30 Days of Dinner - Challenge Complete

So we have reached the end of September, and with that the end of our 30 Days of Dinner Challenge. The last week (and two days) were fantastic. Some of the best recipes were waiting for us. This was extra great because of our experience last week. I won't lie, I'm glad the challenge is over, because I am excited to start creating meals again. I have never followed a recipe every day for this long, maybe once or twice a week, but for 30 days was tough. It was great having a plan, but every time we veered from it slightly I felt like I was cheating.

Here are my thoughts on the final days. I'm not going to blog our favourite recipe this week, because it was too hard to decide (although the scallops were a front runner). Who knows, maybe a few of these recipes will show back up after being adapted in the kitchen with Reebs one day!

Day 22 - Spatchcock Chicken with Mustard-Glazed Parsnips and Crispy Kale
I was working on some assignment or another so Brent did this meal. We had never 'spatchcocked' a chicken before, and it was actually a really great way to roast a chicken quickly. You do need a good pair of kitchen shears, we may have had to go into the tool box to get the right scissors out. The parsnips were great too, although next time we would probably mix in some other root vegetables too.

Day 23 - Spinach & Ricotta Naan Pizzas
I wasn't sure how these pizzas would work out, but they were really good. The spinach and onion topping was nice, and kept well for making another pizza the next day for lunch.

Day 24 - Roasted Squash and Chickpea Salad
I'll be honest, we did not eat this for dinner. It was kind of a blustery day, and Molly and I took a walk to meet Brent on his way home from work. It was her half birthday (6 months) and that on top of the weather, I didn't feel like having salad for dinner. So we went out to Burgoo for a warm meal, and saved the salad for the next day. The roasted butternut squash went really well with the watercress and chickpeas for this salad.

Day 25 - Lemony Angel Hair Pasta with Pan-Fried Chicken
This meal came together super fast. As in, Brent was putting Molly to bed and by the time he came downstairs it was almost on the table. The simplicity of it was great, and the mix of lemon juice, capers and cherry tomatoes was splendid. I'm not a huge fan of chicken cutlets, and would probably just do regular chicken breasts next time, although the cutlets cooked super fast.

Day 26 - Seared Scallops with Bacony Brussels Sprouts
I will be honest, I used to hate Brussels Sprouts. Not until a few years ago when Brent's sister roasted them for me did I start to reconsider them as a side dish. Add some bacon and garlic and top with seared scallops and you can't really go wrong. These aren't roasted, but are basically cooked in bacon grease. This dinner was fantastic and will definitely appear again.

Day 27 - Spicy Beef Lettuce Wraps
Once again, on a night when I had class the recipe on the challenge was a 'pack and go' meal. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate so I had to grill the steak on our little indoor grill. Overall though, it was pretty good. We chose Iceberg lettuce but I might go with Romaine next time.

Day 28 - Roast Pork with Balsamic Roasted Grapes
This was another winner at our house. I had class all day so Brent was in charge of this dinner. We bought our pork loin roast at Save On foods, and were very excited to see that they now sell Gelderman Pork products. We started enjoying this pork years ago at the West End Farmers Market, so it's great to be able to shop locally year round. We couldn't find black seedless grapes so we just used purple grapes, seemed to work okay. The Crunchy Almond Quinoa went really well with this dish. We will make this again for sure.

Day 29 - Brown Rice and Grilled Vegetable Salad
We switched around the last two days due to a smoked salmon mix up (Brent bought a different type than the recipe that day called for). At first we thought this was going to be a pretty boring meal. The vegetables didn't seem too exciting, and it was really just veggies and rice. Having said that, once you add the feta cheese (optional, but really, when is cheese optional?) and the green sauce, it took the meal to a whole other level. I guess if you left the cheese out it would be a vegan meal, and a pretty good one at that.

Day 30 - Smoked Salmon Pizza with Baby Kale Salad
Tonight was the last night, and this was a great meal to end on. I couldn't find ready made pizza dough, and after having spent a couple of hours making baby food I didn't really feel like making dough myself. So instead I used naan bread again. It worked so well for the other pizzas I figured why not? I just heated it in a 400 F oven for about 10 minutes, and then followed the rest of the directions. This dish is really all about the salmon, and we had some very nice smoked salmon.

So there you have it, we have completed our 30 Day Challenge, and only one meal got left off (Broiled Halibut with Buttery Tomato Sauce). Overall the grocery list averaged at $100/week (a little more some weeks, a little less others). We managed to avoid eating out a lot more than usual, and tried way more recipes than we could have imagined.

Now I have to think about what to make for dinner tomorrow night...