Week of May 19th Menu (really need to come up with better titles)
Happy Is this month of May ever going to turn into June?!
Not sure what happened to the cinco de mayo week post, but part of it has been deleted - bahh, gasp - oh well. Moving on... Did anyone check out my favorite sites and snacks pages on the blog? Do you have any good, easy, healthy snack ideas to share?
Years ago, Mike asked for a juicer, he received, and there it sat for probably 10 years. Along comes Joe the Reboot guy, and now the juicer is in action. I also have a FB friend that has lost about 50lbs juicing - How great is that?!?!, and what great motivation to get a little more juice in our diet.
So, this week Mike and I are juicing daily with a simple 1 bunch of kale and 1 apple recipe per person. It has a pretty mild flavor, it's not Odwalla, but wow - getting a whole bunch (literally) of kale in before 8am - I feel like a winner already ;-). We ask the girls to have a small drink (2 tbsp) to hopefully get their palate used to it, and then when I offer them a juice with extra fruit, perhaps they'll go for it.. wa-ha-ha-haaa. I'm not sure where we're storing all this kale, but feel free to let me know if I start taking on a strange hue of green by the end of the week.
Final update - Going to be sure to post all needed ingredients, as when I look back on this a year from now, I'm pretty sure my pantry might be a bit different from today!
Hope everyone has a great week!
Meg
WEEK OF MEALS:
(If you see a link, click for the recipe... if not, scroll down for mine):
- Sunday Soup Night -Chicken Noodle Soup (Dear Lord, they keep asking for this...so what the heck!) & Roasted Zucchini & Carrots
- Monday - Salmon & Pea Fettucine (using plain almond milk & tofutti cream cheese) & Smashed avocado & tomato/basil bruschetta
- Tuesday - Asian Chicken Salad
- Make it over the Hump Wednesday: Egg Salad Sandwiches, potato chips, pickles & garbanzo throw together salad. (See below for my go-to garbanzo throw-togethers!)
- Thursday - Balsamic Mushroom Sauteed Pork Chops & Kale/Brussel sprout salad (kale shmail, going to have a fridge full, might as well have a salad with it - Thanks Sally for sharing, it looks goood!)
- Friday - Crockpot - Amazing recipe Alert here - Salivating thinking about this crockpot roast. Beef Enchiladas or French Dips - or both! This makes enough delicousness for 2 meals, or 1 great meal for company! Will put all ingredients in grocery list. I just follow the enchilada recipe on the can...
- Jar Salad - Spinach, beet & goat cheese
- Juice - Power Juice - daily - See recipe above!
- Breakfast Change-Up - Greek Yogurt Parfaits w/ weekend granola
- Favorite Documentaries -Wild China! (Netflix) We were all transfixed by the beauty of Southern China & interesting to learn just how rice is grown and cultivated.
- Favorite things about my family Avery is now raiding Ella's closet, Ella just asked me for the definition or ironic, and I was able to sing Alanis Morissette to her, and Mike refused to buy a trellis for our honeysuckle, and made one out of cedar boards for $5!
PREP DAY -
- Clean & Chop weekly veggie picks - Carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, Mushrooms - Chop for snacks and no-whining before dinner bowl, as well as any other veggies needed for the week. (Except onions... only chop your onions before making a meal..some weird fact about onions will absorb toxins from plastic storage/air around - best to chop fresh!)
- BBQ 4 Chicken breast halves with skin (Olive Oil, sea salt, bbq until lovely) - Chop after cooled - Using for dinners during the week. Using in soup, jar & asian salad.
- Quinoa - Cook 2 cups of red quinoa (bulk @ Winco) in chicken or veggie broth. - Use it in jar salad, heat up for breakfast.. .eat with salsa & fried or hardboiled egg / or chop up an avocado with fried egg & quinoa...
- Dressing - Make Asian ginger salad dressing
- Jar Salad- I Love Beets Jar Salad - Makes about 4 quart mason jars - The super secret trick is to put the heartiest stuff close to the dressing, and the stuff that can wilt up at top away from dressing.
