Weekly Meal Plan (for August 25-31, 2024) + Life Update

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Hello, friends and fellow home cooks!

It's time for my Saturday newsletter, which includes 7 weeknight meals + 3 healthy salads (for the week of August 25-31, 2024), and a brief life update.

7 weeknight meals + 3 healthy salads

DAY 1: Creamy Mushroom Pork Chops (30 Minutes, One-Pan)

 

DAY 2: Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Chicken, Tomatoes, Spinach, and Feta Cheese

DAY 3: Greek Shrimp Spaghetti 

DAY 4: Thai-inspired Red Curry Chicken Noodle Soup

DAY 5: Salmon Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce and Spinach 

DAY 6: Asian Beef with Mushrooms and Snow Peas (you can also use Asparagus, Broccoli, or Green Beans)

DAY 7: Italian Sausage Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, Tomatoes, and Garlic

SALAD 1: 15-Minute Peach Salsa with Pineapple, Bell Pepper, Red Onion, Green Onion, Cilantro, Lime Juice, Chili Powder (Summer alternative to regular tomato salsa. Goes great with grilled meat, just about everything: steak, salmon, chicken, pork, lamb)

SALAD 2: Asparagus Tomato Salad with Burrata Cheese, Pine Nuts, and Balsamic Dressing (You can use fresh soft Mozzarella cheese instead of Burrata)

SALAD 3: Pear Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Honey-Lemon Dressing

LIFE UPDATE

In the past two weeks, our town and the surrounding areas have been hit with an unusually high amount of rain, leading to extensive flash flooding and damage in some areas. Numerous mudslides have occurred both in and around our town, often forcing road closures (and trail closures) for days as crews work to clear the debris. While rainfall is beneficial in reducing wildfire risk, the sheer volume of moisture we have recently experienced is highly unusual for this time of year. This week, attempting longer hikes has been out of the question, as the conditions have made it unsafe and unpleasant to hike through mud and under the threat of frequent lightning and thunderstorms, especially in exposed areas above the tree line.

Longer hikes are the most enjoyable for me because they take you up to higher elevations, where you can experience a completely different landscape above the tree line. Occasionally, we even come across small alpine lakes. This hasn't been possible for the past two weeks, as hiking at higher elevations increases the risk of lightning strikes in current weather conditions. It's also much colder up there, making it uncomfortable and unpleasant, and it could be unsafe when it rains that hard.

However, I did manage to find brief windows of good weather and hiked my favorite trail several times this week. In the photos, you'll see the stunning blue skies with beautiful white clouds—a striking contrast to the heavy rain and thunderstorms in between those blue skies. The sky has been more breathtaking than I've seen in a long time. I hope you will enjoy the photos below that I snapped this week - take a look at the sky:

Maybe it's because I love hiking, but an algorithm brought up a YouTube video today in my feed that I found captivating. It's a self-told story of an MIT-educated neurosurgeon who suddenly left his successful career. After 4 years of medical school, 6 years of surgical training, and 10 years as a neurosurgeon in a hospital (doing spinal surgeries)—a total of 20 years of career investment—he made the drastic decision to quit with no other plan in mind. No one around him could understand why. He left his job at the hospital last year, and just a month ago, he posted a video explaining his decision on YouTube, which has already garnered 11 million views. It's definitely worth watching; he makes some compelling points and clearly enjoys hiking, as he filmed the entire 48-minute video while standing against the backdrop of stunning, snow-covered mountain peaks. The comments section under the video is also worth reading - so many great stories.

I can relate to him in many ways. Before I became a food blogger, I finished a 4-year business college degree, had many corporate jobs, and completed a 2-year MBA Program in Supply Chain Management. But for a long time, that career just made me unhappy - I am not the person to thrive in the corporate world; I have never really fit in. I decided to start anew in 2012 as a food blogger in the online publishing world by starting this website. I quit my corporate job in 2016 and went full-time with this site. This change allowed me to create a more balanced lifestyle that includes enjoying nature, exercise, meditation, travel, proper nutrition, spending time with family and friends, and more.

It took time to find my way, and I'm still figuring it all out. My life is still not as well-balanced as I'd like, but I am a constant work in progress. I remember learning about Kaizen back in business school—it's a Japanese term that means "change for the better" or "continuous improvement." The idea is that small changes today can lead to big results down the road. That’s exactly the strategy I’m rolling with these days!