I have not been up to my village in ages. If it were up to me I would leave the city every Friday and head up for the weekend. I love it there. But between play-dates, birthday parties, swim and tutoring sessions (yep, now they have that to look forward to on Saturdays;), we just don´t get up as often as I would like.

But Saturday I am driving by the airport, slowing down just enough for my hubby to jump in the car & we are heading up for the night. I want to stay as long as we possibly can on Sunday which means I have to be completely ready for the week ahead. It´s going to be a busy one. The kids will not only have to have all their work done, but I want bags packed and left at the door ready for swim & school on Monday morning.

I am getting my meal plan together so that by the time we leave I have everything here at home that we need. The plan for next week is:

Monday – Pesto Soup with Gnocchi, Beans and Greens I do not add gnocchi. For one, it´s hard to get here and it doesn´t add any nutritional value, so why bother. My kid hates vegetables and requests this meal. It is THAT good. And SO good for you.

Tuesday – Red Lentil Soup with Spinach and Coconut Milk – We are all excited to prepare this for Stephen since he wasn´t around when we first made it last week. Lana has suggested I make it with less water and to accompany it with basmati rice. Can you see why I call her a food critic? I think she´s dead on with her suggestion.

Wednesday- Sushi. We make both vegetarian and California roles. If you can cook sushi rice, you can make sushi. I will show you how easy it is one day.

Thursday – Homemade Tortillas Mexican restaurants stink here in Portugal. A Portuguese friend lived in Arizona and he misses good Mexican. So I am making it for him and his family. This will be my dry run of our family dinner.

Have a great weekend!