Alright, vacation is over, it’s Monday and I am getting back into the swing of things. First things first, meal plan + grocery run. For whatever reason, I have REALLLLLY been craving an awesome steak dinner. Yesterday on our way to brunch, Blake asked me what I wanted and I said a really big, juicy steak. We couldn’t find that at 10am on a Sunday, so I am definitely making it at home this week!

I’ve talked about this before, but we eat out A LOT. It’s bad, but also so good ;). I just love food, sue me. But there are a few meals we try to cook at home instead of out for (a) health reasons, we can cook them wayyyy healthier at home and (b) cost.

Steakhouse dinner

Blake and I have very different taste in food. But one thing we both LOVE is a really good steakhouse dinner. Some of our favorite Chicago steakhouses are Swift & Sons, Maple & Ash, and Chicago Cut. We haven’t tried GT Prime yet but it’s next on our list! As much as we love a good steak, the price tag is always a big one. We’ve never make it out of a steakhouse with a bill less than $200. And sometimes it’s even higher depending on the wine we drink. We have finally mastered the steakhouse meal from home. Last time we made steak we got two 8oz filets from Whole Foods, a nice ($40) bottle of wine and fixings for all our favorite sides and our grocery bill was $85. That’s less than half the price and we were able to make a WAY healthier version at home. If you skipped the nice bottle of wine, that bill would be even less.

Here is our go to steakhouse dinner at home:

Baked Potato Casserole – this is sooo easy and so delicious. Simple bake potatoes, scoop out the inside, smash and mix with your favorite ingredients! We usually add in olive oil, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and scallions. Yum, I am drooling. Mix it all together then bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until the top is crispy and cheese is melted.

Caramelized onions – slice a vidalia onion into thin pieces, melt a patty of butter in a skillet until it is golden brown, then saute your onions low and slow. Takes about 40 minutes to get that really delicious gooey caramelized taste.

Greens – we either do asparagus or brussel sprouts and with either we simply sauté with olive oil and s+p.

Mushrooms – I cannot eat a steak dinner without mushrooms. I like to sauté mine with a little olive oil then add about 1/4 cup of red or white wine vinegar (depending on what I am eating them with, for steak I did red wine) and fresh garlic at the end! So simple and delicious

Roasted garlic – Just like a real steakhouse ;). Slice the top off a head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Throw it in a ramekin or some tinfoil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes!

A GOOD bottle of wine – current favs are anything Orin Swift, a Chateauneuf du Pape or Decoy red blend.

Salmon dinner

One of my favorite salmon dishes in the city is the Scottish salmon at Chicago cut for $34. It’s served with leeks and pure heaven. But guess what, the salmon I make from home is just as delicious and it costs me about $7 a serving. Not to mention the pounds of butter that probably go into the Chicago Cut version. Any other salmon lovers out there? Or haters? I actually had to train myself to like salmon. I used to hate it. Now I cannot get enough. We eat it twice a week, every week. I would eat it every day if it weren’t for the mercury content. Maybe next week I will share all my favorite salmon recipes?? In the meantime, check out THIS heavenly brown sugar salmon recipe. My bff made if for me when I visited her in Minneapolis and I literally made it again the day we got home, it was THAT good.

Salads

I am basic and love salads. If cutting, washing and drying lettuce wasn’t such a pain, I would eat a salad at every.single.meal. In my perfect world, someone would prepare fresh lettuce for me every day so I had an endless supply of washed and dried lettuce for daily salads. Friseé, escarole, endive, arugula, radicchio, yum, the list goes on. I have never met a salad I didn’t like. Two reasons I make my salads at home when I am craving one: (1) cost, (2) health. Blake and I both love a chicken caesar salad. At a good restaurant a large chicken caesar salad can come close to $20 a serving when you consider tax + tip. When we make it at home it’s about $5 a serving. And that is before taking health into consideration. I always make my salad dressings from scratch so I know exactly what is in it. No canola oil, hydrogenated oils, sugars, or other hidden, sneaky ingredients. My favorite homemade caesar dressing is so easy and basic: fresh garlic, anchovy paste, lemon, evoo, s+p, and a tiny bit of mayo for that rich and creamy consistency. Salad roundup soon?

Avocado Toast

I know, suggesting you should ditch the retaurant avo toast is blasphemy. But I swear, you can do this at home. It is sooooo easy and so much healthier at home. Need an instagram pic of avocado toast? You can make it just as beautiful as the restaurant version with a few hacks – leave the avocado chunky, add a slice of lemon to your plate, garnish with something colorful (like radish or red pepper flakes), perfectly toast your bread (I do mine in a skillet with a little olive oil and salt + pepper). All you need: thick sliced bread (we get the sourdough loaf from Whole Foods and ask them to slice it thick for us, perfectly ripe avocado, lemon, salt + pepper and whatever garnish you want! Here are my four favorite + easy avocado toast variations:

(1) avocado toast + fried egg

(2) avocado toast + radish

(3) avocado toast + red pepper flakes

(4) avocado toast + everything but the bagel seasoning (Trader Joes sells this)

So, with all that in mind, here is this week’s meal plan for a week of restaurant quality meals at home! If you’re new here, my meal plans always involve a lot of repeat meals. If I planned out each and every breakfast, lunch and dinner with a different meal it would be a recipe for failure. So I get enough of each to have leftovers. This also cuts out a lot of time in the kitchen.

BREAKFAST

avocado toast

oatmeal + berries

onion + mushroom + cheddar cheese omelette (LOVE using leftover veggies to make an omelette)

LUNCH

chicken caesar salad leftovers

mozzarella + tomato + avocado salad

salmon leftovers + salmon

DINNER

salmon + grilled corn salad

(I shared this on my instastories but I going to share this full recipe here soon because it is SO good)

chicken caesar salad

(we grill our chicken with a evoo, worchestershire sauce + garlic marinade)

steak dinner

GROCERY LIST

steak tenderloin

chicken breasts

salmon

corn

potatoes

scallions

sweet onion

cremini mushrooms

avocado

blueberries

lime

lemon

garlic

tomatoes

asparagus

cheddar cheese

fresh mozzarella

sour cream

egg

sourdough bread

oatmeal

anchovy paste