BRAINLESS CROWD PLEASERS ("BCP")

 I'm always curious about what other families are eating on a day-to-day basis.  As someone who loves food, trying new things, but also as a parent who needs to put food on the table three times a day (I'm counting packed lunches here), wants to introduce my kids to good food and nutritional habits, AND also very interested in doing it all on a budget, this is a hot topic.  Another element to add to this is having people over for meals, which we have been doing a lot of, but I'll muse upon on that on a separate post.  For this one, I'm going to focus on the meals that we eat on a regular basis during the week and focus specifically on dinner because that's where most of my energy goes.  For breakfast, I do either one of two things: make a bulk sized version of a thing - egg muffins, shashkuotash, some sort of scramble - and we eat it for several days, or I am grabbing bits and pieces from the fridge to put on a plate and call it breakfast (cut-up fruit or vegetables, dollop of yogurt, cheese, hard-boiled or fried egg, piece of toast, a bit of ham or salami etc.). For lunch, we either pack leftovers from dinner, or I do a similar thing of charcuterie-esque eating, with an occasional sandwich (Sloane's favorite being: bread, hummus, mayo or jajik, ham or turkey, and sliced cucumbers).

There are lots of meal planning guides out there, but the one that most recently resonated and stuck with me is the idea of making a list of Brainless Crowd Pleasers ("BCP"), which I got from The Lazy Genius, a podcast that wants to "help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't." I think it was Lisa who told me about this podcast at first, and this post is inspired by Lisa's own list!

This is how Kendra (of The Lazy Genius podcast) describes BCPs:  "Brainless crowdpleasers are recipes that don’t require much brain power from you as the cook and generally please the crowd you’re feeding. This isn’t block party crowd or church small group crowd. It’s just you or you and your nuclear family, the people generally around your table. And crowdpleasing doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is throwing a party and it’s the most delicious thing ever. Everyone is just generally pleased. Small expectations. Little to no complaining. Don’t go for the gold every time. Your list of brainless crowdpleasers could be five things, and it could be 25. You might be surprised at how many you have actually! I listed some of mine in the last episode, but include convenience foods in your list like frozen pizza and Trader Joe’s mandarin chicken. Include recipes that feel like they’re not even worth writing down like spaghetti and hot dogs. Don’t necessarily assume that your list will look like everyone else’s. One meal that’s so easy if you know how to cook it is a quickly sautéed piece of salmon over rice and spinach. Delicious with a dash of sesame oil, and if you have rice made or already cooked in the freezer, you can have that meal in ten minutes. So brainless crowdpleasers don’t have to necessarily by all brown foods or all cheap foods or all foods you find on a restaurant kids menu. Those things belong, too, but keep an open mind." (You can listen to the whole episode by going to episode #76).

After hearing the episode, I immediately made my own list and 1) was surprised to find how many went on there, as Kendra predicted, and 2) found it to be a very useful resource to fall back on when I was trying to brainstorm meals for the weak.  Then I saw Lisa post about her BCP list, and thought I should share mine too! In case it spurs others to write and share their list, and also have another way to remind myself when I need a little jog. As you'll see, a lot of these are a variation on a theme, but somehow it is still so helpful to have them written out like this!

1. Frittata or Omelet—usually at the end of the week with leftover veggies
2. Fried Rice— with various veggies, egg, and any sort of protein added in. Recently I made a 'clean-out-the-fridge' fried rice that was supremely satisfying of sauteed ginger, garlic, onion, red cabbage, carrots, frozen mixed vegetables, ham with a very crispy rice, fried egg, and Korean sweet hot sauce drizzled on top (photo below). 
3. Spaghetti with mushrooms or ground beef
4. Dumplings– frozen ones from Costco or Trader Joe’s
5. Rice Bowls (tofu, tuna, salmon + avocado, cucumber, edamame + pickled red onion)- one of my personal favorites. Topped with TJ’s soyaki sauce.
6. Egg with fried rice, Korean hot sauce (an abbreviated version of the above)
7. Charcuterie plate—crackers, cheese, cut up raw veggies and fruit, salami
8. Roasted vegetable platter - a bunch of roasted vegetables with dipping sauce.  The sauces are key! My recent favorites are aioli and romesco. 
9. Clean out the fridge and pantry meals - as long as there are a couple of fresh vegetables to roast, some canned sardines, tuna or beans in the pantry and maybe a few eggs that haven't been used up, we can make ourselves a feast this way. 
10. Rice with a side of cubed tofu sautéed in soy sauce, side of green beans/ broccoli
11. Avocado, tuna or sardine topped toast with pickled red onions
12. Costco frozen cauliflower pizza
13. Peppers (those colorful mini ones), red onions, and Trader Joe's frozen meatballs roasted in the oven, cook orzo while the oven is going, and toss it all together.  Add tomato sauce or pesto if available. 
14. Chicken curry (jarred curry from Kroger or TJ) with rotisserie chicken 
15. Roasted vegetables and egg—also another one of my favorites. I love roasting a bunch of cubed vegetables (whatever is in season) with tons of seasoning and boiling, frying or poaching an egg to go with it
16. Any combo of salad (with arugula or romaine lettuce base) and lemon vinagrette dressing with boiled egg or deli ham/turkey (this dressing is my favorite!)
17. Any combo of soup (this customizable guide from Mark Bittman is so helpful!)
18. Kimbap (Korean sushi roll) - nori wrap stuffed with rice, veggie, protein combo
19. French green beans with 7 minute egg
20. Breakfast burrito 
21. Sweet potato tacos 
22. Sardines over garlic toast with good tomato and pickled red onions
23. Ground beef/pork sauce over rice noodles
24. Alison Roman's chickpea stew (I have made this SO many times, make it in large batches and freeze for later use). 
25. Also, this is not a meal but it feels like it: red cabbage slaw.  Red cabbage, shredded carrots, julienned apples or peach, all tossed in a lime juice, vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and salt mixture. It's so good and we've been eating this as an accompaniment to many a meal. 

What are you all eating these days?