Semi Home Made Dinner Ideas

Semi Home Made Dinner Ideas... So far this week I have made two meals that I'll call semi homemade because they both included some vital element that was not made from scratch, well not made from scratch by yours truly that is.

On Monday I made a pretty classic meatloaf meal. I'll say that growing up we did meatloaf occasionally and (no offense mom because usually everything you make is fantastic) it was really not my fav. I'll explain further that in general in life I am not a fan of dry sauce-less food... so for me meatloaf always felt a bit pointless. However, I've had some Dahlicious meatloaf's and the one I am about to tell you about is one of them. I cannot take any credit for it as I merely took the thing from raw to cooked, but I will still take credit for the fact that it was moist and not overcooked.

Meatloaf Monday:
On Sunday I was at the grocery store with my roommate (read: significant other) and we were picking out the proteins for the week.. I had shrimp, salmon, chicken.. but what else. He suggested meatloaf. Done.

The meatloaf at Mariano's (new favorite grocery store - minus the fact that they don't have Justin's nut butter) is perfect for two in terms of size, it comes in a nice little tin baking dish that is so easy to put on a baking sheet and pop in the oven. It is perfectly seasoned and mixed and comes out tasting just like you want it to each time. I love it.

With the meatloaf (which takes 35-45 minutes at 350 or 375) I served roasted cauliflower and asparagus. Such an easy meal and totally filling, while still being relatively healthy with zero carbs in the mix.

The second semi home made meal I made was on Tuesday. After heading to the burbs for a home cooked meal on Sunday night, I was sent back to the city with not only a peach and raspberry cobbler for one night this week, but also a big tub of homemade marinara sauce. Full of San Marzanos, garlic, and fennel - Dahlish! I needed to use the sauce and since I was home alone I figured one easy thing to make would be shrimp and pasta. Except I wanted to avoid consuming too many carbs and I happened to have a perfect little spaghetti squash. Except I did want carbs... they were calling my name... so I just said to heck with it and I made a little of both. If no one sees you eating pasta the calories don't count right? Right??

Tuesday Carb Fake Out:
I had a bunch of fresh shrimp that needed to be used up so I first marinated them in lemon juice and olive oil while I got to chopping veggies and prepping the rest of the meal. Once the brussels sprouts were cut in quarters  and the spaghetti squash was halved and de-seeded, and once they were both dressed in oil and salt and pepper they were sent to the oven at 350 for about 35 minutes.

While the veggies roasted I sauteed the shrimp in a hot pan and added a heaping scoop of the leftover marinara sauce once they were pink on each side. While they marinated in the sauce on low heat to finish cooking, I cooked just a teeny tiny bit of whole wheat spaghetti to mix with my squash.

When everything was finished cooking I combined the two spaghetti's into a nice little mound and covered it with my shrimp marinara. I served it up with the crispy roasted brussels and a little side of prosciutto and fresh mozz. YUM!