- Cook Egg Noodles for soup
RECIPES & NOTES (alphabetically listed)
Asian Chicken Salad (Adding the chicken to this recipe)
This is a great salad, that is super easy because you can get chopped cabbage ready to go. Add in already chopped veggies from Sunday, and bam - it's done.
All of the ingredients for the dressing are staples in my pantry - Rice Wine Vinegar, Sesame Oil, jarred or fresh ginger, honey & Soy. I go through asian cooking marathons, where the majority of what we're eating has these ingredients, and because I always have them around it makes it much easier to make those meals.
Balsamic Mushroom Sauteed Pork Chops - Concoction disclaimer :)
4 boneless pork chops
8 oz mushrooms
1 sliced onion
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup uncooked rice.
Cook your rice according to directions. While rice is cooking, heat oil in skillet on medium high. Add pork chops and sear for 3-4 minutes each side (get a good brown cripyness on each side - this seals in the juices). Remove pork chops & add onions & mushrooms to the skillet. Reduce heat to medium & cook until they smell fabulous & onions are translucent. Add balsamic vinegar (watch out, strong smell when initially adding), cook out 'vinegary-ness' for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add pork chops back in - Spoon the balsamic/onion/mushroom yummyness on top to baste the chops while they cook through - another 10 minutes or so... watch your chops so you don't overcook them - I usually use a thermometer here. Place on top of rice (or on the side if your kids are non-mixers like mine).
Beet,Goat cheese, spinach Salad - Jar Salad - Makes about 4-5 quart mason jars - The super secret trick is to put the heartiest stuff
close to the dressing, and the stuff that can wilt up at top away from
dressing.
- Spinach & Kale -Chopped
- 1/2 bag frozen edamame
- Chop Red Onion
- Can Pickled Beets
- Goat Cheese - Crumbled
- Pecans
- Chopped Chicken (grilled above)
- Directions -
- 3 tbsp dressing in bottom of quart jar
- Add sliced red onions
- Add edamame & beets
- Add some cooked quinoa!
- Add goat cheese
- Add chopped chicken
- Add spinach & kale
- Add pecans
Chicken Noodle Soup8 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
BBQ'd chopped chicken
Chopped carrots
Chopped celery
Slice an onion
3 cloves garlic
Cooked egg noodles
Italian Seasoning
Italian flat leaf parsley
*update - 4 cups of additional water & chicken boullion (winco has a great boullion that has no MSG, which is hard to find anywhere else!
- Put olive oil in stock pot, heat to medium add onion & garlic - cook until softened.
- Add chopped chicken, carrots & celery - cook for about 5-10 minutes. *Add Italian Seasoning & SALT
- Add chicken broth - heat to boiling, then back off to medium low to simmer for as long as you like.
-
Add cooked egg noodles, check if you need more salt/seasoning - heat
for like 2 minutes, then serve, or you'll have a starchy mush soup - been
there, done that about 5x - Seriously.
Garbanzo Throw Together Salads-
Avocados
& garbanzo beans are staples in our kitchen, and as long as you
have an acid (lime juice, lemon, vinegar) to throw with it... the
possibilities are endless. Depending on what I have on hand, I typically go either mexican, italian or asian inspired. Here are my
throw-together combos - pick any of these - although pay attention if
you are going one ethnic way or not... kind of funky to have corn in
with an asian style :-)
Mexican -
- Garbanzno
- Avocado
- Red onion (make these big, so your kids or let's face it YOU can take out before giving to them)
- Frozen corn (yes, I just throw it in frozen, it thaws in a couple of minutes)
- Cilantro
- Lime juice
- Sea Salt
- Dash of olive oil
Asian -
- Garbanzo
- Avocado
- Frozen edamame shelled (yes I just throw it in frozen, it thaws in a couple of minutes)
- Shredded carrots
- Cilantro
- Lime juice
- Dash of sesame or canola/veggie oil
Italian -
- Garbanzo
- Avocado
- Basil
- Grape tomatoes cut in 1/2
- Red onion
- Red wine vinegar
- Dash of olive oil
Garbanzo Note - I've started to buy dried garbanzos in the bulk section, but don't have it in my regular routine to do the soaking,cooking,storing bit - so I buy canned and alternate depending if I have stored beans - but that is an option, if you love chickpeas as much as I do!
