before bed: make tofu ricotta
Thursday: cherry tomato spaghetti with whipped tofu ricotta on the bottom of the plate for both saucy and creamy flavors in each bite, plus fiber and protein. I go off of Nisha’s recipe for whipped tofu ricotta as a base, adding homemade cashew cream for oomph.
prep before bed: make pizza dough, make a batch of pizza sauce and divide into jars, leaving one in the fridge and the rest in the freezer for the coming weeks
Friday: pizza night topped with the pizza sauce and olive oil; baked then dolloped with leftover tofu/cashew ricotta and paper thin slices of raw zucchini and a shower of marjoram. Simple green salad with vinaigrette.
prep before bed: press and marinate tofu
Saturday: crispy tofu sandwich with pistachio pesto and cabbage slaw + out for ice cream at our local gelato spot
Date night cocktail: We will be out this week, so no homemade cocktail, but if i was I’d probably have a vermouth soda—dry vermouth, sparkling water in equal parts plus a few dashes of bitters if you like. Refreshing, cool, low ABV.
Weekend sweet: strawberry rhubarb crisp, my friend brought this over last week to share at dinner along with some fresh rhubarb from another friend’s garden (thank you K!) and I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. With homemade vanilla cashew ice cream.
Weekend breakfast: Amy Chaplin’s peach chia breakfast shake made with homemade almond milk, such a delicious treat this time of year when it’s hot even before breakfast, and one I’ve made every July/August for at least 8 years now.
Thank you so much for reading. If you can’t swing a paid subscription right now, but you’d like to contribute towards my work here, I’m always delighted to receive a one-off tip via my ko-fi—thank you! I appreciate you all so much.
x A.
p.s.—Have a wonderful week. Leaving you with a poem for the week, as always. This one, by Michael Simms. “That summer all the world / was soul and water”
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