Kale & Brussel Sprout Salad - Shout out to long-time family-friend Sally :)
4 – cups roughly chopped lacinato kale (one bunch)
8 large (raw) brussel sprouts, sliced very very thin
1/3 cup roughly chopped almonds
3 heaping tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 squeezes of honey
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Place
the chopped almonds on a piece of tin foil and place in the oven to
toast. Check after four minutes – they burn quickly and you want them
just golden brown. When toasted, remove almonds from the oven and let
cool. Toss together the chopped kale and shaved brussel sprouts
together in a large bowl. Add the chopped almonds and the cheese and
toss again. To make the dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, honey
and a pinch of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Drizzle the dressing
over the salad and mix well. Eat immediately or keep salad up to five
days in the fridge.
The nice thing about this recipe is it gets better the longer it sits – up to 5 days.
Salmon & Pea Fettucine
A note about converting to a dairy free recipe.
Because
I'm dairy free, when a creamy carb-loaded recipe calls my name, I
simply convert to using plain almond milk, or toffutti cream cheese /
sour cream & it tastes great! I tried this on beef stroganoff, and
it rocked my world (I was also going through serious cheese and cream
withdrawals at the time!).
Seriously though, it's nice to
know that you can still have a warm & comforting meal without the
heavy dairy - YAY! Now if you love dairy and dairy loves you - then by
all means, dairy it up with this!
GROCERY LIST (Including everything needed for recipes, just cross out the staples you already have)
Produce -
- Bag of avocados (4 or 5)
- Bag of carrots - 2lb bag
- Bag of onions
- Bag of Spinach
- Celery
- Bag of chopped slaw
- Tomatoes
- 16 Apples
- Fruit for parfait (strawberries & mangos, blueberries)
- Kiwis!
- 4 limes
- 2 lemons
- Bunch of cilantro
- Basil
- 10 bunches of kale
- 8oz of mushrooms
- Cauliflower
- 3 bell peppers (Love our bells)
- 2 red onions
- 3 zucchini
- Garlic
- Ginger
- 8 large brussell sprouts
Bulk -
- Pecans - 1-2 cups
- Walnuts - 1-2 cups
- Peanuts - 1-2 cups
- Raw almonds - 1 cup
- Red Quinoa
- Chinese 5-spice
- Sesame Seeds
Breads -
- 2 loaves Dave's
- Baguette
- 6-8 large buns
- 10 flour tortillas
Protein -
- 1 1/2 lb Roast beef
- 4-6 chicken breast halves with skin on (For great natural seasoning!)
- 1 lb Salmon Filet
- Pork Chops - boneless
Freezer -
- Puff pastry
- Peas
- Bag of Shelled Edamame
Dried Goods -
- 1 boxes veggie broth
- 2 boxes chicken broth
- Bag of egg noodles
- 1 box beef broth
- 1 Large can enchilada sauce
- 1 box Fettucini
- Z bars
- 1-2 cans pickled beets
- 2 cans of garbanzos (during the week snack with avocado cubes, cilantro and lime juice.. toss and eat all week)
- Triscuits
- Potato Chips
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Sesame Oil
- Honey
- Soy Sauce
- Raspberry Viniagrette
- 2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix
- Mayo
- Dijon
Dairy -
- Goat Cheese
- Tofutti Cream Cheese
- Big tub of vanilla or plain greek yogurt (prefer chobiani)
- Eggs
- Parmesan
